PiStorm 68K CPU replacement and more
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- Опубликовано: 24 апр 2021
- E219: My noob level review and build of a Pistorm. what is a pistorm. well right from the source
"The PiStorm itself is an adapter board intended to be paired with a Raspberry Pi Model 3A+. It goes in the DIP socket on and acts in place of the CPU, but functionality can be extended beyond simple CPU emulation."
but it is so much more, a configurable , upgradable accellerator for the Amiga 68 pin 68000 series computers (A500/1000/2000) with RTG, Virtial disks, networking, rtc and more... all for roughly 25 us dollars for the pistorm board. * you will need a pi3A for roughly an additional 25$ and some pins for a few dollars. And about an hour of your time if that.
Now i am by far not an expert in this. this is a noob level first time build and configure what a new user would experience. I will get more involved as i learn more, for more information, or purchase inquiry, please see the following links below. I hope this finds you well, and i hope you learn something.
code, gerbers and software to have your own board made from someone like JLPCB or pcbway
Pistorm github page. github.com/captain-amygdala/p...
to purchase a pistorm pre built, login to their discord server here: click pinned post and add yourself to the group buy for your country/area
Musashi emulator info and github:
github.com/captain-amygdala/p...
installing Musashi on your pistorm and flashing the cpld.
github.com/captain-amygdala/p...
Pistorm Discord server : / discord
a few nice reviews of the PiStorm
Hackster.io review: www.hackster.io/news/hands-on...
TomsHardware review: www.tomshardware.com/news/pis...
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Incredible! that is going to sell like hot cakes.. so cheap compared to the vampire.. wow!
Nice to see a great video on the PiStorm. Looking forward to mine being delivered soon thanks to the great Group buy. And what an awesome group they are at PiStorm. Just humbling.
What a great video, thanks Chris. You are right about the potential of this product, very impressive. R I P vampire
Pistorm just turned up to the accelerator playing field with a tank. Total game changer.
Yeah Chris, I am f'nn stoked and I needed to hear this from the expert , you ... I think the sky should be the limit on this? 1000, 500, 600, 2000 , 3000, 4000 ... It's evolving! No one explains it all the details like he does ... Do you see this shit! 719 mhz. I am not trusting how the Sysinfo deciphers this, I think that's in error. This video is tops though, the details how you go through this gives us a much broader idea of how this works. Thank you GREAT WORK!
I m blown away.... Vampire for the masses...... Awesome vídeo!!!
I'm in love. My 2 500 plus machines. Can liv on for many years to come. Thank you for the video
What an awesome project. Kudos to the pistorm folks, and thank you for posting this video.
Man, imagine if someone could fork this and create a Mac accelerator board. Or Atari. Or anything that uses a 68k CPU (souped-up Sega Genesis/Mega Drive with built-in Sega CD emulation anyone?). This will change the retro scene for years!
indeed!
I do love watching retro machines of the past being propelled way beyond anything their original creators could have foreseen and in this case so cheaply.
So cool to see, I've been waiting for something like this for years...
Another great video Chris. Certainly shows that a complete novice can do this themselves. Looking forward to your future videos on this as you learn more about them.
One beer in. Thanks the world for its existence. Got love this guy, subbed.
I've been waiting all night for this!
Today, I'm getting around 800 Mips with the Pistorm and the Emu68 emulator on my CDTV. Just installed CaffeineOS based on the OS 3.9 and watched a couple of full screen videos on the Amiga.
I think that's pretty decent from a ~30 years old computer! 😀
Man, I love the Raspberry Pi. Not only can it be a modem, Amiga wireless networking device, personal web server, security cam, Octoprint server, and 1541 disk drive emulator, but now it's also an Amiga accelerator/RTG card. Just amazing for a super cheap single board computer.
And on another note - I would love to see if this physically fits in my CDTV... ooh this would be a nice all-in-one accelerator/RAM expansion/hard drive/RTG solution if it does...
