Atari Coldfire Project

Atari Coldfire Project
Developer	Firebee Volunteers
Release date	May 2012; 11 years ago
Introductory price	599 Euro
Website	www.firebee.org

The Atari Coldfire Project (ACP) is a volunteer project that has created a modern Atari ST computer clone called the FireBee.^[3]^[4]

Reason for the project

The Atari 16 and 32 computer systems (

CD

drives.

A new clone named Phenix never made it to market in final form.

MiB

to 512 MiB with a CT60.

These systems were not mass-produced and are now hard to find. While the CT60/CT63 needs a Falcon "donor" system, and is still not as powerful as the ACP potential system could be, the ACP will use a completely new design, moving away from 68K CPUs to the newer

68K

chips while still having a largely similar (but not completely compatible) instruction set. It will also allow for the integration of many I/O ports that are currently only available through extensive hardware modification on the Atari platform.

Specifications

The specifications for the ACP have changed considerably over time, in response to advancing technology and price considerations. However, it seems the following will be in the final design according to former Atari Coldfire Project homepage:^[6]

Processor: Coldfire MCF5474, 264 MHz, 400 MIPS
RAM: DDR, 512 MB Main- + 128 MB Video- and Special-RAM on Board, Speed: 1 Gbit/s
Flash: 8 MB onboard for operating systems
Atari compatible interface ports:
- TT/Falcon-
  IDE
  ,
- ST/TT-Floppy
- TT-SCSI (but faster)
- ACSI
- ROM-Port: 2×2 mm Connector
- Printer Port, parallel
- ST/TT-serial
- MIDI
- ST-Sound,
  YM2149
  over AC'97
- ST/TT/Falcon-Video
- Atari-Keyboard with Mouse
Other Ports:
- Ethernet 10/100, 1 Port
- USB 2.0
  Host (ISP1563), 5 Ports
- Compact-Flash
  , 1 Port
- SD-Card
  , 1 Port
- AC'97 Stereo Codec with DMA-Sound Output and 48 kHz Sampling Input
- Sound_Connectors: LineIn, LineOut, Mic (Mono), DVD/CD internal
- New Video Modes about 2
  true color
- PS2 Mouse/Keyboard Port
Battery Powered (if desired)
PCI 33 MHz direct Edge for passive backplane
Power controller with
real time clock
, PIC18F4520
Extension socket: 60Pol (DSPI 33
megabaud
, serial sync or async about 33 megabaud, 26 bit I/O about 133 MHz, I²C-Bus)
Asynchronous 512 KB
static RAM
for DSP or similar already planned extensions in the future: Falcon DSP in the FPGA
Format: Card 90 × 260 × 20 mm
Power consumption of the complete board: 3 to 5 watts

Operating systems

On the 8 MB ROM, FireBee devices have the following pre-installed software:

BaS (BasicSystem)
FPGA config
FireTOS
EmuTOS

There's a ready to use

ColdFire which can be ordered on CompactFlash

card with the device.

μClinux has also been ported to FireBee.^[7]

Compatibility

There are different strategies for dealing with the differences in

68K instruction set and opcodes:^[8]

FireTOS includes

exception handler

and CF68KLib

68Kemu program (based on Musashi 68k emulator) can be used to run
EmuTOS
Most of the operating system and basic desktop software has been ported and built for ColdFire and rest is able to run with emulation
Several commercial and shareware Atari SW packages have also either been ported to ColdFire or open sourced so that they could be ported to FireBee

FireBee

FPGA doesn't yet provide DSP functionality which means that any Atari Falcon

specific programs requiring DSP won't run. Many Falcon games and demos use it to play background music.

Development tool support

Pure C compatible) AHCC^[9]
C-compilers and their libraries have fully working ColdFire support

Digger disassembler supports ColdFire

RSC-editors like ResourceMaster work on Firebee

GFA Basic

has been modified to support FireTOS

SDL library and its (Atari specific) LDG dependency are ported to ColdFire/FireBee

References

^ About, Atari ColdFire Project, Started by Atari Coldfire Project volunteers 2009
^ About, Atari ColdFire Project, The FireBee was available for end users since May 2012
^ Atari Firebee – An Atari Coldfire Clone Built for Music Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 18 May 2010, Atari Music Network
^ Atari Coldfire Project, 16 December 2010, Noble Master Developer's Blog
^ Miro Kropáček (4 May 2009). "Phenix 060 Overview". mikrosk.github.io. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
^ "Former Atari Coldfire Project Website". Retrieved 3 May 2021.
^ "μClinux binaries for FireBee". Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
^ Atari ColdFire Project news
^ AHCC C-compiler

External links

[about-1] About, Atari ColdFire Project, Started by Atari Coldfire Project volunteers 2009

[2] About, Atari ColdFire Project, The FireBee was available for end users since May 2012

[3] Atari Firebee – An Atari Coldfire Clone Built for Music Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, 18 May 2010, Atari Music Network

[4] Atari Coldfire Project, 16 December 2010, Noble Master Developer's Blog

[5] Miro Kropáček (4 May 2009). "Phenix 060 Overview". mikrosk.github.io. Retrieved 1 March 2023.

[6] "Former Atari Coldfire Project Website". Retrieved 3 May 2021.

[7] "μClinux binaries for FireBee". Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.

[8] Atari ColdFire Project news

[9] AHCC C-compiler

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