IComp's Indivision ECS v4 RTG support

[matt020]

RGB2HDMI does not allow to play Genetic Species, Alien Breed 3d II, Payback, etc. with OCS/ECS Amiga

But with PiStorm, it will..

[utri007]

But with PiStorm, it will..

You already mentioned this.

For those of us who don’t want an emulated CPU, the Indivision ECS v4 offers the same or even better experience than a Zorro II graphics card. It is already faster than the Picasso II in an Amiga 2000 with a 68030 accelerator.

Considering that Zorro extenders are available for the Amiga 500 and CDTV, they would allow the use of RTG and Zorro cards by choice, as well as support for USB, audio, clockport, IDE, SCSI, LAN, and more.

It makes 68040 or 68060 turbo accelerators more sensible than before, when the ECS chip was the biggest limitation.

[matt020]

But with PiStorm, it will..

You already mentioned this.

For those of us who don’t want an emulated CPU, the Indivision ECS v4 offers the same or even better experience than a Zorro II graphics card. It is already faster than the Picasso II in an Amiga 2000 with a 68030 accelerator.

Considering that Zorro extenders are available for the Amiga 500 and CDTV, they would allow the use of RTG and Zorro cards by choice, as well as support for USB, audio, clockport, IDE, SCSI, LAN, and more.

It makes 68040 or 68060 turbo accelerators more sensible than before, when the ECS chip was the biggest limitation.

... All adding high costs to the equation, which makes no sense, when the Pi products are readily available, are cheaper, and offer better performance.

But as you've said, its all been mentioned already. So lets not go in circles.

The sales numbers will determine if the product is viable and worth the effort.

[utri007]

Here Shadow of the third moon running on CDTV on RTG screen.

[alexh]

I wouldn't buy / get PiStorm. Simply not interested emulated CPU.

Too bad you've got one. Discussed many times before. Inside all 680x0 chips from Motorola there isn't a true 680x0 (at least nothing like the programmers model / FPGA based recreations) in fact there is a more simple CPU running microcode. Have a read up.

[utri007]

Here Duke Nuken 3D running GVP Spectrum in Zorro II slot with 68060 CPU. GVP Spectrum has same GPU than Picasso II has Cirrus Logic GD5426.

Too bad you've got one. Discussed many times before. Inside all 680x0 chips from Motorola there isn't a true 680x0 (at least nothing like the programmers model / FPGA based recreations) in fact there is a more simple CPU running microcode. Have a read up.

I see what you're getting at, but the PiStorm is Linux running an emulator, not a real 68060 CPU. I’m not going to pretend they’re the same thing just because there’s some emulation involved. Honestly, I don’t get it. What kind of reaction are you expecting from this answer? Should I say, 'Sorry, I didn’t realize the 68060 isn’t a real CPU, so I’ll just start hobbying the way you want me to?"' That I should invalidate my point of view and say that everyone should just get a PiStorm? Generally, that’s just not interesting to me.

[alexh]

the PiStorm is Linux running an emulator, not a real 68060 CPU.

PiStorm hasn't run Linux for a long time. It runs Emu68 which is a standalone bang the metal program to translate from 680x0 into ARM (and back).

[Steve]

Yeah anyone who puts down PiStorm simply has a big misunderstanding. It's that scary word 'emulate' isn't it? It puts people off, they put the word 'emulate' and 'fake rip-off' in the same context. Let's face it, what makes an Amiga uniquely Amiga isn't the CPU, it's the custom chipset. The chipset doesn't care what CPU is processing it's data, it's agnostic as long as it gets what it expects. What it expects has to be perfect, otherwise it wouldn't work or crash. So basically, anything that 'emulates' a CPU accurately is doing carbon-copy quality work, then the rest of the unique-ness of the Amiga still operates as intended.

Taking it to the extreme, one could say a 68060 isn't something desirable with the same arguments that a PiStorm CPU isn't desirable. It's not exactly something that the Amiga team designed for. Let's face it, if the PiStorm came out in the 90's, it'd be accepted today as a fully fledged retro accelerator, no questions asked.

[utri007]

Taking it to the extreme, one could say a 68060 isn't something desirable with the same arguments that a PiStorm CPU isn't desirable. It's not exactly something that the Amiga team designed for. Let's face it, if the PiStorm came out in the 90's, it'd be accepted today as a fully fledged retro accelerator, no questions asked.

Maybe, but it has nothing to do with this thread, the Indivision ECS v4, or its RTG driver. Don't you think you could start your own thread for that topic? Everyone is not interested in PiStorm.

[alexh]

It's a competing RTG solution for ECS computers so I think that makes it relevant no?

But PiStorm currently doesn't have a scandoubler/flickerfixer which the Indivision has and PiStorm's planned one "framethrower" has no release date for ECS or AGA nor price.

I'm curious to know if Indivision ECS V4 supports screen dragging with native screens behind? And how native screens are selected Vs RTG? Native PiP?