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AmigaOne XE & µ-A1
[
AmigaOne G3/G4-XE |
µ-A1 ]
+++ Product discontinued +++
If you are looking for a board to run
AmigaOS 4.x on, please have a look at the
SAM460ex board or the
AmigaOne 500.
AmigaOne G3-XE & AmigaOne G4-XE
The AmigaOne is a PPC motherboard board designed to be capable of running
Amiga OS4.x. The board uses either a G3 750FX CPU running at 800 MHz, or a
G4 7455 CPU running at 800 MHz. In standalone form, the AmigaOne will be
able to run retargetable versions of OS4.x. and, in addition to running
PPC-native applications, the AmigaOne will also be able to run retargetable
legacy Amiga (68K) applications via the 68K JIT emulator built in to OS4.
The AmigaOne can also run PPC Linux (including TurboLinux, SuSE Linux and
Debian Linux) and Linux applications, such as the UAE Amiga emulator,
Mac on Linux (MOL), and office applications.
The AmigaOne uses a standard ATX form factor (and can therefore use any case
capable of taking a full-sized ATX motherboard), supports up to 2 GB of main memory
and has 4x PCI + 1x AGP (2x) slots on board. The board also comes with on-board
UDMA100 (2 channels, 4 devices), USB (2 socketed on board, 2 available on headers),
and 10/100 ethernet supported via a dedicated Intel controller chip.
In addition it has on board legacy peripherals for serial, parallel, floppy,
keyboard and mouse.
Technical Summary:
| Item |
AmigaOneG3-XE |
AmigaOneG4-XE |
| CPU |
G3 750FX |
G4 7455 |
| CPU speed |
800 MHz |
800 MHz |
| CPU upgradable |
Yes |
Yes |
| CPU socket |
Yes |
Yes |
| Max memory |
2 GB |
2 GB |
| Memory type |
DIMM Registered 133 |
DIMM Registered 133 |
| Northbridge |
ArticiaS |
ArticiaS |
| Southbridge |
VIA 82C686B |
VIA 82C686B |
| PCI 33MHz |
3 Slots |
3 Slots |
| PCI 66MHz |
1 Slot |
1 Slot |
| AGP speed |
2x |
2x |
| Ethernet chip |
3COM 820C |
3COM 820C |
| USB ports |
2 back plate + 2 headers |
2 back plate + 2 headers |
| PS2 ports |
Keyboard + mouse |
Keyboard + mouse |
| Serial ports |
2 x 16650 equivalent |
2 x 16650 equivalent |
| Parallel port |
1 x EPP/ECP |
1 x EPP/ECP |
| IRDA port |
on header |
on header |
| Firmware |
PPCBoot + OS4 enabler |
PPCBoot + OS4 enabler |
| OS capability |
LinuxPPC + OS4 |
LinuxPPC + OS4 |
AmigaOne in ITX format: µ-A1
µ-A1-C
The µ-A1-C is closely based on the specifications of the A1XE board,
modified where appropriate for the mini-ITX form factor and to
get round various quirks which have surfaced on the existing XE
boards. It is shipped with a 750Fx @800 MHz cpu module on a
standard AmigaOne MegArray connector, and a single SODIMM socket
populated with 256MB. Graphics are provided by an onboard Radeon
7000 with 32MB memory. 6-channel 5.1 surround sound is provided
by a CMI 8738 chip.
The board comes with a single PCI slot which is capable of
taking a -1, -2 or -3 slot riser card.
The µ-A1-C is only shipped with G3 CPU modules, due to the
high power consumption of commonly (and economically) available
G4 CPUs, and the resulting cooling problems when the board is
mounted in a mini-ITX case. Upgrade G4 CPU modules will be made
for this board using lower power G4s (like the MPC7447 CPU) when
these become available at reasonable prices in smallish
quantities.
µ-A1-I
The specification for the µ-A1-I is very comprehensive - as
many on board peripherals as practicable are included, with
unprecedented expansion facilities in such a compact design.
