Blizzard 1220 VS TF1230

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Jope

Yep, don't make mistakes.



I was talking specifically about installing a motherboard FPU with the TF1230, which can't have an FPU on board. If you have an accelerator or mem expansion with an FPU socket, why on earth would you fit one on the motherboard. Sounds DUMB?! XDD XD

Also there was some enterprising soul who cut the 14MHz line and successfully fed the motherboard FPU with a faster clock.

These are OPTIONS, I'm not forcing anyone to do anything.

@ Jope

Dumb & then some.

@ thread

Always OPTIONS with an Amiga & ditto to what Jope says....

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Superman

There is also the option of a Tsunami 1230 which does have and FPU but seems quite a bit more expensive than the TF 1230. I have a TF1230 and it’s great for my needs.

The Tsunami is also a fine card, but as you said, costs more. Also it's in very short supply, they have made two batches so far and at least I haven't seen news of a potential new batch.

I ended up buying one from the 2nd batch due to FOMO, no complaints so far.

[dalek]

Enjoy your Blizzard - it's good enough for casual Amiga use.

Save your cash and play Doom on an old PC

[NunoUFO]

Thank you all for your help and support.
I found an old Ram expansion I had purchased a few years ago. This one is slower than the 1220/4 but had an extra 4MB which unfortunately don't seem to work anymore...
I've recently added a 68882 FPU and am waiting on the oscillator crystal.

What are your thoughts on it?

[NunoUFO]

At this point I'm happy just being able to run all WHDLoad classic games without a shadow or a black screen...

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by NunoUFO

Thank you all for your help and support.
I found an old Ram expansion I had purchased a few years ago. This one is slower than the 1220/4 but had an extra 4MB which unfortunately don't seem to work anymore...
I've recently added a 68882 FPU and am waiting on the oscillator crystal.

What are your thoughts on it?

Ahhh… The Hawk Accelerator card. Have had a couple of them. Good basic card

Didn’t you install and try Whdloadmenu? It allows you to run Whdload games/Demos by saving FastRAM by not loading up Workbench Mang!

[NunoUFO]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

Ahhh… The Hawk Accelerator card. Have had a couple of them. Good basic card

Didn’t you install and try Whdloadmenu? It allows you to run Whdload games/Demos by saving FastRAM by not loading up Workbench Mang!

I've installed Tiny Launcher and have it running from boot - is Whdloadmenu better?

Thank you
Nuno

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by NunoUFO

I've installed Tiny Launcher and have it running from boot - is Whdloadmenu better?

Thank you
Nuno

Whdloadmenu has some extras and is still being developed. The person who created it, posts on here

Only way to know, is to try it Mang!

http://aminet.net/package/util/misc/WHDLoadMenu

[NunoUFO]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

Whdloadmenu has some extras and is still being developed. The person who created it, posts on here

Only way to know, is to try it Mang!

http://aminet.net/package/util/misc/WHDLoadMenu

I gave it a go and didn't get much better results unfortunately.

I wonder if you can help me with the HWAK expansion card where I have two questions:

When I change the jumpers from 4 to 8MB the card works but games will always return a software error. Also when I ran a test on the memory I got some errors - should just replacing the RAM help?

The second question is down to making it faster- I've seen some people simply add a 68882@33Mhz FPU. Would this work or would I need an oscilator crystal too?


Thank you!

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by NunoUFO

I gave it a go and didn't get much better results unfortunately.

I wonder if you can help me with the HWAK expansion card where I have two questions:

When I change the jumpers from 4 to 8MB the card works but games will always return a software error. Also when I ran a test on the memory I got some errors - should just replacing the RAM help?

The second question is down to making it faster- I've seen some people simply add a 68882@33Mhz FPU. Would this work or would I need an oscilator crystal too?


Thank you!

There are 2 sets of jumpers on the Hawk Board. Do both correspond to using 8MB RAM? Are you sure it’s a 8MB RAM chip?
You can still set to 4MB on a 8MB RAM chip to make it 4MB.

The 6882 can be used with Internal or External clock settings. Again there is a jumper for this. If left on internal then the FPU will only run at 14mhz. If you place a 33 or 40 MHz crystal and set the jumper to external. Then the FPU will run at the crystal/XTAL speed being used on the hawk.

Online version of the Manual here Bromigo!

http://amiga.resource.cx/manual/Amitek_Hawk.pdf

[NunoUFO]

I have tried the jumpers to 8MB and it shows it has 8MB however no games work and the memory test comes out with errors.
I also have a 68882 but it's 40MHz so I think it's too fast for this card, so I have a 33MHz one on the way.
Finally I think this card is an Analogic computers card and not a Hawk.

[Jope]

The 40MHz is only the max speed that FPU is rated for, it will run at the speed the card is set for. If you don't have an oscillator plugged in, the card will probably be running it at 28MHz.

[NunoUFO]

Originally Posted by Jope

The 40MHz is only the max speed that FPU is rated for, it will run at the speed the card is set for. If you don't have an oscillator plugged in, the card will probably be running it at 28MHz.

Thank you, however, whenever I turn on the Amiga, a yellow screen comes up and the power LED flashes and the screen turn black and nothing happens...

Any ideas what could be the issue?

