Re: TransWarpGS Clone

[Conrad <conrad.russo@gmail.com>]

@Steve: You're absolutely right. I very much doubt there is a new device that is compatible with the raw bitstream, although its possible there is a more available, slightly less old device that is, which could be an intermediate step. When I was talking about reengineering, I was thinking more along the lines of using a logic analyzer to study the interaction between the FPGA and the rest of the device. The FPGA used on the TWGS is VERY basic, in fact I believe it was Xilinx's first commercial FPGA. I think it only has 64 logic elements. This should make it much easier to deal with from a reverse engineering perspective, since there can't be that much functionality in there. If all else fails there are services out there that you could send a IIGS with a functioning TWGS installed to and who would send you back VHDL/Verilog code, for a price of course. This is always an option if nothing else works. Don't worry, I'm not under the impression that having a bitstream is equivalent to having the VHDL/Verilog code. I think you are right that it wouldn't be that hard to develop a new accelerator, but this is even easier and will get a product out the door even faster. :P

@Bill: From my understanding the ZipGSX will always be more stable if you run it with an older '816, since the ZipGSX ASIC does a better job of correcting the deficiencies of the older '816 die then the TWGS GALs. From what I understand, if you use one of the Sanyo-designed '816s with updated GALs and 32k of fast (<20ns) cache, the performance should be equal up to a certain MHz, but the Zip will probably top out 1MHz-2MHz faster than the TWGS when overclocking. When you say you will front me 350 dollars for 2 new TWGS cards shipped, do you mean you are willing to prepay? I am not ready to accept prepayments yet, but when I am that would definitely be awesome, since it would certainly help pay for the materials and processes and get the cards out the door faster. I will let you know when I am set up for things like that. That goes for anyone else as well, if people are wanting to prepay to get a card from the first batch that would help get everything done faster, but again I'm not ready to accept payments yet however I will let people know as soon as I am. Also, if anyone wants to lend a TransWarp GS to me, that will help get things done faster, since my card is currently malfunctioning and that could cause a problem with the reverse engineering process. Any card that someone lends will not be destroyed, the reverse engineering process is non-destructive, and I would return it when finished along with a brand new TWGS for the trouble, since its cheaper for me to borrow one and give a new card for the trouble than it is for me to buy a new working TWGS for the purpose.

@magnus and @egan: Excellent! I will add you both to the list of interested parties!