Manufacturer “Vortex”
6 expansions in database
Athlet
Manufacturer
Vortex, Germany
Date
1990
Amiga
A2000, A3000, A4000
Interface
Zorro II
Autoconfig ID
8215 / 3
    IDE controller
  • 40 pin internal IDE connector
  • autoboot ROM (vortex.device) - autoboots even under Kickstart 1.2
  • not RDB compatible
  • place for a 3.5" hard disk on the card
    memory
  • four 30 pin SIMM sockets accept 2 or 4 MB RAM
  • supports 1 MB SIMMs, 100 ns or faster
Photos
Vortex Athlet - front side
front side
Vortex Athlet - back side
back side
Vintage Advert

Advert (DE)
1990-05

ATonce
Manufacturer
Vortex, Germany
Date
1990
Amiga
A500
A2000

-
-
Interface
68000 socket
Zorro II
    IBM AT emulation
  • 80286 @ 7.2 MHz
  • plugs into 68000 socket - the board contains a 68000 already
  • installing into an A2000 requires an adaptor card which plugs into the CPU slot and a software version ≥ v1.10
  • no RAM on board, it uses the Amiga RAM
  • video emulation
    • CGA (non-interlaced)
    • Hercules (720*348 interlaced) - too wide, scrolls horizontally
    • T3100 (640*400 interlaced)
    • Olivetti (640*400 interlaced)
  • supports virtual drives (PC hardfiles on Amiga hard disk)
  • uses Amiga floppy drives
  • uses Amiga serial and parallel ports
  • the Amiga mouse is emulated as Microsoft compatible mouse
Photos
Vortex ATonce - Rev 1 front side
Rev 1, front side
Vortex ATonce - Rev 1 back side
Rev 1, back side
Vortex ATonce - Rev 2 front side
Rev 2, front side
Vortex ATonce - Rev 2 back side
Rev 2, back side
Vortex ATonce - Rev2 on A2000 adaptor front side
Rev2 on A2000 adaptor, front side
Vortex ATonce - Rev2 on A2000 adaptor back side
Rev2 on A2000 adaptor, back side
Driver / Installation Disk
Vintage Advert

Advert (US)
1990-12

Advert (DE)
1990-12

Advert (DE)
1991-05

Advert (US)
1991-09

Advert (DE)
1992-04

ATonce Plus
Manufacturer
Vortex, Germany
Date
1991
Amiga
A500, A2000
Interface
68000 socket
    IBM AT emulation
  • N80C286 @ 16 MHz
  • optional P80C287 FPU
  • plugs into 68000 socket - the 68000 is replaced onto the board
  • a special double socket has to be put under the Gary chip
  • 512 kB RAM on board, can use Amiga RAM if needed
  • Amiga Fast RAM can be used as extended memory up to 8 MB
  • video emulation
    • CGA mode 0 (40*25, 16 colours)
    • CGA mode 1 (40*25, 16 colours)
    • CGA mode 2 (40*25, 16 colours)
    • CGA mode 3 (80*25, 16 colours)
    • CGA mode 4/5 (320*200, 4 colours)
    • CGA mode 6 (640*200, 2 colours)
    • MDA (80*25, 2 colours)
    • Hercules (720*348, 2 colours)
    • T3100 (640*400 interlaced, 2 colours)
    • Olivetti (640*400 interlaced, 2 colours)
    • EGA monochrome (640*350, 2 colours)
    • VGA monochrome (640*480 interlaced, 2 colours)
  • supports Amiga hard disk controllers
  • printer support, RS232 support - ATonce or Amiga exclusive
  • PC beeper emulation
  • operates under AmigaDOS so it can run MSDOS and AmigaDOS programs concurrently
  • has got problems with many expansions (especially processor cards and memory expansions)
  • with Rev 2.2 partitions greater than 32 MB are unusable and the clock is wrong - Rev 2.23 fixes this bug)
Photos
Vortex ATonce Plus - front side
front side
Vortex ATonce Plus - back side
back side
Driver / Installation Disk
Vintage Advert

