Rom switcher for A2000 - What to buy in 2019?

[ProfPlum]

I just got back into the Amiga scene.
I want to upgrade my kickstart from 1.3 to 3.1 while remaining backwards compatible for games.

Any recommendations?

[amigakit.com]

Welcome to EAB!

Watch this space- we will have a new version of our ROM switcher this summer.

[dalek]

Cheap and quick: https://github.com/keirf/PCB-Project...rt-Switcher-v2

[Hewitson]

Not a fan of the above design at all. Using a CPU many times more powerful than the 68000, just to switch kickstarts? Appalling.

[Jope]

Cheap and quick to me is three wires and a SPDT switch, not a micro controller board. :-)

[ProfPlum]

Originally Posted by dalek

Cheap and quick: https://github.com/keirf/PCB-Project...rt-Switcher-v2

Thank-you. I'll have a look at this when time permits.

[jbilander]

Originally Posted by ProfPlum

I just got back into the Amiga scene.
I want to upgrade my kickstart from 1.3 to 3.1 while remaining backwards compatible for games.

Any recommendations?

Don't know your setup, but if you have a hard drive (e.g. a cf-card) and some fast ram installed in your machine. I would recommend either 3.1 or 3.1.4 and then using WHDLoad for games (uses kickstart emulation), no need for a kickstart switcher. Put kickstart files in Devs:Kickstarts together with the RTB files. Rom file names need to match RTB file names.
http://whdload.de/docs/en/need.html

Kickstart files you can grab/extract from your physical roms or buy from Cloanto or download from the Internet (if you do own physical legit roms this is probably the easiest, not advocating piracy here, those rom-files with a [!] in the end of the filename (is said to be checksum verified ok with original roms).

[ProfPlum]

Originally Posted by jbilander

Don't know your setup, but if you have a hard drive (e.g. a cf-card) and some fast ram installed in your machine. I would recommend either 3.1 or 3.1.4 and then using WHDLoad for games (uses kickstart emulation), no need for a kickstart switcher. Put kickstart files in Devs:Kickstarts together with the RTB files. Rom file names need to match RTB file names.
http://whdload.de/docs/en/need.html

Kickstart files you can grab/extract from your physical roms or buy from Cloanto or download from the Internet (if you do own physical legit roms this is probably the easiest, not advocating piracy here, those rom-files with a [!] in the end of the filename (is said to be checksum verified ok with original roms).

My Amiga is currently missing a keyboard. I am waiting on a PC keyboard adapter. I do have a hard drive but it's not booting. Once I have the keyboard, I'll investigate the issue. The hd controller is a 2090a and I'm sure the hd is either 20 or 40mg. Almost definitely, this needs an upgrade.

[alexh]

The cheapest ROM switcher for A2000 is without a doubt no switcher at all... just a 27C800 oversized EPROM and then connect 3-wires to 3 legs of the chip and a 3-way switch.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=46636

(Unfortunately the photos have gone)

https://www.tsb.space/knowledge-base...-27c800-eprom/

[patrik]

A similar smaller project which switches kickstart depending on reset time using the Atmel AVR ATTiny85 (1-2EUR):
https://www.kernelcrash.com/blog/ami...es/2017/08/18/

[merlinkv]

A few weeks ago I designed a couple of PCBs for my A2000. They are based on a 27C160 and two SPST ON-OFF switches to select one of the four possible ROMs. Works like a charm.

Also I designed similar PCB's for A500 v6 and A500+ that allow to close the case without problems.

[SukkoPera]

Here's my version, works on A500 and A2000: https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenKickstartSwitcher

I also designed a special version for the CDTV: https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenKickstartSwitcherCDTV

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by SukkoPera

Here's my version, works on A500 and A2000: https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenKickstartSwitcher

I also designed a special version for the CDTV: https://github.com/SukkoPera/OpenKickstartSwitcherCDTV

Nice compact and simple design. Best one posted so far.