A500 Zorro Slot Adaptor

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by E-Penguin

Daedalus
Try also the new firmware on the ACA500plus, I think I had it at v0.98. You'll need a fat formatted CF card and the firmware from the icomp wiki (see thread in Scene). I don't know whether the firmware modifies the autoconfig stuff - Toni can advise that.

Autoconfig support hasn't changed since first public version.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Yes, of course, but I rarely accept workarounds that can introduce unknown variables, especially when doing manual editing.

The voice of experience there

It is CR/LF. Set "Implicit CR in every LF" in Putty.

Indeed it is. Sorry, throwing a load of spaces in like that threw me off that idea, I expected to see funky characters instead of line breaks in those cases, but now I know.

I've attached a new pair of logs for the 68000 and 68030 modes. 68030 mode was logged first, then the system was reset and switched to 68000 mode without powering off.

Does Buddha even get initialized when Blizzard is connected? (Do you see any autoconfig writes to Buddha?)

The _CFGOut line from the Buddha is asserted as expected in both modes, which I believe happens after an Autoconfig write. So it looks like it's initialised in both modes. However, the line is high for about 2 seconds in 68000 mode, and 2.5 seconds in 68030 mode. In both modes it looks like there's a bunch of writes on the bus to addresses around $E8xxxx shortly before the line goes low, but I don't have the gear to properly decode it to be absolutely certain. This was checked just in the ACA menu, but in both modes the _CFGOut seemed to follow the same pattern when starting the Kickstart boot.

@E-Penguin
Hmmm, I might leave it for now if the Autoconfig code hasn't changed, maybe once I have it all playing nice together.

[E-Penguin]

I'm happy to update the firmware when I get it back. I was just wondering whether it would help with the autoconfig, but apparently not.

I don't understand the logs at all but I do find it very interesting. The auto conf stuff was very forward thinking of Amiga.

[Toni Wilen]

Could you also check if "missing" board still appears at $e80000? If not, what does it contain? Random garbage or something not-so-garbage?

[Daedalus]

Okay, it doesn't look like the board is still at $E80000. It looks like pseudo-garbage - every longword is $E6DCE6DC from $E80000 up (checked as far as $E80800). After a reboot, the value changes ($E694E694), so still the same word repeated over and over. It doesn't seem to change value until the next boot. When booted in 68000 mode, similar patterns are seen at $E80000, but the first byte of each word is $88 or $89 instead of $E6 ($89D689D6 as one example). Not sure if that's significant or just a coincidence.

When initialised (68000 mode), the board itself at $EA0000 isn't uniform, but most bits are set with occasional lower values, repeating every $80, a recognisable pattern.

[Toni Wilen]

Perhaps some $e80048 write "leaks" too early (when internal virtual board is being configured) from aca500plus when accelerator is connected, causing it to be configured "under" the virtual board.

Can you disable writes to Z2 board (so that possible too early $e80048 write gets ignored by the board) and then check if the board now appears (multiple times) in aca500plus TAB screen.

[Daedalus]

Yep, there appears to be something to that theory alright. It shows up first at $EC0000, then $ED0000, $EE0000 and $280000. The first board is the Blizzard at $EA0000, then the ACA Boot ROM at $E90000.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Yep, there appears to be something to that theory alright. It shows up first at $EC0000, then $ED0000, $EE0000 and $280000. The first board is the Blizzard at $EA0000, then the ACA Boot ROM at $E90000.

I guess only way to fix this is to optionally ignore first write.. Perhaps there is some other signals that can be used to detect this "feature"..

[Daedalus]

Right, so just a little update on this project. The board has been finished and working for quite a while, though a particular combination of hardware appears to cause issues - using an ACA500+ *and* an A1200 accelerator causes issues with Autoconfig that results in the Zorro board not being visible to Amiga OS. The board works as it should with just the ACA500+ in use. More work is needed to see if this issue can be worked around, or if some A1200 accelerators work (e.g. ACA1233n). Many thanks to Toni for his extensive help with this issue, and to E-Penguin for a longer-than-expected loan of his ACA500+!

As well as this, my initial cost estimate of £20 was way too low and doesn't even cover the full cost of parts, primarily due to the high cost of the two edge connectors required. So I'm looking at an asking price of £35 + postage for these boards. Hopefully that's not too unreasonable for a fully assembled and tested board, but I'll understand if those who previously expressed interest aren't interested any more...

[E-Penguin]

I'm keen to carry on the testing if Jens will give me a discount on the ACA1233n

[Daedalus]

Haha, it never hurts to ask Toni has some ACA boards to test with though so we'll see how it goes.

[E-Penguin]

I bought myself one of Matze's A1k boards, so I can do some comparative testing. From what you've said about AutoConfig clashes though, I suspect the behaviour will be the same.

[Jope]

I'm still in.

[Marchie]

Still interested, but have a question too, will PM.

[André]

I'm still interested

[Toni Wilen]

Test report: ACA500plus + A1200 accelerator + Z2 board in Z2 adapter autoconfig incompatibility problem can be worked around but most likely it can't be made automatic (require new enabled ACA500plus menu option). Obviously option will not be officially supported.

Tested with ACA1233n, A1221, ACA1221EC and Blizzard 1260 (my B1260 has powerup/reset hang problems with Z2 board installed. Possibly power issue, all ACA12xx boards work fine).

ACA123x (non-n) boards don't use autoconfig and don't need any workarounds.

[E-Penguin]

Excellent news! Will it be released as part of the next official firmware? I'm very keen to carry on testing Daedalus's board once I get the ACA500+ back. I'll cross-check against the A1k adapter board, should I ever finish soldering it together (although I apparently got the last one!) but from what I understand they should behave identically.

When you say not automatic - you mean a menu option to enable it, or more detailed manual config needed?

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

So I'm looking at an asking price of £35 + postage for these boards. Hopefully that's not too unreasonable for a fully assembled and tested board, but I'll understand if those who previously expressed interest aren't interested any more...

I have to say that I've been quietly following this thread with keen interest and I'm very impressed with the steady progress you've made with this project mate! Please put me down for one of these boards!!

I've got a couple of old Z2 adaptor boards for the A500 in packing boxes in the garage. IIRC both are very old (i.e. made in the U.S. in the late 80s/early 90s), and one was removed from an external case and has a PSU. Neither have a passthrough, however, which is a bugger for me as all my A500s in use either have an Action Replay or GVP A530 / A500 HD8+ hanging off the side.

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Right, so just a little update on this project. The board has been finished and working for quite a while, though a particular combination of hardware appears to cause issues - using an ACA500+ *and* an A1200 accelerator causes issues with Autoconfig that results in the Zorro board not being visible to Amiga OS. The board works as it should with just the ACA500+ in use. More work is needed to see if this issue can be worked around, or if some A1200 accelerators work (e.g. ACA1233n).

Do you have a list of what Zorro cards have been tested thus far? I know you've tested one or two A2000 Z2 cards like the C= A2058 8MB memory card. Has anyone tested something more meaty like a graphics card, Blizzard 2040/2060 / GVP G-Force (with fast CPU slot mod/hack) or DKB Rapidfire/Spitfire?

[fatbob_gb]

I am still interested in one please

[Amiga4000]

I'm still in!