09-09-2025, 05:06 PM
(09-09-2025, 11:08 AM)VK2FVAX Wrote: Hey Ewan.. maybe a next project could be a Gamma? People could start writing 16bit Z8k software again
Ha.
No, the Gamma will never be released as a new model.
Honestly, while it was a great design at the time, I think people would be disappointed.
The graphics resolution was great for the time, but with no hardware support for line drawing or
bit block transfers (BITBLP) it was well behind the Amiga, and even the Atari ST. That means that the
M68K processor had to do all the graphics work in software. It didn't even have simple support for scrolling.
Aside from 2 items (screen resolution and lack of memory management system) the new models actually
outshine the Gamma in so many ways.
* The M68K processor runs at 66Mhz (Gamma 8Mhz)
* Fully backwards compatible with all previous Z80 bee software (Gamma not)
* 16 separate palettes of 16 colours for both foreground and background - programmable per character cell
for up to 256 colours on screen at once (Gamma 16 colours from 4096)
* Hardware cursor / Sprite of 128 x 64 pixels with selectable palette. (Gamma - no hardware support for this)
* 32Mbyte SDRAM as standard (Gamma pre-production had 1Mb with max of 7Mb)
* Dual (stereo) 8k sound FIFO's for sound out via speaker (Stereo -> mono), Stereo line out, and Stereo out via HDMI (Gamma mono 4k FIFO)
There's more, but you get the gist.
The Gamma was way too complex too, for the hobbyist to build and fault find, with the M68k processor and 2 x Z80's all sharing a common bus.
The 2 Gammas that Microbee Technology has were a nightmare to repair and get fully operational as a result. Both required a logic anaylser
to get them going to see where the boot process stalled.
It is possible that the Gamma OS will get a port to the new machines though. Maybe.