Upgrading kickstart chip on A600

[Raffaz]

I've currently got the 37.300 version, and im considering changing to the 3.1 version. What are the benefits of doing this? Cheers

[AMIGAZ]

Well, you'll be able to use bigger harddrives, opening windows will be faster, you can use faster filesystems and more software

Can't think of any more important benefits right now

[Raffaz]

Is it a simple process for swapping out the ROMs? Will i be to use workbench 3.9 disks aswell? Cheers

[amigakit.com]

We supply Kickstart 3.1 ROM for the A600 with illustrated instructions.

AmigaOS 3.9 requires a faster processor and fast memory that the A600 does not have.

[Raffaz]

Originally Posted by amigakit.com

We supply Kickstart 3.1 ROM for the A600 with illustrated instructions.

AmigaOS 3.9 requires a faster processor and fast memory that the A600 does not have.

Thanks for the reply, so what would you recommend, just the 3.1OS. Would it be possible to upgrade the 600 so i could run 3.9, and if so then what would be required? Cheers

[amigakit.com]

You would need an A600 accelerator- they are very rare ATM- the price will eclipse the cost of going for an A1200 setup

[AMIGAZ]

Originally Posted by amigakit.com

You would need an A600 accelerator- they are very rare ATM- the price will eclipse the cost of going for an A1200 setup

mmmm....even the '020 Apollo A620 board will make you around €150 poorer
But an accelerated A600 is cool

[musashi5150]

Also if you get something newer than 37.350 you will be able to boot from an internal IDE HD. Your 37.300 revision you have ATM won't support IDE booting - mine didn't so I upgraded to 3.1

[Zetr0]

If you are not gonna go with an accelerator in you a600, then realistically you need some fast ram, and the only way to do this without an accellerator is to use SRAM PCMCIA cards, only two falvours of these cards work for the a600 3mb and 4mb, any more wont be read by the machine.

adding fast ram (even 220ns SRAM) will near enough double the s
peed of the standard 68000 CPU, Only problem is 2mb and even more so 4mb SRAM card dont come cheap (between £15 - £40)or more.

So what OS should you choose... well my a600+ project should give you an idea to expand on http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=27727

I decided to go for a custom OS3.1 as i found OS3.5 was to-large a foot print on a 4MB A600 (2MB chip + 2MB SRAM) since then i have made some modifications to improve the unit, wich i will post as an addition to the thread.

hope it helps.

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Raffaz

Thanks for the reply, so what would you recommend, just the 3.1OS. Would it be possible to upgrade the 600 so i could run 3.9, and if so then what would be required? Cheers

If you really want 3.9 then you should go for an A1200 and upgrade that, however it depends what you want to do with your Amiga, chances are that you won't really need 3.9.

[Raffaz]

Originally Posted by musashi5150

Also if you get something newer than 37.350 you will be able to boot from an internal IDE HD. Your 37.300 revision you have ATM won't support IDE booting - mine didn't so I upgraded to 3.1

Looks like im going to have to get this then, because im thinking of using a CF card for my internal HDD aswell.

[Raffaz]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

If you are not gonna go with an accelerator in you a600, then realistically you need some fast ram, and the only way to do this without an accellerator is to use SRAM PCMCIA cards, only two falvours of these cards work for the a600 3mb and 4mb, any more wont be read by the machine.

adding fast ram (even 220ns SRAM) will near enough double the s
peed of the standard 68000 CPU, Only problem is 2mb and even more so 4mb SRAM card dont come cheap (between £15 - £40)or more.

So what OS should you choose... well my a600+ project should give you an idea to expand on http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=27727

I decided to go for a custom OS3.1 as i found OS3.5 was to-large a foot print on a 4MB A600 (2MB chip + 2MB SRAM) since then i have made some modifications to improve the unit, wich i will post as an addition to the thread.

hope it helps.

That looks excellent

[Zetr0]

@Raffaz,

Thanks i really enjoyed making it,

I will say i posted an error its 2mb SRAM PCMCIA card (not 3mb lol as i mentioned what was compatible with the A600)

CF cards are cool for little miggies, they dont use as much power as a regular harddisk, and have no-where near the amount of noise (not to mention that CF has hardly any seek time compaired to regular disks)


the only thing that can be tricky about them is the adapter you choose to plug it into your hard disk, check this thread http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=25274 to help with compatibility!

[Raffaz]

Ive already picked up a CF card its a sandisk 2gig (busy formatting it now). I've also got a PCMCIA adapter for transfering .adf's, and im waiting for a 44pin to CF converter to come from china. Can you recommend a PCMCIA card for the fast ram? Cheers

[Zetr0]

a member on these fair boards Smiley was selling his 2MB SRAM card wich would be perfect for the a600. give him a PM he might still have it...

(unless Binox has bought it... hes a power buyer *snicker*)

so heres some lucious little linkies from the fleabay

1. heres one from the states.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Recharge-SRAM-...QQcmdZViewItem

2.you might get this for a good price, and sell the other 5 for 10-15 each
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-x-2MB-PCMCIA...QQcmdZViewItem

3.hmm a more local one. lol bit of a scramble for it already
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Memory-storage...QQcmdZViewItem


hope it helps

[Raffaz]

Cheers for the linkies

[Raffaz]

Well, im thinking of getting the 1200 now after doing some more reading.