Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Locutus

Main benefit with SCSI nowadays is lower CPU consumption which makes a system feel more responsive and also makes some workloads faster then just the difference in bandwith would suggest.


However the Apollo 1260's SCSI card is very basic and doesn't support DMA which is what helps with the CPU offloading. IIRC it doesn't even have a real host controller and the CPU has the completely drive the SCSI bus by itself.



You might get some higher linear write speed but no lower CPU load.


Personally i think it's not worth the money.

SCSI isn't worth the money? It does seem expensive from what I have saw.

[crazyc]

Unless you have a real reason for wanting it, then I would agree ghatnits not worth it (from someone who spent the time and money to get it for no real reason).

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Unless you have a real reason for wanting it, then I would agree ghatnits not worth it (from someone who spent the time and money to get it for no real reason).

I know

Just wondering how good a transfer rate I will get with the Apollo and hope (fingers crossed) its close or similar to the ACA.

[TroyWilkins]

This may have been already answered here, so I apologise if it's already been asked and answered, but...

I was just watching the most recent video by The Guru Meditation - [ Show youtube player ], and when Bill replaced the Kickstart ROM it made me wonder if the 2 pins that are not used by the 3.1.4 ROMS (or the original 3.0 ROMS) are electrically connected, and if so, is it possible to have 2x 512K ROM chips to have 1MB total ROM, which I believe was the case for the CD32?

Screen capture to show what I mean attached:

[Akiko]

Is it necessary to use anti-static bags when shipping an A1200 or CD32 motherboard if it's still fully encapsulated in its original RF shielding? I would have thought the chips would be okay as they aren't coming into direct contact with any other material, or does the shielding itself conduct static that can reach elsewhere?

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by TroyWilkins

and when Bill replaced the Kickstart ROM it made me wonder if the 2 pins that are not used by the 3.1.4 ROMS (or the original 3.0 ROMS) are electrically connected, and if so, is it possible to have 2x 512K ROM chips to have 1MB total ROM, which I believe was the case for the CD32?

Yep, those pins are connected, and machines with those extra pins (later A500s, A500+, A600 & A1200) support 1MB ROMs, which can be created using appropriate software and can include additional modules that don't fit in the original 512K ROMs.

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Yep, those pins are connected, and machines with those extra pins (later A500s, A500+, A600 & A1200) support 1MB ROMs, which can be created using appropriate software and can include additional modules that don't fit in the original 512K ROMs.

Ahhh, interesting, thank you. Now I wish I had the skills and equipment required to de-solder the kickstart ROM in my A600, put in a socket and make up my own Kickstart ROM.

[Daedalus]

Wow, was that soldered down in the factory? I've never seen an A600 that wasn't socketed.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Akiko

Is it necessary to use anti-static bags when shipping an A1200 or CD32 motherboard if it's still fully encapsulated in its original RF shielding? I would have thought the chips would be okay as they aren't coming into direct contact with any other material, or does the shielding itself conduct static that can reach elsewhere?

I just sent mine off last week with only the bottom half of the rf shield. I was told by Steve at Retro passion to use paper and then bubble wrap. My fear of static killing stuff is legit but he said it's rare that it happens. Every piece of packing I used I made sure it touched something earthed to take any charge it may have off it just as a precaution.

Using your shield entirely probably will not need antistatic material.

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Wow, was that soldered down in the factory? I've never seen an A600 that wasn't socketed.

I don't know, this is how it was when I got it. I've heard that some of the late 600s had it soldered on as a cost saving - so Commodore didn't need to pay for the socket. I don't know how true that is, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by TroyWilkins

I don't know, this is how it was when I got it. I've heard that some of the late 600s had it soldered on as a cost saving - so Commodore didn't need to pay for the socket. I don't know how true that is, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Yeah, definitely plausible alright. Interesting!

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Yep, those pins are connected, and machines with those extra pins (later A500s, A500+, A600 & A1200) support 1MB ROMs, which can be created using appropriate software and can include additional modules that don't fit in the original 512K ROMs.

Frankly, I do not see how this would work in the A500 or A500+. It is Gary that decides where to map in the ROM chip. Thus, it is not the number of pins that is the problem here, but the memory map window required for the additional 512K. For the A600, I do not quite know which chip CBM used, it is probably Gary as well.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Frankly, I do not see how this would work in the A500 or A500+.

Shhhhhh, don't tell my 500+ that

It is Gary that decides where to map in the ROM chip. Thus, it is not the number of pins that is the problem here, but the memory map window required for the additional 512K.

Indeed. Luckily, Gary does provide the decoding necessary.

For the A600, I do not quite know which chip CBM used, it is probably Gary as well.

The A600 uses Gayle, but just as Gary does, it's perfectly capable of decoding the ROM address regions required for a 1MB ROM.

[Toni Wilen]

Yeah, both Gayle variants and Gary supports 1M ROM (and A1200 Gayle also supports 2M ROM, a80000-b7ffff and usual e00000-e7fffff)

For some reason Fat Gary only has 512k support.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Yeah, both Gayle variants and Gary supports 1M ROM (and A1200 Gayle also supports 2M ROM, a80000-b7ffff and usual e00000-e7fffff)

For some reason Fat Gary only has 512k support.

Not on my A2000 then. When I access the "lower ROM area", of course bypassing the MMU, I do not see a mirror of the ROM as one would expect. I just see zeros there. No, these are not the zeros of the "bad page" mapped there.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Not on my A2000 then. When I access the "lower ROM area", of course bypassing the MMU, I do not see a mirror of the ROM as one would expect.

Maybe it's a difference between revisions of the 2000, but I can use 1MB ROMs in my 2000 by simply adding the missing A19 line to the ROM.

[Toni Wilen]

Possibly also accelerator board, I think some A1200 blizzards did something similar.

[redblade]

Originally Posted by TroyWilkins

I don't know, this is how it was when I got it. I've heard that some of the late 600s had it soldered on as a cost saving - so Commodore didn't need to pay for the socket. I don't know how true that is, but it wouldn't surprise me.

My AU/NZ Amiga 600HD is also like that. I think it was made in Taiwan too.

[TroyWilkins]

I've got a question.

As some of you know, I have a web site about the Amiga.

However, I only have information about English-speaking countries, and I'd like to include more information about non-English Amiga history. Things like when the Amiga became available in German, French, Spanish and other language speaking countries. Does anyone have any good resources or information please and thank you?

I'd also like to make pages available in languages other than English, but the only other language I know is German, and I'm still only a beginner there, so if anyone is willing to help I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[NLS]

I may be able to help about Greece.