New products for C64 and Amiga from Individual Computers

[Retroplay]

My A1200 has 3.0 roms and it still conflicts with the MBX1200 (not MBX1200z) in 8mb mode.

[mfilos]

Using PCMCIA access especially for network usage is not fun with 4MB RAM.
For transferring files via PCMCIA2CF is just fine though.

[clauddio]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

My A1200 has 3.0 roms and it still conflicts with the MBX1200 (not MBX1200z) in 8mb mode.

uppps that is so rare because the bug is related to kick 3.1 not for a specific turboboard or ram card which uses zorro 2 memory

[TotO]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

The IDE controller is a Buddha with TrueIDE built-in. Buddha is a PIO-only controller

I understand that you want to reuse your past technology for that, but IDE DMA controllers already exist since many years and will allow multi-tasking, like SCSI does?

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

If you decide to hack the card, I'm officially out of the game. If I make a public documentation, this might be mistaken for a "recommended way to do it", but the only recommendation I can give is to leave it as supplied. It's quite fast for a 16MHz card.

Jens

I did say I accepted it would void my warranty.. but not telling us how is just not fun!

[TotO]

Better to use it first at 16MHz to see if it's enough for your use, no?

[clauddio]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

\o/

Just arrived!

post a sysinfo screenshot I wonder if this is faster than A1200+ fast ram

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by clauddio

post a sysinfo screenshot I wonder if this is faster than A1200+ fast ram

Here ya go (but this isn't configured with Maprom yet!)



Oh and the card installed

[strim]

Hi Jens.

Just wanted to say that I like all these technical details in the ACA620 manual. I'd love to see similar documentation for Indivision AGA Mk2 (once the core is finished, naturally).

[demolition]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Here ya go (but this isn't configured with Maprom yet!)

Have you tried it any further?

I just received my ACA620 today and have spent some hours trying to get it to work, however I am having trouble getting it to run stable.
Needless to say, WB was majorly faster than on a standard A600.

However, I had random errors and crashes, so I did some memory tests and it did found random errors. Some of it might have been caused by the board temperature as the error numbers seemed to lower after I lifted the KB away to let it breathe.

I also couldn't get the maprom feature to work properly with a 40.063 KS I have on my HDD. First of all, avail shows 9MB (4+4+1) of fast memory even after a cold boot before running -maxmem, when it should show 5MB.
When I ran acatune -maxmem after rebooting the 40.063 KS in maprom, I lost all chipmem as avail then showed 0MB chip and 11MB Fast. Could this be some incompatibility with the 40.063 KS? Could someone with a 40.063 hardware ROM confirm this?

[mfilos]

Maybe put a mini VGA heatsink on top of the hole where the CPU is visible from the top just to give it some better heat dissipation.
How are you loading the 40.063 ROM (declaration of ACATune), and is the 3.1 ROM a normal ROM or an encrypted Cloanto one?

[demolition]

I could put a heatsink on it, but if it was needed I would expect it to already be there, right? My A600 is pretty standard, except from a 1MB chip trapdoor expansion and a CF card located left of the ACA620, but not touching it.

The ROM is a normal one, not from Cloanto (don't think it would even boot as it would be garbage). I have used the same ROM with skick where it works fine (it checks the checksum so I assume it is fine).

Edit: I have ACAtune 1.7 (took a while finding it) and the commandline I am using is 'acatune -maprom hd0:devs/kickstarts/kick40063.A600 -maxmem', so nothing fancy. Think it might work better with a A1200 KS?

[mfilos]

OFC NOT. 1200's KS has AGA graphics.library that wouldn't work on your ECS Amiga.
Why don't you try this command:

C:ACATune -maprom devs:kickstarts/kick40063.A600 -cache on -burst on >NIL:

I'm not familiar with the usage of -maxmem option

Edit: Ok I know read the manual and saw that in order to get more than 5MB you need to add this option as well.
Just add it to the command I guess and will be ok

Now if accelerator is ultra stable as it should despite the hotness of the 020 CPU, only Jens can tell
I just adviced after you telling that once you lifted the keyboard, the memory errors decreased

[demolition]

Originally Posted by mfilos

OFC NOT. 1200's KS has AGA graphics.library that wouldn't work on your ECS Amiga.
Why don't you try this command:

C:ACATune -maprom devs:kickstarts/kick40063.A600 -cache on -burst on >NIL:

I'm not familiar with the usage of -maxmem option

Edit: Ok I know read the manual and saw that in order to get more than 5MB you need to add this option as well.
Just add it to the command I guess and will be ok

Now if accelerator is ultra stable as it should despite the hotness of the 020 CPU, only Jens can tell
I just adviced after you telling that once you lifted the keyboard, the memory errors decreased

As far as I can see, cache is on as default and burst is not supported on the ACA620. But even without using acatune, it still fails the memory test.

