Zeus68k – Accelerator/IDE/RAM for the A500/2000/CDTV and others - Page 21

Scrat · 27 January 2013, 23:00

Here's a small preview on the Flash utility for the Zeus68k card. You'll use this tool to upload Kickstart and Expansion ROM (AR3, AT-Bus 2008) images to the onboard flash ROM.

It's been a while since I last did some serious Intuition coding, but I'm quite satisfied with the result.

The program requires Kickstart 2.x to run, because it requires GadTools and ASL system libraries. We have a CLI utility for 1.3 users, which should be enough to get a 3.1 ROM ready for action.

Currently the software supports 256k and 512k Kickstarts only (256k ROMs will be doubled to 512k automagically). Support for bigger ROMs will be added later, they'll simply occupy more than one slot.

strim · 27 January 2013, 23:36

Sw33t, I'm looking forward to it

.

Mohican · 28 January 2013, 17:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrat

... We have a CLI utility for 1.3 users, which should be enough to get a 3.1 ROM ready for action.

A good parametrized tool should be enough for all

I think a HDD and Action Replay would be perfect on kick 1.3 (for a really Classic feeling)

Thank you all of your works on this fantastic HW&SW.

05 February 2013, 07:32

hope this project is soon ready....
my a500, a1000, a2000, cdtv waiting for this....

05 February 2013, 18:08

Is this project still running?

TotO · 05 February 2013, 18:27

I definitively waiting for it.

wmsteele · 06 February 2013, 13:27

This looks assume, cant wait to get my paws on one!

After the disappointment that was the ACA530->520->500 its exactly what us a500 owners need

apex · 09 February 2013, 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by anchor

Is this project still running?

Yes, do not worry.

mr.vince · 09 February 2013, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.vince

Yes, progress progress progress. FPGA core and platform specific boot menu (Amiga) are under heavy development. Everything is already working, but we strive for something simple... and perfect.

Still valid.

Mohican · 09 February 2013, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.vince

Still valid.

You can easily tell

nikoluis · 11 February 2013, 10:16

Hello guys! First post in EAB. I'm watching this thread from its beginning but considering the status of Natami i was a bit in doubt about this and i'm sure many people were, at first. But now, definitely one for me!! I'm sure the guys behind it will do a splendid job and it's worth waiting.

Keep up!

e5frog · 12 February 2013, 21:52

Still looks cool, still want it and still wish I'll be able to afford it. Bought the KryoFlux not long ago and it has been working perfectly. ;-)

dJOS · 12 February 2013, 22:19

Just a thought chaps, lately a fair few whdload games have been found not to work as they were ported on 68020's - to save the hassle of someone reworking them all, would it be possible for a late change to a 68020?

Ps many ecs demos also require an 020 to work - I've a really nice a500+ that plays most stuff fine but its starting to be annoying when I keep finding stuff targeted for 020's.

mr.vince · 12 February 2013, 23:38

The idea was to build a 100% 68k compatible accelerator that can be fully switched to 7MHz. This won't work with 68020 - and would also mean tossing everything we have now. Get a Blizzard with 68030 and you'll be fine.

dJOS · 12 February 2013, 23:54

Lol, I've bought an a1200 and aca1220 and I'm selling my 500+. My + has been directly replaced by a much more stock a500 that mainly uses a HxC for storage.

luncheon · 13 February 2013, 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by dJOS

Just a thought chaps, lately a fair few whdload games have been found not to work as they were ported on 68020's - to save the hassle of someone reworking them all, would it be possible for a late change to a 68020?

Ps many ecs demos also require an 020 to work - I've a really nice a500+ that plays most stuff fine but its starting to be annoying when I keep finding stuff targeted for 020's.

I think the board as-is is spot on, because it provides what the A500 really needs: a significant speed boost to run whdload games seamlessly and to improve polygon-based games (F1GP and several flight sims come to mind). Plus, the FPGA-based design would theoretically enable the possibility of easily making alternate boards, with 020s or 030s later on...

Besides, even right now (at least in my experience) lots of whd games work fine on the a500+, they're just kind of slow. I found that about half of the games that won't work on a 512KB/1MB chipmem a500 work fine on a 2MB chipmem a500+ (provided you have at least 4MB of REAL fastmem, of course). However, I think many whdload slaves will be backported to 68000 once the Zeus is available, given time.

Now, isn't the A500 the most "compatible" Amiga ever? I mean, most Amiga software was written in its heyday (87-91), but that's just me...

dJOS · 13 February 2013, 22:37

I've got loads of ram in my 500+, 2mb chip and 8mb fast and there are 3 games found in the last week that require the whdload files to be modified to run on 68k machines.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=61578

luncheon · 14 February 2013, 03:18

I'm not saying that there aren't any, just that from my experience more than 50% of what I tried works. I tried to run about 30 whdload games on the A500/A500+ (the only ones that interested me that don't have an hd install) and found that:

A500
*50% runs, give or take. (1mb chip + 2mb fast)
*60% runs, give or take. (1mb chip + 4mb fast)

A500+
*60% runs, give or take. (2mb chip + 2mb fast)
*70% runs, give or take. (2mb chip + 4mb fast)
*80% runs, give or take. (2mb chip + 8mb fast)

Those that don't work with the best configuration are either due to:

a. The slaves requiring whdload 16+ which for some strange reason refuses to work at all with my A500/A500+ (garbled screen + guru, even with games that run on whdload 15)
b. Illegal access errors such as the one you describe in your other post.

