Sonnet 7200 PCI programming

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by olav

From the Elbox website:

"The Radeon Mediator drivers are designed for all MEDIATOR models. However, as most of the Radeon 9200 PCI series cards require the 3.3V auxiliary PCI power supply, they will work out of the box only in the Mediator 1200 TX and Mediator 1200 SX busboards with the ATX power supply.

PCI Radeon cards may also be used in other Mediator models, but it will require installing the Radeon card in the special PCI adapter which provides an auxiliary 3.3V power supply. Elbox is planning to produce a PCI 3.3V power adapter riser. It will include the bracket for the low profile Mobility Radeon 9200 card model available in Elbox Online Store."

I suppose this could also be applied to the Sonnet..
Does the Mediator 3000Di and 4000Di 3V require an ATX psu to supply the 3V?

There are many Radeon 9200s that support 5V only systems. The one Elbox supplies is just one that guaranteed to work with a 5v only system. There are however some 9200s that only work on 3.3V so some modification is necessary, either adding a 3.3V VRM or some wire hack like I did to the Sonnet. I did the same thing to a Radeon 9200 that was 3.3V only (as others have). But if you are buying the special new black version of the Mediator for the A4000 then you don't need to do anything 3.3V or 5V versions will work.
The only point you actually need an ATX power supply is if you are doing the wire method I did originally for the Sonnet or a 3.3V only Radeon or if you are replacing your power supply anyway. But if you are doing the VRM method then it doesn't matter.

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by olav

I suppose this could also be applied to the Sonnet..
Does the Mediator 3000Di and 4000Di 3V require an ATX psu to supply the 3V?

The A3000D in which I have a 3000Di has the stock AT PSU. I suspect something similar for the A4000.

[strim]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

The A3000D in which I have a 3000Di has the stock AT PSU. I suspect something similar for the A4000.

Indeed, "3000Di" and "4000Di 3V" Mediators have on-board voltage regulator for 3.3V line. No need for ATX PSU.

ATX PSU is needed for Mediator 1200TX though.

[TjLaZer]

Just found out about this, pretty cool! Does this work on the Prometheus PCI system by chance? I have one of those, but do not have a Mediator.

[gurrag]

I possibly have one of theese cards on the way to me atm.

So if i understand everything correctly... i should be able to use this in my 5v only a4000 mediator setup if i solder a voltage regulator to the sonnet ?

Regards.

[strim]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

Just found out about this, pretty cool! Does this work on the Prometheus PCI system by chance? I have of those, and I do not have a Mediator.

Nope.

• Prometheus does not support bus mastering between PCI cards, which is absolutely necessary (there was an CPLD core update from Michael Boehmer that added this).
• There is no software support for Prometheus in SonnetAmiga project.

Originally Posted by gurrag

So if i understand everything correctly... i should be able to use this in my 5v only a4000 mediator setup if i solder a voltage regulator to the sonnet ?

Yes although it's still not researched thoroughly what is the 100% correct way to add one. The method proposed by grelbfarlk seems to work for him, but might not be safe.

Great work on this project!

I have a similar config and wanted to see how my idea would work with the Sonnet.

My config:
3000D
Mediator 3000Di
Cyberstorm 060 MK3
Radeon 9200
X-Surf 100 with Rapidroad
Prelude with Mpeg it.

I was going to pull the Prelude for the Sonnet and use USB Audio off the RR.

Does the Radeon 9200 work well with the Sonnet and this config in general work with the Sonnet 7200?

Thanks for the advice!

Matt

[strim]

Originally Posted by matt3k

Does the Radeon 9200 work well with the Sonnet and this config in general work with the Sonnet 7200

Yes and yes, looks good! Note that you will also need local memory on Sonnet installed.

Though, I'm sure you are aware from earlier posts in this thread, you'll need a custom fixed pci.library that you can obtain by PM'ing Hedeon .

[jack-3d]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

All 16 and 64MB 5V 168 pins EDO and FPM I tried, worked. All 128MB failed (memory corrupts over time). But there are different Sonnet revisions (A, B, etc.). They (Sonnet) claim with the latest revision to support even 256MB DIMMs. (On the Amiga, only a max of 256 MB is supported at the moment so the Z3 window does not have to move with access outside of the window).

Are ECC modules working or Sonnet needs non-ECC modules?

[strim]

Non-ECC certainly do work. Never tested ECC. Are they even mechanically compatible?

[grelbfarlk]

Usually ECC works on a machine that doesn't support it, for instance I have used ECC SIMMs on an A4000 motherboard without problems, but with the Sonnet I don't think we know yet. EDO is another unknown whether some/any/none work.

