A sneak peek at the ACA1240/1260 cooling system

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
    Quote from VosCoBoss

    Is there any way to apply as beta tester?

    Haven't thought of any way yet. We'll need to establish internal test procedures first, which won't be happening before the first pass-produced batch is available to us, and that's not going to be before late March 2023.


    We did have trouble finding people for a serious betatest for Keyrah V3 - lots of people who "just wanted to have it", willing to pay, but not willing to dedicate any time. WIth something like Keyrah, I have then reverted to only accepting testers who already have a Keyrah, so I knew that the setup for testing is already there, and the "I want to be first"-portion of wanting to be a tester (but not really having an idea what testing means - especially the writing-bugreports part) is out of the equation. What further limited my search was that I wanted testers to be close - either in Germany or at least in directly-neighbouring countries, so shipping is not too expensive if returning the product is required.


    I really have to limit access to Rev.6 68060 CPUs, so expect that not a single unit with such a CPU will go to any tester. Any other conditions - I don't know yet.


    Jens

    For me personally, it goes without saying that beta-testing involves putting in time to actually test and write bug reports. The having it first-part is of course a nice plus being a beta tester. There has to be something in it for both the tester and the supplier.


    Living in a neighbouring country I’d be glad to help when the time comes.

    Yes, the prototype has passed all tests and is ready for mass-production, which is currently running. However, even with the units being produced, it's not yet a finished product, as firmware is not yet feature-complete.

    Looking forward to purchase one.


    A couple of questions:


    #1 - I think I read that you will add possibility for connecting a graphics board to the ACA1260. Will it be for sale when the card is ready for sale or later?

    #2 - Will the ACA1260 have any clockports?

    Quote from erkorh

    #1 - I think I read that you will add possibility for connecting a graphics board to the ACA1260. Will it be for sale when the card is ready for sale or later?

    The GFX card will not be for sale at the same time. The board we've tested was just made to test the interface of the ACA1240/1260, and to make it the very first usable thing on the port, I've added some RAM and a 64-colour VGA output. Just given this data, you'll see that there's no point making a product with such low specs. However, "something" had to be made to judge if the ACA1240/1260 is fit for production: The expansion port must work if I'm delivering the cards. It would be a shame if the port doesn't work properly, but we only find out after hundreds of units have been shipped :-)


    Quote from erkorh

    #2 - Will the ACA1260 have any clockports?

    One clock port, geared towards being used for the RTC module. You can use other devices, too, but I do not encourage using the clock port at all. As you may know, iComp has stopped making clock port expansions that use a cable clock port, and we do not endorse using such expansions at all. It's just an accident waiting to happen, giving a bad Amiga experience. We want to provide something better.


    Jens

    Hi Jens!


    If you already provide a GFX module (guessing using an FPGA ?), will it also have some extra like hardware video/audio decoders ?


    Would be cool!

    Regards

    Quote from NicoPPC

    will it also have some extra like hardware video/audio decoders ?

    Most likely not, no. Frame buffer with 2D acceleration and proper P96 support is what I aim for. Remember this is an Amiga product. We don't want to turn the Amiga into a platform that it never was.


    Jens

    Quote from Jens

    Most likely not, no. Frame buffer with 2D acceleration and proper P96 support is what I aim for. Remember this is an Amiga product. We don't want to turn the Amiga into a platform that it never was.


    Jens


    Ok. Sound great. looking forward to see that


    Schönen Tag.


    Cheers!

    Quote from Jens

    Just given this data, you'll see that there's no point making a product with such low specs.

    Yes agree.


    Would be really awesome if the possible future graphics card could hook up to the Indivision 3 and auto switch output from scandoubler/graphics board to one VGA/HDMI output :)

    Quote from erkorh

    Would be really awesome if the possible future graphics card could hook up to the Indivision 3 and auto switch output from scandoubler/graphics board to one VGA/HDMI output :)

    Unlikely, as HDMI switch chips have been phased out with pretty much every chip vendor that I've checked in the past. If you want to do some research, go ahead - happy to look into this again when I actually make that design, but at this point, I'm leaning towards "use the switch that's in 99.999% of the monitors already".


    Jens

    Hello Jens,


    This is such great news. Is there any rough ETA for the card? Is there a possibility of pre-ordering the product?


    Best regards,

    Mirko

    Quote from Jens

    When it's done.


    Only when I have a release date. I'm not taking any money unless I know exactly when I can ship.

    Thank you for the information.

    In order to ensure that I'm prepared for the imminent announcement of the ACA1240 release..
    Roughly how many chickens should I have set aside for trade for a base model ?

    For the sake of simplification ..

    Let's say these are really nice, free range chickens which sell for about $40 each, as sold here in Toronto today :)


    Of course I would not try to pry the final selling price out of you so early, just a rough card for chicken guesstimation.
    Feel free to use another unit of trade as you see fit or appropriate :D

    The number of free range chickens required by UPS alone to clear the shipment into Canada exceeds my tolerance. Sad but true.

    Quote from ljmarent

    Roughly how many chickens should I have set aside for trade for a base model ?

    For the sake of simplification ..


    I'm still aiming at 500,- EUR for the 68040/25MHz/256MB variant. This includes the German VAT of 19%, so it's roughly 420,- EUR for shipments outside Europe - plus the actual shipping cost, which JasonE pointed out is only available from a premium service. Even if I still had a DHL account, I would not use it for such a valuable card.


    Quote from ljmarent

    Feel free to use another unit of trade as you see fit or appropriate :D

    Given that the 420 number came up, hamsters may be a common denominator. Price of actual 420 varies a lot locally, so that's probably not a good comparison :-) However, if I'm in the mood, it may happen that it's going up for sale for 420.69 EUR...


    Jens

    Excellent news.
    Approximately 15 - 16 Chickens...
    okay ... I've got that set aside... Maybe I can even upgrade a little...


    The Hamster payment option is also exciting...


    Let's see:


    The Canadian Central Bank won't let me trade in Russian hamsters (propped up currency anyway) ...
    So about $18 per hamster plus applicable conversion fees
    Brings the base model of the card to approximately 35 hamsters at todays market rates...
    A compelling option.


    Thanks for the update.

    I believe Hamsters would be a much better currency than chickens. They have more value per pound, much more likely to survive a UPS shipment, and less likely to be eaten if misdirected through along the route.