Introducing ACA 1221 Low Cost Accelerator At AmigaKit.com

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Dagger

Can anybody help me out please.

What's wrong with this help?

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACAtune

Jens

[Dagger]

A lot of that is double dutch to me. You start to read it then it goes on about other cards etc and takes the focus away from what I am trying to understand. I was hoping to plug the card in like others I have had in the past and just use it for my gaming. I am sorry if I sound so thick to you lot but we are not all Steven Hawkings so to speak

[Schoenfeld]

Kick3.0 doesn't not require you to use MapROM by default. That's only if you want to re-kick to 3.1.

ACAtune can just be called without arguments, and it'll add the missing memory. However, it has a known bug with Kick3.0: It will always try to add 63MBytes, which results in a crash if you haven't licensed all that memory. We're working on that.

Meanwhile, you can use the "addmem" tool from Aminet, and add the memory with it's direct address. 1MByte has already been found by Kick3.0, so you only need to add the 8MByte chunk:

addmem $08000000 $087fffff

As soon as we have an update for ACAtune, I'll mention it here. Hopefully this weekend.

If you're planning to license MapROM anyway, then re-kicking to Kick3.1 will also work around the bug.

Jens

[GhstWlf]

When will the next batch of ACA500 arrive?

[Dagger]

I have downloaded addmem and extracted it to my root directory. I have added the addmem $08000000 $087fffff to my startup-sequence but all I get is returncode 10 or please insert EnV in any drive etc. Tried added the word to and start and trying all sorts of things. Nothing i working apart from The 1mb of extra ram. I am so at the mo i just want to sling the thing through the window, what am I doing wrong

[desiv]

Try adding the addmem command near the end of the startup-sequence, possibly just before loadwb.
Sounds like it's trying to load before some other needed variables..

desiv

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by Dagger

I have downloaded addmem and extracted it to my root directory. I have added the addmem $08000000 $087fffff to my startup-sequence but all I get is returncode 10 or please insert EnV in any drive etc. Tried added the word to and start and trying all sorts of things. Nothing i working apart from The 1mb of extra ram. I am so :mad at the mo i just want to sling the thing through the window, what am I doing wrong:guru

Have you tried adding the addmem command lower down in the SS (after ENV:) or boot to WB then run the command from Shell/CLI?

[Dagger]

I have tried putting at the end and i get the messsage please put ENV in any drive. I am using classicwb_lite and this folder is not present. I have tried added the command once wb has loaded but nothing happens

[Schoenfeld]

I'd have to read the addmem documentation, but the $ as sign for a hex number is most likely wrong. It references an environment variable, which is why the system is accessing ENV: (which obviously isn't there).

Jens

[Dagger]

Removing the $ and it now shows the extra ram, many thanks. Don't know if its the card but I have noticed since fitting this my hd light stays on

[Schoenfeld]

the HD light is purely controlled by the HD (or CF card). There is no way for any other hard- or software to control the HD light. Also, before you jump to conclusions and try to change anything, you should really find out if it has always been this way, and/or if you have changed something *together* with the CPU/RAM upgrade, and you are trying to connect the wrong pair of cause and effect.

Jens

[dJOS]

I've found some brands of CF card cause that annoying constant activity effect, Kingston in particular.

[TenLeftFingers]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

What's wrong with this help?

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACAtune

Jens

I haven't a clue either after reading these. Can you not provide something more tutorial style? Like:

For X RAM upgrade type: blah blah blah <license code>
into a shell.

The Indi AGA was a real pain to set up and although I was/am interested in this device, if I have to spend the number of days of tinkering it took to get the AGA working then I'd rather pay the Ebay prices for a Blizzard.

Also, if it has to go in the startup script, how will the card maintain the upgrades when booting from floppy?

Look here for an example of good instructions. This article has the commands ready to copy and paste, and this is not even a paid service:
http://www.webupd8.org/2015/08/live-...indicator.html

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by TenLeftFingers

I haven't a clue either after reading these. Can you not provide something more tutorial style? Like:

For X RAM upgrade type: blah blah blah <license code>
into a shell.

Errmm.. that's really in the article. Please read this section:
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221#Adding_a_license

About the "maintaining licenses" part: Kick3.1 will automatically add all memory. It's only Kick3.0 which requires ACAtune. With Kick 3.1 being out for quite a long time, you shouldn't have a reason to complain. There was plenty of time for an update, and you even have a workaround for the outdated version. Try that on a different system...

Jens

[TenLeftFingers]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Errmm.. that's really in the article. Please read this section:
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221#Adding_a_license

About the "maintaining licenses" part: Kick3.1 will automatically add all memory. It's only Kick3.0 which requires ACAtune. With Kick 3.1 being out for quite a long time, you shouldn't have a reason to complain. There was plenty of time for an update, and you even have a workaround for the outdated version. Try that on a different system...

