ACA500 install

[gurth]

My ACA500 has arrived but the documentation is a little lacking... I'm trying to create a Workbench 1.3 install on a compact flash card, while using my inboard kickstart 1.3 chip so I get the benefit of 2mb fast ram.

How do I make the compact flash appear in workbench so I can copy the OS across?

How do I get 2mb fast ram and not 1.5mb?

Answers much appreciated or point me in the right direction. Their wiki is a little sparse.

[Coltch]

Was looking at doing this myself but thought 3.1 would be better for a CF card in the AUX slot. May have to reformat my CF and try installing 1.3 as to me it's more A500. Would be interested to hear if anyone has got 1.3 working properly and be able to use the AUX as a place to put add files

[Viserion]

Don't think it is possible with inboard kick 1.3.

There is a way to patch it, but then you need the tools necessary to make a custom rom, and also have empty compatible roms.

I have tried this myself, but that was a while ago.

I managed to patch one part correctly, but on the other I stumbled on a problem, I think, on too long file names.

At least it when I viewed the file in any filemanager/maps, the file names where shorter, and trying to rename to the correct name was unsuccessful as they went back to what they where before.

I ended up with a script telling me there was nothing to patch.

[fitzsteve]

In the advanced options choose 'update scsi device' this will give you IDE support even with 1.3Rom, bare in mind though that most modern software needs KS2.x+ or better 3.1 to operate.

As you know you can use 'Maprom' at the cost of 512k of your ACA500's Ram, the other option is real KS3.1 in the socket and turn off Maprom. You can still use the SCSI Device update even with Maprom disabled.

[DonutKing]

How do I make the compact flash appear in workbench so I can copy the OS across?

In the ACA500 boot menu, press F10 to get to the expert config options.
Turn on option F8 (Aux CF Slot). This will automatically enable option F7 (IDE driver update). You should now be able to read FAT format CF cards on your Amiga. They will appear in Workbench as their volume label, which you can set in the drive properties in Windows.

In the Shell you can also access the aux CF slot using cfaux:

How do I get 2mb fast ram and not 1.5mb?

To maximize memory usage, you need to disable the Map ROM feature (option F3 in the expert menu) - this limits you to the physical kickstart ROM that is installed in the amiga. You can't use the 1.3 or 3.1 kickstarts included in the ACA500 without MapROM.

You should also disable option F4 (On-board fast $C0 RAM) and enable option F5 ( add other onboard RAM) and option F6 (1M Chip RAM expansion).

Using this configuration I get 2MB fast RAM and 1MB Chip RAM on my standard A500 with only a 512KB trapdoor expansion.

[gurth]

okay gents thank you all. I'll have a play later this week. Documentation provided is a little lacking and the recommended site wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA_first_steps doesn't exist, all-in-all I'm a little disappointed so far. I guess that's part of the fun but would be nice to have something to work off, or an explanation what the random green bootup screens mean?!

[fitzsteve]

The manuals for the ACA products can seem a little basic, they assume that you have some knowledge of using Amiga OS and hardware already.

Also I'm sure he puts more time into developing his products and not writing glossy manuals.

Your reseller should be able to assist you if you are stuck with anything, part of their service is to offer you after sales support.

I never saw a green screen with my ACA500 so again something to report to your reseller, it might be some compatibility issue (either with the A500 or CF Media) or fault with your A500.

I assume you already cleaned the expansion connector? It has 25 years worth of dirt on it by now

[gurth]

I've got past the green screen now (listed a dozen hexadecimal values on the screen), I think I managed to get the profile into a odd state. Backing that out back to default solved that but it would had been nice to know what that means and how to go about solving it. Aye the expansion port is a little old but seems to be working ok with ARIII. If I get time I might throw up a small website with some helpers & notes.

[fitzsteve]

Strange screen, did you take a pic?

I still recommend cleaning the expansion slot, you can use a pencil eraser or better some IPA (isoproply alcohol) and a cotton swab.

Connection issues are responsible for most problems on Amiga's I've come across.

[Toni Wilen]

Make also sure firmware is updated before attempting to do any custom configs, especially if it is original release version (0.6x or so)

EDIT: URL http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA500

[DonutKing]

I got a green screen with a hex dump once before, by enabling MapROM but using the amiga's onboard kickstart. i.e. not the 1.3 or 3.1 that is included with the ACA500. My amiga has a 1.3 ROM chip installed anyway so there isn't really any point to doing this and not using the ACA500's 1.3 kickstart.

[gurth]

Any advice on how I should partition my CF card with my ACA500?

I'd like to have a Classic 1.3 side and then a 3.1 just in case I decide to try that. I have a 4Gb card and an ACA500 fresh from Amigakit but no idea where to start. Booting Classic 1.3 from floppy doesn't show me the hard drive / CF so I'm stuck at step 1.

[cpiac64]

you need hdtoolbox for create the partition

[amigakit.com]

We offer a 4GB CF hard disk as an option when you buy the ACA500 from us.

If you have a CF card from us supplied with the ACA500, we would have already partitioned, formatted and put our OS-Install on it. There is no need to use HDToolbox with one of our cards.

[gurth]

It came from Amigakit - no option to install 1.3. as CF card doesn't show if I boot workbench 1.3.

If I boot with the 3.1 ROM the CF shows and it asks me if I want to install 2.0 or 3.1 - I don't want either. I want an old system with vanilla 1.3.

[gurth]

How do I get a partition to show when I boot 1.3?

[gurth]

Any ideas on how I can install workbench 1.3 to a CF partition? If I boot from my workbench 1.3 floppy I can't see any hard drives.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by gurth

Any ideas on how I can install workbench 1.3 to a CF partition? If I boot from my workbench 1.3 floppy I can't see any hard drives.

Put FFS from workbench 2.04 in RDB. It will then see it.

[TCD]

Threads about ACA500 merged.

[DonutKing]

See my previous post, using that method can access my aux CF card when booting from a Workbench 1.3 floppy.