Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

[Weasel Fierce]

A lot of the games I had as a kid were cracks so maybe some disk shenanigans were changed there.
Add to the irritation games that could only be booted from DF0.

[paul1981]

Originally Posted by Jope

I don't believe multiview uses these.

There's an example about this in the RKM, so perhaps these tools just create the tool types because the authors read this section. http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD.../node0244.html

Thanks...well, now I know! Looks like it's a load of nothing then really. Interesting how the text files forgot to use FILETYPE instead of TYPE in the examples I gave. Anyway, Tooltypes waste space, especially if it's a Newicon (MWB FTW!)

[Glen M]

This might have been asked before but why does the 1200 have an unpopulated position on the board for an FPU?

Were there plans to sell the 1200 with an FPU onboard?

I can only assume at some point there was or the position wouldn't have been there in the first place.

and yes I know the FPU is essentially useless to the majority of us but obviously someone at some point though it was a good idea.

Do any other Amiga models have a position for an FPU like this?

[grond]

Originally Posted by Glen M

This might have been asked before but why does the 1200 have an unpopulated position on the board for an FPU?

Because it didn't cost Commodore a penny to provide this upgrade opportunity to the user.

Were there plans to sell the 1200 with an FPU onboard?

I don't think so.

Do any other Amiga models have a position for an FPU like this?

I have to admit I don't know, others surely do. The A3000 and A4000/030 would be candidates for this.

[NLS]

Actually I remember things a bit different from @grond, but that doesn't mean I am correct (for #1, I am correct for the rest).

1) I think indeed there was a plan for 1200 to be released ALSO with FPU (as an extra model). I remember people talking about this back then. Then again Commodore was not fully "Commodore" in their peak when A1200 was released.

2) A3000, already included 68881 or 68882, so there WAS a position for FPU, but was populated.

3) A4000/030 indeed was release WITHOUT FPU (board 3630) but DID have a socket for it.

[Gryfon]

I can’t give you the historical answers as to why the board has an FPU space, however Chris Edwards has done a video on how to populate it:

[ Show youtube player ]

Originally Posted by Glen M

This might have been asked before but why does the 1200 have an unpopulated position on the board for an FPU?

Were there plans to sell the 1200 with an FPU onboard?

I can only assume at some point there was or the position wouldn't have been there in the first place.

and yes I know the FPU is essentially useless to the majority of us but obviously someone at some point though it was a good idea.

Do any other Amiga models have a position for an FPU like this?

[Glen M]

Thanks for the info. I was going to do my own video on it as it's been something I've wanted to do for a while (fit the fpu that is). Was just hoping someone would know why but I think what I'll do is put the speculation out there in the video and you never know, someone might chime in with the answer.

[Jope]

Based on the info available to us, Engineering designed the hardware, made various configurations available and sales offices ordered based on what they thought would sell in their respective markets.

This leads me to believe, that most of the configurations in the A1200 schematics were offered for order, but in the end they all ended up ordering the DD floppy, 2MB Chip, no clock option. I remember there being mention of a possible HD floppy 1MB Chip option for the A1200.

[Weasel Fierce]

How does an auto fire switch actually work? What does it do to produce the effect?

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Weasel Fierce

How does an auto fire switch actually work? What does it do to produce the effect?

It outputs a square wave to the same wire that is connected to the fire button.

[Weasel Fierce]

Originally Posted by Jope

It outputs a square wave to the same wire that is connected to the fire button.

Thanks

[marcfrick2112]

does anyone know what countries Amigas were made in?

[DisasterIncarna]

Originally Posted by marcfrick2112

does anyone know what countries Amigas were made in?

https://www.amigareport.com/ar318/feature1.html

^ that mentions several factories, no idea of a full list.

[marcfrick2112]

Thanks!

[Flimbo]

Does the Terrible Fire accelerator (TF330) improve the performance of CD games on the Amiga CD32?

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Flimbo

Does the Terrible Fire accelerator (TF330) improve the performance of CD games on the Amiga CD32?

It will depend on the game, and whether it does or not will be along the same lines as when a given game is played on the A1200 with or without an '030 acceperator. Games locked to a particular framerate won't benefit, but games like Syndicate and Theme Park, where you can get slowdowns when there's a lot going on, will benefit at times. 3D games will benefit too, e.g. Frontier and Gunship 2000.

[Flimbo]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

It will depend on the game, and whether it does or not will be along the same lines as when a given game is played on the A1200 with or without an '030 acceperator. Games locked to a particular framerate won't benefit, but games like Syndicate and Theme Park, where you can get slowdowns when there's a lot going on, will benefit at times. 3D games will benefit too, e.g. Frontier and Gunship 2000.

Cheers Daedalus.

[NLS]

Originally Posted by DisasterIncarna

https://www.amigareport.com/ar318/feature1.html

^ that mentions several factories, no idea of a full list.

Interesting, I am in the credits of this article. :P

[lyzanxia]

Anybody an estimate when the keyboard power led changed color from red to green? Was it >chickenlips?

[TCD]

Originally Posted by lyzanxia

Anybody an estimate when the keyboard power led changed color from red to green? Was it >chickenlips?

Here's a whole thread about it: https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=83198