Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: 68020
Message-ID: <5820@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jan 89 21:20:01 GMT
References: <27669@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 54

in article <27669@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, me128-aw@kepler.Berkeley.EDU (me128 student) says:

> In article <11061@gryphon.COM> tsub@pnet02.cts.com (Tom Wang) writes:
>>How does the Commodore A2620 (68020, M68881, and 68851 MMU) compare with the
>>Ronin Hurricane Board?  It seems to me that they are both basicly the same
>>thing, except the Ronin is upgradable to 68030 and M68882 (am I correct?).

> From what I've heard, the Commodore board is almost exactly 1/2 the speed of
> the Ronin board, due to the fact that it has 2 wait states and the Ronin
> has none.

Where did you hear this?  It's complete bunk!  The Ronin memory board runs
with 1 wait state, the A2620 with 2.  They're both using the same speed
DRAM, but the A2620's MMU requires an extra wait state for reliable
operation.

On the other hand, the Ronin memory doesn't accept DMA, so if you're using
a DMA driven hard disk, your hard disk performance can drop to 50% or
worse of what you get with the plain 68000, depending on system load and
display resolution.  The A2620 allows 16 bit DMA devices to access it's
memory, so most DMA driven devices run significantly faster on an A2620.
If you're using non-DMA devices like the GVP hard disk controller, the
Ronin, A2620, CSA, etc. boards with 32 bit memory will all give you a
performance increase, though not to the same degree as DMA into 32 bit
RAM.

> If you need to run UNIX, I suggest you call Ronin, as I don't want to 
> say anything about anything they might be waiting to unveil.

I really doubt a 3rd party the size of Ronin will try to market their
own UNIX.  It's possible that they could find a way to make the Commodore
UNIX run on their board.  Actually, the "run" part should be no problem,
but early on in the startup process, Commodore UNIX is looking for some
things that are A2620 specific and would have to be emulated on a 3rd
party board.

> If you don't need UNIX, I'd strongly recommend the Ronin board.  It's fast,
> extremely-well engineered, and a fine board all around.  

The construction struck me as a bit cheap, but the thing worked just fine
in several A2000's I tried, and all three boards looked well laid out.
TINAR, but if you want one, I wrote a review of the Ronin board, with 
both '020 and '030, lots of benchmarks, etc, last fall for Amiga Sentry.
If you're considering a Ronin board, you should check this out.  

> Just my opinion, not necessarily that of my school, friends, professors,
> associates, or relatives.

> -Vince Lee

-- 
Dave Haynie  "The 32 Bit Guy"     Commodore-Amiga  "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: D-DAVE H     BIX: hazy
              Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession