New - Amiga Romulator for A500 - A600 - Page 7

JohnnySlick · 17 November 2019, 09:23

Mine came in pretty quickly. Sadly, I had planned to put it in an A500++ board that I haven't finished yet, so I can't comment on how it works yet. On the plus side, having Diagrom easily accessible should be very helpful for my build.

xterc · 19 November 2019, 03:27

The Romulator came in today. Here it is running in a REV 5 board:

gdunlapsd · 19 November 2019, 20:48

I ordered two, one for each of my Amigas!

When the firmware is updated to allow you to change the menu music, I'm going to put the Amiga 1000 startup tune on at least one of them! :-D

xterc · 25 November 2019, 06:33

How can I address a 1MB Kickstart? I see the pins marked 1 & 42 are snipped off of the board, can I install new pins to make this work?

A 27C800 programmed with the same ROM works fine. The Romulator only sees the 1st 'Standard' part of the ROM.

solidcore · 25 November 2019, 14:09

Hi, answering for Kipper2k :

You'll need to install the new pins .

and Possibly the 8572a for the 1mb chip, Expansion ram to chip (not fast memory)

But not 100% sure on the address line hookup etc.

; vague I know but this needs testing. Maybe someone else here will know more.

Do you have an a500+ to test , would be easier than modifying your rev5

Kipper2k added:
"8572a, 512k expansion and some jumpers cut/reset"

added:

Here is a good reference regarding upgrading a500 :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vni4u90rv...Xform-A500.pdf

xterc · 25 November 2019, 17:54

The board is a new A500++ I just finished building (see below). It works fine with a 1MB EPROM, so the board is 1MB Kickstart 'ready', but with the ROMulator installed the extended portion of the Kickstart was not detected. I didn't want to add pins to the ROMulator without knowing if this was supported (I assume it is as it is meant to support 1MB roms).

gdunlapsd · 25 November 2019, 21:40

Has anyone had any luck booting a Kickstart 1.0 or 1.1 ROM image? The review on "10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast" on Youtube claims that this works, but all I get is a blue screen.

Also, I can't get Kickstart 1.2 to load either, though it gets further; it cycles through white and grey screens like normal, but then hangs.

KS1.3, KS3.1, KS3.1.4, DiagRom 1.2, and the Logica Diagnostic roms all work fine.

Edit: Also tried the AROS ROM and it also just gave a blue sceeen.

xterc · 26 November 2019, 00:39

I can confirm soldering a pin onto position #1 (A18) does allow a 1MB Kickstart.

breech · 26 November 2019, 07:56

@gdunlaps: are you using the correct roms for your region (NTSC)? Start with known good ones (Cloanto) before messing with hacks. Also there a significant chance that some pins are not connecting if you are inserting round pins in the standard rom socket.

gdunlapsd · 26 November 2019, 18:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by breech

@gdunlaps: are you using the correct roms for your region (NTSC)? Start with known good ones (Cloanto) before messing with hacks. Also there a significant chance that some pins are not connecting if you are inserting round pins in the standard rom socket.

Thanks breech; I did try with the Cloanto 1.0 and both PAL and NTSC 1.1 roms, and included the rom.key file alongside them (don't know if it's needed). I also tried some "unencrypted" rom images of 1.0 and 1.1 iwh the same result.

I think it's in the socket OK, because it boots fine with 3.1, 3.1.4, 1.3, diagrom, and lociga.

I'll have to tinker with it some more. I have an HC533 accelerator installed, maybe that's causing some incompatibility, so I'll try with just the stock 68000.

quantum8 · 26 November 2019, 23:16

Late to the party but I'd definitely like to try this out on either my A1200 or A4000!

xterc · 27 November 2019, 20:07

This only works on 16-bit Amigas at the moment, Kipper2K mentioned a future 32-bit version if this one is well received.

JohnnySlick · 03 December 2019, 01:02

Kipper, did you manufacture any 600 versions for AotL or were you waiting to judge the interest in the 500 models?

gdunlapsd · 07 December 2019, 09:11

I figured out why my 1.0 and 1.1 ROMs wouldn't boot; it seems that the Romulator doesn't like it if the ROM file has "NTSC" or "PAL" in its filename; case doesn't matter. Weird, but I can boot into 1.0 and 1.1 fine now that I've renamed the files.

Huxley_D · 23 December 2019, 06:53

Hi everyone!

I was fortunate enough to snag one of Kipper2k's neat Romulator boards (purchase from Amiga on the Lake) to drop into my Amiga 2000 (Rev. 6.2). After many years of steady effort, my A2000 is pretty well upgraded, featuring an Ethernet card, Commodore RAM board, GVP SCSI board (hooked up to a SCSI2SD adapter I boot from), Individual Computers FlickerFixer board, and (the crown jewel) a Progressive Peripherals "Zeus" 68040 CPU upgrade running at 33MHz. It's a beastly machine, and I've been itching to add the Romulator since it's been sitting unopened on my desk for weeks.

