Sam440, also known by Sam or its codename Samantha, is a line of modular

motherboard A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...

s produced by the Italian company

ACube Systems Srl ACube Systems Srl is a company that started in January 2007 from the synergy of the Italian companies Alternative Holding Group Srl, Soft3 and Virtual Works. The three companies have been engaged in the areas of sale, distribution and engineering ...

. The Sam440ep version is a motherboard based on the PowerPC 440EP

system-on-a-chip A system on a chip (SoC) is an integrated circuit that combines most or all key components of a computer or electronic system onto a single microchip. Typically, an SoC includes a central processing unit (CPU) with memory, input/output, and dat ...

processor which includes a double-precision FPU. It is made by AMCC. Their primary targets are the industrial and embedded markets, running operating systems such as

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and AmigaOS 4. At the time of AmigaOS 4.1 release in 2008, it was the only AmigaOS 4 compatible hardware available since the manufacturing of

AmigaOne AmigaOne is a series of computers intended to run AmigaOS 4 developed by Hyperion Entertainment, as a successor to the Amiga series by Commodore International. Unlike the original Amiga computers which used Motorola 68k processors, the AmigaOne ...

machines ceased in 2005; Sam440 was later succeeded by the

Sam460ex Sam460ex is a line of modular motherboards produced by the Italian company ACube Systems Srl. The machine was released in October 2010 and can run AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, AROS Research Operating System, AROS or Debian GNU/Linux (CruxPPC at first, an ...

(AmigaOne 500) and AmigaOne X1000. Sam440ep_Flex

Main features

Notable features of the Sam boards (including all versions): * Low power consumption * Passive cooling (no CPU fan) * Scalability

Versions

Sam440ep

Sam440ep was the first modular motherboard produced by ACube Systems Srl. * 400/533/600/667 MHz AMCC PowerPC 440EP SoC processor * Cache L1/L2: 32KB/- * 128/256/512 MB 266 MHz

DDR SDRAM Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR SDRAM) is a double data rate (DDR) synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) class of memory integrated circuits used in computers. DDR SDRAM, also retroactively called DDR ...

soldered to the motherboard * 1× 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI slot * 1×

Flash memory Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...

device controller * 4× USB2 ports, 1× USB1 * 2×

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

10/100 ports * 4×

Serial ATA SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that connects host adapter, host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives, optical drives, and solid-state drives. Serial ATA succeeded the earlier Parallel ATA (PAT ...

ports *

Cirrus Logic Cirrus Logic Inc. is an American fabless semiconductor company, fabless semiconductor supplier that specializes in analog, mixed-signal, and audio Digital signal processor, DSP integrated circuits (ICs). Since 1998, the company's headquarters have ...

CS4281 and

Realtek Realtek Semiconductor Corp. () is a Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company situated in the Hsinchu Science Park, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Realtek was founded in October 1987 and subsequently listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in 1998. Realtek has manu ...

ALC655 audio * ATI

Radeon Radeon () is a brand of computer products, including graphics processing units, random-access memory, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives, produced by Radeon Technologies Group, a division of AMD. The brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Tech ...

Mobility M9 graphics with 64 MB

VRAM Video random-access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor. It often uses a different technology than other computer memory, in order to ...

s-video S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate chann ...

and DVI out. * GPIO expansion connector * Lattice XP expansion

FPGA A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of configurable integrated circuit that can be repeatedly programmed after manufacturing. FPGAs are a subset of logic devices referred to as programmable logic devices (PLDs). They consist of a ...

Revision C

The specifications are the same as for the revisions before, except for: * 1× DDR RAM slot supporting up to 512 MB RAM (in place of soldered RAM modules)

Sam440ep-flex

There is no graphics chip on the Sam440ep-flex, so you have to use a PCI-graphics board.

Prototype

* 400/533/667 MHz AMCC PowerPC 440EP SoC processor * Cache L1/L2: 32KB/- * 512 MB

soldered to the motherboard * 1× 32-bit, 66 MHz PCI slot * 2× 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI slot * USB 2.0 OHCI/EHCI NXP PCI controller * 2×

10/100 ports * 4×

ports *

CS4281 and

ALC655 audio * GPIO expansion connector *

Lattice XP with 80 pin I/O expansion connector *

Zigbee Zigbee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios, such as for home automation, medical device data collection, and oth ...

module (optional)

Revision 1

The specifications are the same as for the flex prototype, except for: * 2× DDR SDRAM, max 1 GB RAM

Revision 2

On 2 April 2009, ACube announced the availability of SAM440ep-flex revision 2, it has the same specifications as the flex prototype except for: * 667/733/800 MHz AMCC PowerPC 440EP SoC processor (passive cooling, 733 and 800 MHz are achieved by overclocking) * Cache L1/L2: 32KB/- * 2× DDR SDRAM, max 1 GB RAM * RAM clock running at 133 MHz (667 and 800 MHz models) or at 147 MHz (733 MHz models)

Reception

''OSNews'' review provided view by someone who never used AmigaOS computer before: Thom Holwerda commended silent CPU-fan-less operation, but criticized higher price. His evaluation of AmigaOS was mixed; although the platform offered "whole new world of technology to explore and play around with", it was still a relic of the past mainly due to lack of modern features like memory protection and unusual user interface. Review of the Sam440ep in the ''Amiga Future'' magazine noted performance comparable to older AmigaOne generation, but criticized non expandable RAM and lack of legacy interfaces (ATA, floppy). Also some features of the new board were still unsupported by AmigaOS (USB 2.0). Testing the 800 MHz variant of the Sam440ep-flex, ''Amiga Future'' highlighted CPU speed behind the MicroA1 (750FX 800 MHz), but surpassing it in graphics, memory and harddisk performance.

References

External links

ACube Systems Srl

Sam4x0 Home page
{{Amiga hardware Motherboard PowerPC mainboards Amiga