The main expansion slot is fully documented and 'open standard'
so that specialist hardware interface companies can produce and
market a range of add-ons - in true Amiga tradition. This
expansion port has bee designed to be PCI-104 compatible
resulting in a wide range of all manner of expansion cards
already being available off-the-shelf. The PCI 104 bus is a
'stacking' bus which allows more than one expansion card to be
used simultaneously. These expansion boards lie parallel to the
main board, simplifying the implementation of robust, reliable
mechanical fixing - which is essential for high reliability
industrial applications.
On-board peripherals include USB, IEEE 1394 (Firewire),
ATA133, Gbit/100/10 Ethernet, 5.1 6-channel surround sound,
SVGA, SVHS and composite video output and the usual array of
legacy connectors (games, 2x serial, parallel). Several of these
I/O functions are supplied on headers, making interconnections on
industrial systems (eg a serial touch screen controller) much
easier to implement.
In addition the single standard PCI slot will support a 1 to 3
slot expansion riser as with the µ-A1-C above.
The board also incorporates 256MB of on-board memory plus an
expansion SODIMM socket, passive cpu cooling and a CF (compact
flash) 'hard drive' slot. These features taken together allows
for completely solid-state operation - essential for the high
reliability needed in many industrial applications. AGP graphics
are provided by an on-board ATi 7000-series graphics processor
with 32MB of DDR memory.
With all this added functionality board space is extremely
tight, and something had to give. The chosen candidate was the
exchangeable MegArray-based CPU module as used on the
AmigaOne-XE. There simply was not room to fit it in with all the
other stuff. However the good news is that the µ-A1 now comes
with an 800MHz 750Gx CPU as standard, which represents an upgrade
to the 750Fx used in the AmigaOne XE-G3. The option of using a
Motorola G4 cpu was rejected as the higher heat dissipation meant
that passive cooling was not possible - and it is CPU fan failure
which is one of the major causes of unreliability in computer
systems.
Comparative Specifications:
| |
µ-A1-C |
µ-A1-I |
| CPU |
G3 750FX (fan cooled) |
G3 750GX (passively cooled) |
| CPU clock |
800 MHz |
800 MHz |
| CPU mounting |
A1XE-type MegArray module |
Directly mounted on board |
| Memory on board |
- |
256 MB |
| Memory SODIMM socket |
256 MB |
unpopulated |
| FSB speed |
133 MHz |
133 MHz |
| PCI slots |
32 Bit, 33 MHz, optional riser cards |
32 Bit, 33 MHz, optional riser cards |
| I/O expansion |
- |
PCI-104 compatible connector and mounting points. 5x GPIO, +5V, GND on header |
| IDE controller |
VIA 686B ATA 100, 40 & 44 way headers |
Sil0680 ATA 133, 40 & 44 way headers, bootable CF slot |
| Ethernet |
3COM 10/100 controller |
RTL8110 1000/100/10 controller |
| Sound |
CMI8738 6-channel 5.1 surround sound with CD-ROM, front audio on headers |
CMI8738 6-channel 5.1 surround sound with CD-ROM, front audio on headers |
| IEEE 1394 (Firewire) |
- |
2 rear panel sockets |
| USB 1.1 |
2 rear panel sockets, 2 on headers |
2 rear panel sockets, 2 on headers |
| Graphics |
ATI Radeon 7000 32 MB with SVGA, SVHS and composite video outputs on back panel |
ATI Radeon 7000 32 MB with SVGA, SVHS and composite video outputs on back panel |
| Legacy I/O |
PS/2 mouse & keyboard, game, parallel ports on back panel, 1x serial on header |
PS/2 mouse & keyboard, game, ports on back panel; parallel, 2x serial, IRDA ports on headers |
| Firmware |
Uboot 1.1.1 or higher |
Uboot 1.1.1 or higher |
| OS |
LinuxPPC + AmigaOS 4 |
LinuxPPC + AmigaOS 4 |
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