I took the whole machine apart today and got the Romulator installed, after prepping the microSD card with a bunch of fully-licensed ROM images (including the DiagROM, and a newly-licensed Kickstart 3.1.4). When I boot the machine with the Romulator, it works great - I can select my ROMs, run the DiagROM, etc. - no issues there. I've also reinstalled the Ethernet board, RAM board, GPV SCSI board, etc., and they don't seem to have any conflicts.

HOWEVER: if I also replace the Zeus '040 board, I get nothing - the machine powers up (fans, power LED, etc.) but other than that, I cannot get any response whatsoever onscreen, and (based on the lack of floppy activity and/or Romulator menu-music) it doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. Removing the Zeus board instantly gets the system working again, but without the amazing speed improvement the Zeus board offers (and which I'm not exactly looking to give up).

Any ideas or suggestions here? I really want this to work!

Thanks,

Huxley

Jope · 23 December 2019, 09:04

The romulator menu probably isn't 040 compatible. Another alternative is that the Zeus wants to run some code from its ROM early on and the menu doesn't run it. Hope you can contact the people who made it.

FREEMILK · 23 December 2019, 17:35

We are looking into the issue, there have been a few reports of Accelerators not working with Romulator. Stay Tuned , and Happy Holidays.

mkstr · 23 December 2019, 17:38

@Huxley_D

I think it's likely that the menu doesn't play nicely on the 040. If the accelerator was overlaying its own ROM then I'd just expect it to mask the Romulator altogether in the same way it would mask the standard kickstart.

I'm sure you can appreciate that it's hard to test against all the various combinations of hardware that might be encountered, but I think I can probably take a look at this under emulation. If I can get it working I will send you a firmware update to try. You will need to connect a USB cable to some pads on the Romulator - I'm sure kipper2k will post some pics on how to connect this up. You won't need any special programming hardware.

Mike

katarakt · 25 December 2019, 22:31

Is the romulator compatible with wicher 500i in A500 ?

Copeland · 28 December 2019, 12:21

Please, please, please, please do a version for the A1200!!!

And: will this item also be available in Europe? Or does Amiga on the Lake have the exclusive rights on the ROMulator?

25 November 2019, 14:09	#125
solidcore Registered User Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: birmingham, uk Posts: 548	Hi, answering for Kipper2k : You'll need to install the new pins . and Possibly the 8572a for the 1mb chip, Expansion ram to chip (not fast memory) But not 100% sure on the address line hookup etc. ; vague I know but this needs testing. Maybe someone else here will know more. Do you have an a500+ to test , would be easier than modifying your rev5 Kipper2k added: "8572a, 512k expansion and some jumpers cut/reset" added: Here is a good reference regarding upgrading a500 : https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vni4u90rv...Xform-A500.pdf Last edited by solidcore; 25 November 2019 at 14:48.

23 December 2019, 06:53	#135
Huxley_D Registered User Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 4	Hi everyone! I was fortunate enough to snag one of Kipper2k's neat Romulator boards (purchase from Amiga on the Lake) to drop into my Amiga 2000 (Rev. 6.2). After many years of steady effort, my A2000 is pretty well upgraded, featuring an Ethernet card, Commodore RAM board, GVP SCSI board (hooked up to a SCSI2SD adapter I boot from), Individual Computers FlickerFixer board, and (the crown jewel) a Progressive Peripherals "Zeus" 68040 CPU upgrade running at 33MHz. It's a beastly machine, and I've been itching to add the Romulator since it's been sitting unopened on my desk for weeks. I took the whole machine apart today and got the Romulator installed, after prepping the microSD card with a bunch of fully-licensed ROM images (including the DiagROM, and a newly-licensed Kickstart 3.1.4). When I boot the machine with the Romulator, it works great - I can select my ROMs, run the DiagROM, etc. - no issues there. I've also reinstalled the Ethernet board, RAM board, GPV SCSI board, etc., and they don't seem to have any conflicts. HOWEVER: if I also replace the Zeus '040 board, I get nothing - the machine powers up (fans, power LED, etc.) but other than that, I cannot get any response whatsoever onscreen, and (based on the lack of floppy activity and/or Romulator menu-music) it doesn't seem to be doing anything at all. Removing the Zeus board instantly gets the system working again, but without the amazing speed improvement the Zeus board offers (and which I'm not exactly looking to give up). Any ideas or suggestions here? I really want this to work! Thanks, Huxley Attached Thumbnails

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17 November 2019, 09:23	#121
JohnnySlick Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Austin Posts: 9	Mine came in pretty quickly. Sadly, I had planned to put it in an A500++ board that I haven't finished yet, so I can't comment on how it works yet. On the plus side, having Diagrom easily accessible should be very helpful for my build.

