Commodore Amiga Vampire Accelerator Overview Past, Present & Future - Part 1 of 2

This is a PowerPoint presentation by Manuel Jesus of the Apollo team that gives an overview of the Vampire accelerator cards. Manuel describes the features of the Vampire as well as the past, present, and future plans Apollo team has for the Vampire cards. This presentation took place on March 24th, 2018 at the Westchester Amiga User Group (WAUG) in New York and is the first of 2 videos that I will make about this meeting. The second will be the hands-on demo of the Vampire in action.Subscribe to TheGuruMeditation ► www.youtube.co....
TheGuruMeditation ► www.TheGuruMed...
Watch Part 2 HERE: • Commodore Amiga Vampir...
Apollo Accelerators
www.apollo-acce...
Link to Stephen Jones' A1500 case project
www.amigasyste...
Video by Bill Winters
billwinters.net

[@TheGuruMeditation]

WATCH PART 2 HERE kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6DFqXl9gJajqpI

[@Checkmate1500]

That was a fantastic presentation and thanks to Manuel and Bill for the kind mention of my Checkmate A1500 Plus case project.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Excellent Stephen! Your case project looks wonderful. I would still like to help you with it somehow. I just got super busy, hence the need to split this into two videos. I ran out of time before leaving on the long work trip I have now.

[@Checkmate1500]

Just your advice will be good :-)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

You got it Stephen!

[@manueljesus3147]

Huge fan keep up the good work, may have to sell my Atari ST to fund purchase of your case!

[@Checkmate1500]

Best not, they are a fine machine that I nearly bought when I could not afford the A1000, luckily the A500 appeared :-)

[@jdryyz]

It is going to be hard to wait for the A1200 v4. Really looking forward to it.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

jdryyz I hear you! Hopefully it is close

[@jdryyz]

I was hoping he would at least say 2018. :)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Ha ha, me too!

[@Rip-Van-Tinkle]

I SO want a Vampire V4 for my 1200, have a word for me Bill 😋

[@Walrusbonzo]

Great work all. Following the development of this closely. Was excited by the boards for the A500/600, but even more excited now about the prospect of a standalone board. Haven't had an Amiga in over 16 years, but getting itchy for one again now.

[@GraphicalRanger]

Awesomes :) so glad A600 version coming back into production. Great presentation on all things vampire, and nice mention of new case.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you Suhaib! Yes, totally agree. So glad about the 600 version. That is such a great machine to "Vampireize"

[@LambdaCalculus379]

This was a great talk! Big props to Manuel for giving an awesome presentation and being a really nice guy as well! Side note: Manuel was on Amiten TV very recently and was telling Johnny and Maddi about the talk! He enjoyed giving it a lot, and Johnny and Maddi wished that they could've been there with us! Maybe next time we have a presentation like this, should set up a laptop with Skype and a webcam, invite them on, and let them watch us live!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks Lambda! You are looking good on camera yourself! I was going to stream this, but between doing the organizing and recording of the event, I was totally tapped out and figured I would just focus on making a good recording of it. Although I would have liked to stream it. Maybe next time!

[@manueljesus3147]

Good DeCamp bus commute trip viewing eh? ;)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I know MVG is going to watch it on the plane ride to Australia later this week!

[@LambdaCalculus379]

Manuel Jesus How'd you guess?? 😁😁 Nice bumping into you today!!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

You guys ran into each other???

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

You made a perfect relaxing video to watch Bill.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Ha ha nice. Amiga to chill to! You are the best Vincent!

[@paranoicb]

Greek Mafia is here bill. This video was a big step for the vampire education to the amiga world. I respect your dedication to the cause.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks so much Paranoicb! Honored to have the support of the amazing Greek Amiga Mafia! Obviously you guys are extremely dedicated as well and that motivates me!

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

What do you mean "the support" Are you in or out? :-D

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I hope I am in! At least as an honorary mafiaoso!

[@Archimedes75009]

Thanks a lot for the upload. Hats off to the team : amazing work, really.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

You are welcome Zachos! Agreed, I can't imagine how much time and effort the team put into this. It is remarkable.

