Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!sunic!enea!tope
From: tope@enea.se (Tommy Petersson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: 68030 Accelerators, Info Wanted
Message-ID: <347@enea.se>
Date: 12 Oct 89 16:59:56 GMT
References: <18650001@hpfinote.HP.COM>
Reply-To: tope@helios.se (Tommy Petersson)
Organization: Enea Data AB, Sweden
Lines: 34
UUCP-Path: mcvax!kth!sunic!helios!tope

In article <18650001@hpfinote.HP.COM> larryc@hpfinote.HP.COM (Larry Chesler) writes:
-
-I'm in the market to add an '030 accelerator to my 2000. My primary reason
-is to accelerate things like ray tracing. I don't have much backround on the
-various '030 options available. Several questions come to mind;
-
-	1. Are all '030 accelerators equal ? Are they all compatible with
-	   existing AMIGA software ?
-
You could say that a lot of existing games software (and some non-games)
is not compatible with anything but vanilla 68000 Amiga. Proper written
software would work on them all, but there would be a lo more of
compatibility to think of with other hardware (like memory and disk
controllers). I think it is important to have the opportunity to easy
select normal 68000 operation (I have the A2620 and you just press the
two buttons during boot), since so many programs won't work otherwise.

-	3. Does AMIGA software like Sculpt 4D automatically notice that
-	   you have FPU hardware in the system and use it appropriately ?
-	   Alas, perhaps the ability to use FPU hardware in the system
-	   has been compiled into the code. 
-
Sculpt 4D has a special 68020 version, which can only be un on
systems with 68020 and up. This would use a FPU, as some other of the
more professional product. Most programs, though, wouldn't care a lot.

-	5. How about the Commmodore '030 board, what will it contain and 
-	   at what cost ?
-
(The rumours that sounded most beleivable) is 68030, 68882 FPU and
2 MB 32-bit memory (MMU built-in).

tope@enea.se
Tommy P.