WinUAE: Emulation A2500

[AMIGASYSTEM]

I am configuring a system for A2500 and I do not remember how to initialize Hardisk "HardFile" (HD Controller A2090), could someone remind me, thank you.

[Toni Wilen]

A2090(a) is quite different.. You have to use matching install disk. It is not RDB compatibility, it is not HDToolBox compatible. Partitioning is really weird. Disk must be quite small (200M or so..). And so on..

It has nothing to do with emulation, it is simply early HD controller from era before RDB/etc standards existed.

Good luck

(Or simply use A2091)

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Toni, if I configure "HardFile" as HD Controller UAE or Directory File system, all OK, If instead HD Controller Commodore A290a it is not seen by the system.


With A2091 everything works perfectly

[Toni Wilen]

Not enough information (required info missing!). Is that even A2090 install disk?

[mark_k]

It wouldn't hurt to read the A2090(A) user manual either...

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Is that even A2090 install disk?

THIS

[Toni Wilen]

Is it that difficult to attach config and log? You should already know it by million times that they are REQUIRED.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Sorry Toni thought I did not serve

[Toni Wilen]

You don't have RDB mode enabled.

Also try to simplify your config first, just use plain A500/A2000 config, when A2090a works, then add other stuff (like accelerators).

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Toni translation from your post above, i realized that it did not support RDB A2090. However, I had already tried to enable RDB, now try again.
Toni I added CPU 68030 because Italian user would like to emulate his 2500, found that A2500 has menus of choice

[Toni Wilen]

RDB is correct option. Remember that options are not designed for weird special cases. (like non-RDB controllers)

Anyway, read the readme.txt and follow its instructions on install disk. I did say A2090a is "different" for a reason!

[AMIGASYSTEM]

OK Toni, Unfortunately the translation with Google translator English-Italian is very bad

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Unfortunately I can not initialize l'Hardisk HD Controller A2090a, I know well the options and parameter be included in PREP (see screenshot).

No problem with HD Controller A2091, initialized and formatted HD and installed OS (see video). I had a few mistakes in the format (error during format end error HD:tried to seek out bound ...), but then I solved with Quick Format.

A2500/68030/882/A2091
[ Show youtube player ]

[Toni Wilen]

Of course A2091 is easy to initialize, it is RDB compatible and works normally. Any usual partitioning program works with it, nothing special required.

Anyway, I won't touch A2090 emulation until someone with real A2090 can confirm differences using exact same install disk. Required information is: type of drive, SCSI ID of drive. ROM version.

A2090(a) install disks are confusing, it seems some only work with ST-506 drive (even if they list SCSI), they use hardcoded device ids and so on.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Thanks Toni do some testing with ST-506.

Now I'm emulating a A500/1.3 with "HD controller GVP Series II", to show a user italian how to create partition and format HD.

[mark_k]

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

No problem with HD Controller A2091, initialized and formatted HD and installed OS (see video). I had a few mistakes in the format (error during format end error HD:tried to seek out bound ...), but then I solved with Quick Format.

If you get errors like that, there's definitely something wrong. Can you upload the current config you're using? And what is the exact size in bytes of the HDF?

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by mark_k

If you get errors like that, there's definitely something wrong. Can you upload the current config you're using? And what is the exact size in bytes of the HDF?

HardFile 20 MB "HD Controller GVP Series II" 2 Partitions DH0/10MB + DH1/9MB (Quick Format with MFormat)

[mark_k]

What is your exact HDF file size in bytes? And how have you partitioned it? Could you upload a screenshot of the GVP formatter showing that info.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by mark_k

What is your exact HDF file size in bytes? And how have you partitioned it? Could you upload a screenshot of the GVP formatter showing that info.

To partition i used "FaaastPrep" (GVP_Series_II_Install), for formatting changed Kickstart 1.3 to 2.x (MFormat compatibility)

[mark_k]

OK so your HDF seems to be large enough. (The geometry you're using is 162 cylinders, 4 heads, 63 sectors/track. Meaning total bytes = 162×4×63×512 = 20,901,888 bytes.) Do you still get errors when you format either partition?

If you try getting A2090(A) working again, you'll probably need to manually specify the appropriate geometry in WinUAE, to match what your A2090 installer disk expects.