Thank you

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by NunoUFO

I have tried the jumpers to 8MB and it shows it has 8MB however no games work and the memory test comes out with errors.
I also have a 68882 but it's 40MHz so I think it's too fast for this card, so I have a 33MHz one on the way.
Finally I think this card is an Analogic computers card and not a Hawk.

I should have gone to spec savers!

Yep that’s not a Amitek Hawk card

Looks like a Marpet M1207 card. Worth a read here about someone having similar issues;

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=70763&styleid=4

Yellow screen then remove and check the accelerator card. Clean connectors and check and make sure your RAM is seated properly.

I tend to clean any older cards and connectors with isopropanol or electrical contact cleaner first with a ‘Q’ Tip first.

If you set the jumpers to 8MB and use a 4MB RAM Simm then it will incorrectly report as a 8MB RAM Simm. Try the 4MB setting and check the RAM. If it passes, then you either have a Bad RAM Simm or it’s a 4MB Simm.

[NunoUFO]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

I should have gone to spec savers!

Yep that’s not a Amitek Hawk card

Looks like a Marpet M1207 card. Worth a read here about someone having similar issues;

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=70763&styleid=4

Yellow screen then remove and check the accelerator card. Clean connectors and check and make sure your RAM is seated properly.

I tend to clean any older cards and connectors with isopropanol or electrical contact cleaner first with a ‘Q’ Tip first.

If you set the jumpers to 8MB and use a 4MB RAM Simm then it will incorrectly report as a 8MB RAM Simm. Try the 4MB setting and check the RAM. If it passes, then you either have a Bad RAM Simm or it’s a 4MB Simm.

It was the jumpers that were not correctly set.
And you're it is only a 4MB stick, so I will have to get an 8MB one.

The FPU is also working now, thank you so much!!

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by NunoUFO

It was the jumpers that were not correctly set.
And you're it is only a 4MB stick, so I will have to get an 8MB one.

The FPU is also working now, thank you so much!!

Welcome! Mang!

[Pollock]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

68040 CPUs also run too hot and can be unstable as well

You might as well bite the bullet and go 68060 in my opinion

who told you that? what nonsense, i have an 040 here, and yeah, it's hotter than an 060, but its 5v, so I am not surprised. The 040 gets a bad rap, usually from people jumping on the bandwagon, and having never used one.

An 040 is a great CPU, its the biggest jump architecturally on all the 68K Cpu's

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by Pollock

who told you that? what nonsense, i have an 040 here, and yeah, it's hotter than an 060, but its 5v, so I am not surprised. The 040 gets a bad rap, usually from people jumping on the bandwagon, and having never used one.

An 040 is a great CPU, its the biggest jump architecturally on all the 68K Cpu's

Have used a few Bromigo! Between the Apollo and Phase 5 versions, the Apollo versions I have had a great deal of problems with. The Phase 5 not so much, but you still need to Cool down the CPU, even at stock 25mhz!

Horses for courses Mang!

[Pollock]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

Have used a few Bromigo! Between the Apollo and Phase 5 versions, the Apollo versions I have had a great deal of problems with. The Phase 5 not so much, but you still need to Cool down the CPU, even at stock 25mhz!

Horses for courses Mang!

yeah, that is true, but i remember having to do that for all 5V CPU's, from a Motorola 040, to an Intel DX2, or a Pentium60, I have used 040's on and off, along with 060's, and apart from the performance, and the extra heat from using a 5V chip, or a 3.3v chip, i haven't had any issues with them at all. The 040 gets a really bad lick, it's almost became one of the urban computing myths, like, "AMD make really bad drivers", and you obviously know, as well as anyone here, if the software for the CPU is setup right, then there is no reason whey it shouldn't be as stable as an 020 or 030, a good deal hotter certainly, but no less useable, and don't get me started on "040's and 060's have lower compatability than an 020 or 030". The amount of things i can't get to run on an 040 or 060 i can count on one hand.

Happy days

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by Pollock

yeah, that is true, but i remember having to do that for all 5V CPU's, from a Motorola 040, to an Intel DX2, or a Pentium60, I have used 040's on and off, along with 060's, and apart from the performance, and the extra heat from using a 5V chip, or a 3.3v chip, i haven't had any issues with them at all. The 040 gets a really bad lick, it's almost became one of the urban computing myths, like, "AMD make really bad drivers", and you obviously know, as well as anyone here, if the software for the CPU is setup right, then there is no reason whey it shouldn't be as stable as an 020 or 030, a good deal hotter certainly, but no less useable, and don't get me started on "040's and 060's have lower compatability than an 020 or 030". The amount of things i can't get to run on an 040 or 060 i can count on one hand.

Happy days

Totally get where you are coming from Bromigo! I’m currently using 060/PPC with mediator setups with a 040/BPPC in a checkmate setup and a G-REX (Need to investigate due to network lock ups).

At the moment just busy sorting out my A4K with Cyberstorm 060/PPC and discovered 040 Libs in 3.1 causes Guru error.

I’ve got a spare Apollo/Paragon 1240 in a box and re-Amiga board so will attempt to play around with it.

Too much Amiga issues to resolve at the moment, so, when I get some time free and not travelling for my Next Client