Formerly the Amiga relied upon custom chips like the AGA chipset, Lisa, Alice, Denise and Paula. While the BoXer is not the first to do away with these chips (Draco) it never the less has some new and interesting improvements. There has been some speculation for some time as the whether Micks new AA+ chipset would be used on the BoXer. The AA+ has been promoted as Micks new "Invention" on his web page for some time but there has never been any real mention of its incorporation onto the BoXer - though in hindsight the features listed for the AA+ would lend one to think it would have to be on the BoXer. Until recently when asked publicly on the IRC conference at Cologne in Germany November 1999, Mick told us that the BoXer would come with a Sub set of the AA+. Meaning that while the AA+ would be included on the BoXer, not all of its features are yet to be implemented.
 
 
 
 

AA+ Chip Set
25th  June 1998
Sourced Access Innovation Home Page

                          "Access Innovation Ltd are working on a next generation AGA chip set, called AA+, which offers higher levels of
                          performance, features and integration.

                          The chip set is based around a totally new full 32-bit functional core, this then has a 16-bit AGA hardware register
                          emulation wrapped around it. The 32-bit core, using modern memory access techniques can achieve 20-times
                          the bandwidth of the original AGA chip memory. The effect of improved memory access and buffering is that DMA
                          access for the video display takes significantly less of the available bandwidth and is less time critical, this allows
                          a Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) to be used without causing significant conflicts with processor operation.
                          When accessing the original Blitter the 16-bit registers are translated to 32-bit operations, using burst memory
                          access at up to 20-times the speed of the original Blitter."

                           FEATURES

                               Processor interface (68020, 68030, 68040, ColdFire 5102 or PowerPC options).
                               Address decoding for ROM, RTC, RAM, etc.
                               DRAM controller for SIMM's/DIMM's.
                               PCI bus controller.
                               AGA compatible.
                               Supports additional chunky mode displays while retaining backward compatibility with WB3.1 (chunky
                               display works using CyberGraphics/Piccasso96).
                               Resolutions up to 1024x768x16-bit.
                               16-bit sound.
                               UMA for lowest memory sub-system costs.
                               Blitter up to 20-times faster.
                               High-density floppy drive support.
                               CIA's (optionally using external buffers to reduce ASIC pin count).
                               DMA engine.
                               Interface to a SuperIO chip to allow low cost serial, parallel, UDMA IDE and USB to be implemented off
                               chip.
 

                               It is intended that features such as Firewire, modems and networks be implemented using a plug-in PCI card or
                               integrated PCI chip solution.
 
 
 

So what will this mean for the BoXer?
For any manufacturer to produce an Amiga or clone based on an Amiga, the custom chips will need to be sourced. Since the demise of Commodore, then Escom and now Gateway/AI now abandoning the Classic Amigas - there will be soon if not now be an extreme shortage of AGA chips amongst others  plus some serious doubts over the long term availability and costs. Couple that with today's Amiga users demanding more from their machines a solution needs to be found.

So the only logical way around this is to produce a new and improved AGA chipset. Hence Micks new AA+.  While Mick maintains this is not a clone of the AGA it never the less supports most if not all the standard AGA features - plus - all the new and improved features as listed above. Through all this Mick has been able to replace and dump all the Amigas custom chips. In doing so the AA+ also boats some new fancy features and one of the most suprising is the elimination of the Chip Ram barrier. Now the AA+ can address the Sdramm sockets on the motherboard and now offers a unlimited Chip/Fast solution. Remembering that the theoretical maximum total Ram on the BoXer is 1 Gig; it does leave allot to the imagination.
To draw a parallel, most PC's today are rarely able to address this much memory. 1 Brownie point for Mick on this!

Unfortunately for the first time buyers of the BoXer the unit will not ship with a fully featured AA+ chipset. (According to present information). BUT! Mick maintains that the AA+ will be upgradable at a later date. The included AA+ sub set mainly allows the OS to be up and running with AGA features.

So how compatible will this AA+ be with AGA?
Until some real world testing is done this is anyone's guess but Mick is confident if a high rate of compatibility. There will of course be some applications, perhaps a older Games and some Demos that may not work. While Mick does expect some problems, but for programs that hit the metal directly should still work provided that they were coded to follow the original Hardware reference manuals.

With regards to performance issue, all things come down to speed and bandwidth like all things computer -  and the AGA/AA+ is no different.
But according to Mick "Chip memory was controlled by Alice and limited things to an absolute maximum of 14MB/sec. We have a bandwith substantially higher than that, as well as a 32/64-bit bus (while AGA had a 16/32-bit bus)".
I think personally we will see the full power of the AA+ when it is fully completed and upgraded. Will it be software of Hardware upgradable, I don't know but I hope to find this out soon.

I had an email recently asking if this AA+ is similar in design to the famed AAA and if so will offer more than the afore mentioned. I will be looking for information and spec's on the AAA and hope to do a cross comparison for those who are interested.
Hopefully we will have more information soon.
 
 

Last Updated: 07th April 2000