TURBO CARD for XE ATARI

[Umberto]

I want 2, looks great

[JoSch]

 

Works with different OS?

 

Rapidus requires OS with New Device support, becuase this is a primary method to load FPGA core from flash memory. Second method is loading core from the disk, but considering core size (unpacked takes more than 300kB) it's a quite long process.

 

You can also flash some OS into Rapidus and work at full speed.

 

What does "OS with New Device support" exactly mean?

[+Larry]

@Pasiu-

Thanks for the explanations!

 

@Lotharek-

Please put me down for one (1).

 

-Larry

[+CharlieChaplin]

--

Edited October 22, 2014 by CharlieChaplin

[pasiu]

What does "OS with New Device support" exactly mean?

 

New Device is the common name for peripheral devices connected through parallel interface (PBI - XL models) or CART/ECI (XE models). All computers starting from 600XL/800XL models with original operating system are able to work with New Devices, however some of XE models (65XE w/o ECI and XEGS) need an extra hardware modification.

Old 400/800 and 1200XL computers have operating system without New Device handling routines, so they are not able to work with New Devices. These models require more modifications done in hardware including OS replacement, but installation of Incognito in 800 or Ultimate1MB in 1200XL should help here a lot.

 

Edited October 22, 2014 by pasiu

[guus.assmann]

Hello,

 

I've been waiting for this for a long time.

And I'm happy it's almost available.

Yes, I do want one for sure.

 

BR/

Guus Assmann

[+JAC!]

I am really astonished to see so many programs running more fluently but not faster/breaking, esp. all the 3D stuff.
That really shows a good programming style with parallelism (VBI vs. main loop).

And seeing the ZX Spectrum games emulated on an Atari on steroids is close as it can get to the definition of "nerdy" :-)

[kogden]

Wow, this might almost make Flight Simulator II playable!

 

While this is really cool, and I want one.... you could probably get a really nicely equipped Apple IIgs for 176USD.

[ZuluGula]

While this is really cool, and I want one.... you could probably get a really nicely equipped Apple IIgs for 176USD.

For that money you could get modern new computer or tablet, but that's not the point.

[kogden]

For that money you could get modern new computer or tablet, but that's not the point.

 

I never said it wasn't cool, it's just a bit more than I expected a 65816 upgrade to end up costing. Not trying to say it's a worthless upgrade by any means. Just not something I'd use enough to justify the cost. IDEPlus, the low-budget S-video boards, RAM expansions, etc I actually use a lot. Not sure I'd get the same mileage out of this one.

[vazquezrick]

I will take one

[TXG/MNX]

Will there be a special IDE interface connected to this board that would support the highest speed?

 

Only to bad the ram is not the full 16mb that the 65816 supports.

Edited October 23, 2014 by TXG/MNX

[drac030]

QuoteOnly to bad the ram is not the full 16mb that the 65816 supports.

 

The CPU-visible RAM is present there from $000000 to $EFFFFF (15 MB), the last 1 MB is covered by Fast ROM, the board's internal registers and such. So indeed, there is not full coverage of the address space with RAM, but I would not emphasize that as a great loss, especially that there are yet additional 16 MB of Fast Banked RAM available (in 4 banks 4 MB each) - the board has 32 MB RAM total, which is more than the CPU can directly address.

Edited October 23, 2014 by drac030

[TXG/MNX]

Ok thanx for clearing this, this is very cool... I didn't read about the banking system on this before...

 

On the lotharek website there is also a text

 

high speed bus connector for external I/O interfaces, DMA support,

 

This should make it possible to get a highspeed IDE on the board I guess to bad it's not added on this version directly...

[pasiu]

There is an idea to add hdd controller, but as a second board connected to Rapidus. I even started the design many months ago, but Rapidus had higher priority.

 

Here you can see picture of "Portus" on early stage of pcb design.

 

 

 

 

[TXG/MNX]

Thats cool would it not be best to combine rapidus and portus on one pcb this would make it smaller and maybe you can fit it all in one fpga/cpld that would be the ultimate upgrade. I see usb and ethernet aswell. I hope the Ide can have sata connectors to be more modern.

[+Larry]

Does Rapidus accelerate the base 64K (or 48K) or only the extended "Fast Ram?" Presume that roms are not accelerated?

 

I don't see how Karateka could "run fast" unless the base ram were accelerated, but probably still worth asking. I know that some earlier accelerators (F4?) did not accelerate the base ram.

 

-Larry

[kenjennings]

if this is confirmed working in an 800XL I would get one.

[pasiu]

Rapidus works in 800XL, but it needs extra adapter. Without it you won't be able to close the housing cover of your Atari.

Here you can see Rapidus in action inside my 800XL. http://youtu.be/G4Bb0QBlIYI

 

Mentioned adapter is not ready yet. Please be patient.

 

[drac030]

Larry, on 23 Oct 2014 - 9:30 PM, said:

Does Rapidus accelerate the base 64K (or 48K) or only the extended "Fast Ram?" Presume that roms are not accelerated?

 

Rapidus can be setup to accelerate the base RAM or not. The base RAM is divided into 4 sections, 16k each. Each section can be separately configured so that it is accelerated or not. You can configure this in software, and the configuration change does not require a reset (it can be changed on the fly).

 

"Old" ROMs on the Atari motherboard are not accelerated. Rapidus however contains own Fast ROM which can be (logically) substituted for the original OS ROM. This ROM is flashable, you reflash it from the DOS prompt. The ROM selection ("old" or "new") is done as above, but, naturally, it requires a reset.

 

Atari BASIC is not accelerated, but when you run FP package from the aforementioned accelerated ROM, the following loop:

 

10 FOR X=1 TO 10000:NEXT X

 

executes in 8.7 secs.

[+Larry]

Thanks! That's nice flexibility!

 

-Larry

[+CharlieChaplin]

Rapidus works in 800XL, but it needs extra adapter. Without it you won't be able to close the housing cover of your Atari.

Here you can see Rapidus in action inside my 800XL. http://youtu.be/G4Bb0QBlIYI

 

Mentioned adapter is not ready yet. Please be patient.

 

 

This youtube video also shows the microram 1MB upgrade - will this upgrade be available finally ?!?

[+Larry]

Ditto!

 

This was a wonderful upgrade, and appears to have gotten lost with the move to the Ultimate. Please finish this!!!

 

Take a new poll to establish interest?

 

-Larry

[atari8warez]

Wow, this might almost make Flight Simulator II playable!

 

While this is really cool, and I want one.... you could probably get a really nicely equipped Apple IIgs for 176USD.

 

And Karateka too

[+AtariNerd]

I'm interested in one - might finally spur me to dabble with some of the other upgrades I've been holding off on.