19 November 2019, 03:27	#122
xterc Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Tomball Posts: 28	The Romulator came in today. Here it is running in a REV 5 board:

19 November 2019, 20:48	#123
gdunlapsd Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: San Diego / USA Posts: 34	I ordered two, one for each of my Amigas! When the firmware is updated to allow you to change the menu music, I'm going to put the Amiga 1000 startup tune on at least one of them! :-D

25 November 2019, 06:33	#124
xterc Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Tomball Posts: 28	How can I address a 1MB Kickstart? I see the pins marked 1 & 42 are snipped off of the board, can I install new pins to make this work? A 27C800 programmed with the same ROM works fine. The Romulator only sees the 1st 'Standard' part of the ROM.

25 November 2019, 17:54	#126
xterc Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Tomball Posts: 28	The board is a new A500++ I just finished building (see below). It works fine with a 1MB EPROM, so the board is 1MB Kickstart 'ready', but with the ROMulator installed the extended portion of the Kickstart was not detected. I didn't want to add pins to the ROMulator without knowing if this was supported (I assume it is as it is meant to support 1MB roms).

25 November 2019, 21:40	#127
gdunlapsd Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: San Diego / USA Posts: 34	Has anyone had any luck booting a Kickstart 1.0 or 1.1 ROM image? The review on "10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast" on Youtube claims that this works, but all I get is a blue screen. Also, I can't get Kickstart 1.2 to load either, though it gets further; it cycles through white and grey screens like normal, but then hangs. KS1.3, KS3.1, KS3.1.4, DiagRom 1.2, and the Logica Diagnostic roms all work fine. Edit: Also tried the AROS ROM and it also just gave a blue sceeen.

26 November 2019, 00:39	#128
xterc Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Tomball Posts: 28	I can confirm soldering a pin onto position #1 (A18) does allow a 1MB Kickstart.

26 November 2019, 07:56	#129
breech Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Syd Posts: 184	@gdunlaps: are you using the correct roms for your region (NTSC)? Start with known good ones (Cloanto) before messing with hacks. Also there a significant chance that some pins are not connecting if you are inserting round pins in the standard rom socket.

26 November 2019, 23:16	#131
quantum8 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: BNE AU Posts: 216	Late to the party but I'd definitely like to try this out on either my A1200 or A4000!

27 November 2019, 20:07	#132
xterc Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Tomball Posts: 28	This only works on 16-bit Amigas at the moment, Kipper2K mentioned a future 32-bit version if this one is well received.

03 December 2019, 01:02	#133
JohnnySlick Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: Austin Posts: 9	Kipper, did you manufacture any 600 versions for AotL or were you waiting to judge the interest in the 500 models?

07 December 2019, 09:11	#134
gdunlapsd Registered User Join Date: Jul 2018 Location: San Diego / USA Posts: 34	I figured out why my 1.0 and 1.1 ROMs wouldn't boot; it seems that the Romulator doesn't like it if the ROM file has "NTSC" or "PAL" in its filename; case doesn't matter. Weird, but I can boot into 1.0 and 1.1 fine now that I've renamed the files.

23 December 2019, 09:04	#136
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	The romulator menu probably isn't 040 compatible. Another alternative is that the Zeus wants to run some code from its ROM early on and the menu doesn't run it. Hope you can contact the people who made it.

23 December 2019, 17:35	#137
FREEMILK Registered User Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: North Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 67	We are looking into the issue, there have been a few reports of Accelerators not working with Romulator. Stay Tuned , and Happy Holidays.

23 December 2019, 17:38	#138
mkstr Registered User Join Date: May 2018 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 64	@Huxley_D I think it's likely that the menu doesn't play nicely on the 040. If the accelerator was overlaying its own ROM then I'd just expect it to mask the Romulator altogether in the same way it would mask the standard kickstart. I'm sure you can appreciate that it's hard to test against all the various combinations of hardware that might be encountered, but I think I can probably take a look at this under emulation. If I can get it working I will send you a firmware update to try. You will need to connect a USB cable to some pads on the Romulator - I'm sure kipper2k will post some pics on how to connect this up. You won't need any special programming hardware. Mike

25 December 2019, 22:31	#139
katarakt Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Germany Posts: 205	Is the romulator compatible with wicher 500i in A500 ?

28 December 2019, 12:21	#140
Copeland Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Roermond Posts: 8	Please, please, please, please do a version for the A1200!!! And: will this item also be available in Europe? Or does Amiga on the Lake have the exclusive rights on the ROMulator?

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