BRANE writes:
> > Or as Zeljko suggested a Crusoe (which is not crap) :-)
> > However because of their NDAs, binding agreements etc. it's out of the
> > question too.
>
> I don't like Transmeta. Very closed design.
>
> > Another VERY good idea is the PowerPC (especially the new offerings from
> > IBM) which may not be that low consumption as a say a MIPS but it's
> > definitely the best CPU around in terms of price/performance for your
> buck.
> > Not to mention that it is fully supported. 68K-to-PowerPC translators
> > already exist and it could be the stuff of dreams for all
hobby-computing
> > afficionados (our QLers included). Unfortunately that too would require
a
> > huge investment, the market just doesn't have...
> >
>
> As I see it, PowerPC is not so vastly different from MIPS.
> I have searched for a nice model, but there is not such a thing.
Everything
> is either in BGA, obsolete or otherwise problematic.
>
> > Maybe (I say maybe) a good idea would be (given the QLs 20th
anniversary)
> > to gather all die-hard Amiga, Atari, QL (and other currently
regarded-as-
> > obscure) platform users to provide a viable alternative to the
> > mainstream... maybe a sourceforge project even?
>
> Not a bad idea. But IMHO problem with these things is:
>
> -closed design with finite resources. Whoever does the design, tries to
bake
> a buck (or ten) from selling it
>
> -they try to be 100% compatible and end up being uninteresting
>
> I am contemplating doing good old QL with new chips as a dead simple
> few_chips_design, preferably with old 68000.
>
> But problems that arise from that keep me spinning in an endless loop.
>
> With 68000, it's hard to ensure bandwidth needed for generation of a
decent
> picture (like 800x600 with 16bp or such).
> If design is beefed up for this, it stops being simple.
> If I consider alternatives, it causes chain of design changes which end
with
> whole thing being awfuly degeneric and mutated.
>
> Only few_chip_design that would capture true QL spirit while still being
> simple that I can envision is to do whole thing with Analog Devices
> ADSP-2192 DSP, emulating 68000 with DSP/blitter/FPU extensions.
>
> Everything else could be packed in a simple CPLD, along with a couple of
> SDRAMs.
>
> Unfortunately, ADSP-2192 is not cheap, until recently it was unavailable
and
> there is no free development software for it. Besides, it could probably
> emulate 68000 at some 30/50 MHz. With incredible math performance, but
still
> quite dated integer performance.
>
> So, after all this it seems to me that using MIPS (or similar machine)
with
> Linux and optinally emultaing native QL seems like a optimal solution...
StrongARM?
Per
