New - Amiga Romulator for A500 - A600

[Kalamatee]

@Kipper2k - this is exactly what I have been asking for in the past (at least if you make the 32bit version) to develop AROS for m68k.

Which ARM chip do you use on the board? And is there any way to interact with it (other than reading the ROM contents from it) from the Amiga side?

Also, where does it read the ROM/firmware used on the ARM side from? and can that be updated at a later date?

Thanks for your fantastic work, I hope you manage to get the 32bit version out because I think it exactly meets the needs of many people.

edit:

I would also be interested to know if a 32bit version would work with a powerflyer/mediator combo in an a1200..

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Kalamatee

@Kipper2k - this is exactly what I have been asking for in the past (at least if you make the 32bit version) to develop AROS for m68k.

Which ARM chip do you use on the board? And is there any way to interact with it (other than reading the ROM contents from it) from the Amiga side?

Also, where does it read the ROM/firmware used on the ARM side from? and can that be updated at a later date?

Thanks for your fantastic work, I hope you manage to get the 32bit version out because I think it exactly meets the needs of many people.

edit:

I would also be interested to know if a 32bit version would work with a powerflyer/mediator combo in an a1200..

Hi,

the arm is the st32F205, read post #35 for read/write/update capabilities info. sorry, no idea on the last question with the mediator

[Kalamatee]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Hi,

the arm is the st32F205, read post #35 for read/write/update capabilities info. sorry, no idea on the last question with the mediator

Thanks - I did read that post, but was wondering if you might have a bit more detail on what might be usable/accessible from the Amiga side. I must've miss-read the first paragraph because i didn't really notice the part about updating the arms flash.

Thanks again, and keep hacking on cool projects

[kipper2k]

Basically ATM the Romulator communicates to the Amiga via the 1MB ram and the PC communicates with the Romulator via SD and USB. If Mike has the time he will provide updates to improve on features, i know he has quite a few ideas but time is precious and i am always trying to sidetrack him lol

Next week is time to release details of the next little project, probably Wednesday.

[kriz]

Yes please !!

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

lol, i did, but the Chinese manufacturer removed it. I was going to make the fat part round but that would have turned a few more heads.

[kipper2k]

I just received the CPU/ROM adapter that sits in the Copro slot for the A2000. There is no need for the cpu or the ROM/Romulator to sit in their original sockets anymore. They can now sit on the Copro slot and make it easier for people to swap etc.

below are some pictures...




and ...






and finally





So the A2000 works good, i have a design in for the A1000 so i will be able to see if that works also. I have a few more new things to reveal yet lol

[haightc]

Look forward to this! No more physical kick start swapping and eeprom burning!

[kipper2k]

There will be news tomorrow on availability, and it will be very soon, i wil post info tomorrow

[kipper2k]

Hi All,

Amigaonthelake has a batch of the A500 romulators on their way to him, they will probably be there by the end of the week. If you want one, send him an email/queue add request etc. he will also be getting the new a2000 copro CPU/Rom board and the A1000 CPU/Rom board is about another week away, and a few other goodies

[Lizard]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Hi Marlon.

When you turn your Amiga on you can jump into an "Update Romulator" mode by pressing a set of combo keys which will allow you to download a USB update file if available from your PC directly to the Flash on the Romulator.

When you boot normally into Amiga you simply plug in a USB cable from Romulator to the PC and you will be able to access the SD card on the Romulator allowing you to add/delete files etc

There is no need to remove the SD card from the romulator once you have the romulator installed. The easiest thing to do would be to just feed a USB cable to your PC, i am sure there is someone out there who can design a little USB plate for it

So if you have USB on your Amiga you could write to the SD card to upload a new rom and reboot to activate it?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Lizard

So if you have USB on your Amiga you could write to the SD card to upload a new rom and reboot to activate it?

.

Hi, the Romulator has USB on it, when you connect it to the PC you can transfer files to and from the SD card, reboot and then select your file to boot. You can't connect to a USB device on your amiga there is no pathway.

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

.

Hi, the Romulator has USB on it, when you connect it to the PC you can transfer files to and from the SD card, reboot and then select your file to boot. You can't connect to a USB device on your amiga there is no pathway.

but in #35 you wrote:

When you boot normally into Amiga you simply plug in a USB cable from Romulator to the PC and you will be able to access the SD card on the Romulator allowing you to add/delete files etc

So if you got a (second) USB-Card in your Amiga, you should be able to connect via that and do the same, shouldn't you?

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Gorf

but in #35 you wrote:


So if you got a (second) USB-Card in your Amiga, you should be able to connect via that and do the same, shouldn't you?

if the usb card is connected to a pc yes. as long as your pc sees the device then you can. A PC will see the Romulator when the Amiga is booted... if your other amiga devices can be seen in a PC then you should be able to xfer across devices

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

if the usb card is connected to a pc yes. as long as your pc sees the device then you can. A PC will see the Romulator when the Amiga is booted... if your other amiga devices can be seen in a PC then you should be able to xfer across devices

Again: why would I need a PC for that?

It should be possible, with a second Amiga with a USB-Card or even the same Amiga with a USB-Card eg. a Deneb.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Gorf

Again: why would I need a PC for that?

It should be possible, with a second Amiga with a USB-Card or even the same Amiga with a USB-Card eg. a Deneb.

There is no direct path from the ARM processor to the Amiga, only to the SD card

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

There is no direct path from the ARM processor to the Amiga, only to the SD card

We are talking about two different things ... I assume, if you connect the Romulator via cable to a PC is appears as mass storage device. Same if you connect it to a Mac.

It should also appear on a Deneb in a second Amiga if you connect the cable to that.

Why wouldn't it appear on your Amiga if the Deneb is in the same Amiga as the Romulator (as long as you connect the USB-cable of course!)

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Gorf

We are talking about two different things ... I assume, if you connect the Romulator via cable to a PC is appears as mass storage device. Same if you connect it to a Mac.

It should also appear on a Deneb in a second Amiga if you connect the cable to that.

Why wouldn't it appear on your Amiga if the Deneb is in the same Amiga as the Romulator (as long as you connect the USB-cable of course!)

I don't have a Deneb to try so i cannot investigate that, the boot up sequence consists of...
hold amiga in reset, Arm takes control, displays menu, waits for input, USB is not active, Once rom selected from menu xfer to ram, release reset, start amiga and enable usb access to the SD card

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

I don't have a Deneb to try so i cannot investigate that, the boot up sequence consists of...
hold amiga in reset, Arm takes control, displays menu, waits for input, USB is not active, Once rom selected from menu xfer to ram, release reset, start amiga and enable usb access to the SD card

As long as it acts as a standard USB mass storage device and does not use any fancy protocols, it should also work with Amiga-USB-Conlollers like the Deneb....

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by Gorf

As long as it acts as a standard USB mass storage device and does not use any fancy protocols, it should also work with Amiga-USB-Conlollers like the Deneb....

i will try to find an answer for you