68060 sources

News & updates for the upcoming 68060 accelerator

Moderators: terriblefire, Terriblefire Moderator

JoeFloyd
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 11:08 pm

Re: 68060 sources

Post by JoeFloyd »

I found an E-Bay listing for a Motorola MVME-177 SBC in working condition which has an 68060RC50 (FPU+MMU) CPU. The seller has more than one board available and is willing to accept reasonable offers. I ended up purchasing a few boards directly from the seller (outside of E-Bay) for around $200 each.

Once the boards arrive I'll test the processors.

Motorola made a series of VME based SBC. The MVME-177 is from around 1991. Earlier boards tend to have 68040 processors while more recent boards have PPC based CPUs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_ ... _Computers
polpo
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2021 9:34 pm

Re: 68060 sources

Post by polpo »

I’ve also looked at MVME boards as sources for 060s. It seems that the majority have early revision XC series CPUs so overclockability will probably be low.

I recently got a Kontron VM172 VME board for $200 and that one has a late 71E41J CPU. Those don’t come for cheap often, so keep your eyes out.

Unfortunately I don’t have an 060 accelerator yet (waiting for the TF360) so I can’t test it yet!

A2ADBC01-E0EA-4E87-8943-D9C6978F0467.jpeg
A2ADBC01-E0EA-4E87-8943-D9C6978F0467.jpeg (681.12 KiB) Viewed 6421 times
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5368
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: 68060 sources

Post by terriblefire »

I know overclocking is a bit of a fetish with Amiga's but its sort of pointless IMHO. I get the sport of it.. sort of.

Honestly once you have a 50Mhz 060 you pretty much have the best classic amgia. 64Mb of ram is nice.. 128Mb is more than anyone would need.

Also unless you're into demos in a big way just get an LC CPU.

If you want the fastest Amiga ever get a G4 Mac Mini and install Morphos or OS4. Its 16+ years old now and is about 100 times faster than a classic amiga and 100 times slower than current desktop machines.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
Higgy
Posts: 400
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:05 pm
Location: Somerset

Re: 68060 sources

Post by Higgy »

Desoldering the CPU from those VME cards is not fun!
My VME172PA 644SE had a MC68060RC60 8-)
60Mhz rated Freescale version :ugeek:
User avatar
mrbombermillzy
Posts: 1441
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:37 pm

Re: 68060 sources

Post by mrbombermillzy »

terriblefire wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:55 pm I know overclocking is a bit of a fetish with Amiga's but its sort of pointless IMHO. I get the sport of it.. sort of.

Honestly once you have a 50Mhz 060 you pretty much have the best classic amgia. 64Mb of ram is nice.. 128Mb is more than anyone would need.
@terriblefire

Normally I would just lurk and read the comments on stuff like this but, with the above, I beg to differ.

I am currently in the (very) early stages of porting my game over to the 68k machines...

I'm not even talking about any possibly bloated code; JUST the multi dimensional arrays and variables on their own is 80Mb of data. And that's without any media assets AND the data is potentially required at all times of the game loop, so can't practically be loaded in and out of RAM at an appropriate time.

I'm expecting to have to condense it down a bit, and tone down the full set of features, (especially GFX/Sound) but I hope it won't be so far shrunk that it reduces its complexity to the level of space invaders, or alternatively, I need to go to the effort of creating some sort of funky data compression and I/O system just to achieve the required results.

Anyhow...

Perhaps something to consider, as you are the one who gets to make these design choices and I was looking at the TF cards as possible target systems. :)
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5368
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: 68060 sources

Post by terriblefire »

mrbombermillzy wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 7:59 pm @terriblefire

Normally I would just lurk and read the comments on stuff like this but, with the above, I beg to differ.

I am currently in the (very) early stages of porting my game over to the 68k machines...

Im not even talking about any possibly bloated code; JUST the multi dimensional arrays and variables on their own is 80Mb of data. And thats without any media assets AND the data is potentially required at all times of the game loop, so cant practically be loaded in and out of RAM at an appropriate time.