Advert (US)
1992-05

Advert (DE)
1991-11

Advert (US)
1992-01

Advert (DE)
1992-04

Advert (US)
1992-12

Golden Gate 386SX & 486SLC & 486SLC2
Manufacturer
Vortex, Germany
Date
1992 / 1993 / 1994
Amiga
A2000, A3000, A4000
Interface
Zorro II, ISA
Autoconfig ID
8215 / 7,8,9
    IBM AT emulation
  • 80386SX @ 25 MHz or 80486SLC @ 25 MHz or 80486SLC2 @ 50 MHz (32 bit internal 16 bit external data bus, 1 kB cache inside, 2.4 times faster than 386SX)
  • optional FPU
  • optional HD/ED (1.2/1.44/2.88 MB) floppy disk controller kit (82077AA chip) for up to 3 drives (2 internal, 1 external)
  • internal floppy connector and a DB25 port for external floppies (HD kit required)
  • can use Amiga floppy drives as 360 or 720 kB
  • DB9 connector for the optional Monitor Master switch
  • built in IDE hard disk interface
  • hard disks can be emulated either as Amiga partitions formatted to MSDOS or via hardfiles
  • 27 different emulated video modes (from 4 color CGA to 2 color VGA or 8 color text only VGA)
  • emulated video modes can be displayed in 15 kHz
  • inserting an ISA display card automatically disables the video emulation
  • 512 kB on board + four SIMM slots max 16 MB, 2 or 4 MB can be used by the Amiga
  • 50% of Amiga RAM (this can be split between chip, fast, or public) can be used as RAM for the emulator
  • built in realtime clock, speaker, CMOS RAM
  • in server mode the Amiga can directly access the RAM and disk drives of the Golden Gate board
  • the Amiga mouse is emulated as a serial Microsoft mouse
  • the Amiga serial port can be used by the Golden Gate as either COM1 or COM2
  • the Amiga parallel port can be used as LPT1 or LPT2 by the Golden Gate
  • in A2000 an adapter is required under the 68000 (a simple capacitor is connected between two pins)
  • in A3000 at least Buster rev. 07 is required
    jumper settings
    J1 set reserved
    J4 open reserved
    J5 open reserved
    J8 set electronical speaker enabled
    J8 open electronical speaker disabled
     
    J2 J3
    open open Option ROM disabled
    set open 2MB for Amiga
    set set 4MB for Amiga
Photos
Vortex Golden Gate 386SX & 486SLC & 486SLC2 - Golden Gate 486SLC2 front side
Golden Gate 486SLC2, front side
Vortex Golden Gate 386SX & 486SLC & 486SLC2 - Golden Gate 486SLC2 back side
Golden Gate 486SLC2, back side
Vortex Golden Gate 386SX & 486SLC & 486SLC2 - Golden Gate 386SX front side
Golden Gate 386SX, front side
Vortex Golden Gate 386SX & 486SLC & 486SLC2 - Golden Gate 386SX back side
Golden Gate 386SX, back side
Driver / Installation Disk
Vintage Advert

Advert (GB)
1993-02

Advert (DE)
1992-10

Advert (DE)
1992-11

Advert (US)
1992-12

Advert (FR)
1992-12

Monitor Master
Manufacturer
Vortex, Germany
Date
1992
Amiga
A2000, A3000, A4000
Interface
RGB port
    video switchbox
  • automatic video switcher for Vortex GoldenGate 386SX and 486SLC bridgeboards
  • switching is controlled by the GoldenGate through its DB9 connector
  • when the GoldenGate screen is activated the VGA card output is displayed, when an Amiga screen is activated the RGB output is displayed
  • external unit, connects between the monitor, Amiga RGB and GoldenGate VGA output
  • three HD15 and three DB9 VGA connectors
Vintage Advert

Advert (US)
1992-12

System 2000
Manufacturer
Vortex, Germany
Date
1988
Amiga
A500, A1000
Interface
side expansion port
    ST-506 controller
  • the 3.5" hard disk is installed in an external case together with the power supply and the XT controller card (System Unit)
  • all other components are placed in a small box (Personality Module) connected to the side expansion port
  • the boxes are connected through their DB25 connectors
    • PSM: for A500 and A1000, no memory option
    • PSM-S: for A500, with memory option
  • uses DMA transfers
  • autoboot ROM - autoboots even under Kickstart 1.2
  • passthrough connector
    memory
  • four 30 pin SIMM sockets accept 2 or 4 MB RAM
  • accepts SIMMs in pairs
  • hard disk and memory disable switch
Photos
Vortex System 2000 - Personality Module without RAM, Case eopened top side
Personality Module without RAM, Case eopened, top side
Vortex System 2000 - Personality Module with RAM rear side
Personality Module with RAM, rear side
Vortex System 2000 - System Unit rear side
System Unit, rear side
Driver / Installation Disk
Vintage Advert

Advert (DE)
1989-02

Advert (DE)
1989-05

Advert (DE)
1990-05