[@manueljesus3147]

Thanks!

[@osgrov]

Exciting stuff. I'm gonna jump on the Vampire 4 once it becomes a real thing. Let's hope it's sooner rather than later. :) Love these types of talks by the way! Great-looking video too, very sharp. Can't wait for part 2.. :)

[@Atheist7]

If you like Amiga, if you LOVE AMIGA, you WILL NOT be DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!

[@Rip-Van-Tinkle]

Really enjoyed this video guys, looking forward to part 2!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks MadPete! I just started a big travel job for work and rand out of time, hence the reason why I had to break the video here. But I will get cooking on Part 2 as soon as I return!

[@Rip-Van-Tinkle]

The Guru Meditation I think I can safely speak for everyone here when I say thank you so much for the time and effort you guys put in, it's very much appreciated!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

MadPete Aw, thanks so much Pete. It is quite a lot of work but it is fun and comments like this make it all worth it. Cheers dude

[@whoami6684]

Looking for part 2. Do you have an ETA ?

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Martin Sorry I got a 3 week travel job so I haven't been able to be home to edit. I wanted to do everything in one video but I ran out of time before leaving

[@RiotRetroGaming]

I just caught up. Bill this is such a brilliant video! I was wondering what future goals they have for this. It would be cool to see Amigas being used next to PCs just for general use. Such passion. It's crazy cool

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks so much Anthony! I am working on Part 2 now. Right now their immediate plans are to release a stand alone version and a 1200 version. They are really interested in keeping the 68000 stuff alive

[@darrencafferty]

This is wonderful to see!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!

[@manueljesus3147]

Thanks Darren V4 is being shipped to team members!

[@ZibberZonk]

Well done on the sound!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks ZibberZonk!

[@SledgeFox]

Every video is a joy, thank you very much!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Aw, thanks so much Sledge. I really appreciate that. Makes all the work worth it! Thank you

[@SledgeFox]

The Guru Meditation The quality and enthusiasm of your videos is just amazing! Just want to say thanks because often you truly enjoy something and don't say thank you as much as you should.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks a million. That is so kind of you to say Sledge!

[@osscar29]

great vid looking forward to part 2

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks Doom99. I will start editing it soon!

[@sacredbanana]

The vampire for the A1200 will be the most important accelerator card in all of humankind's history.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Ha ha, agreed!

[@tubical71]

Very true!

[@fabiogarofalo6685]

yes! but when does come it out? rumors are from 2016 isn't?

[@achaney]

Not really sure about that. If core3 is full AGA, wouldn't an A500 with Core3 do the same as a A1200 with Core3. What am I missing?

[@Fularu]

The Vampire 4 will have a Cyclone V FPGA, this is incredibly faster and more powerfull than the Cyclone 3 FPGA used in the Vampire 2s.

[@EduArana]

Great video, and talking of Manuel.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks! Yes, Manuel did a great job

[@manueljesus3147]

Thanks EDU!

[@AmigaFanatic1980]

Great video (as always)! I am looking forward to the stand alone V4 to pretty much try & replace my upgraded A1200, although I wish they had included a header for a floppy drive.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

OH, a floppy header is a great idea. I would love to put a stand-alone in one of those Vampire branded A1200.net cases. That would be cool.

[@Seboss38]

I guess there's only so much room on the card to fit IO headers, tracks, etc. I hope there will be a USB solution or some way to mount images, preferably as DF0 to be able to boot from them. But yes, native hardware floppy support would have been nice. I guess that's one point in favor of the "accelerator" option over the standalone.

[@jeffkarrow6924]

This is great stuff! Good job Manny and Apollo. Yes, it would be nice if we had this in 1999. Instead we got a lot of bogus vaporware. Remember the Neila Phase 498? (Alien BoXer) Anti-gravity offered preorder discounts and took people's money, though they had no new Amiga to deliver. I lost $2000 I could use today to buy one of these.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I love new projects like this that help keep the Amiga alive

[@RetroBoxRoom]

Very interesting! I sold my accelerator card for my 1200, to put cash towards and now waiting for the v4 to come out.

