Interest in 8MB FastRAM expansion for A500? - Page 2

Travis · 04 September 2007, 13:19

Okay, I'm a bit lost. Having an A500 with 8mb Fast RAM sounds cool just for the sake of owning it, but what practical use is it?

Zetr0 · 04 September 2007, 13:22

In a Word

WHDLOAD!

alexh · 04 September 2007, 15:37

Without a hard drive it is useless.

That is why most RAM expansions were also hard drive controllers.

The CD32 was the only Amiga that could benefit from an 8-meg RAM expansion on it's own, as it had a CD-Drive.

DrF · 04 September 2007, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Without a hard drive it is useless.

That is why most RAM expansions were also hard drive controllers.

The CD32 was the only Amiga that could benefit from an 8-meg RAM expansion on it's own, as it had a CD-Drive.

He raises a good point. This fast ram expansion, from what I gather will sit on the side port of the A500/+ so what about things like the A590 and A570?

alexh · 04 September 2007, 16:23

The A570 and A590 both have their own RAM expansion (2Mbytes) capabilities built in. Admittedly the A570 boards never got made, but some 3rd party ones were.

They would not be compatible (I dont think) with any other expansion. Certainly not an 8Mbyte one.

narmi · 04 September 2007, 18:48

I'm also building an IDE controller that plugs into the CPU socket. Getting both (RAM + IDE) on to one board will not be easy, so I'm making two boards. Using a CPLD would probably allow making a fairly complicated board with a fairly simple PCB layout, so that is the direction I am headed.

DrF · 04 September 2007, 19:05

I think a IDE controller for the CPU socket would be a better idea if you needed such a thing, I am sure I saw a unit by AdSpeed years ago that had a IDE connection with a 14Mhz 68000 on it on, quite a small unit.

jimbo100 · 05 September 2007, 03:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrF

I think a IDE controller for the CPU socket would be a better idea if you needed such a thing, I am sure I saw a unit by AdSpeed years ago that had a IDE connection with a 14Mhz 68000 on it on, quite a small unit.

Now build one of these and I am interested!

DrF · 05 September 2007, 09:24

@Jimbo

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha....cgi?HARDID=74

There it is, I knew I saw one somewhere...

jimbo100 · 05 September 2007, 16:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrF

@Jimbo

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha....cgi?HARDID=74

There it is, I knew I saw one somewhere...

Oh I know about them, but where does one find one these days. Would be a great upgrade for an Amiga 500!

alexh · 05 September 2007, 16:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by narmi

Getting both (RAM + IDE) on to one board will not be easy, so I'm making two boards.

Why? The ICD Trifecta (the absolutely best hard drive for the A500) did just that. Hmmm, I want one.... drool.

Dropcheck · 05 September 2007, 18:30

If you can get both an 8meg FAST memory and a ide board autoconfigured inside a A500 then I will sell my car, my pc, my video collection, my cat.... well... maybe not my cat. Anyway let me know what you'll charge for either as a kit and I'll paypal you. I have a 500 that is feeling kinda empty. Good luck.

DrF · 05 September 2007, 19:31

@Jimbo

I've been looking for ages too for something, anything like it, few things put me off crazy eBay prices (why would I pay more for a A500 add on than a A1200 etc?) and the pure rarity or "R@RE" as eBay users put it also the words "W0W, LQQK, N()W!" these very words seem to drive prices up :/

alexh · 05 September 2007, 23:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dropcheck

If you can get both an 8meg FAST memory and a ide board autoconfigured

Hard drives dont "autoconfigure" do they? I dont think so.

narmi · 05 September 2007, 23:37

The drive controller does autoconfigure in order to get a base address for its I/O operations. I believe the A590 presents itself as two devices, a RAM expansion that requests up to 2MB of address space, and an I/O device that requests 64KB of address space. The two are seperate because the drive controller has an autoboot ROM associated with it that needs to be read.

The Gayle IDE controller is already mapped into reserved address space, so it does not autoconfigure. It also does not have an autoboot ROM, as all necessary data is in the Kickstart ROM.

alexh · 05 September 2007, 23:53

How does say the GVP hard drive controller work when it has 8Mbytes of RAM and a SCSI drive? There is only 8Mbytes of autoconfig space isnt there? Is 64Kbytes lost? I guess that wouldnt be too bad if you have 8Mbytes

narmi · 06 September 2007, 02:43

There are two autoconfig areas, the primary space is 8MB ($20000 to $9FFFFF) and the secondary space is 448kB ($E90000 to $EFFFFF). The Amiga Hardware Reference Manual states that the secondary space is usually used for 64k I/O boards. It's enough space for 7 such boards.

