Whole ATARI system on a PCI card

[UNIXcoffee928]

Due to lack of interest this post has been removed.

Edited May 4, 2006 by UNIXcoffee928

[PacMan]

Ehr, say what ?

[Ross PK]

Lol, I didn't get it either.

[AtariNerd]

An attempt at reverse psychology.

 

A PCI emu/hardware card that would allow you to run Atari aps using your modern computer monitor, etc you could slip into your computer is a nice idea i've had before, too. I never had the know-how to do so, however.

Edited April 25, 2006 by AtariNerd

[Gregory DG]

You can put an Atari (8-bit or ST) on a floppy disk ya know. Why you'd need to put in on a PCI card is beyond me....

[+FujiSkunk]

You can put an Atari (8-bit or ST) on a floppy disk ya know. Why you'd need to put in on a PCI card is beyond me....

 

I'm assuming you were being sarcastic, and that no one needs to explain the difference between software emulation and hardware cloning, and how the latter tends to be more accurate.

 

I'm assuming...

Edited April 25, 2006 by skunkworx

[Gunstar]

It's a good idea, to be sure, but even if I obtained one some day, it would still not threaten to remove my 800, 1200xl and 130xe from my desktops. I hate emulation and prefer the real hardware, a plus for a PCI card 8-bit, but there is still far more to the original equipment that a PCI card can never replace IMHO. (not going into it now) So, I'm not worried if one is never made, and if one is, I may get it, but It would just be a forth version of the Atari 8-bit in my household, and my desktops will still remain as cluttered as ever.

On a similair note, I have the SIO2PC/A.P.E and a MyIDE +flash HD, but I still use my floppy drives and tape drives even so; those products didn't send my real Atari drives to the closet either...

The only thing that will stop me from using original Atari equipment is break-downs that can't be repaired. I'll never use emulation, when My real hardware dies, and I can't find replacements, my love for this hobby will die too.

[+warerat]

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE AN ATARI ON A PCI CARD. THIS MEANS YOU!

 

 

Is that enough incentive?

 

 

WDC supposedly has designed 32-bit 6502 upgrades.

http://www.westerndesigncenter.com/wdc/microprocessors.cfm

 

WDC looks to the future with Terbium Technology

The Terbium 32-bit microprocessor (W65T32) is a next generation low power cost sensitive microprocessor that is software compatible with other WDC 65xx family predecessors and can address 4 gigawords of memory and memory mapped IO. The variable length instruction set and manually optimized core size makes the W65T32 an excellent choice for low power system designs. The W65T32 has a 16-bit data bus and 32-bit address bus. The W65T32 may be used with either an 8- or 16-bit data bus memory or peripherals and can efficiently handle 8-, 16- and 32-bit IO and data memory.

FPGA technology can allow for this IP, if WDC doesn't intend to sell them.

 

:!: ONCE AGAIN, DO NOT BUILD AN ATARI COMPUTER ON A PCI CARD. :!:

 

Think of how much less clutter will be on your desk.

 

(Who are you fooling, anyway? It'll be even worse with the soldering station.)

 

IT WOULD NEVER WORK, SO DON'T BOTHER TRYING!

 

But, what if it did?

 

 

 

L8R,

 

UNIXcoffee928

 

 

Sure this would work. But then it wouldn't be an Atari 8-bit anymore. If I could get ANTIC and GTIA into VHDL, I could probably put the whole computer in a Spartan3. The 6502 is in VHDL, FREDDIE, POKEY is mostly there sans serial port (look at www.fpgaarcade.com), and the 6520 PIA is really easy.

 

Just need those two core chips. The internal schematics for them are unreadable. Then you could really have an Atari on a chip that's a faithful reproduction of the original. Lot of work, but not impossible. But I forgot, people only like to play games on their Atari.

[+remowilliams]

Sure this would work. But then it wouldn't be an Atari 8-bit anymore. If I could get ANTIC and GTIA into VHDL, I could probably put the whole computer in a Spartan3. The 6502 is in VHDL, FREDDIE, POKEY is mostly there sans serial port (look at www.fpgaarcade.com), and the 6520 PIA is really easy.

 

Just need those two core chips. The internal schematics for them are unreadable. Then you could really have an Atari on a chip that's a faithful reproduction of the original. Lot of work, but not impossible. But I forgot, people only like to play games on their Atari.

Now THATS what I'm waiting for!

 

Someone needs to finish the VHDL implementations so I can get an A8 on my C-One

[+warerat]

Sure this would work. But then it wouldn't be an Atari 8-bit anymore. If I could get ANTIC and GTIA into VHDL, I could probably put the whole computer in a Spartan3. The 6502 is in VHDL, FREDDIE, POKEY is mostly there sans serial port (look at www.fpgaarcade.com), and the 6520 PIA is really easy.

 

Just need those two core chips. The internal schematics for them are unreadable. Then you could really have an Atari on a chip that's a faithful reproduction of the original. Lot of work, but not impossible. But I forgot, people only like to play games on their Atari.

Now THATS what I'm waiting for!

 

Someone needs to finish the VHDL implementations so I can get an A8 on my C-One

 

To be quite honest, VHDL models are the only thing that can preserve these machines.... Once the custom VLSIs are gone (think of all the good ones that are in landfills right now), they're gone. And the documentation on the low-level internals is either unreadable or sparse for GTIA/ANTIC. Those two chips are the major stumbling blocks.

[DamageX]

8-bit Ataris are such rare, mysterious, and complex machines that they'll never be emulated correctly, so we'd better clone one on a PCI card! And hurry, before they all vanish FOREVER! That could be the LAST ONE right there on your desk! What a bunch of conspiracy theories

[accousticguitar]

8-bit Ataris are such rare, mysterious, and complex machines that they'll never be emulated correctly, so we'd better clone one on a PCI card! And hurry, before they all vanish FOREVER! That could be the LAST ONE right there on your desk! What a bunch of conspiracy theories

 

 

I've never seen an emulator that even came close to reproducing the real hardware. Have you? If so, I would like to know which one it was

[+remowilliams]

I've never seen an emulator that even came close to reproducing the real hardware. Have you? If so, I would like to know which one it was

Yes. There are many, many good emulators that come very close to the original target hardware.

[carmel_andrews]

Nice processor (32bit version of the 6502), shame that the manuf'r is about 10 to 20 years too late

 

Could form the basis of a potential 32 bit upgrade for cbm and atari 8'rs (incl. upgraded sound/graphics hardware)

[Fletch]

I had a PowerMac 7300 that came with a PCI card that was essentially a whole Pentium 100 system. It had its own video ram and system ram and could either share the Mac's monitor or drive its own seperately. It was pretty slick, but only ran Windows 95 in 16-bit mode so it quickly became obsolete.

 

Pete

[doctorclu]

I had a PowerMac 7300 that came with a PCI card that was essentially a whole Pentium 100 system. It had its own video ram and system ram and could either share the Mac's monitor or drive its own seperately. It was pretty slick, but only ran Windows 95 in 16-bit mode so it quickly became obsolete.

 

Pete

 

That was a cool card!

 

The Spectre GCR for the ST (for Macintosh emulation) with the Mac OS chip on a cartridge was basically this daughter board idea.

 

And at one time I believe Emulators, Inc had a system where you put on system chips on a board to run Atari 8-bit, Mac, and ST software on the PC.

 

http://www.emulators.com/index.htm

 

Naturally that was some time ago when the PC's did not have the processor power to emulate those roms.