** 3 page review / 1895 words ** ** This may well not fill the third page in which case could ** you leave the outer column free for the GEMTrade Ad? ** Let me know, what you decide... Veloce+ Joe Connor looks under the bonnet at perhaps the last, best hope, for STe owners looking to upgrade... ** VELOCE.GIF here ** ** At least across two columns please because ** I spent eons re-touching this image There have been a succession of hardware accelerator upgrades down the years. Most were designed for ST machines, others required re-casing the machine in a tower case or cutting the shielding but eight years after the release of the STe the Veloce+ is the first accelerator specifically designed to fit inside standard STe machines and it's a cracker! One of the reasons ST machines remain popular, especially with musicians, is their all-in-one case design. With the release of the Falcon and faster TOS compatible machines the minimum system requirements have steadily increased leaving owners of standard ST/STe machines short of memory, raw processor speed, disk space and higher resolution/colour displays. The Veloce+ alleviates three of these shortcomings at a stroke! For raw processor speed a Veloce+ equipped STe leaves a Falcon in the slow lane and approaches TT speed in standard ST resolutions. ** GBVELOCE.GIF here ** ** caption ** Impressive figures report the Veloce is 50% faster than a speeding bird! OK so you don't get the extra video modes, FPU option or DSP but this is still one helluva upgrade ** /caption ** The Veloce+ is also available with 2Mb or 4Mb on-board FastRAM which can be used alongside standard ST memory to increase the total system memory to 8Mb (Veloce+4) smashing through the fabled 4Mb memory limit. With more memory you'll be able to run a multitasking operating system and still have enough memory left to run several major applications and a basketful of utilities or one application to process larger music or graphics data files. Finally, with the optional IDEal IDE interface (available separately) piggy backed onto the Veloce+, 2.5" IDE hard drive mechanisms can be fitted internally. For the musician on the move or anyone who likes the all-in-one box design of the ST range this is the solution - a wolf in sheep's clothing! TOS upgrade The Veloce+ also includes a "free" TOS 2.06 upgrade which can be accessed at high speed further enhancing overall system performance. TOS 2.06 features the Atari logo on start up along with an automatic memory test, hard drive start up delay and a much improved desktop with better icon support, access to special characters, user definable keyboard shortcuts and various other tweaks. Compatibility For maximum compatibility the 68020 processor can be turned off in which case the STe's original 68000 processor takes over. In 68000 mode TOS 2.06 and FastRAM, where fitted, remain available - in fact you can't switch back to the original TOS 1.6x ROMs because they are removed during the installation process. Most applications which run on a Falcon/TT in standard ST resolutions will run with the 68020 processor active. Obviously applications which require the Falcon's DSP chip or which hit machine specific hardware are likely to fail but generally speaking most programs work and if they don't they're probably due for retirement anyway. Popular applications including Notator Logic, Cubase 3/Cubase Score, Calamus, Papyrus and so on all work - just much faster! Notator Logic running in FastRAM has to be seen to be believed. One potential minefield, TT owners will be familiar with, is memory management. The Veloce+2 (2Mb FastRAM) and Veloce+4 (4Mb FastRAM) options both include extra memory which is made available for use by the operating system as FastRAM, commonly referred to as TT-RAM or Alternative memory. Programs run faster when loaded into FastRAM because they can be accessed faster by the processor but there are some programs which only work in ST-RAM and others which can be run in FastRAM so long as they can allocate memory in ST-RAM. To manage which programs run in what memory "flags" in the header of every program can be configured. On launching a program the operating system checks the flags and allocates memory accordingly. There are various stand-alone utility programs designed to edit program header flags - TUS include a suitable utility and recommend you check and set each of your applications in turn to your requirements. Replacement desktops such as Thing and jinnee can also set program flags. Determining the optimum settings is down to experimentation - unsurprisingly there's no definitive list. ** GDFLG115.GIF here ** ** caption ** GD-Flag is just one of many custom utilities designed to set the program flags ** /caption ** Installation Anyone with soldering experience should be able to install the Veloce+ board and no special equipment is required. The Veloce+ board is mounted over the top of the standard 68000 processor by wedging pins between the pins of the PLCC socket and its casing (not between the pins and the CPU) - the same technique is commonly used to install memory upgrades. Once installed the board sits around 10mm above the motherboard. The optional IDEal interface board is around 50mm square and piggy-backs onto the Veloce board raising the entire stack a further 5mm - but it still fits under the STe shielding without requiring any shielding to be cut away. A 16 page A5 manual which includes colour illustrations details every step of the installation process. In total there are eight flying leads to be soldered to the motherboard and two track cuts. If you don't fancy a DIY upgrade TUS offer a courier pick-up and return service which, including fitting, comes to just œ29 extra, which is excellent value for peace of mind. Software A utility disk includes various benchmarking and utility software along with the software required to