The Pi is definitely one of the greatest general purpose SBC-ish devices, just for cost alone. Extremely versatile with a huge user base designing projects for it. I'm so glad it caught on. I bought an original Raspberry Pi when it was released and there wasn't a whole lot of innovation at the beginning. By the time the Raspberry Pi 2 came out, it was a large ecosystem with tons of add-ons and projects.
Working on retro machine using Linux brings a great smile to my face. Subscribed!
I'm going to defiantly get one of these.. I been waiting for someone to do something cheaper than the Apollo this is like a dream come true. Thanks for this Video Chris.
Cannot wait to get my hands on one!
Good work. You didn't even touch your Romulan ale there.
One beer build lol
This is so amazing. I'm blown away by the things the Pi gets used for. I just happen to have a couple of 3A+ boards sitting around. Now to put some money in my account for a new toy. Off to ebay with my Vampire.
Very interesting stuff Chris. Looks like this could be a winner.
Maybe i will make it on amiga news lol
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration I hear the Gamble Train a'comin down the tracks!
That's so cool that you can do this!
Wow, the Pistorm is certainly impressive, thank you for this video, I just subscribed and hope you will do more videos about the Pistorm and things like RTG.
I think I once read that Eben Upton the guy behind the Raspberry Pi was a big fan of the Amiga, so its great that things like this Pistorm and the Pi powered rgb to HDMI converter are doing so much for the Amiga community and also for the retro computing community in general.
And Pimiga
And of course, he got one :) Can't wait for the 1200 version..
Learnt something new today, thank you very much!👍👍👍
Always learning stuff off your channel Chris 👍🏻 hadn’t a clue that these existed. This is a good start for the 16bit Amigas. Be interesting to see if these get produced for the A600 and A1200 systems. Oh and there is currently a global micro chip shortage at the moment, maybe why it’s hard to get hold of. Look forward to seeing your adventures with this. 👏
RIP the Vampire. So much more economical and exciting project.
To you. But you also might only think so because you don't know everything about the Vampire. I have a Vampire and am *much* happier with it. It's an FPGA of a theoretical, much better, 68000 series CPU than any released, but still more backwards compatible than 68040/68060. This is software emulation, and can only emulate up to a 68040, and can only reach speeds akin to a 70-80MHz 68030 (much slower than Vampire). Also Vampire has SAGA graphics, which is beyond AGA, with some AAA-like features. So, you can program graphics in the Amiga way, but with more capabilities.
@@RetroDawn The beauty of an emulated CPU is that you can make the Pi emulate almost any CPU, including the '68080', should Igor give permission. Or any other theoretical 68K cpu. The Pi also has video capabilities far better than anything in Amiga land. Not to mention WiFi, Bluetooth, better sound, usb and hdmi. I'm willing to bet that the software will vastly improve over time, speeding things up and giving the Amiga access to more Pi features. There's room for both systems, but the Pi Storm is really CHEAP and flexible.
@@RetroDawn This project has already scared the vampire team into finally lowering their prices.
Thanks Chris! Great video.
Holy F**k. That’s the best possible solution for compatibility, future expansion and it’s not a daft price. PiStorm we are not worthy!!!
Nice Peter Venkman moment there in the intro and 😲😲😲
Just before watching this video I was so eager to get a Vampire V2 for my A500 (costing more than $400 USD). Now, I think this will kill the Vampire considering the overall low cost.
As an ST user this sounds very exciting to me as well. Not only are usual boosters pricey/hard to find, they also run on different processors, which causes compatibility issues. Having a drop-in 68k on steroids would be so much more elegant.
That is an amazing value for money accelerator for the A500/2000.
We live in amazing times.
Good one Chris
Wow a tech feat for the retro Amiga
cant wait to try thanks info
Another great vid! \m/
Great vid Chris. I'm in mate.
That is extremely cool.
Thank you Chis for this video :) I will order some board and make me on also :)
LOVE IT
Looks great =D
Now this looks interesting.
Amazing!