[@Alphadec]

V1200 is what I am waiting for.

[@Turrican]

fantastic stuff good for all Amiga lovers

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it Austin!

[@FireDragonAndromeda]

Looking forward to the A1200 version... just need to get a new PSU and mouse for my A1200.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

The 1200 version is going to be awesome. I can't wait myself!

[@jeffkarrow6924]

Back in April I saw heavy duty A1200 power supplies at amigakit.usa but I can't get into their site now. The message says it's been suspended. UK site is open.

[@MysticGargoyle]

This was very interesting, look forward to part 2 :-D

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks Kenny! I am off traveling for work the next 2 weeks, so I will get to it when I return home. I just ran out of time so I had to split it into 2 videos

[@amigaonthelake8313]

Good job boys!!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks AOTL!!!

[@tekwon]

Excellent vid guys!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Leon Seremelis Thanks Leon!

[@VenomStryker]

The way this guy talks about hardware, I thought he was part of the hardware/design team as well but he mostly just handles graphic design. Great video though with some interesting stuff. I have never owned a Commodore product but I have always been interested in the older computers I never had a chance to try out when I was a kid.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yes, he did the logo and is also a beta tester. We are very lucky to have him in our club!

[@eebuckeye]

Terrific information! I hope they get to the point they are just in-stock when you want one. :-)

[@stefanobriccolani3407]

Great video, guys! Guru meditation quality seal..

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Aw, thanks Stefano! It was tricky juggling 2 cameras and hosting the meeting, but I pulled it off! -- Bill

[@jdryyz]

Great work as always, guys!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

jdryyz Thanks so much!

[@SledgeFox]

The Guru Meditation well presented as always! Thank you very much!

[@ibd1977]

The talk about cases. I wish they look at the reproduction A1200 cases that are now available. It would be nice to put a standalone V4 system into the new A1200 case.

[@ibd1977]

www.a1200.net/new-amiga-1200-cases/

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Agreed. They support the RaspberryPi and MIST. It would be great if they supported the Vampire, but I bet there is no way they can design that until the standalone is completely designed. However, I am sure there will be a way to get it in there. Even with a 3D printed bracket or something

[@77slevins_video_channel]

I couldn't wait any longer, I took an Intel NUC i7 processor board and integrated it in a new A1200 case. It's my main computer now: imgur.com/a/4tCBa and to make sure I'd piss every fanboy out there off, I run macOS on this bad boy 😈

[@anakondase]

I'm still hoping for a 4000 version. As it seems there won't be one, that the stand alone version is what I will have to go for. There's a bit of mixed messages about this. For me I want a card that fully integrates with my original hardware and the zorro cards I already have in it as well as using the built-in features of the card. If that makes any sense.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yep, makes total sense. You want to use everything you have now with the added benefits of the Vampire.

[@TexasCat99]

I'd like to drop this into my old dusty Amiga 1000... :)

[@tubical71]

I still own my A1200 along with a blizzard 1230/scsi. I put it in the attic about 20 years ago...if you do a PCB that either needs the A1200 mainboard, or even a replacement, where i just need the A1200 case and put your card into and it recognise the keyboard right...then i gonna buy it. My A500 is gone as well as my A2000 due to space problems, but i had so much fun with the A1200 and the AA gfx...so i kept it, over the years.

[@FinnRenard]

Those insanely high prices of Blizzard accelerators will hopefully get more reasonable with some competition.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yeah the prices are nuts, but I suppose it all comes down to supply and demand.

[@TheSulross]

Am watching this video one year after it was uploaded and went to the Apollo accelerators web site and there is no mention of the V4 as a product. The only products featured are Vampire 600 V2 and Vampire 500 V2+. What happened, did the V4 effort crash and burn? (A standalone retro Amiga-like computer board is really going to be the only product that matters going forward.)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

No, the standalone v4 it is in the hands of the beta testers so it is still a thing, but I have no idea when it will come out

[@Ichinin]

Wish that the audio didn't go via HDMI and it would come with a regular 3.5 mm audio plug instead, i'm already having a hard time figuring out where to get a splitter so i can get sound out to my speakers from my C64 Mini. Everyone does not have a TV and my monitor do not have speakers...