Paul_s · 06 September 2007, 20:47

I'll take one please! My 1000 needs a ram boost

Paul_s · 11 October 2007, 12:49

Is there any news on this chap? I'd really love to boost my 1000 a bit

narmi · 14 October 2007, 02:41

Unfortunately I've been very busy for the last few weeks, so I don't have anything working yet. All I have is this teaser picture

. It's going to take some time to get this working, so be patient.

04 September 2007, 15:37	#23
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,449	Without a hard drive it is useless. That is why most RAM expansions were also hard drive controllers. The CD32 was the only Amiga that could benefit from an 8-meg RAM expansion on it's own, as it had a CD-Drive. Last edited by alexh; 04 September 2007 at 16:04.

05 September 2007, 18:30	#32
Dropcheck Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Oklahoma City Ok USA Posts: 66	I'll buy that for a dollar! If you can get both an 8meg FAST memory and a ide board autoconfigured inside a A500 then I will sell my car, my pc, my video collection, my cat.... well... maybe not my cat. Anyway let me know what you'll charge for either as a kit and I'll paypal you. I have a 500 that is feeling kinda empty. Good luck.

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04 September 2007, 13:19	#21
Travis Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: York, UK Posts: 15	Okay, I'm a bit lost. Having an A500 with 8mb Fast RAM sounds cool just for the sake of owning it, but what practical use is it?

04 September 2007, 13:22	#22
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	In a Word WHDLOAD!

04 September 2007, 16:23	#25
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,449	The A570 and A590 both have their own RAM expansion (2Mbytes) capabilities built in. Admittedly the A570 boards never got made, but some 3rd party ones were. They would not be compatible (I dont think) with any other expansion. Certainly not an 8Mbyte one.

04 September 2007, 18:48	#26
narmi Guru Meditation Error Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 92	I'm also building an IDE controller that plugs into the CPU socket. Getting both (RAM + IDE) on to one board will not be easy, so I'm making two boards. Using a CPLD would probably allow making a fairly complicated board with a fairly simple PCB layout, so that is the direction I am headed.

04 September 2007, 19:05	#27
DrF Blessed A1200 Of TeH Rat Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bham, UK Age: 42 Posts: 496	I think a IDE controller for the CPU socket would be a better idea if you needed such a thing, I am sure I saw a unit by AdSpeed years ago that had a IDE connection with a 14Mhz 68000 on it on, quite a small unit.

05 September 2007, 09:24	#29
DrF Blessed A1200 Of TeH Rat Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bham, UK Age: 42 Posts: 496	@Jimbo http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha....cgi?HARDID=74 There it is, I knew I saw one somewhere...

05 September 2007, 19:31	#33
DrF Blessed A1200 Of TeH Rat Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bham, UK Age: 42 Posts: 496	@Jimbo I've been looking for ages too for something, anything like it, few things put me off crazy eBay prices (why would I pay more for a A500 add on than a A1200 etc?) and the pure rarity or "R@RE" as eBay users put it also the words "W0W, LQQK, N()W!" these very words seem to drive prices up :/

05 September 2007, 23:37	#35
narmi Guru Meditation Error Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 92	The drive controller does autoconfigure in order to get a base address for its I/O operations. I believe the A590 presents itself as two devices, a RAM expansion that requests up to 2MB of address space, and an I/O device that requests 64KB of address space. The two are seperate because the drive controller has an autoboot ROM associated with it that needs to be read. The Gayle IDE controller is already mapped into reserved address space, so it does not autoconfigure. It also does not have an autoboot ROM, as all necessary data is in the Kickstart ROM.

05 September 2007, 23:53	#36
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,449	How does say the GVP hard drive controller work when it has 8Mbytes of RAM and a SCSI drive? There is only 8Mbytes of autoconfig space isnt there? Is 64Kbytes lost? I guess that wouldnt be too bad if you have 8Mbytes

06 September 2007, 02:43	#37
narmi Guru Meditation Error Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 92	There are two autoconfig areas, the primary space is 8MB ($20000 to $9FFFFF) and the secondary space is 448kB ($E90000 to $EFFFFF). The Amiga Hardware Reference Manual states that the secondary space is usually used for 64k I/O boards. It's enough space for 7 such boards.

06 September 2007, 20:47	#38
Paul_s Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Amigaville Age: 46 Posts: 3,337	I'll take one please! My 1000 needs a ram boost

11 October 2007, 12:49	#39
Paul_s Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Amigaville Age: 46 Posts: 3,337	Is there any news on this chap? I'd really love to boost my 1000 a bit

14 October 2007, 02:41	#40
narmi Guru Meditation Error Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 92	Unfortunately I've been very busy for the last few weeks, so I don't have anything working yet. All I have is this teaser picture . It's going to take some time to get this working, so be patient.

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