It would be great to get an hardware-adapter for the Pi to plug it into the A3000/A4000 CPU expansion slot, too. Considering that the Pis permanently getting faster, this would be a great accellerator for my original A3000 25mhz.
Hellraiser screen saver 🤘🏻
Great presentation !! Thx a lot
P2 is out now!
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration I saw ;) but it's for tomorrow ....
You absolutely right, PiStorm kill Vampire market for me ! It's not the same thing, but now... I don't looking for an Vampire ;)
Having not long received my Vampire Im thinking....... mmmmmm, maybe now all my Amigas can be great not just one with a Vampire and one with a Teriblefire.
excellent
You introduced us to "Bob", your keyboardless A500. Later in the video you said 'something' which lead to "Bob's your uncle". Sooooo... now that we are related... :)
Bobs your uncle is just a slang term for everything is ready or everything is sorted. Lol
Well done. Oh how I wish you were my neighbour.
Thanks for this review. Great job! Wanna make a follow-up where you max the settings and show how it runs with all the bells and whistles possible ?
in the works!
wooow!! a love it!!
"It lets me feel 3.14% better" - nice Pi reference here ;)
Or workbench
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration or both? Even better, knowing it's Raspberry Pi + Workbench :)
I would love to see a version of this that takes the Pi Compute module 4, that would fit nicely and a good bump in performance
very awesome. I have ordered on for my 1000 I have a 500 with the terriblefire 536 in it . I can't wait to see the 1000 with a 3.14 rom and a hard drive and rtg graphics haha.. great stuff. I hope they get the networking working as well. I have the netguru for my 500. Take Care
I got mine the other day in the mail all pre-soldered ( I can't see the small shit anymore) . I am downloading the raspberry lite right now. I am watching your video again to brush up on what I need to do haha I see there have been a few updates since this video. Glad to see they are doing more and more for this project.
did he do ...
./configure
make
sudo make install
as I didn't see him do it.
Perfect Video for a Amiga Geek but Linux noob. My Boards are on the way. How about a Pimiga HDF File für Pistorm?
Looks very nice! I'm excited to see where this is all going to go. I wonder if there will be problems with not shutting the Raspberry pi down cleanly whenever you turn off your Amiga? As far as that goes, I wonder if the RGB to HDMI will have the same issue? Just thinking out loud
idk probably eventually. but a re flash is quick, maybe use win32disk imager to always keep a current image just in case.
For the amiga purist on a budget, there is the Terrible Fire accelerator cards. But I am happy to see the PiStorm out as well. This is highly accessible. The vampire to me seems really pointless. As it has AGA emulation, RTG, and local storage. it essentially uses the amiga as a glorified keyboard and no more.
Is that the Hellraiser cube on your screensaver? Thanks for the very informative video. Cheers from Spain!
I am not 100% but I think you could code to use the USB/mini SD as a Hard drive! Looks sweet, might pop in and look at them! Cheers Chris
Chris: I have 16 Amigas
Me: *thinking "Goals"*
well thats over the past 30 years.
It make some sense when Amiga's video output is used or some other peripherals. The moment you start use HDMI its like having empty amiga shell with keyboard connected to GPIO
Super Video. Thanks a lot !!!
Which Linux do you use, is the Amiga emulator already integrated ?
A update I found a PiStorm board made up on Ebay. Very nice price. I found some 40Pin Male To IDE Female Extension Cable to see if I can fit my Pi 3B onto the PiStorm I all so have lots of plastic stand offs. As long as the Pi 3b takes less than one Amp, I will be ok.
You can always unsolder the usb ports on the pi3
Thank you for the video, there is indeed almost no information. I was looking at the Buffee Amiga accelerator that would do about 1,000 MIPS but the big let down is that is has no SD card support. In a Amiga 500 that is really a must have. The PI storm is very nice, speed is good, but I expected way more.
