Amiga Hombre chipset

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{{more citations needed | date=December 2014}}

”’Hombre”’ is a [[RISC]] chipset for the [[Amiga]], designed by [[Commodore International|Commodore]], which was intended as the basis of its next generation game machine called CD64<ref name=Haynie >{{cite web |url=http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/haynie3drisc.html |title=CBM’s Plans for the RISC-Chipset |author=Dave Haynie |date=January 24, 1995 |quote=The initial schedule of 18 months was for the Hombre game machine hardware. There’s no real OS here, just a library of routines, including a 3D package which would probably be licensed. The Amiga OS was not to have run on this system in any form. |publisher=Gareth Knight |accessdate=January 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703203138/http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/haynie3drisc.html |archive-date=July 3, 2008}}</ref> and a 3D accelerator PCI card. Hombre was canceled along with the bankruptcy of [[Commodore International]].

”’Hombre”’ is a [[RISC]] chipset for the [[Amiga]], designed by [[Commodore International|Commodore]], which was intended as the basis of its next generation game machine called CD64<ref name=Haynie >{{cite web |url=http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/haynie3drisc.html |title=CBM’s Plans for the RISC-Chipset |author=Dave Haynie |date=January 24, 1995 |quote=The initial schedule of 18 months was for the Hombre game machine hardware. There’s no real OS here, just a library of routines, including a 3D package which would probably be licensed. The Amiga OS was not to have run on this system in any form. |publisher=Gareth Knight |access-date=January 31, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703203138/http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/haynie3drisc.html |archive-date=July 3, 2008}}</ref> and a 3D accelerator PCI card. Hombre was canceled along with the bankruptcy of [[Commodore International]].

==History==

==History==

==Backward compatibility==

==Backward compatibility==

Hombre does not support any planar mode, nor any emulation for the legacy Amiga chipset or [[Motorola]] 680×0 [[Central processing unit|CPU]] registers, so it was completely incompatible with former Amiga models. According to Hombre designer Dr. Ed Hepler, Commodore intended to produce an AGA Amiga upon a single chip to solve the backward compatibility issues. This single chip would include Motorola MC680x0 core, plus the AGA chipset. The chip could be integrated in Hombre based computers for backward compatibility with AGA software.<ref name=”Dr. ED Hepler”>{{cite web |url=http://www.bambi-amiga.co.uk/amigahistory/21helper.txt |title=An Interview with Hombre designer Dr. Ed Hepler|author=Dr. Ed Hepler |date=May 21, 1998 |quote=I reported to the VP of Engineering and was responsible for the architecture of next generation Amigas. In that role, I performed various studies including one which would have produced a single chip Amiga (Motorola MC680x0 core, plus AA logic), and early versions of Hombre which contained a [[SIMD]] processor for graphics, etc. | accessdate=December 17, 2014}}</ref>

Hombre does not support any planar mode, nor any emulation for the legacy Amiga chipset or [[Motorola]] 680×0 [[Central processing unit|CPU]] registers, so it was completely incompatible with former Amiga models. According to Hombre designer Dr. Ed Hepler, Commodore intended to produce an AGA Amiga upon a single chip to solve the backward compatibility issues. This single chip would include Motorola MC680x0 core, plus the AGA chipset. The chip could be integrated in Hombre based computers for backward compatibility with AGA software.<ref name=”Dr. ED Hepler”>{{cite web |url=http://www.bambi-amiga.co.uk/amigahistory/21helper.txt |title=An Interview with Hombre designer Dr. Ed Hepler|author=Dr. Ed Hepler |date=May 21, 1998 |quote=I reported to the VP of Engineering and was responsible for the architecture of next generation Amigas. In that role, I performed various studies including one which would have produced a single chip Amiga (Motorola MC680x0 core, plus AA logic), and early versions of Hombre which contained a [[SIMD]] processor for graphics, etc. | access-date=December 17, 2014}}</ref>

==Design==

==Design==

* An inhouse designed 100+&nbsp;MHz [[64 bit]] [[integer]] [[PA-RISC]] microprocessor with [[SIMD]] and additional graphics processing related instructions.

* An inhouse designed 100+&nbsp;MHz [[64 bit]] [[integer]] [[PA-RISC]] microprocessor with [[SIMD]] and additional graphics processing related instructions.

* An advanced [[Direct memory access|DMA]] engine and [[blitter]] with 3D [[texture mapping]] and [[Gouraud shading]] using [[trapezoid|trapezoids]] as [[Geometric primitive|primitives]]

* An advanced [[Direct memory access|DMA]] engine and [[blitter]] with 3D [[texture mapping]] and [[Gouraud shading]] using [[trapezoid]]s as [[Geometric primitive|primitives]]

* 64-bit risc-like [[Original_Chip_Set#Copper|Copper]] co-processor

* 64-bit risc-like [[Original Chip Set#Copper|Copper]] co-processor

* 16-bit resolution sound processor with twelve voices

* 16-bit resolution sound processor with twelve voices

The inclusion of a [[double precision]] [[floating point unit]] was under consideration,

The inclusion of a [[double precision]] [[floating point unit]] was under consideration,

floating point functionality using the the integer register file was also being investigated.

floating point functionality using the integer register file was also being investigated.

The Display Controller Chip was designed by Tim McDonald, also known as the designer of the AAA Monica chip. It is similar in principle to the Denise, Lisa, and Monica chips found on original Amigas. In addition, the chipset also supported future official or third-party upgrades through extension for an external [[PA-RISC]] processor.

The Display Controller Chip was designed by Tim McDonald, also known as the designer of the AAA Monica chip. It is similar in principle to the Denise, Lisa, and Monica chips found on original Amigas. In addition, the chipset also supported future official or third-party upgrades through extension for an external [[PA-RISC]] processor.

* VGA Monitor control

* VGA Monitor control

* Build in [[genlock]] and [[framegrabber]]

* Build in [[genlock]] and [[framegrabber]]

* Logic for 2 [[Game port| analog game port joysticks]]

* Logic for 2 [[Game port|analog game port joysticks]]

These chips and some other circuitry would be part of a [[Conventional PCI|PCI]] card, through the [[ReTargetable Graphics]] system.

These chips and some other circuitry would be part of a [[Conventional PCI|PCI]] card, through the [[ReTargetable Graphics]] system.

* 64-bit internal data bus and registers

* 64-bit internal data bus and registers

Additional IO for PC peripherals such as floppy drive, keyboard and mice would have been provided with a seperate dedicated peripheral ASIC.

Additional IO for PC peripherals such as floppy drive, keyboard and mice would have been provided with a separate dedicated peripheral ASIC.

The chipset could be sold either as a high end [[Conventional PCI|PCI]] graphics card with minimal peripherals [[Application-specific integrated circuit|ASIC]]s and 64-bit [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]], or as a lower cost [[CD-ROM]] based game system (CD64) using cheap [[32-bit]] [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]]. It could also be used for [[set-top box]] embedded systems.

The chipset could be sold either as a high end [[Conventional PCI|PCI]] graphics card with minimal peripherals [[Application-specific integrated circuit|ASIC]]s and 64-bit [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]], or as a lower cost [[CD-ROM]] based game system (CD64) using cheap [[32-bit]] [[Dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]]. It could also be used for [[set-top box]] embedded systems.