Then again, YMMV. It all depends on which games you try, and which version of whdload works for you.

dJOS · 14 February 2013, 03:52

Fair enuf, Im running WHDLoad 17 (tried 16.9 too with same result) and have found games that crash out instantly (eg 1943, not a brilliant game but still fun) and games that run but have other issues (eg Hero's Quest I - hit F5 to save your game and Bam, crash - also Space Quest III once the save games fill up overwriting old games appears to work but doesnt).

Those are just a few of the issues I've found.

Btw, I have a 68010 in my 500+ to enable the quit key so that games exit cleanly.

BvdW · 01 March 2013, 22:41

Since winter 2012 is about to be over in 3 weeks' time.. any updated ETA estimate?? I'm not impatient, just looking forward to this product! ;-)

27 January 2013, 23:00	#401
Scrat Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 35	Here's a small preview on the Flash utility for the Zeus68k card. You'll use this tool to upload Kickstart and Expansion ROM (AR3, AT-Bus 2008) images to the onboard flash ROM. It's been a while since I last did some serious Intuition coding, but I'm quite satisfied with the result. The program requires Kickstart 2.x to run, because it requires GadTools and ASL system libraries. We have a CLI utility for 1.3 users, which should be enough to get a 3.1 ROM ready for action. Currently the software supports 256k and 512k Kickstarts only (256k ROMs will be doubled to 512k automagically). Support for bigger ROMs will be added later, they'll simply occupy more than one slot. Attached Thumbnails

06 February 2013, 13:27	#407
wmsteele Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Glasgow Posts: 128	This looks assume, cant wait to get my paws on one! After the disappointment that was the ACA530->520->500 its exactly what us a500 owners need Last edited by wmsteele; 06 February 2013 at 13:35.

01 March 2013, 22:41	#420
BvdW Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Netherlands Age: 46 Posts: 11	Winter 2012 Since winter 2012 is about to be over in 3 weeks' time.. any updated ETA estimate?? I'm not impatient, just looking forward to this product! ;-)

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27 January 2013, 23:36	#402
strim NetBSD developer Join Date: May 2012 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 411	Sw33t, I'm looking forward to it .

05 February 2013, 07:32	#404
torm3nt8r Posts: n/a	hope this project is soon ready.... my a500, a1000, a2000, cdtv waiting for this....

05 February 2013, 18:08	#405
anchor Posts: n/a	Is this project still running?

05 February 2013, 18:27	#406
TotO Registered User Join Date: May 2012 Location: France Posts: 57	I definitively waiting for it.

11 February 2013, 10:16	#411
nikoluis Registered User Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Greece Age: 49 Posts: 14	Hello guys! First post in EAB. I'm watching this thread from its beginning but considering the status of Natami i was a bit in doubt about this and i'm sure many people were, at first. But now, definitely one for me!! I'm sure the guys behind it will do a splendid job and it's worth waiting. Keep up!

12 February 2013, 21:52	#412
e5frog The Headstrong Join Date: May 2010 Location: Älvängen / Sweden Age: 49 Posts: 273	Still looks cool, still want it and still wish I'll be able to afford it. Bought the KryoFlux not long ago and it has been working perfectly. ;-)

12 February 2013, 22:19	#413
dJOS Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 888	Just a thought chaps, lately a fair few whdload games have been found not to work as they were ported on 68020's - to save the hassle of someone reworking them all, would it be possible for a late change to a 68020? Ps many ecs demos also require an 020 to work - I've a really nice a500+ that plays most stuff fine but its starting to be annoying when I keep finding stuff targeted for 020's.

12 February 2013, 23:38	#414
mr.vince Cheesy crust Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Hawk's Creek Age: 48 Posts: 1,383	The idea was to build a 100% 68k compatible accelerator that can be fully switched to 7MHz. This won't work with 68020 - and would also mean tossing everything we have now. Get a Blizzard with 68030 and you'll be fine.

12 February 2013, 23:54	#415
dJOS Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 888	Lol, I've bought an a1200 and aca1220 and I'm selling my 500+. My + has been directly replaced by a much more stock a500 that mainly uses a HxC for storage.

13 February 2013, 22:37	#417
dJOS Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 888	I've got loads of ram in my 500+, 2mb chip and 8mb fast and there are 3 games found in the last week that require the whdload files to be modified to run on 68k machines. http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=61578

14 February 2013, 03:18	#418
luncheon Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina Age: 39 Posts: 36	I'm not saying that there aren't any, just that from my experience more than 50% of what I tried works. I tried to run about 30 whdload games on the A500/A500+ (the only ones that interested me that don't have an hd install) and found that: A500 50% runs, give or take. (1mb chip + 2mb fast) 60% runs, give or take. (1mb chip + 4mb fast) A500+ 60% runs, give or take. (2mb chip + 2mb fast) 70% runs, give or take. (2mb chip + 4mb fast) *80% runs, give or take. (2mb chip + 8mb fast) Those that don't work with the best configuration are either due to: a. The slaves requiring whdload 16+ which for some strange reason refuses to work at all with my A500/A500+ (garbled screen + guru, even with games that run on whdload 15) b. Illegal access errors such as the one you describe in your other post. Then again, YMMV. It all depends on which games you try, and which version of whdload works for you.

14 February 2013, 03:52	#419
dJOS Registered User Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 888	Fair enuf, Im running WHDLoad 17 (tried 16.9 too with same result) and have found games that crash out instantly (eg 1943, not a brilliant game but still fun) and games that run but have other issues (eg Hero's Quest I - hit F5 to save your game and Bam, crash - also Space Quest III once the save games fill up overwriting old games appears to work but doesnt). Those are just a few of the issues I've found. Btw, I have a 68010 in my 500+ to enable the quit key so that games exit cleanly.

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