ACA500 plus?

[klx300r]

@ Schoenfeld

no worries as I've also got an A500 waiting

[BarryB]

I have an ACA1232 I use with my ACA500, is this compatible with the ACA500+? Don't see any reason why it isn't but best to check!

[dirkies]

Originally Posted by BarryB

I have an ACA1232 I use with my ACA500, is this compatible with the ACA500+? Don't see any reason why it isn't but best to check!

I do not see why not.

[BarryB]

Well I'll find out next year when my ACA500+ arrives.

[demolition]

From what I remember, the specs say that it is compatible with ACA12xx with the exception being ACA1230 which might not always work 100% due to the synchronous design.

[BarryB]

Just read the description on icomp.de and the ACA1232 is 'Guaranteed' to work with ACA500+

[nobody]

Not bad for the price, 6x A500 speed, 8 mb RAM, and Hard disk. My only problem is that i don't like some pcb hanging out of the Amiga. They must invent some connector to turn around and put this inside the case

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by nobody

They must invent some connector to turn around and put this inside the case

And then what? Open the case every time you want to change a CF card? Every time you want to look at DisMo? Every time you want to press the "freeze" button?

Jens

[nobody]

The same with all internal HDs on PCs and external HD cases for the Amiga. You have to open the case to change HD

[demolition]

When you use the feature to turn 512kB trapdoor $C00000 memory into chip mem, will the ACA put some of its own fast mem at $C00000?

What if you have a 1.8MB trapdoor expansion (with Gary adapter) located from $C00000? Will it work together with the ACA? If so, will the ACA still be able to turn 512kB of that into chipmem and then will the remaining 1.3MB then still be usable as slow mem?

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by demolition

When you use the feature to turn 512kB trapdoor $C00000 memory into chip mem, will the ACA put some of its own fast mem at $C00000?

Yes, the ACA500plus *always* uses it's own 512k chunk of mem in $c0. The actual trapdoor expansion is *never* seen at $c0, but either at $08 (chipmap feature) or at $c8 to create a 1M-chunk in $c0.

Originally Posted by demolition

What if you have a 1.8MB trapdoor expansion (with Gary adapter) located from $C00000? Will it work together with the ACA?

It will work, but parts of it are "invisible".

Re-mapping the lower 512k to $08 will not work, because the Gary-adapter does not know when a DMA access takes place, so it can't know when to switch to a different bank. You may be aware that only the later 1.8M expansion models with more specialized Gary-adapters had the possibility to use 512k as added chipram and 1.5M as fake-fast. These required running an extra line to the Agnus chip (or the solder jumper for the highest address line).

More about the ACA500plus memory config internals:
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA500plus...configurations

Jens

[pgovotsos]

If you have a Megachip installed (2MB chip memory), will it be compatible with the ACA500 and ACA500 plus? With the chipmem switch disabled on the ACA of course.

[pgovotsos]

If you have an ACA500 (plus) and an ACA12xx with the faster clockport, which one would provide better performance for a Rapidroad?

[pgovotsos]

Are all of the software tools completed to allow configuration of attached ACA12xx accelerators? I have a 1221 (original model not ec) on my ACA500 with the beta firmware and I can't set the options on the 1221 although it is seen and it will display installed licenses.

I'm planning on attaching the 1233n to it eventually but with the software for it not completed yet...

[demolition]

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

If you have a Megachip installed (2MB chip memory), will it be compatible with the ACA500 and ACA500 plus?

I guess it should be, since an A500 w. MegAChip config is pretty much the same as an A500+ with 1MB in the trapdoor.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

If you have a Megachip installed (2MB chip memory), will it be compatible with the ACA500 and ACA500 plus? With the chipmem switch disabled on the ACA of course.

2M Chipram configurations work, no matter what board revision. Confirmed by multiple customers. You can't switch on the "ChipMap" feature with such a configuration, as the menu system will tell you that the feature is not available.

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

If you have an ACA500 (plus) and an ACA12xx with the faster clockport, which one would provide better performance for a Rapidroad?

The "faster" clock ports of ACA1221, ACA1221EC and ACA1233n will provide much better performance.

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

Are all of the software tools completed to allow configuration of attached ACA12xx accelerators? I have a 1221 (original model not ec) on my ACA500 with the beta firmware and I can't set the options on the 1221 although it is seen and it will display installed licenses.

I'm planning on attaching the 1233n to it eventually but with the software for it not completed yet...

ACA1233n software currently only lacks the "Maprom from file" feature, but that's being worked on. The current beta software for the ACA500plus (which is a bit hidden in my Wiki) already supports user-flashed ROMs up to 1M, and the ACA1233n is supported. All earlier ACA12xx accelerator models are also supported for both MapROM and memory adding - no need for "ACAtune", because the ACA500plus menu system takes care of all settings.

Jens

[pgovotsos]

Thanks Jens!

[pgovotsos]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

2M Chipram configurations work, no matter what board revision. Confirmed by multiple customers. You can't switch on the "ChipMap" feature with such a configuration, as the menu system will tell you that the feature is not available.

So performance wise, it would be better to just use the 512K onboard plus the 512K in the trapdoor, let the ACA500 plus convert the trapdoor, and use Chipmap?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by pgovotsos

So performance wise, it would be better to just use the 512K onboard plus the 512K in the trapdoor, let the ACA500 plus convert the trapdoor, and use Chipmap?

Performance wise it is better to have 2MB chip instead of just 1MB..

[pgovotsos]

Originally Posted by demolition

Performance wise it is better to have 2MB chip instead of just 1MB..

2MB lets you use larger pictures and such, but isn't Chipmapped memory faster? If you don't need the extra memory that is. Or am (like usual) misunderstanding the function of Chipmap?