Are these A1200 settings good enough for OS4?

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by roy bates

the simm looks to be a 4mb 60ns edo ram simm.

Hi Roy - so it's a 8MB FPU expansion board, with a 4MB (60ns?) edo ram simm and no FPU?

I am i right inb saying that this board could use those 8MB simms you mentioned previously?

Thanks

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by clitosa

Hi Roy - so it's a 8MB FPU expansion board, with a 4MB (60ns?) edo ram simm and no FPU?

I am i right inb saying that this board could use those 8MB simms you mentioned previously?

Thanks

yes and yes

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by roy bates

yes and yes

Great news, thanks for looking into this Roy - much appreciated

ps - what is 60n's?

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by clitosa

Great news, thanks for looking into this Roy - much appreciated

ps - what is 60n's?

without making it more complicated for you ,60ns is the speed of the dram ic's on the simm's they range from 80ns to 50ns or faster,the lower the number the faster it is.that card supports ram at 70ns or faster


the simm you might look for is this: "72 pin 8mb edo 60ns ram" they can be picked up very cheaply.

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by roy bates

without making it more complicated for you ,60ns is the speed of the dram ic's on the simm's they range from 80ns to 50ns or faster,the lower the number the faster it is.that card supports ram at 70ns or faster


the simm you might look for is this: "72 pin 8mb edo 60ns ram" they can be picked up very cheaply.

Thanks RB - will have a look online

[Retrofan]

If you want to put the FPU, it seems (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...gi?HARDID=1025) you can use this:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=716

And buy a crystal like this for it:
Link deleted.

[roy bates]

retrofan,that oscilator will only work in that card if the socket is modified,heres one that can be just dropped in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40MHz-Xtal...item2eb8cba2eb

[Retrofan]

Oh, yes.
But the FPU will be harder to get.

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

Oh, yes.
But the FPU will be harder to get.

yes,thats true.

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by roy bates

retrofan,that oscilator will only work in that card if the socket is modified,heres one that can be just dropped in.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40MHz-Xtal...item2eb8cba2eb

Hi Guys - Thanks for the info on that FPU & Crystal.

Was also really pleased to to have that link on the expansion board. So now we know it's "Magnum RAM 8" expansion board. Maybe now hunting down the manual for it should be easier - thanks

However, I know very little regarding FPU's (apart from the abbreviation) and even less about those Crystal Oscillators. Frequency Stability!?

I hear the FPU is required for some types of software but is having the Crystal Oscillator on this board as important or necessary? Is the crystal vital for the running of a FPU etc?

Finding a suitable FPU (like the 68882 40Mhz FPU (PLCC) retro mentioned) and easier to install (ie no socket modification) Crytsal (like the 40MHz Xtal Quartz Crystal Oscillator Roy mentioned) whose hardware presence is not "offended" by the other seems a little more complex. Retro mentioned the Xtal Crystal would make finding the right FPU harder...

Any further info on how the FPU & Crytsal work or maybe of benefit in using the a1200 or (probably most importantly) which FPU/Crystals are the most compatible with this Magnum 8MB Expansion board would be appreciated.

Thanks again

[roy bates]

everything that retrofan and i have llinked to will work on your card as long as you want a FPU (Floating Point Unit).

the fpu is for maths intensive programs and can (very basicly) be thought as an extra cpu to help out the main integer cpu built into the amiga or some 68020 and 68030 accelorator cards.
although,if all you want to do is play games on your amiga an fpu will be of little to no use.



as far as the oscilator is conscerned it is required for the fpu to work as the oscilator is a timer for the fpu (think of the oscilator as a sort of pace maker to help the fpu keep track of how fast to run) and sets it to its correct frequency(speed) in mhz.

[NovaCoder]

Yep and FPU (and the crystal in your case) are of almost no use.

You'll find that FPU's are only really used with 040/060 software.

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by roy bates

everything that retrofan and i have llinked to will work on your card as long as you want a FPU (Floating Point Unit).

the fpu is for maths intensive programs and can (very basicly) be thought as an extra cpu to help out the main integer cpu built into the amiga or some 68020 and 68030 accelorator cards.
although,if all you want to do is play games on your amiga an fpu will be of little to no use.

as far as the oscilator is conscerned it is required for the fpu to work as the oscilator is a timer for the fpu (think of the oscilator as a sort of pace maker to help the fpu keep track of how fast to run) and sets it to its correct frequency(speed) in mhz.

Thanks Roy - So the 40MHz Xtal/ Quartz Crystal Osc/Oscillator and 68882 40Mhz FPU (PLCC) can and do work togther then? (Sorry I must have miss understood Retro, when he said the FPU would be harder to get)

It's good to know that the crystal is a necessary requirement of having a FPU and that a floating processor unit is beneficial for math intensive programs.