I remember Jens writing somewhere that the EC020 should run relatively cool, thus not needing a heat sink. I might try putting a fan on it to see if it will remove the memory errors completely.

I do have another suspicion now though, my PSU. Using the floppy drive caused it to crash, so I took a look at my PSU and the +5V is actually at 4.75V even with easy loads. This was never a problem when the A600 was running stock speeds, but maybe the margin is too low now? The PSU is an old PC AT so it has plenty of power, but the regulation seems to be a bit off.

[fitzsteve]

Hey folks, just got round to testing my ACA again with a more advanced workbench and ACATune (workbench was created by mfilos for his ACA630)

Pleased to say it works fast and responsive with the ACA620 too, with ACATune 1.7 and testing now only with Maprom & Maxmem settings (I still need to read up on the ACA620's supported options)

Subway USB is working too







Much better speeds on the IDE now too!

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by demolition

As far as I can see, cache is on as default and burst is not supported on the ACA620. But even without using acatune, it still fails the memory test.

I remember Jens writing somewhere that the EC020 should run relatively cool, thus not needing a heat sink. I might try putting a fan on it to see if it will remove the memory errors completely.

I do have another suspicion now though, my PSU. Using the floppy drive caused it to crash, so I took a look at my PSU and the +5V is actually at 4.75V even with easy loads. This was never a problem when the A600 was running stock speeds, but maybe the margin is too low now? The PSU is an old PC AT so it has plenty of power, but the regulation seems to be a bit off.

.25v isnt really a big deal, much more likely that the socket over the 68k isnt engaged as well as it needs to be and is causing the errors you are seeing - I'd remove it and then really push it down solidly.

PS, That said it wouldnt hurt to try a different PSU (even the stock 25w should be ok without an external drive attached).

[demolition]

Originally Posted by dJOS

.25v isnt really a big deal, much more likely that the socket over the 68k isnt engaged as well as it needs to be and is causing the errors you are seeing - I'd remove it and then really push it down solidly.

PS, That said it wouldnt hurt to try a different PSU (even the stock 25w should be ok without an external drive attached).

I have one of the heavy 25W around, will try that one tonight and see if it improves anything.

It doesn't feel like it is solidly connected to the CPU, and no matter how hard I push there is always a small gap between the socket and the motherboard. The socket will also tilt a bit if I push down at a corner.
Also, I weren't able to get a picture before I had cleaned CPU pins with ethanol. Maybe I should clean it again just to be sure the connections are good.

[dJOS]

Originally Posted by demolition

I have one of the heavy 25W around, will try that one tonight and see if it improves anything.

It doesn't feel like it is solidly connected to the CPU, and no matter how hard I push there is always a small gap between the socket and the motherboard. The socket will also tilt a bit if I push down at a corner.
Also, I weren't able to get a picture before I had cleaned CPU pins with ethanol. Maybe I should clean it again just to be sure the connections are good.

Use isopropyl, it doesn't leave a residue.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by demolition

First of all, avail shows 9MB (4+4+1) of fast memory even after a cold boot before running -maxmem, when it should show 5MB.

This is where I'd say "don't continue any further until you have exactly 5MB on a cold start". It's either you have some software that adds memory where it should not (and naturally this will crash and fail in a memory test), or you have a PCMCIA card installed that adds memory, which is not recommended.

Please dig through your startup-sequence. Could it be that you've had a memory expansion before you bought the ACA620? Could it be that you have some leftovers in your startup-sequence, user-startup or WBstartup?

Originally Posted by demolition

When I ran acatune -maxmem after rebooting the 40.063 KS in maprom, I lost all chipmem as avail then showed 0MB chip and 11MB Fast. Could this be some incompatibility with the 40.063 KS? Could someone with a 40.063 hardware ROM confirm this?

ACAtune does not touch Chipmem. Again, there's something going severely wrong in your Amiga.

Your explanation of "board is tilted no matter how hard you push" is also weird, as it will only "click" in place when it's properly aligned. If you push on it when it's not properly aligned, you have damaged your socket. If you can, please take a closeup photo of your setup, so the "tilting" gets visible. Yes, you do need a lot of force to push it all the way down. However, it's humanly possible to apply that force with your thumbs. Even my girlfriend can do it ;-)

Jens

[demolition]

I was running a fully clean boot, i.e. with startup-sequence disabled as I didn't want anything to interfere. I also did not have any peripherals or PCMCIA card connected.

I was paying attention to centering and leveling the socket properly prior to installation, applying light force in the beginning to avoid damaging the socket, and not applying high force until it was needed. There was a lot of creaking noises as it went down, but no click or locking feeling. Looking at the socket, no damage can be seen (don't know if you can see it if it happened?). I pushed as hard as I felt was safe as the motherboard was bending down quite a bit.

I will post some pictures of the installation tonight.