ACA500 tested

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

dJOS:
You're drawing conclusions from no information (do you have all schematics and timing specs of the boards you're comparing?), and you're not seeing the information I have provided yesterday: An unbuffered CF card slot does affect timings by changed signal load on shared lines. If you are only half as educated as you're attemting to appear, this will give all the answers you're expecting.

Jens

No need to throw insults Jens!

I haven't seen all the info you refer to however what I have seen of the IDE68k design it is quite 'uncomplicated' (I do have the schematics but not the CPLD code).

Anyway my point is simply that they both use an Unbuffered design, so I'd have expected the CF compatibility to be similar.

Btw, I'm not suggesting Jacques' experience is widespread, only that it's very odd considering 2 aca500's and at more than 3 a500's are involved in the testing.

[Jacques]

Thank you for calling customer a liar, dear Jens.
Actually the 2nd person I know of is Yerzmey of PPA.pl forum, but for him the issue wasn't such important to report further than PPA.pl forum. Other person to observe the issue was RetroAmi reseller itself(!). He reproduced the issue on ACA500 I sent back and on some another ACA500's as well, GO ASK HIM, he sells your product after all (I don't blame reseller for anything at all, btw. he's supportive).

As for Toni, it's a pleasure to "work" with him, do some tests and provide him with feedback. He thinks it's possible to do software workaround, I keep fingers crossed for that.
And while I'm happy to provide feedback for him, sorry, I won't experiment with my fully functional A500's to solder some resistors to the factory sealed computer that is working properly (as my A500+ is, which I also tested). Especially, since in case of A500+ the problem wasn't happening on hardware Kick 2.0, only mapped 3.1(!). Solder resistor, yeah, right... It's not the customer who should experiment with his proper working computer. PERIOD.
I didn't mean to be offensive, but "LIE" argument was a it too much to take.
I personally don't know this way of doing business, especially when some very basic functionality fails with the product I got... Yes, ACA500 wasn't a gift.

[fitzsteve]

Guys you're taking this thread in a direction that is of absolutely no interest to the bulk of people, can you keep your arguments between yourself and your resellers or Jens privately if you're not satisfied?

I visit this thread for updates on the product not to read your complaints.

[dJOS]

I don't meant to be nitpicky Steve but "aca500 tested" sounds a lot like a thread for posting the results of testing aca500's.

Just saying...

[fitzsteve]

Fair enough, I'll unsubscribe then.

[Jacques]

It's an open forum and the thread's name seems... Like giving test-feedback.

fitzsteve: "I visit this thread for updates on the product".

Hmm, still it's named "ACA500 tested", without tests and feedback, there would probably be much less updates No need to forbid anyone to express test-resuls in "tested" thread.

Again, it's getting messy and it could have been avoided, so let's hope it will get better from now on.

[fitzsteve]

I'm not forbidding test results, but all I'm reading is an argument. As said I'm going to unsubscribe from this thread, I'm sure Jens will post updates in the ACA products thread, I don't need to be party to your squabbling.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Fair enough, I'll unsubscribe then.

No need to do that mate.

[TCD]

This thread is indeed about Photon testing the ACA500 and of course to share experience about it, but it's not a support thread. Please use Jens' support ticket system instead. The 'discussion' about this particular issue is getting lengthy and there is obviously nothing more to be achieved here.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Different A500 models have different values for the reset-pullup. Try adding a 2k2 resistor between Vcc and Reset.

Is this another case of Commodore "quality control"? We are out of resistor value x, lets use value y, it is close enough and no one notices?

[Schoenfeld]

Toni,
Well, maybe - your tests show that the soft reset command triggers the issue, and it's worth looking into. However, without a setup where I can measure what happens, there's no way for me to find out.

At this point, I am returning to my original offer for a refund, including all shipping cost for both directions. Since I can't give a timeframe when this can be solved, I don't want to leave a dissatisfied customer behind. Ideally, I'm also buying the CF card in question from Jacques, so I have a test setup here that lets me reproduce the problem. I will then turn to the issue when time permits.

Jens

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Toni has done more tests, and it appears to be a reset issue: Different A500 models have different values for the reset-pullup. Try adding a 2k2 resistor between Vcc and Reset.

Jens

Give me a quick sketch or part # to swap out and i will experiment with this, i have quite a few A500's i can test on

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Toni has done more tests, and it appears to be a reset issue: Different A500 models have different values for the reset-pullup. Try adding a 2k2 resistor between Vcc and Reset.

Jens

Is it possible for you to add a small delay to the startup execution of your card to allow the reset line to settle, I know I have to do much the same on some of the faster PICs I use and LCD screens sometimes? Another alternative may be to cycle the reset from the expansion port before the ACA500 starts which may give a more exact reset cycle.

[kipper2k]

are we talking this area of the a500 ?...

[Toni Wilen]

AFAIK problem is not hardware generated reset (power up/ctrl+amiga+amiga that uses 555 timer) but CPU generated reset (RESET-instruction is executed by the CPU) that does not seem to reset the chipset fully (on some systems) when the signal comes from expansion slot.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

AFAIK problem is not hardware generated reset (power up/ctrl+amiga+amiga that uses 555 timer) but CPU generated reset (RESET-instruction is executed by the CPU) that does not seem to reset the chipset fully (on some systems) when the signal comes from expansion slot.

If i lift the reset pin on the CPU (pin 18) and try putting different value resisters in line with the pin and the mobo would that possibly work ?

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

AFAIK problem is not hardware generated reset (power up/ctrl+amiga+amiga that uses 555 timer) but CPU generated reset (RESET-instruction is executed by the CPU) that does not seem to reset the chipset fully (on some systems) when the signal comes from expansion slot.

This may turn into a necessary mod on systems that won't reset properly, simple enough circuit but you've already got enough issues with A1200 and timing fixes.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

are we talking this area of the a500 ?...

I think he means pin 3 of Q711 to Vcc to stop the pin floating but surely there's already a pullup somewhere else?

[Amicol]

I have an ACA500 & ACA1232, trying to softkick a 1mb rom image (confirmed working in Winuae) but system is going into a reboot loop.

I added acamaprom OS3.9.rom (my file name) to the beginning of Startup-Sequence but I think it's remapping every time it sees the command.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for your help...

[fitzsteve]

Did you stop OS3.9 from doing it's own Rom update?

Maybe post your Startup-Sequence here