Jens

I didn't buy new 3.1 chips because I don't need them. You don't mention it anywhere in the article above either so wouldn't that document fall short for someone like me (having 3.0 roms)? It might seem like a small thing while you are here to answer questions, but where were you or AmigaKit when I was posting about issues with my AGA? Quite silent.

The docs need to be complete in this case and a brief tutorial or youtube video wouldn't cost you much to do.

I had an amiga for about five years when I was a kid and unfortunately I played mostly games on it, so I'm excluded skill-wise by your documentation. It's up to you of course who your target buyer is but I'll wait for someone like techguru_uk to put up a youtube video demonstrating operations simply before buying.

[kolla]

Good grief, it is ACA, not AGA... stop being so ignorant.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by TenLeftFingers

Also, if it has to go in the startup script, how will the card maintain the upgrades when booting from floppy?

it sounds like you might be confusing the "activation" with the use of the features.

I don't have that model ACA, but I believe based on what's been said and the docs online that you add the license using the shell one time.
ACAControl A <license code>
Once you add it, the card remembers it..

That's different from using the newly added feature.
If the feature is RAM, sounds like with 3.1, you don't need to do anything.
But if you have a 3.0 kickstart (which many of us still do), you need to put the ACATune app in your startup sequence.

I would think that if the licensed feature is the CPU speed, you'd license it the same way, using the ACAControl command line app.
Then once added, you can use the ACAClock program (possibly in your startup-sequence if you want it there) to actually change the clock speed.

desiv

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by desiv

I don't have that model ACA, but I believe based on what's been said and the docs online that you add the license using the shell one time.
ACAControl A <license code>
Once you add it, the card remembers it..

Thanks for actually reading the available documentation, although you don't even own the product. That puts you way ahead of some other users. I can confirm that you've fully understood the details.

This is also a relief for me, as my documentation has been criticised by native speakers from the UK and Ireland. My native Language is German, which may be obvious from mistakes that I make. However, if another native speaker confirms that the information is actually there and not too difficult to understand, I can't be totally wrong.

Are there more people who think that two introducing sentences and then the example command line for adding a license is too much to read?

Originally Posted by desiv

I would think that if the licensed feature is the CPU speed, you'd license it the same way, using the ACAControl command line app.
Then once added, you can use the ACAClock program (possibly in your startup-sequence if you want it there) to actually change the clock speed.

That's also correct. And you will always need the ACAclock tool (or the CPU governor) to alter the clock frequency, as the card will always start up at "safe speed" 17.03 MHz.

Kickstart 3.0 users can now download a fixed version of ACAtune that will work with all memory configurations of the card:

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACAtune#Download

Jens

[TenLeftFingers]

Originally Posted by kolla

Good grief, it is ACA, not AGA... stop being so ignorant.

Actually, I was referring to the ACA when I said ACA.

Originally Posted by desiv

it sounds like you might be confusing the "activation" with the use of the features.

I don't have that model ACA, but I believe based on what's been said and the docs online that you add the license using the shell one time.
ACAControl A <license code>
Once you add it, the card remembers it..

That's different from using the newly added feature.
If the feature is RAM, sounds like with 3.1, you don't need to do anything.
But if you have a 3.0 kickstart (which many of us still do), you need to put the ACATune app in your startup sequence.

I would think that if the licensed feature is the CPU speed, you'd license it the same way, using the ACAControl command line app.
Then once added, you can use the ACAClock program (possibly in your startup-sequence if you want it there) to actually change the clock speed.

desiv

Thanks Desiv, that sounds a lot clearer and with Jens' confirmation below I take it to be correct.

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Thanks for actually reading the available documentation, although you don't even own the product. That puts you way ahead of some other users. I can confirm that you've fully understood the details.

This is also a relief for me, as my documentation has been criticised by native speakers from the UK and Ireland. My native Language is German, which may be obvious from mistakes that I make. However, if another native speaker confirms that the information is actually there and not too difficult to understand, I can't be totally wrong.

Are there more people who think that two introducing sentences and then the example command line for adding a license is too much to read?

If you read desiv's post properly, you will note that he mentioned that he did not only use the documentation, but this thread as well as his own experience with ACAs. You could also learn what a helpful answer looks like. So before being so smug you could notice that the language of English is not the issue here.

Obviously you are not interested in customers like me that want to use these products in the leisure time and get it going quickly, unlike the case with the AGA I bought which is an experience I don't want to repeat. Saying I have "nothing to complain about" after that experience is ...

Edit: I've ordered one and it's running very nicely. I'm very happy with the quality and consider the price great value. Looking forward to upgrading.

[dJOS]

Oh please, this isn't rocket science! Jens instructions aren't hard to follow and I say this as a "user" who can't code and mainly plays games on his Amiga's.