[@TheGuruMeditation]

That is a great point. A 3.5mm jack would be a nice feature.

[@Seboss38]

Yup, we're in the same boat here.

[@manueljesus3147]

I run my vamp through an amiga rgb scart / hdmi scaler upscaler with a 3.5mm audio out so that works for me

[@Seboss38]

Would you mind sharing the reference of your scart/hdmi upscaler? I'm not really satisfied with the one I'm using. It has the dual SCART/HDMI inputs but it gets very blurry and lots of latency in 720/1080 plus power plug located right next to the SCART socket. It's the only one I could find that actually works with the Amiga. I guess the others I tried did not support the right refresh frequencies. Here's the reference: : www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B00AYUJCPK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Thanks!

[@manueljesus3147]

The only other option is to get a high end device and I really don't want to pay $400 for some of the great retro scalers out there. I use the exact scaler you use. At the end of the day I am playing Super Startdust, not Super Smash Bros or Call of Duty 4 on a PS4 so I don't mind the lag. I would suffer more knowing I paid $400 for a scaler.

[@soviet9922]

Great video

[@TheGuruMeditation]

soviet9922 Thank you!

[@andycraig7734]

I wonder if some aspects of the Hombre chipset are worth adding in later revisions.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

That would cool!

[@pweddy1]

So the standalone runs a 68080 Amiga on a bare FPGA board?

[@TheGuruMeditation]

No Amiga required. Only the FPGA board, but I don't know if I would cal it "bare" It has stuff on it like the processor, USB ports, HDMI, etc...

[@Elrinth]

did you consider doing a x68000 implementation aswell?

[@EsaKarjalainen]

Vampires haven't been this sexy since "Interview with a Vampire".

[@TheGuruMeditation]

ahhh ha ha!

[@Toffeemeister]

Thanks guys I enjoyed the presentation. I thought Manuel Jesus was very impressive. It would be nice to see an off the shelf Amiga at some point something like the SNES mini ? Everyone talks about AAA but Commodore had scraped this chip-set as it was to expensive/slow in favour of Amiga Hombre 64 bit chipset from Dr Ed Hepler.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

yeah, maybe something like the c64 mini? That would be cool. Yeah, Manny did a great job here!

[@Seboss38]

I guess re-implementing a AAA-like chipset makes more sense at this point: - the Vampire has to be compatible with OCS/ECS/AGA software but Hombre was supposed to be an entirely different thing - the Apollo team is very talented but it's tiny and people are donating their time. AAA is fairly well understood and documented, and at the end of the day it's merely an evolution of AGA, so I guess implementing it is much less work than imagining what Hombre could have been from the little we know about it. - technical constraints. Is the FPGA used on V4 large enough to accommodate such complex hardware? I suppose nothing is impossible, but it largely depends on V4 success and the ability of the team to sink a few more years in a V5.

[@Toffeemeister]

I think we have more documentation on Hombre than AAA now. Hombre included a CPU as well on the chipset but it could still fit on 2 chips where as AAA required 4 chips without CPU. I think Hombre really benefited design wise from shedding backwards compatibility. AAA didn't have AGA support as the project was started before AGA and yes Hombre had no backwards compatibility at all. For the FPGA SAGA then no point considering AAA really. We might as well make choices that best suits the requirements now which is what they are doing :0)

[@Seboss38]

> AAA didn't have AGA support as the project was started before AGA Ah! I knew AAA pre-dated AGA, but I thought AGA was a subset of AAA of sort. My mistake then. Anyways, it's not my place to speak on behalf of Apollo's team. Just giving my understanding of the situation from the spotty knowledge I have of the project and Amiga's history as a whole.

[@Toffeemeister]

Agreed the Apollo team are very talented and will make the best decisions for the project :0) It will be interesting to see how much software support SVGA gets but at least supporting retargetable graphics gets you software improvements already.

[@krisvantuerenhout537]

Great presentation and a top development but my question is : Will a V4 fit in an A3000 ? Not much info on the internet concerning a Vampire and an A3000..

