The SUPER m68k is shipping!

[johnklos]

There's lots of talk on this site about how cool it would be to see this project or that project, but none is as exciting as a project which could ridiculously speed up our current m68k Macs. Some of us have been following the work of the folks who are making an FPGA replacement for the m68000 in the Amiga 600. Well, now it's shipping!

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=70424

Considering that the cores are interchangeable, it would not be a stretch to see one of these on a Mac Classic motherboard. Even with no extra memory support and no peripheral support, it'd be an interesting thing to see in action.

The folks who are making the Vampire will soon have a version for standard DIP-based m68000 Amigas which could easily work in many Macs, and an m68040 socket one is not outside of the realm of possibility.

 

[Elfen]

In a word - Wow!

 

[Bunsen]

http://kipper2k.com/accel600.html

The Vampire II will sit on top of your original CPU and take full control of your Amiga.

If that's the case, it should be hardware compatible with Macs that use a PLCC 68000.

 

As small-run hardware projects of this scale of complexity go, EU150 is a pretty reasonable price.  Less than I was expecting.

 

[Gorgonops]

If they make one that fits an A1000 and includes an SD or other slot to add mass storage... presumably an A1000 version would include the ability to skip using a Kickstart floppy as well.

 

[Elfen]

http://kipper2k.com/accel600.html

If that's the case, it should be hardware compatible with Macs that use a PLCC 68000.

 The only Mac I know off with the PLCC 68000 is the Mac Classic. I do not know about the Mac Portable and PowerBook 100. Other Apple Products that may have it is a couple of their LaserWriter II and beyond.

But... this does opens up opportunities.

"Come Pinky. We're going to take over the world!"

 

[olePigeon]

$150 seems like a steal!  I'd buy one in a heartbeat if there was a Mac version.

 

[Elfen]

I'm just guessing here, but if it is just emulating the 68K itself and nothing else on the Amiga Board, this should work as-is on the Mac Classic as it uses a PLCC 68K. The problem would be holding it down in place.

And that's 150£-UK, and not $150-US. To roughly convert, multiply by 1.75 to get the US figure. Roughly about - $265 US on the high end.

 

[Gorgonops]

It's 150 euros, not pounds. That makes it $163.32 US as of one minute ago.

 

[uniserver]

wow a 68060 mac classic with 4 megs of ram

pretty sure the portable has the same CPU as well.    Woooo a 68060 portable...  / techknights 9 meg ram card.....

 

[johnklos]

It's not really an m68060 - it's just the speed of an m68060. It's more like an m68EC040.

Making it work in a Classic in the most minimal way (without using the extra memory, without the peripherals) should be something that the Majsta people could do pretty easily. Someone who's willing to buy one to try should ask.

 

[Macdrone]

I dont think the portable has the same 68k chip as the classic.  Doesnt it have  The same as the SE and earlier?

 

[uniserver]

 

[uniserver]

that would be one sick fast portable

 

[Macdrone]

super sick.

 

[Macdrone]

BTW im glad you have photos because my memory is falling apart lol

 

[Paralel]

From reading the thread, it apparently include a copy of the Amiga ROM with patches in it, so I would imagine it would take at least a little work to get it going on a Mac.

 

[johnklos]

It doesn't include the Amiga ROM - it makes a copy of the system's ROM to memory so it can be patched to recognize the 128 megs that's on the accelerator.

Using this feature on a Mac would make playing with ROM hacks a lot easier

 

[uniserver]

this would make a mac classic into a SICK machine... LOL   and there are BUTT loads of mac classics out there...    

 

[olePigeon]

Could theoretically work with a PDS adapter, couldn't it?