Like I said it is evolving I have already desoldered usb ports from a 3B+ and put on a pie 3B plus ,almost double the speed from the 3A soon a compute model4 will be the norm
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration Thank you for your response. But I'm missing something I think. The PI3 modelA thats is on there now runs @ 1.4GHz and is a 64 bit quadcore. The PI3B+ you are desoldering the ports from uses the same cpu right? Why would that double the speed over he modelA? Could be me, its getting late in my part of the world :-)
This seems like something that could be integrated with an A1200 and a RPi Compute Unit.
Lotus 3 would be a good test.
Awesome! I've been wondering if Pico with its cortex cores could be put to good use via the trapdoor connector...
Ooh I hope there's a version for the A600 possible soon
Super video! Playing the sad violin for your box of screws. I'll use this as a tutorial if I decide to get one myself :)
So it's basically completely configurable via linux, can you have any CPU/FPU/MMU combo like you'd do in WinUAE just by changing the settings on the pie? Cooling is no issue? And the Amiga will just think it's real hardware?
Pretty much yes! I will be doing a follow up video shortly on the more advanced features like hard drives CPU etc.
Hi Chris, I have gotten excited watching your videos to get my A4000/040 running again. I have forgotten most of what I knew about this machine. It has sat for many years, what do you recommend I do first, what videos should I watch?
Get that battery out if its still in there!!!
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration Done that and have a new 2032 and holder on order. Looks like leakage was minimal...Watching the 4000 series now. Thanks
Chris is a very bad influence. I've got 5 to build now. Guess I'm making a field trip to microcenter soon to buy up some pies.
good guide thank you
I hope there will be a project for the A1200 hdmi with a PI. Indivision is just very extensive. The gbs8220 is a solution but it's just low quality unfortunately, even with the updates that I have done.
there is, its gonna use pi cm4 and be a bad ass card that will kill all other cards.
@@DatBlueHusky That would be very interesting, do you have any links? As I have only seen cards for the A500/ 600 and 2000 not the A1200.
I knew at some point vampire will become just redundant tech
But this is emulation 😸
@Mr Guru Velociraptor for A1200 is soon out :) I accept FPGA,PI cpu softwarecore real asics. Its all Amiga when you can rev your Amiga :)
The standard square pin headers are large enough that you can permanently deform the wipers in the CPU (or any dual wiper) socket. Using those fancy machined-pin headers is basically a requirement. :)
I purchased and installed round sil pins later. I was just impatient
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration \o/
That's awesome! I have a near-stock A2000 which will be unpacked soon and deserves one of these. Additionally, can you please link the location where to download puzzle box screen saver and also where to purchase the gizmo you are using to hold/rotate the pistorm while working on it?
the gizmo was at microcenter, it was just called a mini electronics vice, it was 14.99 usd, the lament hellraiser cube is a standard linux screensaver pack, apt-get install xscreensaver , this is version 5.4.2 from dec 2020, it has many many cool ones.
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration Thank you very much for the details! I have seen the small "third hand" vices with gator clips, but the one you have is quite awesome.
It is one of the best things to happen for the Amiga. Vampire cost a lot and a long time to get one. Will they do one for the A1200 I hope, but with all the things to come will you need one for a A 1200, that is the question.
If they add both the 600 and 1200 with a suitable board then they’ll own the market.
You don't need the IP to connect to the Pi, just use the 'ssh pi@machinename.local' if you have mdns installed (avahi in Linux)
You don't need to login to make the rc.local to run.
Imagine if they do a Compute Module 4 custom PBC. Smaller, faster, add whatever will make it faster without adding a bunch of cost.
Hi Chris
Remember me from the uk i brought a A630 but sadly it's didn't work on my A600 (Mines a Old version A300 board) as they was some bugs on it (according to the manufacturers) so i send it back and got my money back
Now 13/2022 im getting a PiStorm 600 and with a Raspberry Pi 3 A+ hope this will work on my A600 (Noob level 1 with Pi stuff so any help is great )
Fingers crossed 🤞🤞🤞
Holy crap I almost fell off my chair
Christopher where do I get me one
Of this ?