[@manueljesus3147]

no V4 in a 3k, perhaps an adapter but that hasn't been worked on at all.

[@davidewhite69]

why did they go for IDE instead of SATA?

[@roartjrhom4932]

Very interesting! I have to get a standalone Vampire. :-D :-D :-D

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Roar Tjørhom A stand alone Vampire in one of the new A1200 cases would be awesome

[@roartjrhom4932]

I would, it most certainly would! :-D :-D :-D

[@jamesanagnos6123]

so why is the FPU not a part of the 68080 like it is in the 68040 ? the point of being in the CPU and not a stand alone FPU is that its faster

[@pnvgordinho]

Could that stand alone version be fitted to a cd32 case?.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Hummm, I am not sure, but with a bit of creativity I suppose anything is possible.

[@NeonEUC]

that was awesome. next time you get to another event like that any chance you get get some of our questions in advanced and ask the speakers? i would love to know if someone will be building something for the Amiga CD32 like the SX-32 expansion port, seem's to be getting left out lol

[@manueljesus3147]

When Kipper was with us he always spoke of making a CD32 adapter since he left that hasn't been mentioned. I agree this is the last Amiga item that came out and it sold well there are lots out there. He made some Tf328 and I purchased one from him before he left the group.

[@NeonEUC]

wow really? will you make a video on that? be great to watch

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Hey neon, that is a great idea. Next time I will try to get some questions from the viewers here.

[@Obraxis]

Great video! :D

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks so much Obraxis!

[@saragrimaldi8093]

Love the part about feeding others LOL. To me, looking at my father and how much he spend for his Amiga collection, feels more like "we know the target is old people with plenty of money; we can charge you whatever we want". As someone who has a degree in marketing, I am well aware of how you drive the market based on target; so when I hear certain reasoning behind price, I just smile. It is totally fair to say "we make this, we ask whatever we want"; I just wish there was less "magic" in the wording used...Apple can do that because they did brainwash people, but from a community of enthusiasts (and I put myself in too, since I grew with my father A600 and A4000 as first computers, because he did banish anything Intel-based), it would be nicer to just say the things for how they are. I don't get the craze for original hardware, since I did not "have" one; but I get that nostalgia is 80% of the reasoning here; while I am totally fine to play the same games emulated on a RPI that cost 40 bucks. Although I can hear my dad yelling about cycle correctness and other quirks that you get only on the original.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for the comment Sara! I have to go back and listen to the part you are talking about. You are totally right that this is a niche enthusiast market driven by nostalgia. Most of the people developing new hardware and software for Amiga are passionate fans as well vs. pro developers. Often, regardless the price of their product, people complain that it is too expensive and this can get under people's skin because they have spent a huge percentage of their free time working on it only to have people complain that it is too expensive when the amount of profit they make is minimal. This certainly isn't the case every time, but it happens a lot and can be a bit demoralizing to the folks with good intentions who are making new Amiga products. Thanks for watching and your thoughtful comment. It got me thinking as well!

[@doctorsocrates4413]

This just turns the amiga into a ship of theseus...

[@CipherDiaz]

"..fastest on the market, no-one can even attempt to get close to [the vampire]". With all respect this is a fact with some modifications. Emulation no longer works like stated in this video; we fixed this for ARM during the spring of 2018 for cheap, off the shelves SBC's. This means that the Amibian build for ARM, which covers the Raspberry PI, the Tinkerboard and the ODroid presently, has a completely re-written core and it balances muscle-power between the cpu and chipset in a more natural way. This means the benchmarks finally reflect reality and that the cpu is no-longer the number one priority of UAE. Its even multi-threaded now, which is a huge thing. So as of writing (24.06.2018) a $35 Raspberry PI 3b (not to mention the 3b+) runs rings around the vampire. Im not writing this to be a jerk or anything, just saying that things have changed in the world of Amiga emulation, which deserves some attention. I love the vampire just to say that. Its probably the most exciting product since the original Amiga. Far more interesting than the next-gen alternatives. So absolutely no bashing from my corner on the spectacular Vampire. But for people on a budget who dont have the money to get a vampire, or who just recently have come back to the Amiga after decades in the PC world -- A Raspberry PI 3b+ in a good case with safe shutdown mechanism, will set you back roughly $80-$100 depending on your location. Which in my view is more cost effective. If you have a real Amiga and want to upgrade that, which ultimately is what the vampire is about, then naturally the vampire is the way to go. And personally I cant wait to see the performance of the stand-alone model :)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Well said Jon! I totally agree. It is almost like comparing 2 different things. Something designed to keep the classics alive, vs. emulation. I love my Pi with Amibian. Speaking of that, do you have a new image? :-)

[@rogerandrelassen3355]

Part 2 ?

