Sam440ep

Sam440, also known by Sam or its codename Samantha,^[1][2] is a line of modular motherboards produced by the Italian company ACube Systems Srl.^[3] The Sam440ep version is a Power Architecture motherboard based on the PowerPC 440EP system-on-a-chip processor which includes a double-precision FPU. It is made by AMCC.^[4][5] Their primary targets are the industrial and embedded markets, running operating systems such as Linux and AmigaOS 4.

At the time of release in 2008, it was the only AmigaOS 4 compatible hardware since the AmigaOne machines ceased in 2006; as of April 2009 Sam440 was the only Amiga-compatible board in production and now is succeeded by the Sam460ex (AmigaOne 500) and AmigaOne X1000.

Sam440ep Flex motherboard.

Main features

Notable features of the Sam boards (including all versions):^[6]

• Low power consumption
• Passive cooling (no CPU fan)
• Scalability

Versions

Sam440ep

Sam440 running AmigaOS 4.1.

Sam440ep was the first modular motherboard produced by ACube Systems Srl.^[4]

• 400/533/600/667 MHz AMCC PowerPC 440EP SoC processor
• Cache L1/L2: 32KB/-
• 128/256/512 MB 266 MHz DDR SDRAM soldered to the motherboard
• 1× 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI slot
• 1× Flash memory device controller
• 4× USB2 ports, 1× USB1
• 2× Ethernet 10/100 ports
• 4× Serial ATA ports
• Cirrus Logic CS4281 and Realtek ALC655 audio
• ATI Radeon Mobility M9 graphics with 64 MB VRAM, s-video and DVI out.
• GPIO expansion connector
• Lattice XP expansion FPGA

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.^[7]

Prototype

• 400/533/667 MHz AMCC PowerPC 440EP SoC processor
• Cache L1/L2: 32KB/-
• 512 MB DDR SDRAM 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× Ethernet 10/100 ports
• 4× Serial ATA ports
• Cirrus Logic CS4281 and Realtek ALC655 audio
• GPIO expansion connector
• FPGA Lattice XP with 80 pin I/O expansion connector
• ZigBee module (optional)

Revision 1

The specifications^[8] 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:^[9]

• 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)^[10]

See also

• Sam460ex
• AmigaOne
• AmigaOne X1000
• Pegasos

References

1. Status update - USB on Sam440.
2. Official Site of Samantha is OnLine.
3. "Sam440 website.". ACube Systems Srl. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
4. "Sam440ep at ACube Systems Srl website.". ACube Systems Srl. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
5. "Codename Samantha." (PDF). ACube Systems Srl. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
6. "Sam440ep-Flex". ACube Systems Srl. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
7. "Introducing Sam440ep-flex.". ACube Systems Srl. 2008-05-27. Archived from the original on 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
8. "Sam440ep-flex Revision 1.". ACube Systems Srl. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
9. "New board Sam440ep-flex available.". ACube Systems Srl. 2009-04-02. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
10. "New Sam440ep-flex version available.". ACube Systems Srl. 2009-06-24. Retrieved 2009-07-14.

External links

• ACube Systems Srl
• Sam4x0 Home page