New Amiga Graphics Card Solution

A German web shop called MNTRE is gearing up for another batch run of a new Amiga graphics card called the ZZ9000.  This graphics card is a modern video solution that brings a multitude of support for “Big Box” Amiga computers. (i.e. Amiga 2000, 3000, and 4000)  This card is a powerful one packing a Series 7 FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) with an additional two ARM Cortex-A9 cores and 1 GB of DDR3 RAM.  Some of the features and support include the following:

• RTG: Up to 1920×1080 FHD screen resolution at 8bit 256-colors “Chunky”, 16bit or 32bit color depths
• Enhanced VA2000CX Amiga native video passthrough functionality with AGA support (scandoubler with interlace flicker-fixer)
• Dual 666MHz ARM Cortex A9 coprocessors to offload computing tasks like JPEG, MP3 decoding and graphics acceleration
• 1GB DDR3 RAM
• Ethernet interface: Get your Amiga online
• SD Card interface (for firmware updates, not currently usable from AmigaOS)
• For Amiga 2000, 3000 and 4000 (Zorro 2 and 3 compatible)
• Drivers, firmware and schematics are open sourced: https://source.mntmn.com/MNT
• Includes ZZ9000CX video slot capture card with cable
• Includes metal slot bracket
• Includes a minimal SDK with C examples for running ARM code from AmigaOS
• Note: USB port will not be active at shipping time. Support for it is part of a later update.

This add on card requires a Zorro II or III expansion computer bus, so only the “Big Box” Amiga 2000, 3000, or 4000 will be able to utilize this card.  It will output via HDMI and provide seamless transition between AGA and non AGA support graphics as well as line double, flicker fix, and option to video capture.  However this is more then just a video card, as many other features are being included.  Like the ability to go online and surf the internet via broadband or added USB support and inputs.  Price listings has it at €329.00 which you can order and get in (as of the time of this article’s posting) with orders planning to ship within October or November of 2019.

LINKS: Main Store Front – https://shop.mntmn.com/products/zz9000-for-amiga-preorder

Installation Video from Ravi Abbott