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Almost finished. Sorry it took so long. Work got crazy and so did some things with my personal life, but it will be finished within a week

[@darrenlomax1283]

Part 2 . . . hurry up will ya!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

LOL. I promise I will get on it as soon as I get back from my work trip!

[@manueljesus3147]

Tow more weeks...it won't be the standard Amiga two more weeks. I'm sure it will be done in real world two more weeks, . But in Amiga time two more weeks is actually 2 real world weeks with a 200X multiplier.

[@josedourado3747]

❤️

[@tekk9995]

He'd better be introducing the Vampyre for the A4000 :)

[@rogerandrelassen3355]

Where is Part 2 ??

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Roger Andre Lassen It is on my HD back at my office. I will finish editing it when I get back from a 2 week work trip

[@rogerandrelassen3355]

oh. Ok. :-)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Roger Andre Lassen I wanted to make it one video but I ran out if time before I left

[@rogerandrelassen3355]

I understand. Well, guess i have to wait. Btw, Core 2.9 came out today. But you probably know by now :-)

[@smiljanicn]

Majsta, it easier to read Maysta, a hardware guru!

[@drzeissler]

This would be the fastest mac ever!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

LOL, yeah

[@MrSEA-ok2ll]

I hate to be a devil's advocate here, but seeing that the vampire runs the 32 bit TOS, why not also release this beast for the Atari ST. The big kicker here is to not completely replace all Amiga hardware, but to provide a fast CPU with extra ram. Like the Amiga, there are a pile of ST enthusiasts out there that would love this machine. I own several Amiga's, but also some Atari's as well...just a thought. Also, regarding running Neo Geo emulator and such...who cares? You can run these on $50 products these days, I viewed the Vampire as the ultimate ability to run Amiga things, properly and at full speed.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I am not part of Apollo team, but I have heard things about a Vampire inside an ST, so your wish may come true!

[@Seboss38]

Yeah, I'm not sure what the big deal is about NG emulation. It does open the door to many great games on the Amiga, and the same can be said about Mac emulation. But it doesn't play into Amiga specific strength. Oh well, I believe that's something people wanted to contribute to anyway, it's a nice tech demo and more software is always nice, so why not?

[@Atheist7]

It adds value in a HUGE way!!!!!!

[@AmstradExin]

....and now we already have FPU + AGA. This shit is fast.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

AmstradExin it sure is!

[@stevenixx3595]

isnt this just an fpga that just uses the keyboard and inputs? so not using the amiga as such

[@sillonbono3196]

No problem with paying a decent price for a decent product, all the people whining about the price should shut up already, for the Amiga to have a future the devs need to pay the bills.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Agreed. It has to be worth their while. They put a ton of time and effort into making the product and I am thankful to all the people who make new hardware and software for the Amiga. Understandably, it may be frustrating to some folks if it is out of their price range, but the devs deserve to be compensated for their efforts and I have a hunch they are not getting rich off this.

[@justinholmes5614]

"The v2 is an accelerator card you can get now" I wish !

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I hear you! They are tuff to come by.

[@eightbit1975]

Nice presentation. Priority one (in my eyes/book) should have always been getting RGB/classic video modes all out of the HDMI port....AGA can come later. Having to swap between HDMI for the RTG mode and the Amiga legacy RGB mode (or have two displays connected to one Amiga!) just sucks. It REALLY sucks. I have to once again emphasize how much that SUCKS. Ok, I'm done. Please work on getting this working!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yeah, I hear you on the 2 displays.

