Upgrading Apollo 1240 to 1260 a definitive How To Guide

[DDNI]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2614978...n/photostream/

a pic of my Mach 131 Apollo 1240 (which I recently sold... )

[mfilos]

@TheCorfiot

My friend I think I have the mini fan that was ontop of my 040 before the 060 upgrade. It's very low profile and I can provide some pics if you want.
I used it inside A1200D at ease.
If you want it I can send it to ya for free

[alexh]

Originally Posted by TheCorfiot

@Alex
Too true, It did not cross my mind that MACH 131's may have been used but still programmed with the older code, How can we identify this?

Unless there is a version number register which you can access in software, then you cannot.

Take a look in all the usual places for version numbers (any software tools that came with the cards, early startup if they have them etc.) see if there are numbers which can be distinguished from the EPROM firmware version numbers.

For the time being you have to assume you cannot tell what is in a MACH chip.

[TheCorfiot]

Originally Posted by mfilos

@TheCorfiot

My friend I think I have the mini fan that was ontop of my 040 before the 060 upgrade. It's very low profile and I can provide some pics if you want.
I used it inside A1200D at ease.
If you want it I can send it to ya for free

mfilos, Thats very kind of you, I have a small "low" profile fan now but it is about 8MM thick & there is just no space between the keyboard & the heatsink,,
If your fan is really thin then yes please I would love to fit it to my A1200.



Of course Pics are always appreciated as you know, by both myself & another certain bearded character, Don't be shy show us your 1260.

Sas Efharisto, kai heretismata.

TC

@Alex, thanks for that my friend, You make it sound a bit like Pandora's Box

[laser]

Originally Posted by TheCorfiot

@Lazer

Thanks for the advice, Will fit a PCB mounting type then.

Regarding the 060 upgrade, for me, my 040/33 is fast enough, & besides my CPU is soldered to the Board & I really don't want to try and Fix something that is not broken.
My 040 runs very hot even with a huge finned heatsink stuck to it, My immediate problem is trying to fit a Fan in the A1200 somehow. There's just no room. any suggestions anyone??
I know the 060 runs cooler but then compatibility becomes an issue for me too.

there is no place to insert there a big fan because...you know..not fit cause the keyboard
try to purchase the smallest and thinnest fan you can find

[TheCorfiot]

Originally Posted by laser

there is no place to insert there a big fan because...you know..not fit cause the keyboard
try to purchase the smallest and thinnest fan you can find

Thanks Laser, I'm hoping mfilos may be able to help.
I don't like running my apollo for too long at the moment, in case it overheats.

In another Thread everyone (including me) stated the A1200 as the best amiga ever, still ongoing though It's just the lack of space inside thats a pain ????

Cheers

[Dimlow]

Forgetting about the Mach 131 for the moment. Is there anyone that can pop the eprom in the reader and dump the content to a file ? And i second that request for pictures of 1260's, I also would like pics of the 3.3 voltage regulator board and how is connects to the main board. I see on the area where it connects there some links that have been made, but on 1260 are these replaced by the connector pins for the regulator board, i need PICs!

Aslo on the back of the processor i think some links need to be changed there for the clock, need pics , need pics, need pics...

er, just found these, why didnt i do that before ???

[Zetr0]

If the mods allow it i can dump the EEPROM code file here,

But i will wait until i am told I am allowed....

[DDNI]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

If the mods allow it i can dump the EEPROM code file here,

But i will wait until i am told I am allowed....

Damn this Police state
Maybe we should get copyright permission just to post hardware photos as well???

[TheCorfiot]

Originally Posted by DDNI

Damn this Police state
Maybe we should get copyright permission just to post hardware photos as well???

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ............

[Dimlow]

Just to let you know i have sent a PM to PG of the amiga.org forum asking if he is willing to contribute to this thread. Just thought id post this so that others don't go hounding him for info. I don't want him to get peed off before i even get started.

I have also started to gather together in a word document all the information i have found out about this conversion, also collected some info on the clocking modes of the CPU together with pictures. I will be updating it as i go, maybe when its nice and tidy i will post it here.

[FrenchShark]

Originally Posted by alexh

The code for all Apollo accelerators is owned by Jens Schoenfeld. He wont release it but he will sell you programmed MACH chips at an unbelievably high price. He has spoken openly about his strong dislike of the Apollo design and how he finds it extremely difficult to bring himself to help out Apollo owners without significant financial incentive.

http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/v...orumpost499356


And?

Partly wrong,

the Apollo boards were first made by a company called 3-State then, ACT.
I was in contact with the designer Steffen Christ years ago because I made an update of the AT-Apollo.device for the AT-Apollo 2000 board. He was so impressed that he sent me the source code of the Apollo accelerator boot ROM and of the SCSI-Apollo.device.

So I do have the ROM source code :-) but not the MACH chip.
I need to dig into my archives.

Regards,

Frederic

[alexh]

Years ago? Could it be that Jens bought the rights between then and now?

[FrenchShark]

Originally Posted by alexh

Years ago? Could it be that Jens bought the rights between then and now?

I met Steffen Christ at the Amiga Messe in Koln in 1996. So I am talking about 12 years ago. I also met Jens, I remember he showed us a MP3 decoder that you could plug on the floppy port. The MP3 was sent to the decoder in MFM format, using the disk DMAs.
Today, that would be a nice DIY project for EAB guys.

Regards,

Frederic

[FrenchShark]

Hello,

I have finally found the sources after mounting an image of my work partition with WinUAE (my backup CDs were dead ).
PM got sent to dimlow.
BTW, you can dump the EEPROM directly with your Amiga. You need a tool that list the autoconfig boards (usually they show up at 0xE00000). Then, Asm-One, wb command and voila.
The EEPROM can be in nibble, byte or word mode.
The nibble mode was mostly used by HW compatible with KS 1.3 (with an A1200, very unlikely) because the byte mode was buggy in the KS 1.3's expansion.library.

Regards,

Frederic

PS : I quickly looked at these files and a bunch of 12 year old souvenirs came back. Thanks guys

Now, it is bed time

[Dimlow]

I do indeed now have the source code for the roms, they have been compiled and i have two little files ROM_16bit.32K and ROM_16bit.16K. the rom version is 5.60, I'm sure i have seen later versions in some pics.

From first looks at the code i see no reason why you need a special version for the 060, the only reason i can see, is that later version of the firmware only after v 5.21 has support for the 68060.library. so even if you have an 040 in your Apollo, this code will still work. and can upgrade to an 060 with no need to change the eprom except for bug fixes. There may even been some advantages to upgrading if you have on 040 or though i have not looked at this.

By the way i am by no means an expert programmer. Last time i looked any 68k assembly was 1996. All i have done so far is use babelfish and read the comments in the code. If someone else wants to dig further they are welcome to

As a bonus to me, the cards i have purchased have rom version 5.55, this version of the rom supports the 060!!!!!!

right i am so late for work i must go now..

AND EVERYONE HERE SHOULD GIVE A BIG BIG THANK YOU TO FRENCHSHARK

THANK YOU FRENCHSHARK!!!

[chiark]

Indeed, I'm not going to be interested in this as I don't have any apollo stuff, but big thanks to FrenchShark for the community spirit and acceptance of a challenge shown here - outstanding!

[DoogUK]

It seems the appropriate thread at the moment ....


Theres the later revision 68060 cpu for sale on ebay if anyones interested.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Motorola-68060...QQcmdZViewItem

[Dimlow]

Thanks for that Doog, purchased one! I have been searching for the socket, anyone know a good place ?

[alexh]

Take care buying these chips from hong-kong. At least one EAB member has bought one and it was a remarked REV0