New products for C64 and Amiga from Individual Computers

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by dJOS

Kipper only makes a 4mb or 8mb version ATM, it would be better if Jens had an option on the aca500 config to allow it to work with the 4mb version giving 6mb total.

I don't see why Jens should adapt his design for it to work with another product he had already said there will be no support for.

We're lucky he gives any advice on it at all!

By the way a user on Amibay has mentioned his setup works with a SupraRam500rx with the ACA connected to the passthrough, he has 2mb Ram on the SupraRam so 3.7mb fast after booting with the ACA500 (no Maprom)

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I don't see why Jens should adapt his design for it to work with another product he had already said there will be no support for.

We're lucky he gives any advice on it at all!

Well he did originally promise a 4mb version.

Surely it would be a fairly straight forward exercise to allow for the 2mb to be placed at an alternate location via the config menu (assuming it's not hard coded)?

Btw, I realize Jens isn't running an Amiga charity so if we ask the question: what's in it for Jens?

I'd suggest that greater compatibility with existing expansions is likely to equate to more sales of the aca500.

After all computer history has shown us on many occasions that good compatibility frequently equals success.

[demolition]

Not sure if it is hardwired or not, but perhaps Kipper2k could change the CPLD content of the 4MB board to make it ACA500 compatible by putting 2MB at $200000? That would be a simple and cheap upgrade for people who already got his board.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by demolition

Not sure if it is hardwired or not, but perhaps Kipper2k could change the CPLD content of the 4MB board to make it ACA500 compatible by putting 2MB at $200000? That would be a simple and cheap upgrade for people who already got his board.

Flash style software upgrades don't require programming and shipping lots of new CPLD's and not to mention most ppl don't have the right chip extraction tool lying around.

If Jens made it say a $5 optional firmware upgrade (direct from him) I'm sure there would be plenty of us happy to pay for the additional feature.

[demolition]

True, but such a new firmware would quickly be distributed and he probably wouldn't make much money on it for that reason. Even if 100 people bought the upgrade, it would only bring in $500 which wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of development and handling of 100 transactions.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by demolition

True, but such a new firmware would quickly be distributed and he probably wouldn't make much money on it for that reason. Even if 100 people bought the upgrade, it would only bring in $500 which wouldn't be enough to cover the costs of development and handling of 100 transactions.

Hmmm, didn't think Amiga ppl would stoop that low to sharing a paid FW upgrade - I wonder if it could be Keyed to aca500 HW serial numbers? (If they exist)

[demolition]

Originally Posted by dJOS

Hmmm, didn't think Amiga ppl would stoop that low to sharing a paid FW upgrade - I wonder if it could be Keyed to aca500 HW serial numbers? (If they exist)

Maybe you're right. I think most people being active in here would probably pay for it and they are the same people who buys Kipper2k's products. The 'new' Amiga user which the ACA500 targets will probably not want to pay for the update, but wouldn't need it anyway.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by demolition

Maybe you're right. I think most people being active in here would probably pay for it and they are the same people who buys Kipper2k's products. The 'new' Amiga user which the ACA500 targets will probably not want to pay for the update, but wouldn't need it anyway.

Good point, this "extra" would mainly be of use to us die hard Amiga nuts with multiple a500's and other machines (I think I have 3 a500's ATM ).

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by demolition

Not sure if it is hardwired or not, but perhaps Kipper2k could change the CPLD content of the 4MB board to make it ACA500 compatible by putting 2MB at $200000? That would be a simple and cheap upgrade for people who already got his board.

I have already asked Kipper2k if he would be able to supply a 2mb version of his board with this Ram mapping, I'm awaiting a reply.

I said I'd be happy to buy and test this board in my Amiga, it could be a nice cheap solution for those that want a little extra Ram for using a bog standard ACA500.

Assuming it works of course.

[kipper2k]

Hi All,

I bought acouple of ACA500s to play with and i did try different memory configs to try to squeeze out more fastmem. I was able to get it to recognise more fastmem but the Amiga would freeze shortly afterwards so for some reason it didn't like me adding it. I adding various amounts of RAM starting in different addresses and some would not work at all while other attempts registered the ram but would freeze shortly after.

[desiv]

Actually, I wonder if the tomthul one will work that way.
Yes, it's 4M or 8M, but it's non-autoconfig.
I map my RAM with a command that specifies the address space.
So possibly you could use that to MAP just the first 2M at that space (I believe that is where it sits),

desiv
(If so, I wonder if it's possible to disable autoconfig on Kipper2ks board??)
The more I think about it tho, the more I have my doubts, as the other memory is still there. So when the ACA autoconfigs it's memory, they might both have RAM there.. So, unless you could actually disable the extra RAM (so it's not connected at all), it might not work???

[kipper2k]

I used the non config code and then used the addmem command to add the fastmem so i'm betting the Tomthul ram would have the same issues. The code that is used for the CDTVat the moment is non config as it would crash if memory was allocated with the auto config version. Alexh is looking for help with the code for the CDTV to verify some changes

If people want to try with the non autoconfig code i will post it. If you have a programmer you can reprogram the CPLD

[desiv]

I'm thinking you'd probably need to do something so the RAM isn't physically tied to the same address lines?

In Tom's, it would probably be cutting traces (pretty extreme). Not sure if that can be changed with a CPLD (as I don't really know what a CPLD is.. ;-)

The autoaddram command I use I just tell it the address range and it adds whatever it finds.
I'm guessing autoconfig does something similar, but what happens when you have more than 1 memory chip tied to the same lines?
So, even if I only autoaddram the range that doesn't conflict, the ACA will still conflict with the RAM I haven't autoaddram'd, as they are both tied to the same address lines..
(That's a guess from a non-hardware guy)

So, how might you change it so that only 2M is actually addressed, not just config'd?

desiv
(Honestly, I don't expect people to be cutting traces on boards, but I wonder if a newly designed 2M board that only has 2M addressed might work? Or possibly a CPLD if it can do that.. I have to google that.. ;-)

[Retrofan]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Not for the 1541, but C64-wise, I have something in the works. Not just PSU. I did mention that the C64 has a significant birthday this year, didn't I? That would be 0x20 ;-)

Jens

Excuse me, when can we know more about this?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by desiv

In Tom's, it would probably be cutting traces (pretty extreme). Not sure if that can be changed with a CPLD (as I don't really know what a CPLD is.. ;-)

It depends on the schematic. If the lines go through the CPLD then sure. 10 mins work.

I can make the src change and resynthesise but I cannot test.

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

This ^
Jens talked about ripple some time ago. It's not about watts.
So it would be best if Jens sourced some Amiga-friendly PSUs, modified the plug and put them on sale. Not much R&D (compared to accelerators/scan doublers) and still some profit would trickle in.

I would buy one for sure.

+1, I have a modded ATX case here and no matter what i do it creates a low buzz on both sound ports. When i use my A500 power supply it goes away so a good quality power supply would be much welcomed.

[lukassid]

Originally Posted by retrofan

excuse me, when can we know more about this?

+1

[Machico2012]

+1

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by retrofan

excuse me, when can we know more about this?

+0.9999999999999999.........(recurring)

[Retrofan]

I like (a lot) what Jens said:

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

I did mention that the C64 has a significant birthday this year, didn't I? That would be 0x20 ;-)

Jens

As that was an enigma for me (the 30th anniversary was in 2012), I had to ask Prowler (thanks mate):

Originally Posted by prowler

... it's the C64's 32nd Birthday this year. (That's $20 or 0x20 in hexadecimal notation!)

... But I've got (we've got) to decide what Psu do we buy, as now Kipper is going to make another, so we need more info.