A600 4MB RAM upgrade board (was 8MB)

[r.cade]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

there are CF adapters that will fit with the a600. I have 2 different CF adapters thast will fit with the board and also MKL i believe makes them. Also a short ide cable will allow the CF adapters to be fitted somewhere in there as well

I'm sure there are, and this is a nice upgrade, but I can't use it unless I buy new adapters.

Does anyone want to move up in the list? I can send you mine...

[Lord Aga]

Well... I may be late to the party but here's my finally finalized A600 setup

Here is my light A600 awaiting the heavy hardware


Here it is in full power


And the results


A big THANK YOU to kipper2k who made much of this possible !

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

Well... I may be late to the party but here's my finally finalized A600 setup

Here is my light A600 awaiting the heavy hardware


Here it is in full power


And the results


A big THANK YOU to kipper2k who made much of this possible !

looking good, did i mention i made custom length floppy cables, indi cables and CF adapter boards too

[Lord Aga]

Yup, I am aware of your many adapters I check your site often.
But for this A600 setup I can't see anything being different really. Floppy cable is "a bit" longer than necessary, but folded as it is makes a nice cushion for the drive. And I prefer the CF adapter on a short cable. Makes things a bit more flexible.
BUT ! Your Indy adapter for A603 is a must have. I really did not want to take the floppy out, and it made my wish come true
Indy cable is just long enough for it to peak out the RF hole. In A600. Don't know how it would look like in A500(+). I may need a longer cable for that in the future. Well... we'll see how I'll fare on one A500+ auction and then take it from there

Now... about games
It is obviously more comfortable to launch them from WB without thinking about every single byte, and background programs. Also RAD installations are a breeze now. 3 seconds to write an ADF image to RAD and a super fast install makes 10+ disk games installations kinda fun

Also, a curiosity... Leisure Suit Larry 1 (the remake version) would not run on 2MB chip. Now it runs with fast RAM installed Whale's voyage still crashes though, can't figure out what's the deal with that.

[kipper2k]

Hi All,

Just to let everyone know that i am holding off building the A600 fastmem boards. No, nothing bad, can't say anything yet . The A500 boards are not affected

[demolition]

Replacing it with an 8MB version? Yeah, I know, you can't say.

[alexh]

5.5MB at least

[tomcat666]

Well, if there is "nothing bad" then we can hope for "something good" ;-) My A600 is being repaired so I can wait a few more days/weeks no problems ;-)

[DonAmiga]

Sounds good

[kipper2k]

Hi All,

Some good news for people...

I have managed to get approval from LVD to use his last version of the A600 4/8mb board so i will be manufacturing it. (boards are lost in the mail as we speak

K, difference with this board and the older 4mb board.

- onboard jumpers to select memory config
- fastmem is auto config (no drivers to enable fastmem)
- 0, 1.5, 4, 5.5 and 8mb memory configurable
- can be adjusted without opening case (using ribbon cable header)
- Same price as the a500 8mb boards ($49, jumper header and cable extra)
- jumpers can be changed when powered on and will take affect on reboot. (I recommend shutting dwn)
- has 2 guide holes for screws that can fit in the HDD cradle holes for those people that want to secure it little tighter.

Bad news is, i wasn't kidding. DHL has lost my boards somewhere between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay so i have submitted another order while i am waiting for them to get the board order they lost remanufactured at their expense.

I will still sell the older 4mb boards that you can see on my webpage for those people that only want the 4mb. At the moment i have no A600 boards in any flavour whatsoever until i receive the new order i put in

I expect that the new boards will be ready for selling in 2 - 3 weeks. I'll accept pre -orders but no money until i actually have them ready to mail.

Many Many thanks to LVD



Note: THis would also work with the A500, When i get a chance i will do a redesign for the A500 as well, and probably add a few more features, but i am still busy with other projects

[Arnie]

oooh, nice. Put me down for one 8mb board please

[Lord Aga]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

- fastmem is auto config (no drivers to enable fastmem)

Huh, how is this different
I own your 4MB board and it doesn't need any drivers. It just works like a charm

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

Huh, how is this different
I own your 4MB board and it doesn't need any drivers. It just works like a charm

yup, but the original doesnt have the multiple memory settings to worry about. I was just letting people know that all different settings of memory on the new version are autoconfig

[Akiko]

I'd buy one of them Furia boards no problem

[kipper2k]

Here's a picture of the 8mb board. You can adjust memory settings either by using the onboard jumper block or by means of an extender cable with jumpers or jumper block switches. I'll show pictures of that once I actually receive the board

[demolition]

Looking good, and for that price it should sell good as well.

If you're using the same PLCC CPU socket as in your 4MB expansions, I hope there's a good solution in there for securing it to the MB so it won't fall off. Unless you have sourced some of Jens' sockets, that board is too big and heavy to be self-supported.

[fitzsteve]

Awesome work on this Brian! Where do you find the time for all these projects?

Sorry to hear about the lost boards tho, that sux.

Keep up the great work

Steve.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by demolition

Looking good, and for that price it should sell good as well.

If you're using the same PLCC CPU socket as in your 4MB expansions, I hope there's a good solution in there for securing it to the MB so it won't fall off. Unless you have sourced some of Jens' sockets, that board is too big and heavy to be self-supported.

The 2 holes line up with the HDD cradle holes so it for those cpu's that are a little slack it should be fine, a small nut/bolt should work, i ordered some, still waiting for them.

@Steve.

I don't have time to play the games, mucking about with the hardware is just as fun. The GB1000 project was a real hog on my time so i will think twice on doing something so big like that again.

[kipper2k]

I was thinking how to find a way to secure the new board to the motherboard for those boards that don't sit too well for whatever reason. The problem is trying to find a screw/ nut & bolt that is long enough and thin enough to go through the hole for the HDD cradle which is only 0.065" wide

I came up with the following idea, if anyone has better/alternate suggestions that are easy to implement i'd love to hear from you.

here's my pictures of my suggested fix..

First of all use a M3 nylon stand off and grind down the nylon flat on both sides of the external threaded portion to fit through the HDD cradle hole




shown sliding through the hole...



shown looking from the bottom...



Option 1, use a metal nut.. ok, but possibility of shorts and height clearance unless you do a bit more modding...



Option 2... melt the bottom to flatten the plastic, the easiest option...




Here's view of the now secure nylon stand off...




Now it is just a case of feeding a screw through the fastmem board and tightening it down. The board does not to be tightened too tightly, just held in place.

[demolition]

Not sure if it's a good enough alternative, but it is cheap and easy:
Use two cable ties per hole. Cut off half the head of one so it will fit beneath the MB, feed it through from the bottom. Install your expansion and use a head from the other cable tie to secure the board on to the first cable tie. See pictures.

Downside is that the 'resolution' of the cable tie might not be good enough to secure the board with the right tension.

Edit: I got your 4MB board working in my 010 A600, although just for a short while. I had to reinstall it several times before it would work, and every time I secured it down using the two holes, it stopped booting. I think it is an issue with the socket and the connection to the CPU. I've cleaned the top part of the CPU pins of solder using Soder-Wick and wiped it with isopropanol (as visible in the picture). I managed to boot it and start a memtest, but it died after a few minutes and a reboot gave me a yellow screen until I removed the memory board. I think the pin pressure is not high enough in the socket as it also goes on to the CPU very easily.