http://www.sam4x0.com/sam460ex.html

Quote:

* flex-ATX form factor (21.6 x 17 cm)
* 8 layers PCB
* AMCC 460ex SoC ? upto 1.066 Ghz
* max 2 GB DDR2 Ram ? 200-pin SODIMM up to 533 Mhz
* Silicon Motion SM502 embedded MoC (audio/video) max 64Mb gfx Ram
* Audio 5.1 Realtek ALC655 codec
* PCI-express 4x lanes slot (16x mechanical connector)
* PCI-express 1x lane slot (* check notes)
* PCI slot, 32 bit, 66/33 Mhz, 3.3V
* 1x SATA2 port (* check notes)
* 6x USB2 EHCI/OHCI ports
* 2x 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports
* Lattice XP2 FPGA with 80 I/O pins expansion connector (optional)
* UMTS/GSM module (optional requires add-on card)
* 512 MB NAND Flash (optional)
* integrated SD card reader
* RTC clock
* Serial port, 8-wires
* I2C and SPI/I2C buses
* passive cooling
* U-Boot 2009.08


Me wantee

I think it's interesting that they actually got as far as to *a third* model. Never thought they would...

Quote:

May I ask why?

Ugh! You haveee. Me no want seriously poor piece of crap. X4 in an X16 slot=poor video performance. A single SATA connector (which disables the X1 PCIe slot). Built in video from a company I've never heard of.
I'll wait for the Powermac port of MorphOS.
This thing is REALLY unimpressive.

Ain't lookin back! M&M for me!! (Morph and Mac)

Yeah, the powermac is much better, but any powerpc is worth the money, but the A-EON I'm sure will be better.

We will see when they issue anything. For the moment we have only words.

> I think it's interesting that they actually got as far as to
> *a third* model. Never thought they would...

I think it was clear they intended to:

http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=4552
http://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/2009-December/065825.html

Me predicting (well, sort of):
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6355&forum=3#64044

> Built in video from a company I've never heard of.

http://www.siliconmotion.com/A3.2_Overview_Detail.php?sn=39

At least there seem to be OS4 drivers ready:

http://www.acube-systems.biz/common/image/screenshots/sm502.jpg
(uploaded 6 weeks ago)

This image shows OS4.1 on Sam440ep-flex and EyeMotion.

> M&M for me!!

Hehe, first I thought you mean Maim&Mangle by ACube's Max 'm3x' Tretene ;-)

http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=15262&forum=9

> For the moment we have only words.

Not quite true.

1. There's the picture of the actual board which clearly does *not* show the PPC460EX eval board ('Canyonlands' by Embedded Planet).
2. There are screenshots of Debian running on that board.
3. There is a screenshot of OS4.1 on Sam440ep-flex and EyeMotion, which has the same 'MoC' as the Sam460ex.

Not interesting to me for two reasons:
1. I doubt we will ever see MorphOS ported to it. And I do not want to be sentenced to use AmigaOS 4...
2. Price is not encouraging (600e + VAT), I can easily have two max specced Macs mini for this, or even a PowerBook in the near future.

Quote:

Maximum resolution is only 1280x1024 so it is not suitable for desktop use. Apparently 3D acceleration is also missing.

[ Edited by itix on 2010/4/3 11:21 ]

Krashan

Sentenced to use AmigsOs4? lol that is a good one..
Wow, $600 euro? Thats a lot in us dollars! Peg2 w/ Morphos2 will outperform the Sam and OS4.1!

Sentenced to use AmigsOs4? lol that is a good one...

I have both the systems installed on my Pegasos 2, and I know what I'm saying. AmigaOS 4 lacks significant amount of basic functionality, especially in desktop area and web browsing (+ it has no serious SSH client).

Quote:

Then why on earth did they put that chip on the board? Only adds complexity and cost to the design.

For some reason that no-one can conceive they continue to put FPGA chips on the board. It's sitting there un-used, only adding complexity and cost to the design.

And only one SATA unit? Not suitable for desktops either. And you must choose between using that one or the PCI-e 1x slot. I guess most people will buy a SATA controller card and put in that slot to be able to use at least 2 units (the customer feedback from having only one unit on the Efika was less than optimal),

And most certainly no MorphOS, which together with the insane price is a major show stopper for me. I could have two Mac Mini MorphOS systems for the price they ask for one of these motherboards alone. And each of those two Mac Mini's will be a magnitude more useful and better performing.

I see no point with this board at all...

@takemehomegrandma

please keep in mind (and all of you too) that ACube designs motherboard for their embedded market customers, not for hardware hungry amigans. So it all makes sense in this context, even the poor video chip (far enough for embedded needs, why the hell would you need a big ATI or NVidia card). ACube is NOT an amigaOS4 hardware company, but it does support efforts to get OS4 ported on their machines.
AmigaOS4 is not even announced on this board btw, and i doubt that Hyperion will work on it before they finish the X1000 support.

One of the OS4 devs said none of the current builds will work on it but it wouldnt take much to get it working.
I would have thought the X1000 is their priority though.

> I guess most people will buy a SATA controller card and put in that slot to be
> able to use at least 2 units

From the Sam460ex user manual:

------------------------------
The current U-Boot version support booting from the following devices:
- SATA2 hard disk connected on the onboard controller port J15 (* check notes)
- SATA hard disk and/or DVD connected to a Silicon Image 3112 controller on PCI slot
- SATA hard disk and/or DVD connected to a Silicon Image 3114 controller on PCI slot
[...]
------------------------------

Booting from SATA card in PCI-e slot seems not possible.

Actually this does look quite clever, the single hard drive and basic graphics card for embedded stuff, but slap a couple of cards in and you've got loads of Sata attachments and a good graphics card.

I'd still prefer two sata connections and 128mb of graphics ram as standard, but you can't please everyone.

Quote # PCI 33/66 MHz & 32bit host bus support
# Low-cost, low-power 2D graphics processor

Apparently Acube is stuck using a relatively slow interface for devices on their boards.

2D graphics processor?

I'll still stick with my Radeon 9250. It's slow, but it supports 3D.

Edit - But I will admit it's nice to see an Acube board running above 1 Ghz.Maybe when its available they can build something with the APM86190.

[ Edited by Jim on 2011/1/26 23:14 ]

I'll still stick with my Radeon 9250. It's slow, but it supports 3D.

It is still much faster than this Silicon Motion 502 chip.

Actually, I checked on the web and the only site I could find that reviewed the 502 rated it with the slowest GPUs used in laptops. Right down there with VIA and SIS integrated video.

Why not use an ATI embedded GPU?

[ Edited by Jim on 2010/4/5 5:08 ]

[ Edited by Jim on 2010/4/5 5:12 ]

+1 for ATi embedded cpu, I have to say in recent months I have grown to hate nVidia's lack of driver support for alternative OSes. You can't get 3D on the early iMac G5/ all G4s and that limits MOS's development platform

Alright, it's very expensive, but I'd say we should keep pricing matters aside: We morphers also love our very expensive operating system.
It looks like a worthy choice, in the scope of this almost invisible PowerPC computer space, where new developments are extremely rare. The fact that it's completely made in Italy (and not in Chine, where people still work for almost no payment) is almost unbelivable, a huge effort that alone raises the cost a lot.

|||

[ Edited by Velcro_SP 25.04.2011 - 07:20 ]