"The Impulse Multiprocessing system is being developed jointly by IAT Manufacturing (U.K) and Alternate Approach (U.S). Alternate Approach are handling the development of a custom Micro-OS which will enable transparent integration with Amiga OS® which does not currently support multiple processors.
IAT Manufacturing is developing the system hardware based around Motorola's Coldfire Family of Microprocessors."

So what is this all about?
The Impulse system is basically an alternative approach to PPC but offering an all in one sub system including I/O and a proprietary custom bus called the I-Bus aswell as 3x High Speed Serial ports and some custom headers for future expansion.
Couple this with two Coldfire 5307 CPU's each running at 70Mips each this translates to a whopping  ..... Mhz. All in all this gives a new outlook and offers yet more options for our beloved Amiga's.

The MPU (Multi Processing Unit) system has been designed with simplicity and pricing in mind. This is to say that only one module has been designed but with the addition of various coupling adapters the single unit will fit almost the entire range of Amiga based computers including the BoXer. This will allow you to transfer you MPU module to any of your Amiga systems and even to any newer system you may purchase in the future. No one specific board for any particular Amiga model computer. Simply add an adapter module and your away.
Above all this is not a CO-PRO arrangement like the 603e/604 series from Phase5 but a true "multitasking environment where individual processors can work on different tasks."
 
 

System	Compatibility
A500
A500 Plus
A600
A1200
A1000
A2000
A3000
A4000
CDTV
CD32
ACCESS
SIAMESE
BOXER
DCE A5000 DRACO

 

Cpu	Mips	Mhz
Coldfire 5307
PPC 603e    160/200/240
PPC 604      200/240
PPC G3       233/266/300/333 - 450
Intel Pentium   75/90/100/133/166/200/233
Intel Pentium II   233/266/300/350/400/450/
Intel Pentium III   450/500
Intel Celron  300/333/366/433
AMD
Cyrix (IBM)

Features
Impulse-5307 and Impulse-5307-Lite (minus the 68882 FPU units)
- 2 x MCF5307 processors delivering 70Mips each. (VLRISC)  Variable Length RISC instructions
- The ColdFire processors have a high degree of 68k compatibility with standard emulation software and code convertor
   available FREE
- 3x RS232 serial ports
- I-Bus connector
- 8M of 10ns SRAM  on board
- Sdram cards may be added to add a 512mb total
- Large on chip caches are also present
- 2 x 68882 sockets for FPU's
- 3 available headers on board (ie. SCSI, ethernet etc)

One header provides Access to Bus and Control signals (by default this is occupied by the computer interface card - which may be removed and reconnected to the additional hardware via a pass through),
Another gives access to Impulse features (see impulse data sheet I1) such as external DMA and chip selects
The third (minor) interface is reserved for upgrade to version 4 ColdFire processors.  (more to come soon)

- Cpu clock speed of 45mhz with a 90mhz driven core
- Impulse is based upon 040 bus signals
- Impulse cards may be used in tandem with PPC upgrades
- Truly multitasking environment where individual processors can work on different tasks; reducing the number of context
   switches
- MCF5307 processors working in tandem with a 68k, all processors are autonomous.
  (This is not a co-processor arrangement).
- The 5307's two-wire I2C interface could open up new possibilities in terms of peripheral connection
 

What is Coldfire?
MCF - otherwise know as Motorola Coldfire was primarily developed for the embedded systems industry.
More to come...

Sram versus Sdram
(Also refer to the Types of RAM in the ???? section.) sgram,dimm,sdram, pc100 sdram, fpram, Edo etc / sgram
SDRAM is very fast but not as fast as SRAM, this is why SRAM is used on the mainboard. Unfortunately SRAM is very expensive so memory for the Impulse may be added on SDRAM memory cards.

Software?
"Software development packages are free to all developers - we intend to make supporting Impulse AMAZINGLY SIMPLE and profitable (FREE) software developer packages."

3.5 ?

The Future!
"The ColdFire range is well suited to use in a multimedia environment; this is shown by the wealth of available third party companion IC's available including Ethernet and PCI interfaces. We plan to continue development of the Impulse range to provide low cost and customizable acceleration options for the future".
 

and what of PowerPC?
WarpUP?
 

When and How Much?
Implse-5307  will retail around the £199 mark
Impulse 5307-Lite cards (Non floating point intensive tasks , no price has yet been set for this board)

It is also interesting to note that way back before the announcement of the BoXer when Access Innovations (Formerly known as Index) were investigating the use of Coldfire in the range of Amiga based products. I'll be in touch with Mick for his comments on this!

The question to be raised is, if the card was designed around the 040 would that mean there would be substantial bottlenecking on 020 based systems like the CD32/A1200 etc or lower still on the A500/A2000/A3000 etc and on the opposite end of the scale would there be a performance increase on 060 based systems or the 64bit system (BoXer)?

01 November 199
Hardware (IAT Manufacturing)                                     100% Complete
Software  Micro OS (Alternative Approach)                 20% Complete
Testing                                                                             30% Complete
 
 

Comments from industry ...

Software:
 

Hardware:
 
 

Contacts
IAT Manufacturing (UK)                                                         Alternate Approach (US)
Hardware                                                                                Software
12 Admirals Crest Scholes
Rotherham South Yorkshire S61 2SW
Great Britain
www                                                                                        www
email: IATgamma@netcomuk.co.uk                                          Email
 

For more information:
Users can find regular progress updates in the news section of the ICOA website.
An announce only ML has been set up, to join send a mail with the subject as SUBSCRIBE to IATdelta@netcomuk.co.uk
 
 

Last Updated: 01 November 1999