Im expecting to have to condense it down a bit, and tone down the full set of features, (especially GFX/Sound) but I hope it wont be so far shrunk that it reduces its complexity to the level of space invaders, or alternatively, I need to go to the effort of creating some sort of funky data compression and I/O system just to achieve the required results.

Anyhow...

Perhaps something to consider, as you are the one who gets to make these design choices and I was looking at the TF cards as possible target systems. :)
But i would really suggest that its a fools errand to port a game with that much data to computer thats pushing 40 years old. Its not representative of the original machine at all.

Write a game for the Amiga by all means. But porting what is essentially is a PC game to the Amiga only for it to require PC level of hardware is daft. Just play it on the PC.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
User avatar
mrbombermillzy
Posts: 1441
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:37 pm

Re: 68060 sources

Post by mrbombermillzy »

terriblefire wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:08 pm
But i would really suggest that its a fools errand to port a game with that much data to computer thats pushing 40 years old. Its not representative of the original machine at all.

Write a game for the Amiga by all means. But porting what is essentially is a PC game to the Amiga only for it to require PC level of hardware is daft. Just play it on the PC.
Well, yes, that's all the 'close to stock' machines will manage; possibly subsets of certain game features, which I may turn into mini games.

However, there is a bit of a revolution with the 68k Amiga accelerators lately and the card specs are going up; in certain cases, we can have Pentium 2 class performance (which is what the original system spec for the game was) and 1Gb RAM. Not really representative of the 'original' machines, but if they can handle it, why not?

Look at what the C64 can do 'stock' and then with a 16Mb REU. Extra memory really helps.

Remember what Bill Gates once said about that 640kb... :lol:
terriblefire
Moderator Team
Moderator Team
Posts: 5368
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: 68060 sources

Post by terriblefire »

mrbombermillzy wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:21 pm Well, yes, thats all the 'close to stock' machines will manage; possibly subsets of certain game features, which I may turn into mini games.

However, there is a bit of a revolution with the 68k Amiga acellerators lately and the card specs are going up; in certain cases, we can have Pentium 2 class performance (which is what the original system spec for the game was) and 1Gb RAM. Not really representative of the 'original' machines, but if they can handle it, why not?

Look at what the C64 can do 'stock' and then with a 16Mb REU. Extra memory really helps.

Remember what Bill Gates once said about that 640kb... :lol:
But you can have Pentium II class performance on a PC with a Pentium II for less money. Or you can have it on an emulator for even less money. I love accelerating amiga's but i'm also all about using the right tool for the right job. Maybe its time i stopped.
———
"It is not necessarily a supply voltage at no load, but the amount of current it can provide when touched that
indicates how much hurting you shall receive."
User avatar
mrbombermillzy
Posts: 1441
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:37 pm

Re: 68060 sources

Post by mrbombermillzy »

terriblefire wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:38 pm But you can have Pentium II class performance on a PC with a Pentium II for less money. Or you can have it on an emulator for even less money. I love accelerating amiga's but i'm also all about using the right tool for the right job.
It's not about the money or another system can do it better. I'm well aware of what's out there.

You get PC games ported to the C64 for the fun of it. I just want to convert my game to the 68k systems. That's all.

terriblefire wrote: Tue Nov 23, 2021 8:38 pm Maybe its time i stopped.
Please continue your fine work. However, if it's a trivial thing to extend the memory on your cards, why not humour the crazy people who want to cram a PC game into the Amiga?

Anyway, I don't want to completely derail the thread. I'm sure we can PM any further correspondence about this matter.
JoeFloyd
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri May 08, 2020 11:08 pm

Re: 68060 sources

Post by JoeFloyd »

I received the MVME 177 boards. The boards are as advertised. Each contains a XC68060RC50A. I installed one of the CPUs (verified to be a full RC variant) on a TF1260 and it has been running Frontier Elite overnight without issue. I haven't tried to overclock the chip, but at 50Mhz running Frontier Elite the chip is only slightly warm.

The MVME 177 board without CPU may retain some value as an industrial parts spare. I'll need to look into that. The boards are pretty well packed with bus transceivers, Ethernet phy, SCSI controllers, and other early 90's technology.
Post Reply

Return to “TF360”