[jack-3d]

Do you have any available source of the 100% compatible FPM modules? (any eshop or ebay link?) Thanks ;o)

[Kitch]

Won't be sure if they're comparable until I get a chance to test them but I bought some here http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/5MD128MBE/

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by Kitch

Won't be sure if they're comparable until I get a chance to test them but I bought some here http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/5MD128MBE/

I have some of those modules and they don't really work. The Sonnet sees them, adds the correct amount of memory and you can actually move stuff into it from the 68k side just fine, but as soon as the PPC touches this memory, it gets corrupted. I am hoping this is something that Hedeon might be able to fix some day.

[olav]

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb...action=b71#b71

The reason might be this, "8K Refresh"? :

"Some 128MB DIMMs that employ an 8K refresh are known to pose potential problems. 128MB DIMMs are typically composed of 16 chips, each a 16Mx4 part. There are two types that are used, the "4K Refresh" and the "8K Refresh". The Crescendo/7200 is not compatible with some DIMMs made with "8K Refresh" parts because the timing margins are so thin that the electrical "noise" generated by the card causes errors. The "8K" versus "4K" parts can be identified by the part numbers of the chips on the DIMM, or by checking with the manufacturer of the chips."

What is your Crescendo 7200 revision?

EDIT:
OK, I notice now the sticker on the module says "4K REF". So this should be fine. This memory is Fast Page Mode (EDO), which should be fine, as Hedeon has reported. However, notice the sentence:
"Sonnet recommends Fast Page Mode (FPM); 60 ns; 5 volt; 4K refresh; 168-pin DIMMs." from the link. I speculate that by "Fast Page Mode (FPM)" they mean non-EDO. Depending on the revision of the Crescendo it might or might not be fine. Rev. A has the most restrains in regards to memory acceptance.

___

Originally Posted by Hedeon

Regarding the post on Amibay:
They (Sonnet) claim with the latest revision to support even 256MB DIMMs. (On the Amiga, only a max of 256 MB is supported at the moment so the Z3 window does not have to move with access outside of the window).

I thought 768 MB of memory was only supported as the "total amount of memory" in the mac the Crescendo 7200 was designed to be used with.. i.e. the Crescendo itself could have a maximum of 384 MB, and then 384 MB on the motherboard. Hope you are right 768 MB would be sweet. Though the Z3 limitation is 512 MB per slot (physically, when disregarding current programming-limit)?
256 MB modules seems to be nowhere to be fund..

___

Further, I asked Sonnet of the possibility to produce more Crescendo 7200s.. just to see if there was a slight possibility. Here is the result:

Reply 1:
"Thank you for contacting us. Unfortunately we do not have any of this product left.

Regarding a custom build, the minimum order quantity is 1000 - 2000 units, depending on the project - 80% paid in advance.
However, I suspect we will find the required parts are no longer available."

Reply 2:
"I just checked with our ops team. Parts to build this product are no longer available. Also, nobody knows where the Gerbers are, if anywhere."

[grelbfarlk]

That 128MB DIMM was listed as non-EDO when I bought it, though the macsales site lists it as EDO. The chips are KM44V16004BK-6, I guess we could find the datasheet and see if these are in fact EDO.
My card is Rev B so it should have the hardware compatibility fix, though there was a MacOS extension that went with it.

If you look on digikey the PC755 is listed as the replacement for the PPC750, though relatively expensive but still available.
http://www.nxp.com/files/32bit/doc/d...t/MPC755EC.pdf

I did a bit of looking and there is some significant stock of MPC107 left out there in the wild.

Without the gerber files it would be starting from scratch anyway, and if you were doing that it would be silly to not go with a newer chip supporting faster memory.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

The chips are KM44V16004BK-6, I guess we could find the datasheet and see if these are in fact EDO.

They are.

http://www.datasheets360.com/pdf/4305209691695847386

[grelbfarlk]

So here's an idea, I have a few identical 64MB DIMMs that work perfect, they are single sided. If I remove the chips from one and mount them on the blank side of a different DIMM what are the odds that will work?

Or someone else please be the guinea pig for me, I am scared enough by the monkeying I've already done to my Sonnet.

Can/Will the Sonnet speed up image decoding/data types and productivity programs like simplemail and final writer?

[grelbfarlk]

final writer? No. Unless there was a PPC version I never heard of. Datatypes maybe/probably one of these days someone will get around to testing the Warp datatypes so JPG loading should be really fast. DivX decoding for instance works really pretty well.

I don't understand about Simplemail, isn't an email client fast enough? Unless you are talking about attachments with lots of pictures or something, in which case Warp datatypes should speed that up, but as it hasn't been done, we don't know yet.

In other news Hedeon got hardware rendering working with StormMesa today. This past weekend we got a few things working like AmiGenerator, Heretic and a few Aminet demos that no one would actually want to use, but they work!