Did you add the trapdoor RAM expansion and solder some wires to get 1mb chip memory? Or could be this done with Pi if you have just ECS Agnus ? Thanx.
my amiga has a 8372a 1mb Agnus, with the 512k belly slot it gets the 1mb. jumpers were sliced/moved to accommodate a 512/1mb mod. you can also not use the 512k belly and solder the other 256k chips to the board and resistors, and achieve the same thing.
A590 might work on that. Seems unlikely you'd be able to run an a570 CD sidecar and that is down to timing in how the memory is accessed involving the a570. It could take RAM too. The a570 could run with a 68010 at best (tested by other people). the 68012 might have worked too.
Years ago, a commenter proposed using a pi (like a pi3b via GPIO) for a CPU (and thereby emulating the CPLD etc.) to TerribleFire before the 680x0 boards he made were started. I was in on that comment thread. Essentially TF said he could do it but it (by comparison to making accelerators with the real chips) could be boring (but he did say it could be worth doing).
I don't mean he was slagging of a pi based amiga accelerator as such, I just mean he referred to the designing-building of it to be boring by comparison. That pi thing is cool.
What I had said though was that switching to a dual CPU design by using a pi (and heavy modifications). This means one can also choice different configurations for 68020 or other CPU chips. While I respect the 68020 (especially with FPU and MMU), unless one is getting a 68030 (done slowly) for the serial or unless one is doing the 68040 (done to run even more slowly for a 040) for the ieee1284 parallel, I'd say a 68012 is best. This means (with MMU) you can have exact instruction set compatibility for the 68000 but you also get (with MMU) dual CPU.
IMO The A570 CDROM (or CDRW) on the amiga should have had a 68012 on it and the a500 should have had a 68012 also and thereby you'd have the two cpu chips. With some tricks here and there, it would have run better than the SegaMega CD in some ways... and the A570 could have 2meg RAM in it (and the a500 could have 1 or 1.5 or 2 Meg RAM in it), and so you'd have about 3 or 3.5 or 4Meg, thereby slaying the MegaCD sega genesis.
The a1200 could then have had two 68020 chips which could be upgraded to two 68040 chips (and the 68040 has ieee1284 parallel). In fact the a600 with two (68k style) 68012 chips (if they have done it) could be "vampired" to thereby get two 68040 chips (and it was basically an a500). Wit the ieee1284, the amiga could have been booting of two parallel ports (one for each CPU) so as to get bandwidth binding to achieve 10x CDROM speed which is 1x DVD speed. Booting games cartridges from parallel ieee1284 would have been an option then (for games companies).
Very nice video.
But will a Pi storm and a RGB2HDMI fit in A500?
With a flat hdmi cable yes
LinuxJedi has done exactly that.
Hey Chris I want to know your secret, I have been an Electronics tech since the very early 70's working on aircraft like the F14, S3a, and the E2C, in an intermediate repair electronics facility, which means I am qualified for micro min soldering etc. but I just never learned on how to put a round peg in a square hole. You know the 68000 chip has a rectangular socket, and the pins on the pistorm are round. Just how the (you know the word) did you fit those round pins in that rectangular hole. I tried it and I tried bending the pins a certain way like they said, but all I did was break them. I just pulled out my old pace soldering station which I haven't used since I retired in 1993 to do pin changes, can you give me a part number for those there pins, I ordered some that I thought would fit, but they are way larger then the pins that are on there. I was thinking about buying a flat file like we had in the shop so I could file those pins down flat, but I don't own a electronic microscope (them suckers are expensive) well anyhow I am retired now and a lot more shaky then when my hands where steady, and that old 500 I have is slower then a liberal being told to go get a job. If you know the correct part number for them pins, well I will buy them, also, tell your viewers, that you can buy a 68000 socket that has them rectangular pins which plug into the 68000 socket, and it has those round holes in the socket so that they fit, you know round pins in a round hole, man, what a concept. This can be found at the Amiga store in the USA (Amikit) and they aren't all that expensive.