I guess this means that for gamers and WB3.1 users like me, it's not so important. But at least we now know - thank u

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Yep and FPU (and the crystal in your case) are of almost no use.

You'll find that FPU's are only really used with 040/060 software.

Hi Nova - thanks. Seems little use for game users like me. Do you think an fpu & crystal would have any benefit for using the an 1200 on the internet?

Roy & Retro have kindly pointed out that an a1200 online is better suited with an 8MB expansion and kickstart 3.0 roms due to problems with expanded 8MB boards using pcmcia.

If in future we decided to have the board upgraded with to an 8MB would the addition of an pfu & crystal also be beneficial for using the internet?

Thanks

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by clitosa

Hi Nova - thanks. Seems little use for game users like me. Do you think an fpu & crystal would have any benefit for using the an 1200 on the internet?

Roy & Retro have kindly pointed out that an a1200 online is better suited with an 8MB expansion and kickstart 3.0 roms due to problems with expanded 8MB boards using pcmcia.

If in future we decided to have the board upgraded with to an 8MB would the addition of an pfu & crystal also be beneficial for using the internet?

Thanks

No, I told you IBrowse for example lets you select 020 No fpu and the next is 040 fpu. Only few programs will take use of the FPU really.

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

No, I told you IBrowse for example lets you select 020 No fpu and the next is 040 fpu. Only few programs will take use of the FPU really.

Okay Retro - So in short, it is not worth upgrading our expansion board with "anything" beyond our current set up of 4MB fast ram, because it will not increase the a1200's performance in running games or using the WB3.1. Plus amiga files can be transferred via the pcmcia slot without problems.

If we wanted to spend the money for the internet - the recommended confiq would be using a 8MB simm fast ram with kickstart 3.0 (better for pcmcia) and by using something like IBrowse with setting set to 020 and no fpu.

Got it, thanks. m

Also - OS versions higher than WB3.1 should be avoided without an accelerator (not an expansion board) of at least 68030

[NovaCoder]

Yep you got it, so basically:

stock 1200 CPU with 4MB RAM: Gives you a basic WDHLOAD machine than can run nearly all of the older games (OES/ECS/AGA). FPU pointless.

030 with 32+ MB RAM: This gives you a better WHDLOAD machine and at least makes an attempt at more demanding things like playing MP3's and accessing the Internet (still very slow on the Net of course). FPU is a nice addition to an 030 but it's not really needed.

060: Allows you do run the latest 68k demos/games and my ports

It will also play Mp3's very well and will do a better job of using the Internet than the 030.

FPU makes sense with an 040/060

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Yep you got it, so basically:

stock 1200 CPU with 4MB RAM: Gives you a basic WDHLOAD machine than can run nearly all of the older games (OES/ECS/AGA). FPU pointless.

030 with 32+ MB RAM: This gives you a better WHDLOAD machine and at least makes an attempt at more demanding things like playing MP3's and accessing the Internet (still very slow on the Net of course). FPU is a nice addition to an 030 but it's not really needed.

060: Allows you do run the latest 68k demos/games and my ports

It will also play Mp3's very well and will do a better job of using the Internet than the 030.

FPU makes sense with an 040/060

Hi Nova,

Thank you. That helps clears up any doubts in our mind as to the capabilities of our a1200 - much appreciated.

From the advice we have been given, we have decided against using the internet on our machine due to it's lower than recommended setup and instead to use the pcmcia slot for data/file transfer to the Amiga.

We hear that expansion boards with fast ram of 8MB+ can be problematic with Ethernet pcmcia cards on machines using 3.1roms (like us) and that doing so may require psychically changing the jumpers on the expansion board in order to get it to work properly. With our low level of amiga hardware knowledge, this is probably best avoided.

Playing MP3's sounds very good though, but with the cost of obtaining those necessary 030+ accelerator cards, it maybe a little bit expensive.

Thanks again for your advice Nova. We appreciate it and will bear it in mind for the future.

Best wishes, c

ps - Melbourne, huh? That's our favorite part of Australia

[roy bates]

i think you mis-understood here.

the jumpers on the card are only to set the amount of ram the card uses within the system,although i think thats what you trying to say anyway

although i dont think having 8mb and using a adf tranfer kit is affected by this problem,confusing huh lol.

[clitosa]

Originally Posted by roy bates

i think you mis-understood here.

the jumpers on the card are only to set the amount of ram the card uses within the system,although i think thats what you trying to say anyway

although i dont think having 8mb and using a adf tranfer kit is affected by this problem,confusing huh lol.

Confusing indeed Roy - but thanks for the correction