ACA 620 Accelerator Rev 2 in WinUAE

[fpmpaolo]

So, it's time to start working hard.
I bought ACA 620 Accelerator Rev 2, a kickstart 3.1 ROM and a SD card to use as an internal HDD in my old Amiga600. Since the packet is on his way to my house, I'd like to use the WinUae to create my SD hard drive card...
How can I set up my WinUAE so to have the maximum compatibility for this accelerator card?

[fitzsteve]

Set it up as an A600, with 3.1 rom (40.63) which is the correct version for A600 (Also A2000/A500)

Set as 68020 and 8mb Fast Ram no FPU.

You can install ACATune just you must comment out the acatune line in your startup sequence or just not create it until you put the SD card in the Amiga as ACATune causes a reboot loop on WinUAE if you call it in the SS.

A good ACAtune line for initial testing would be:

c:acatune -maprom * -maxmem >NIL:

This will Map your socketed 3.1 Rom into the ACA Fast Ram

-Maxmem command gives you the full 10mb Ram.

Read the ACATune Readme for other options available to your Card.

[squale]

Is it important to setup the right machine in winuae ? Will it setup something that can't be changed after on the real machine ?

[Amiga1992]

No, it really isn't. You don't need to replicate the ACA620 architecture at all and since you can't "test" ACAtune there's actually no point in doing that.

Set an Amiga as fast as you want and set it all up, it won't be a problem when you move, unless you expect the same performance :P Everything else, like tweaks (Fblit of BlazeWCP) should work fine when you get the system to your real Amiga. Remember to coment out your ACAtune line in startup-sequence just like steve just taught you to. Uncomment it in the Amiga when you install your system. Done.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by squale

Is it important to setup the right machine in winuae ? Will it setup something that can't be changed after on the real machine ?

It's not crucial but if you want to know it will work exactly as setup in WinUAE it's best to use the same CPU (i.e 020/030/040/060) and if you have an FPU (060/040 have these biult in normally)

Also the correct Rom for your hardware, i.e an A600 Rom wont work (or not properly anyway) on an A1200.

Some software wont work with/without FPU for example and some boards (060's) need special libs.

Newer versions of WinUAE are fantastic for creating a setup for even complex target systems.

I setup a 40gb HDD in WinUAE that was destined for an A4000 060 with PicassoIV, using the PIV emulation in WinUAE, emulating an A4000 with 060 and the HDD worked perfectly in the target machine afterwards. I was able to fully setup and configure Picasso96 for RTG and the 060 libs for the end user, all ready to rock & roll.

[fpmpaolo]

@fitzsteve: that's what I wish to do. Emulate on the PC a perfect configuration and prepare my SD card, and when I get the accelerator + sd card open the li'l boy and set things up. The more precise I'm in WinUAE, the better I feel.

[bubbob42]

You can check for aca620 with boards.library and let showboards trigger the acatune command. You can then use the card with both UAE and the real machine - no need to comment anything.

Check the documentation of BoardsLib.lha on aminet. The process has been described in detail on this forum as well.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by bubbob42

You can then use the card with both UAE and the real machine.

You can do that anyway, acatune does nothing if run and not ACA card is there.

[bubbob42]

Originally Posted by FOL

You can do that anyway, acatune does nothing if run and not ACA card is there.

Hm, my version crashes WinUAE - dunno, if it's due to the maxmem option or anything else.

[fpmpaolo]

Uhm...I'm going nuts. I don't understand where I make THE mistake

01. I use a 32gb SanDisk SDHC 10x Card
02. On WinUae I create a 1024 Mb bootable Hard File
03. I load the Workbench and I DON'T FIND ANYTHING

I'm using WinUAE running administrative privileges on Win8.1

[FOL]

Originally Posted by fpmpaolo

Uhm...I'm going nuts. I don't understand where I make THE mistake

01. I use a 32gb SanDisk SDHC 10x Card
02. On WinUae I create a 1024 Mb bootable Hard File
03. I load the Workbench and I DON'T FIND ANYTHING

I'm using WinUAE running administrative privileges on Win8.1

You running 3.9 BB4?

[fpmpaolo]

Nope, 3.1 WB

[FOL]

Originally Posted by fpmpaolo

Nope, 3.1 WB

Ok, when you say "THE mistake" are you refering to the program THE?

Ok, think I misunderstood what you said.
How are you setting up the HDF? RDB? no RDB?

[fpmpaolo]

No RDB

[FOL]

Originally Posted by fpmpaolo

No RDB

Ok, so your creating a 1GB HDF file on your HDD, then mounting your 32GB SD card in WinUAE as a real HDD?

[fpmpaolo]

WinUAE running as Administrator
CD & Hard Drives --> I Add Hardfile --> New Hard Disk Image File --> 512 Mb [R/W and bootable are checked]

I save the hard file in the SD

Then I load the WB...and nothing happens.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by fpmpaolo

WinUAE running as Administrator
CD & Hard Drives --> I Add Hardfile --> New Hard Disk Image File --> 512 Mb [R/W and bootable are checked]

I save the hard file in the SD

Then I load the WB...and nothing happens.

Why are you creating HDF on SD card for? thought you were using the SD has a real HDD in the A600?

[fpmpaolo]

I want to use my SD card to load Workbench and WHD Load.

I tried to make it a real HDD for A600, but nothing happens.
I'm trying to create Hard Files and nothing happens.

[fpmpaolo]

EDIT. If I create a Hard File, when I load the WB I see a DF0:NDOS file but I can't format it.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by fpmpaolo

I want to use my SD card to load Workbench and WHD Load.

I tried to make it a real HDD for A600, but nothing happens.
I'm trying to create Hard Files and nothing happens.

You need to clean the sd card of everything (using diskpart, be careful with diskpart) or winuae wont let you set it up as a real hdd.
When using it as a real HDD, you have to think of it like a real machine not emulation.
You have to use HDtoolbox to set it up.