Hi there! I have a SE 8MH and am looking forward to this project with GREAT interest.
WarpSE: 25 MHz 68HC000-based accelerator for Mac SE
- Thread starter Zane Kaminski
- Start date
@Zane Kaminski
Your official posts in this thread have have been silent for the last 4 months, so I do hope there are still plans in the works to make the fabulous accelerator happen.
To continue what I had said before about distorted sound, I was Googling SE accelerators yesterday and found that the Total Systems (Mobius) Gemini Ultra and the Novy Quik30 68030 accelerators (about the fastest cards made for the Mac SE) could use the same control panel driver, which interestingly enough fixed distorted sound on both. Scroll to the very bottom of this web page to see the software and description:
https://vintageapple.org/macdrivers/accel.shtml
While I fully understand yours is not based on the 030, the fact those two accelerators were cured of the audio glitch problem with a software solution implies that your forthcoming accelerator might be able to achieve the same. This is an important consideration in light of how significant "good audio" is in the vintage computing experience. Most people play games on old computers, rather than do modern day Photoshop or web design work, making good audio as important as the accelerator itself.
Anyway, I hope all is well at Garrett's Workshop!
Your official posts in this thread have have been silent for the last 4 months, so I do hope there are still plans in the works to make the fabulous accelerator happen.
To continue what I had said before about distorted sound, I was Googling SE accelerators yesterday and found that the Total Systems (Mobius) Gemini Ultra and the Novy Quik30 68030 accelerators (about the fastest cards made for the Mac SE) could use the same control panel driver, which interestingly enough fixed distorted sound on both. Scroll to the very bottom of this web page to see the software and description:
https://vintageapple.org/macdrivers/accel.shtml
While I fully understand yours is not based on the 030, the fact those two accelerators were cured of the audio glitch problem with a software solution implies that your forthcoming accelerator might be able to achieve the same. This is an important consideration in light of how significant "good audio" is in the vintage computing experience. Most people play games on old computers, rather than do modern day Photoshop or web design work, making good audio as important as the accelerator itself.
Anyway, I hope all is well at Garrett's Workshop!
At least that's what it says there. I do have both, the Quik30 as well as the Gemini Ultra (branded Extreme Systems) and they both do have sound issues when used with Gemstart - it's just not as bad as with other drivers but it's still there.
What's interesting is that with less crackles and pops in the audio comes worse video performance. Without diving into it any deeper it looks like the software is holding things back to be able to accurately fill the sound buffer when needed and deprioritizes other things.
Yeah. Back then, communication between organizations and people was not as instant as today. Sometimes an update was released for one thing, and another update or another that missed each other. Programmers were writing code in software to try to compensate for that sound issue under acceleration. Then when the accelerator code was updated to fix the sound issue, the other software had not updated,d so things may have gotten out of sync.
Acceleration was for the benefit of some things, not everything. It was too fast for some games but suitable for spreadsheets and word processing.
Acceleration was for the benefit of some things, not everything. It was too fast for some games but suitable for spreadsheets and word processing.
Great discussion on the sound issue. Despite the distorted sound I still really enjoy my SuperMac SpeedCard on my SE and would love to see the WarpSE come out, even if the sound issue is still in progress.
I'd hate to see solving the sound issue become a block to getting the board out. No doubt the sound issue could eventually be improved by firmware/software.
I'd hate to see solving the sound issue become a block to getting the board out. No doubt the sound issue could eventually be improved by firmware/software.
Both. Wow! The 50MHz Gemini Ultra is THE fastest SE edition accelerator I can find, since no 040 accelerators were available for it. But are you saying that when using the newest drive, video is slower than stock when the accelerator is running, or are you saying that the video isn't accelerated as much? If the video is slower than the stock video with the accelerator running, that obviously would be about as bad as distorted sound.
I find it interesting that so many SE accelerators have audio issues, versus SE/30 accelerators which don't (except for the Carrera040 when running in 040 mode). My DiiMO, Daystar socketed PowerCache, and Turbo040 all run without distorted audio.
I like my SpeedCard only when I am not running games. When you run games, you have audio. And when you have audio, you get distorted sound which ruins the experience. Of course, you can do the programmer's switch at cold boot trick to kill the acceleration to eliminate the problem. But that is annoying because I don't need to do that with my SE/30 accelerators so I can enjoy the benefit of clean audio and fast loading times on that machine.
Do you think you could resolve the audio problems in software if you had a SpeedCard?
@JDW It might be possible. I will try to shift a little time in that direction. I also need to wrap up my Mac II FPU testing. I will also try out my ProdigySE board. My 68K workspace is in video board chaos at the moment and I also have to get my drive storage sorted out.
I think a 50MHz PowerCache will be faster due to the cache that most of the other fast SE accelerators lack.
The PowerCache adapter for the SE also comes with RAM which is hanging on to a fast 33MHz bus on the adapter itself.
I think the PowerCache when used in an SE benchmarks faster than when it's running in an SE/30 because of the faster RAM.
That beast of an adapter is probably rarer than any of the other accelerators on their own.
The reason I didn't highlight the "PowerCache" in yellow in the chart I posted earlier was because it doesn't include the "SE" in the compatibility list...
I have the SE/30 edition, which is a socketed accelerator board, but of course the SE has a 68000 which is a different shape.
There were of course the P33 cards for the IIci and IIsi...
And even the rare one for the Macintosh II...
Daystar Digital PowerCache- Mac II, 68030- 50MHz & Daystar Mac II Adapter Card | #1900833903
Daystar Digital PowerCache for Mac II, 68030 - 50MHz Card & Daystar Adapter Card for Mac II only! Rare VintageDESCRIPTION: DayStar Digital PowerCache 68030, 50MHz Accelerator upgrade card for Macintos
www.worthpoint.com
But I am not aware of PowerCache cards that work in the SE. Does an "SE" (not SE/30) edition "PowerCache" really exist?
Holy cow, @Bolle ! That's the first I've ever seen of that SE-compatible PowerCache. That's the most unique vintage Mac accelerator I've ever seen! Super rare, to be sure!
QUESTION: My SE/30 edition socketed PowerCache has no issues with audio. Does your SE edition PowerCache have issues, or is audio perfect?
QUESTION: My SE/30 edition socketed PowerCache has no issues with audio. Does your SE edition PowerCache have issues, or is audio perfect?
@jasa1063
Based on the previous reply below, I think we just need to wait until the end of February, because... well... @Zane Kaminski did say "sooner than [March 2023]" after all!
I should also mention that being able to have acceleration without distorted sound is important for the experience. Toward that end, @Bolle has resolved the audio glitching issue on his Carrera040 clone by way of an updated Control Panel. That gives me a tiny bit of hope that perhaps something could be done on Zane's forthcoming accelerator to better ensure audio works as it should.
Anyway, hoping all is well at Garrett's Workshop!
Based on the previous reply below, I think we just need to wait until the end of February, because... well... @Zane Kaminski did say "sooner than [March 2023]" after all!
I should also mention that being able to have acceleration without distorted sound is important for the experience. Toward that end, @Bolle has resolved the audio glitching issue on his Carrera040 clone by way of an updated Control Panel. That gives me a tiny bit of hope that perhaps something could be done on Zane's forthcoming accelerator to better ensure audio works as it should.
Anyway, hoping all is well at Garrett's Workshop!
It's hard to sit on my hands and wait. The anticipation is just too much! 
I do hope @Zane Kaminski is okay. We've not heard from him in this thread for a long while. Please tell us you're still alive and kicking, Zane!
Well it's now March and still no update. I am going to assume this has either been delayed or just won't happen. I hope I am wrong.