ECS and OCS

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by redblade

*ouch* What happened after? Did you have to re release a 101% fix or just update the patched disk01.dms file?

Ii didn't know about the issue until I saw this post - it's probably a bit late now for a 101% fix lol. The cracktro can easily be removed from the startup-sequence

[pandy71]

Originally Posted by redblade

I guess this is where the bug is where you had to add to end of copperlist to the end of the copperlist?

dc.w $ffff,$fffe
dc.w $ffff,$fffe

Perhaps this issue was never fixed since ICS... or never considered to be fixed in hardware as easy workaround in software already exist...
There is many quirks and fixes in Amiga trough iteration of silicone - just check how many different revisions of Agnus exist... Relatively stable (from ICS to AGA) Paula has two official revisions but how many between them...?

[Toni Wilen]

I don't think this bug exists in any production Agnus version, not even A1000 Agnus.

Copper does fetch next word after last $ffff,$fffe before internal COP1LC copy but this is harmless. Perhaps it wasn't that harmless in early Agnus versions?

Another possibility is that early pre-production Agnus versions didn't have copper blitter wait bit (can be seen in leaked Agnus schematics) and perhaps this update also fixed the bug?

[SquawkBox]

@antonvaltaz

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

A couple of cracktros too (I identified two actually, there may be more)

Just found another one :
Fire and Brimstone (1990)(Firebird)[cr ACC - Defjam - CCS][t +6 Supreme - Supplex]

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Oops.. not sure what happened there but somehow I screwed up the QTX intro that had been used many times before and added something that broke it for older kickstart 1.x

Had a quick look, there is a bug when closing graphics.library, register a1 is trashed in the LoadView() call so the following call to CloseLibrary() crashes. The intro only works by coincidence on other Kickstart versions as a1 may not be trashed in the LoadView call.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Had a quick look, there is a bug when closing graphics.library, register a1 is trashed in the LoadView() call so the following call to CloseLibrary() crashes. The intro only works by coincidence on other Kickstart versions as a1 may not be trashed in the LoadView call.

Well that's very awesome of you to look into that for me

Sent from my XQ-AT51 using Tapatalk

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by redblade

Just saw the EHB is not an ECS mode, just some A1000 does not support it.

Yeah, I was also confused on this.

@Everyone
So, what are the REAL advantages of ECS over OCS, apart from being able to use 2MB chip Ram?
Can (maybe) ECS use 128 colors in EHB?

[DanyPPC]

ECS permits 64 colors in EHB, OCS not.

With ECS you have more resolutions available, as 1280 x 512 or 800 x 600 Multiscan for examples.
These aren't very usable with a poor 68000, but are there available on enhanced chipset.

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by DanyPPC

ECS permits 64 colors in EHB, OCS not.

Not true, EHB is not an ECS feature, only very early A1000 models lack the EHB mode.

[DanyPPC]

Yes, you are right

[Toni Wilen]

ECS added:

- borderblanking (which is probably the most useful feature of ECS Denise) (ECS Denise)
- superhires (ECS Agnus + ECS Denise) but only 4 colors out of 64 supported.
- new genlock features (that afaik nobody used) (ECS Denise)
- programmed display mode support (BEAMCON0 and friends, width, height, h/v sync and h/v blank programmable) (ECS Agnus + ECS Denise)
- PAL/NTSC software switching (ECS Agnus)
- larger blit size (ECS Agnus)
- UHRES support (that was never used) (ECS Agnus)
- bitplane start/end DMA granularity increased, every 2nd (even) DMA slot possible (was every 4th DMA slot in OCS) (ECS Agnus). This is basically main reason for corrupted graphics in some demos and games.
- sprite DMA vs bitplane DMA off-by-one fix. Second sprite control was stolen by bitplane DMA even if slot was free but next slot was used by bitplane. (ECS Agnus)
- bitplane sequencer was changed (required to support programmed modes). Undefined behavior differences. This also affects some demos. (ECS Agnus)
- Denise internal bitplane shifters changed (afaik OCS supported hires by having 2 shifters interleaved because OCS technology wasn't fast enough. In ECS shres is interleaved, hires isn't anymore) (ECS Denise)
- Wider DMA pointers (1M/2M Chip RAM support) (ECS Agnus)
- BLTCON1 DOFF bit (not useful for anything, probably some testing feature) (ECS Agnus)
- BLTCON0L (alternate blittern minterm register) (ECS Agnus)
- COPCON CDANG bit behavior changed, any register is copper writable if CDANG=1, OCS never allowed writes to $DFF040 or lower. (ECS Agnus)
- DIWHIGH, bitplane DIW start/stop full range support (Vertical in ECS Agnus + horizontal in ECS Denise)

Added:

- Blanking bug fixed (first and last blanked line is not fully blanked, normally invisible unless full overscan is visible). (ECS Denise)

And probably more..

[DanyPPC]

Wow !
I didn't know all these differences!

[SquawkBox]

@antonvaltaz
I noticed a strange phenomenon with Super Hang-On on my ECS 1 MB A500 (rev. 6a, flashed with latest FlashFloppy firmware). Said game (any version) simply won't load with standard config. Workaround : Switching my machine to boot with 3.1 Kickstart, then loading occurs in a snap .
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Super Hang-On requires 3.1 KS, just that when confronted precisely with Super Hang-On, my machine (could it be the case with any other 1.3 KS ECS Amiga out there ?) pulls up out of nowhere that requirement for some reason.

[Weasel Fierce]

Didn't the Productivity screen mode get added in ECS too?

[No.3]

Technically speaking, ECS made the graphics programmable. Productivity was the first new graphics mode introduced with OS 2.0, but ECS is also able to display the new modes introduced with OS 3.0 (DBLxxx, Euro xx, and so on) but with the known limitations.

[ipod_sock]

Originally Posted by indigolemon

Holy 11 year bump batman ??

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Ras Voja

Also, for dBlPal modes wickedly needed for Paula AHI 14 bit mode ECS is required. A big thing if Paula only user.

Nope, you don't need DblPAL/DblNTSC for 14 bit audio on Paula. You need those modes for 44.1kHz audio output, whether it's 8-bit or 14-bit.

[SquawkBox]

@antonvaldaz
Classic Pucman (F1 Licenceware) requires 2.04+ Kickstart.

[Megalomaniac]

International One Day Cricket (of all things) needs 1Mb chip RAM for some reason, I've tried various 512+512 configs and it fails on them all.

[oscar_ates]

A500+ had real time clock I remember. That was the only difference I felt