My pins were square but they were small pitch so they went right in. In future videos, I used a CPU relocator.
where did you get your board? I don't see the link above. Maybe I am blind. Update: Oh I see now, PiStorm is the board. OK, so it would be nice to see them add an connection. Would love to try one in my 2000 but I am running the TF364 now.
Theyre discord server. Click into the group buy room then pinned posts. Fill it out and your contacted fast
Based on the sysinfo benchmark, this is even slightly faster than a MiSTer running Minimig core, quite the steal.
Well I don’t know how accurate those things are but it is pretty quick
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration The timings in Sysinfo are meaningless. AIBB is the one to use for accurate results I believe. But yeah, it's quick.
This is so cool! Couldn't you put another 512K in Bob's motherboard and then add another 1MB in the trap door? It seems then you would be just a Denise short of an Amiga 500 plus, right?
No the on board ram over rides the 512 belly. Plus you need to cut the traces signifying it as chipram
Hi, just putted my Pistorm on my A500 with a RPI 3B. My Pistorm was from a little batch done on Retrowiki, it has been changed the shape because Original PIstorm design puts the PI with some risk of touching the metal plate of the keyboard and the case seems to don't close fully with it. Have you experienced this problem?
No , even with the wrong pins not even pushed all the way in it still fits fine.
Do you have a link to the Retrowiki?
Been hunting for a video since first hearing about it over a month ago. Seen someone asking 100 for the board without the pi so turned it down. Would pay that for the full setup though
@ChrisEdwardsRestoration have a que. My understanding is that you did all basis the square pins you squeezed in.
How did you manage to fit it in the socket? Not all the way in correct?.
Did you replace the square pins on the newest emu68 videos?
Tx in advance
I have a cpu adaptor that has sil turn pins. Fits fine
@ChrisEdwardsRestoration can you send me a link please for it here or discord? Tx in advance
here go www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Amiga_1000_CPU_Relocator_V3.html
@ChrisEdwardsRestoration thank you Chris. I knew about this but never hit me hehehe. I saw someone else removed and soldered pistorm in place of the socket
I feel I'm almost a "purist" using Amiga emulation on PPC eMac after seeing this video... ^
Don't get wrong, I'll get one for my LCIII one day! Hopefully...
At first had stupid question, should read first description. When there is one for A1200, I will be interested. At the moment I don't have A500/A500+, only A1200. :(
I wonder too. Only A1200 in my house
@@pierrenagonio I posted question on their site and they are planning to have something like this for A1200. Can't wait. Even thinking to get A500/+ from europe just to play bit with this.
@@VelidBiH I was on they discord server and have asked the same question. They told me that they are working on it. So I am waiting. Hoppe not too long ;) Have a nice day Friend.
@@pierrenagonio That is great news! Thanks!
Doing the old Tonya? Somebody's been watching too much Vice Grip Garage. Lol
Actually everyone says that but never seen the show/person whatever it is
Wow this is amazing for this price. Does it work with cd rom a570?
idk, send me one and ill test it ! lol
It should. PiStorm also has built in cdrom emulation though, failing that.
Something about seeing Workbench 1.x with 128MB of ram is funny to me. I think I have that much in my 1200. My 1000 has a total of 4. This is a neat thing. Never expected an emulated CPU to be installed in an actual Amiga, but it's neat. Unfortunately, I only have the 1000 and the 1200. I know the 1000 has the socket for this, but I don't think it would have the clearance for this. And of course the 1200 has the 68020. Now, if someone made a version that connected to the 1200's trapdoor, that would be something. Curious to see just how accurate it is, since it is emulation.
Im installing one in my a1000 going to move the floppy or use a gpio extender to slide it all in
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration Nice. Definitely interested to see how that turns out. Still would love to see a 1200 trapdoor version of this, just to have the option of RTG or all the modes including AGA, but if you manage to fit it in an NTSC 1000, I might have to give this a shot. Definitely a lot easier than using 2 sidecars and an external SCSI drive.
why is the chip speed so low on other accelerators its usually in the 3x vicinity