[@KDRatioShow]

Dude this was legit amazing. Found you via Twitter and am enjoying your videos -- subbed! Would love for you to check us out too if you have time. Keep up the good work!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Cool, thanks! I just subbed to you as well - your videos look great. Thanks so much!

[@KDRatioShow]

The Guru Meditation thanks friend!

[@skyhawk77]

The problem with Amiga today is that there is barely anyone developing software for it, the newer hardware developed for it, is ridiculously overpriced and at least 12 to 20 years out of date when compared to modern PC systems of today. Playing a few really old games at a faster frame rate....is hardly cutting edge. Until the Amiga is capable of running even fairly old games like Bad Company 2 or even Battlefield 3 at a least 1080p within the next 5 years...I think the interest in Amiga will just fizzle out...and be another, ''We tried but failed"....ala Escom... scenario. Amigas are retro items, you can't reinvent time, when time itself has moved on. Even I'm running a quadcore I7 920 PC System ( 4 core / 8 thread) at 3.56 Ghz / 16 gigs of RAM from 2009, yet will beat any Amiga, even the latest ones that cost twice what I paid to build my own to death in performance stakes.

[@manueljesus3147]

at this point its a labor of love and all about preservation of this fun platform. If there is some growth then that's great. If not then we have some awesome modern hardware to play with.

[@squareeyes3676]

Embarrassed you should be that you think we were only playing games on this thing in Europe. Commodore UK outlasted commodore USA by far. Lol. Get a grip vampire guys. Get your head out! Explains a lot a lot about why amiga died. Laughable

[@davidnonsuch4981]

What i find troubling about these products in general is that they simply do not seem to be designed for people who actually "enjoy" old hardware. Nothing about them is authentic. The fact that you do not actually require an Amiga of any kind is telling to me. No real chips are used and functions of the Amiga are taken over and replaced by something artificial and unreal. This really is the Amiga-haters version of an Amiga. How much of the system can you replace and make completely redundant before it isn't the original system anymore? How is this ACTUALLY better than using emulation?

[@manueljesus3147]

Noted. Well if I remember correctly Majsta found out who was THE big source for all Amiga AGA class custom chips stock and it was purchased and priced high as replacement parts for existing Amigas. The pricing on the chips isn't offered in volume pricing, thus making any machine produced as expensive as a power pc based ng system. So reversing the design is the most economical solution.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

David Nonsuch I feel you. Totally understand. This certainly isn't a product for everyone. I share many of the same thoughts. Although I have to say, when I saw it demoed in person it had quite an effect on me. I would love to be able to run some of the modern demos on my real Amiga but the price of an 060 is steep. You are still sitting at a real Amiga when using the Vampire which felt nice regardless of what is happening under the hood - at least to me it does. I absolutely love my Raspberry Pi with Amibian, but this felt closer to the real thing. I have a 2nd 500 that this could work well in. I like getting the IDE controller as well

[@davidnonsuch4981]

Well... might be nice as a curio or a kind of "What could have been"-machine, but i can't see myself putting one in my 500. All aside tho... Another great video. Thanks Bill and Anthony!

[@Seboss38]

I think you're mistaken about what the Vampire is about. It's not about being retro, or play with Amiga software for a while. This is what classic hardware and emulation are about. In my understanding, the goal of the Vampire is to pick up Amiga development where Commodore left it, sticking to the 68k architecture and as such remaining compatible *natively* with all pre-existing Amiga software. The long-term objective is to propose brand new, modern and durable Amiga hardware, as Dave Haynie and colleagues envisioned it 20 years ago, in an economically (and legally) feasible way. The "accelerator" form factor is just a mean to an end, a way to get the new blood pumping using existing hardware as a stepping stone to a new full fledged Amiga computer. That's how I see it anyway, and I'm super excited. If you really are into classic hardware, the existing options remain valid, for now. If you're ready to spend the price of a brand new Macbook on severely outdated and failure prone third party accelerators.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks so much David! Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for all the support!

[@achaney]

Part 2?

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I will have it up on Tuesday May 29th. It is all edited, just waiting for a couple of screen records from Manny that I will insert over the weekend.