use the Veloce+. All that's required is a single Auto folder program which configures the processor and initialises the FastRAM, if fitted. Performance Playing video clips with sound seemed a suitable processor intensive task to test the Veloce so I loaded up Aniplayer, programmed by Didier Mequignon, and despite the documentation stating ST/STe machines are unsuitable and likely to crash, all the clips I tried ran fine. ** ANI_COMP.GIF here ** ** caption ** Top left: Aniplayer on standard STe cannot play the video - even with the sound off. Bottom right: With the Veloce+ installed this vintage Atari VHS2600 video clip with sound sprang to life! ** /caption ** ** boxout ** Technical details The Veloce+ board is essentially a 68020 processor running at 16MHz with zero wait states but this isn't the whole story. The Veloce+ board is a replacement kernel - effectively a small computer system in its own right. In addition to the 68020 processor, the board includes 32-bit TOS 2.06 along with 32-bit 2/4Mb FastRAM options running zero wait states (instant access), and the decoding logic which makes up the kernel of any computer system. By making optimum use of the 68020 processor via a 32-bit data bus the Veloce+ board can process data with a maximum throughput of 21Mb per second compared to 4Mb per second for a standard STe. The Veloce+ board takes control of the STe's bus systems and sees the STe's motherboard as a peripheral for I/O operations. The 32-bit data bus of the Veloce+ is attached to the STe's 16-bit bus by a pipe system, which not only enables the Veloce+ board to send and receive data to the STe's motherboard, but also enables devices on the 16-bit STe's motherboard to utilise the RAM and ROM devices on the Veloce+ board. This means the STe's Blitter has access to the FastRAM which is very useful for programs such as NVDI . Even when running the STe in 68000 mode the TOS 2.06 and FastRAM remains available for maximum software compatibility. To ensure reliable memory and peripheral access a multiple state machine design has been used which is synchronised to the STe's original 16MHz clock. ** /boxout ** ** boxout ** Frequently asked questions ** Q ** Why has a Motorola 68020 been used in preference to a 68030 or 68000? ** A ** When used in an ST environment the 68020 processor is basically the same as a 68030 without the Memory Management Unit (MMU) so there was no advantage using the more expensive 68030. To achieve a similar performance level a 68000 processor would need to be clocked at around 40MHz. ** Q ** Is there any cache RAM? ** A ** The 68020 includes an on-chip instruction cache which is capable of pre-fetching instructions. There's no cache RAM on the Veloce+ board itself because the FastRAM options offer memory which is almost as fast as cache RAM (50 nanoseconds compared with 45 nanoseconds) so there's no point. ** Q ** What are the components on the board? ** A ** The Veloce+ board contains the following main components: ** UL ** * Motorola 68020 CPU: Large square IC to lower left * 32-bit TOS 2.06: Labelled R0, R1, R2 and R3 * 2Mb FastRAM: Four longer ICs between the TOS ICs * Data bus pipe: Two rectangular ICs above the CPU * Custom GLUE logic: Two square ICs to the right of the CPU * IDEal interface board: Mounted above 68000 at lower right ** /UL ** ** /boxout ** ** boxout ** Second sight Simon Morgan would also like to share his experiences of this (and we quote) "wonderful device" with you... As you're read already the Veloce+ can include FastRAM, either 2Mb (Veloce+2) or 4Mb (Veloce+4). The FastRAM is added to the system as TT-RAM by a tiny (less than 1Kb) driver program which should be located at the start of the Auto folder. The extra memory is then handled exactly as it would in a TT. The only external indication the machine has been upgraded is a toggle switch on the right-hand side to select between the 68020 and 68000 modes but you should turn your machine to clear the memory when switching between processors. In use the extra speed is remarkable, especially with NVDI. Web browsing, printing, de-archiving and so on are a lot smoother. At last I don't have to wait ages for tables to format in CAB or TrueType fonts to render in Papyrus. By using a 68020 instead of a highly clocked 68000 the Veloce+ gives full 32-bit functionality which has the rather marvellous advantage of being able to run many TT/Falcon/68030 programs provided they don't require high resolution colour displays, the DSP, or so on. Compatibility is excellent, I haven't really experienced many crashes - apart from programs which don't support TT-RAM but these can easily be set to run and allocate memory in ST-RAM using a suitable utility. Some games get stroppy but switching back to 68000 mode cures this. Very few of the popular reporting utilities correctly diagnose how the Veloce+ affects the system but the main thing is software works and the extra memory works fine. All I need now is a high resolution colour graphics card to bolt on and I'll be able to surf the web in colour! ** /boxout ** ** product boxout ** Veloce+ Manufacturer T.U.S. Developments Distributor The Upgrade Shop 37 Crossall Street, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 6QF Tel: +44 (0)1625 503448 Cost œ 99 Veloce+ œ149 Veloce+2 œ189 Veloce+4 œ 46 IDEal IDE interface as optional extra œ 15 fitting charge œ 14 UK Courier collection of your machine and return Requires Atari STe Pros Fast, fits inside machine and shielding, relatively straightforward installation, compatible, breaks the 4Mb barrier, optional IDEal interface. Cons No information provided about the changes between TOS 2.06 and TOS 1.6x 96% ** /product boxout ** ** Screen shots ** ** IKARUS.GIF ** ** caption ** Ikarus is an interactive 3D graphic demo which won't run on a 68000 equipped machine but it works fine on an STe fitted with a Veloce+ ** /caption **