Oktagon 2008 Rev.7 Board

Drake008@ · 11 April 2007, 12:22

Could it be that this revison got a rom version higher than 6.8 or at least 6.8? I don't know what would happen if I put that thing on my Hdds plus CD-Rom.

As I don't have it yet (thinking of buying one!) I ask this question.

alexh · 11 April 2007, 17:56

I have seen versions of the Oktagon 2008 ROM upto 6.12 (at least 4 versions after 6.8). The 6.12 ROM image is available online if you want to upgrade.

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/oktagon2000

Why are you considering getting a crappy oktagon? I thought you had your Apollo 2030 SCSI controller? And a GVP HC+8 controller?

Drake008@ · 11 April 2007, 20:32

The Apollo SCSI is ... crap fdue to the errors. And the GVP won't work with the Apollo.

So that the only thing is to get an Oktagon which is very good from what I heard.

alexh · 11 April 2007, 20:54

I bet those errors dont go away.

The oktagon is a PIO only design meaning that the CPU load when accessing the disk is much higher than a DMA design.

Drake008@ · 11 April 2007, 21:01

I know that's for sure. Direct Mem access is always much better than anything else. But what can I do.

Secret Vampire · 11 April 2007, 22:52

But then, the Apollo SCSI controller doesn't do DMA either, and is quite bad, so there's not really any loss there.
There are other DMA cards to investigate apart from the GVP, Commodore A2091s are common and cheap, and the IVS trumpcard and at least one of the Microbotics controllers are also DMA cards, but whether any of them would work correctly is another matter...
It's also worth considering that no Zorro II DMA controller will be able to do DMA directly to the Apollo's onboard RAM anyway, unless it maps some of it's memory into the 24 bit address space, so DMA transfers will be restricted to the relatively slow ram on the controller or a Zorro II RAM card, probably faster than PIO with an 030 running the show, but for faster CPUs? I'm not sure.

11 April 2007, 12:22	#1
Drake008@ Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Germany Age: 45 Posts: 132	Oktagon 2008 Rev.7 Board Could it be that this revison got a rom version higher than 6.8 or at least 6.8? I don't know what would happen if I put that thing on my Hdds plus CD-Rom. As I don't have it yet (thinking of buying one!) I ask this question.

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11 April 2007, 17:56	#2
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,339	I have seen versions of the Oktagon 2008 ROM upto 6.12 (at least 4 versions after 6.8). The 6.12 ROM image is available online if you want to upgrade. http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/oktagon2000 Why are you considering getting a crappy oktagon? I thought you had your Apollo 2030 SCSI controller? And a GVP HC+8 controller?

11 April 2007, 20:32	#3
Drake008@ Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Germany Age: 45 Posts: 132	The Apollo SCSI is ... crap fdue to the errors. And the GVP won't work with the Apollo. So that the only thing is to get an Oktagon which is very good from what I heard.

11 April 2007, 20:54	#4
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,339	I bet those errors dont go away. The oktagon is a PIO only design meaning that the CPU load when accessing the disk is much higher than a DMA design.

11 April 2007, 21:01	#5
Drake008@ Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Germany Age: 45 Posts: 132	I know that's for sure. Direct Mem access is always much better than anything else. But what can I do.

11 April 2007, 22:52	#6
Secret Vampire Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Birmingham UK Age: 42 Posts: 214	But then, the Apollo SCSI controller doesn't do DMA either, and is quite bad, so there's not really any loss there. There are other DMA cards to investigate apart from the GVP, Commodore A2091s are common and cheap, and the IVS trumpcard and at least one of the Microbotics controllers are also DMA cards, but whether any of them would work correctly is another matter... It's also worth considering that no Zorro II DMA controller will be able to do DMA directly to the Apollo's onboard RAM anyway, unless it maps some of it's memory into the 24 bit address space, so DMA transfers will be restricted to the relatively slow ram on the controller or a Zorro II RAM card, probably faster than PIO with an 030 running the show, but for faster CPUs? I'm not sure.

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