Accelerator boards - no future? Bad business?

[Swift Griggs]

On Fri, 22 Apr 2016, Eric Christopherson wrote:
> I've heard about PPC Amigas from time to time.  What was the state of
> 68K->PPC emulation or dynamic translation on those?

>From my perspective it's complicated and sub-optimal but a darn-sight better
than nothing.  They usually had a hosted 68k proc + PPC.  Then they'd hand
you a somewhat incomplete bevvy of replacement libraries and binaries to put
the PPC60x proc into action.  However, despite the jiggery pokery, they were
effective in speeding up nearly any kind of Workbench application, but for
games it was hit or miss. Sometimes it'd hork up games that depended too
much on the CPU clock. 

That reminds me of the time my best friend in 7th grade got miffed at me
because I hit the "TURBO" button while he was playing "Budokan" and some
ninja with a pair of chucks got froggy and put him on the mat because of the
extra speed.  So, he made me try it and I didn't even get past the first
fight (while he laughed at me).

> I keep hatching little schemes of perhaps putting a tiny OS kernel in the
> thing, but at that point *it* would become the computer and the 128 would
> be just sort of sitting there.

... you are right, but it'd still feel "original" to me because of the same
hardware my hands were on & original video graphics running the show.  Hmfp. 
Maybe I'm just rationalizing, though.

>  The same is true of the CosmosEx device I've been thinking of getting for
> my Atari STs; it has a Raspberry Pi inside.

That thing is rad. I didn't know about it. I never owned an ST, but lately
I've considered getting one. I like the all-in-one designs, but I'd probably
go for the full size rig in the end. Wait, nevermind, I seem to remember my
SO threatening bodily harm if anymore old gear showed up....

-Swift