Atari Coldfire Project
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The Atari Coldfire Project (ACP) or (FireBee) is a volunteer project that aims to create a modern Atari computer clone. [1]
Reason for the project
The Atari 16 and 32 computer systems (ST, TT and Falcon) were popular home computers in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. Atari withdrew largely from the computer market in 1993, and completely in 1995-1996 when Atari merged with JTS and all support for the platform by Atari was dropped. The systems Atari had built became increasingly left behind as newer and faster systems came out. The few dedicated users who were left wanted more processing power to develop more-advanced TOS applications, paving the way for a number of "clone" machines, such as the 68040-based Milan and the 68060-based Hades, both of which were considerably more powerful than the 68030-based TT and Falcon and the 68000-based ST/STe. These machines support ISA and PCI buses, which make the use of network and graphics cards designed for the PC possible (something no original Atari machines could do). The machines also support tower cases, making it possible to use internal CD drives.
A new clone named Phoenix never made it to market in final form. However, the powerful rev. 6 68060 CPU it would use did make it into a new accelerator board for the Falcon, the CT60/CT63 series, which meant that, for the first time, the Atari platform had a CPU rated at over 100 MHz. The use of a high-speed bus and PC133 RAM also accounted for a big performance improvement and significantly increased the Falcon's on-board memory limit from 14 MiB to 512 MiB with a CT60.
These systems were not mass-produced and are now hard to find. While the CT60/CT63 needs a Falcon “donor” system, and is still not as powerful as the ACP potential system could be, the ACP will use a completely new design, moving away from 68K CPUs to the newer ColdFire class, more powerful than even the fastest 68K chips while still having a largely similar (but not completely compatible) instruction set. It will also allow for the integration of many IO ports that are currently only available through extensive hardware modification on the Atari platform.
Specifications
The specifications for the ACP have changed considerably over time, in response to advancing technology and price considerations. However, it seems the following will be in the final design according to Atari Coldfire Project homepage:[citation needed]
- Processor: Coldfire MCF5474, 266MHz, 400MIPS
- RAM: DDR, 512MB Main- + 128MB Video- and Special-RAM on Board, Speed: 1GB/s
- Flash: 8MB on Board for Operating Systems
- Operating system: TOS3.06 for the beginning (we're trying for EmuTOS as TOS 4, from which we can maybe get even the source code, also)
- Atari compatible interface ports:
- TT/Falcon-IDE,
- ST/TT-Floppy
- TT-SCSI (but faster)
- ACSI
- ROM-Port: 2x2mm Connector
- Printer Port, parallel
- ST/TT-serial
- Midi
- ST-Sound, YM2149 over AC'97
- ST/TT/Falcon-Video
- Atari-Keyboard with Mouse
- Other Ports:
- Ethernet 10/100, 1 Port
- USB 2.0 Host (ISP1563), 4 Ports
- Compact-Flash, 1 Port
- SD-Card, 1 Port
- AC'97 Stereo Codec with DMA-Sound Output and 48kHz Sampling Input
- Sound_Connectors: LineIn, LineOut, Mic (Mono), DVD/CD internal
- New Video Modes about 2MegaPixel, true color
- PS2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
- Battery Powered (if desired)
- PCI 33MHz direct Edge for passive backplane
- Power controller with real time clock, PIC16F506
- Extension socket: 60Pol (DSPI 33Mbaud, serial sync or async about 33MBaud, 26Bit I/O about 133MHz, I2C-Bus)
- Asynchrone 512kB static RAM for DSP or similar already planned extensions in the future: Falcon DSP in the FPGA
- Format: Card 90mm x 260mm x 20mm
- Power consumption of the complete board: 3 to 5 Watts
References
- ^ Atari Firebee - An Atari Coldfire Clone Built for Music, 18 May 2010, Atari Music Network