ACA500 tested

[BarryB]

How wide is this Jens?

I have my A500 on a pull out shelf under a desk which is 23.25" (590mm) wide, this leaves 4.75" (120mm) for the ACA500 to stick out, any more and it won't fit!

[FOL]

Originally Posted by BarryB

How wide is this Jens?

I have my A500 on a pull out shelf under a desk which is 23.25" (590mm) wide, this leaves 4.75" (120mm) for the ACA500 to stick out, any more and it won't fit!

, 13.5CM (130mm).

[prowler]

Time for a bit of carpentry.

[Arnie]

Apparently the CDTV has the same address lines on the diagnostic port as the A500. If the ACA could be connected to that port, would it work?

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by FOL

, 13.5CM (130mm).

Noooo!!

That's my Christmas pressie up in smoke then An ACA500 + ACA1232 40Mhz would have been a fun upgrade for my A500 to mess about with over the holidays

Not sure plugging/unplugging it each time I want to use it (as when the shelf is pulled out there's plenty of space for it to sit) is a good idea though? The less insertion/removal cycles the longer the connector will last and it will become a pain in the arse eventually.

It can't swap places with my A1200 as that fits perfectly on the top of the desk with my Samsung monitor, but put the A500 on top and it overhangs 115mm from the front of the desk Now we see a reason why this needs to fit INTERNALLY

@prowler: So you're making me a new desk so it fits then? Mate, that's really generous of you, can't wait to see it

[duga]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

[/B]ChipMap can map trapdoor memory as Chipram without having to open the computer, solder on jumpers etc. The following preconditions must apply:

- ECS Agnus must be installed
- exactly 512k trapdoor mem must be present (not more, not less)
- exactly 512k chipram must be present

If these conditions apply, the ACA500's minimal MMU can turn the computer into a 1MByte Chipram computer, completely without opening the machine. Most Rev.6 and higher boards have that config, so it'll improve WHDload compatibility even more.

I will publish this firmware later this weekend. It will show if the feature is available, and let you select the chipmem size with a menu item in the expert menu.

Jens

So 516888 bytes of trapdoor mem isn't enough I guess. It should be 524288 bytes (512 x 1024)?

[Photon]

I've updated my article with availability date (12 Dec) and links to 3 webshops. It seems you can place an order already, at least on Amigakit?

If someone knows they will be sold elsewhere also I'm sure a tip here would be appreciated.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Noooo!!

That's my Christmas pressie up in smoke then An ACA500 + ACA1232 40Mhz would have been a fun upgrade for my A500 to mess about with over the holidays

Don't worry - it'll fit. The 13.5cm width of the card that FOL measured is correct, but the part that he didn't measure is "how far does it plug into the A500". After plugging in, it only sticks out 10.5cm, making the whole A500 with ACA500 a total of 58cm wide. Barely fits on your desk, but it fits.

Originally Posted by duga

So 516888 bytes of trapdoor mem isn't enough I guess. It should be 524288 bytes (512 x 1024)?

The "exactly" part of the conditions is referring to larger internal memory expansions, so your 0.5M expansion if absolutely fine. The only thing that doesn't work is larger expansion like 1M, 1.5M or 1.8M - these expansions cannot be "partially" turned into Chipram with the ChipMap feature.

Those 1.8M expansions have been very popular, at least in Germany. I find it important to mention compatibility with them: They work with the ACA500, but you can't turn a part (or all) of them into Chipram.

Jens

[duga]

Thanks for the explanation.

Still wondering why it shows 504-506 KB though. And I'm not talking about free memory; Sysinfo shows 512 KB chip mem and 506 KB slow mem. But I guess that's another topic.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by duga

Thanks for the explanation.

Still wondering why it shows 504-506 KB though. And I'm not talking about free memory; Sysinfo shows 512 KB chip mem and 506 KB slow mem. But I guess that's another topic.

Last 6k is reserved by exec for supervisor mode stack before memory is added.

[duga]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Last 6k is reserved by exec for supervisor mode stack before memory is added.

Great, thanks.

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Don't worry - it'll fit. The 13.5cm width of the card that FOL measured is correct, but the part that he didn't measure is "how far does it plug into the A500". After plugging in, it only sticks out 10.5cm, making the whole A500 with ACA500 a total of 58cm wide. Barely fits on your desk, but it fits.

Thanks Jens Only problem is Amigakit have now sold out of the ACA500 so not likely to get one before christmas

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Thanks Jens Only problem is Amigakit have now sold out of the ACA500 so not likely to get one before christmas

Call them - probably an error in the shop software/database. It's true that the card sells like hotcakes at the moment, but it's *very* likely for everyone to get a board before Xmas.

Here's some brain food for those who like to hack and who like to get down to the lowest level of coding/hardware development. Let's see if there's anyone here who can reduce the "minimal MMU" the required way, or who can explain the IRQ vector relocation feature. I bet that there's one or two hardware developers reading here who wonder how I crammed all this into 72 macrocells...

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/File:Inside_ACA500.pdf

Jens

[Photon]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Thanks Jens Only problem is Amigakit have now sold out of the ACA500 so not likely to get one before christmas

Huh? Where does it say this?

[BarryB]

On the UK Amigakit ACA500 page: Pre-Order, Stock expected Thursday 12th December

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...oducts_id=1168

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by BarryB

On the UK Amigakit ACA500 page: Pre-Order, Stock expected Thursday 12th December

Probably the most honest thing they can say - the parcel has not arrived yet at the AmigaKit Headquarters ;-)

Jens

[fitzsteve]

Got mine today



More pics in my gallery

http://www.fitzstevesamigaworld.co.u...s.php?album=33

Will be doing a write up for my blog and will share the link here

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Probably the most honest thing they can say - the parcel has not arrived yet at the AmigaKit Headquarters ;-)

Jens

Ordered both items with a note to only ship the order when the ACA500 is in stock.

[amigakit.com]

@BarryB

Thank you very much for your custom and supporting our business

It is appreciated.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Got mine today

Yep - one of the few that was shipped without the coloured sticker on the inside of the box. All others have that picture in colour ;-)

Sorry, but I wanted your unit out the door before the big rush. Hope you can forgive me..

Jens