A600 Options

[fitzsteve]

Sorry me again!

I'm going to be getting an A600 and i've been trying out the GAAE packs on winuae with a 500+ setup (2mb chip/2mb fast) this is what my actual 600 will have as i've snapped up a 2mb sram card I've been trying out my WHDLoad games with Winuae and there seems to be plenty of ram to run my fav's like Dizzy's/Test Drive/Swiv/Silkworm so I'll be a happy chappy

I must say this is a very nice pack and is probably what I will use at first.

But.. If I upgrade the rom to 3.1 is there anything stopping me using CWB Lite? Full or ADV was use way tooo much ram I don't think the 600 can do couor pallet in adv can it? Plus with half the speed processor of an 020 I am guessing it would be toooo slow. I've read the a 600 with 3.1 rom can run WB3.1 so lite should work?

My eventual aim is to build a kick ass A600 but it seems upgrades as far as CPU are as rare as rocking horse shi...

Thanks for any input and sorry to keep burdening you with my crazy idea's!

Steve.

[Bloodwych]

Yay, my best customer!

The LITE and above require an 020, as they are optimized for this CPU and above. All can be made to work with an ECS chipset, but with the limit of 16 colours and probably run slower in comparision to a similar colour depth on AGA.

However, last year (or the year before) I did a conversion of the LITE for 68000 processors and that's the one you need to use if you get 3.1 ROMS:

http://classicwb.abime.net/classicweb/68k.htm

You've probably been staring at it - it's the one on the left! It doesn't have the copper background as ECS doesn't have the colours to make it worthwhile.

Many things had to be replaced - Dopus, Newicons, Texteditor, executables in C, libraries, FBlit removed etc - but I tried to keep it as close to the LITE version as possible.

One thing to note in the LITE, 68K and GAAE versions is I disable some components by default to free up as much memory for 2MB machines. The first thing you want to do after installing is go to Settings->Components and enable things like SmartWin if it causes you no issues, as it speeds up screen drawing nicely. The Virus scanner thinks it's a suspicious vector in memory, another reason why I disable it by default, but it's fine.

[fitzsteve]

Yep I've been trying that one too (68k)

Just miss scalos (Any way to get it on 68k?)

Will aslmost certainly pick up a 3.1 rom, Amigamaniac works out at £11 posted

When I get my 600 I'll let you know how I get on

Update (Just read on Scalos page you need an 020 so that rules scalos out.)

In which case the 68k will be my CWB

[Bloodwych]

The LITE version doesn't run Scalos either - some people don't like Scalos for some reason and like to run this version as it's a pure Workbench environment even if they've got the RAM to go with the FULL and above. The LITE is targeted at 2MB machines, so uses much less resources and hard drive space than the FULL. Plus it has smaller drawer icons for faster performance on A1200's without fastram. It's lean and mean! Perhaps that's why people like using it as a base install then add their own stuff.

Yep, as you read Scalos itself is 020 only - it would run too slow on a 68000 anyway (MUI is slow on 68000 CPU's - the frontend Scalos uses for requesters). The 68000 and ECS chipset are a lot slower than the 32bit 020/AGA at screen redraws.

I'm afraid there are quite a few sacrifices when running a 68000. FBlit can't be enabled to store certain graphics or newicons in fastram. iGame isn't included either as it's 020 only.

Luckily I managed to get hold of an older version of Newicons that still supported 68000 CPU's, as the later versions are also 020+ only. Plus I needed to find the last version of Dopus to support 68000 CPU's - again later versions are 020. The Gamelist launchers still work - but a fully populated one might take some time to initially open!

TTManager under Workbench->System->Icon Properties is an important tool for the LITE and below. It replaces the Scalos Info requester giving you back the ability to easily change icon properties via drag and drop. There is a readme file included anyway plus more info on the webpage about features.

[alexh]

What feature of SCALOS do you miss?

If it is just 'asynchronous workbench' perhaps there is an alternative for 68k?

While I have never used it, I am told the most important software upgrade a 68k Amiga can get is PFS3.

[fitzsteve]

its the menu and icon handling I like most. It seems much more conventional to me than the regular workbench functionality.

When i originaly had my 1200 setup I had an 85mb hard drive and a standard 3.0 workbench. I played all my games from floppy so rarely used workbench I guess this is why it feels a little unnatural and scalos fixes that.

But with that said this will just be a simple setup without the frills just for gaming with the old skool ecs games. 68k or GAAE will be fine. Also will probably only populate with my top 50 or something...

Thanks for the advice. Oh and what it PFS3?

Steve.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

what it PFS3?

It is file system. A faster alternative to FFS. Really makes a big difference to the speed of all your disk access.

The free alternative, SFS, is 020+ only. PFS3 is commercial but is 68000 compatible.

[fitzsteve]

Thanks for the tip Alexh

[alexh]

If you've never tried SFS on your A1200 you should do it now.

http://strohmayer.org/sfs/

[fitzsteve]

Thanks alex I will have to try this out. Only using 4 of my 40gb hard drive. Just sacred i might make a mess of it lol.

I do also have one more question re the A600. Ive been trying out different things in WinUAE with CWB GAAE and 2.5 rom the quit key for WHDLoad dont work I understand this is a limitation of the rom but is there a work around?

Steve.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

the quit key for WHDLoad dont work I understand this is a limitation of the ROM but is there a work around?

Nothing to do with the ROM it is a limitation of the 68000 CPU. Only work around is to ask the WHDLoad slave writer to make that game slave use a method of quit key compatible with 68000.

[asm1]

Best upgrade for an A600 is an A1200 motherboard (been done)

As for the quit key - have you tried changing it in whdload prefs ? ( S/WHDLoad.prefs )

;QuitKey=$59 (take ; out to uncomment)

$59 is F10 which is what I set mine to.

The key codes can be found here

Hope this helps

[alexh]

I am 100% positive that it is a limitation of the CPU / slave.

[Hungry Horace]

alexh is right, a limitation of the CPU/WHDload slave.

What specific game are you referring to? 68000/NOVBRMOVE compatible quitkeys are becoming commonplace amongst slaves now though from what i've seen. They arent too difficult to add really, even i try to make sure they are included in any slaves i modify, and i'm hardly an expert.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by asm1

Best upgrade for an A600 is an A1200 motherboard (been done)

Hmm I saw that on Amibay, i'm not quite ready for that much of a hardcore mod yet but I like the idea


Thanks for the input.

It wasn't a specific game, I tried a handful of games under winuae emulation 68000 with Rom 2.05, 2mb chip and 2mb fast since I have an SRAM card (i'm testing these setting). This was with CWB GAAE, all the games I tried couldn't be quit out of...

Still trying to test a 3.1 rom 68000 setup but winuae wont accept a 68000 with 3.1 rom... Will have to wait for the real thing to try that I guess, but as its a limitation of the cpu that wont help here...

Not too fussed about the quit key, its a nice feature but as long as it boots fast I dont mind resetting...

I'm useless when it comes to all these tool types, slaves, etc. I try to learn but back in the day my Amiga gaming was done on floppy's.

Steve.

[Bloodwych]

For WinUAE like the real thing, you need the A600 3.1 ROMS and not the A1200 3.1 ROMS - they're different and you must have the right ones to go with a 68000 CPU.

If you can't get the quit key working - remember the ClassicWB packs have a multiboot RAD: option. So you can just reset the Amiga and it will boot straight back into the Gameslist.

[Magno Boots]

To be honest Stevo; you're going to be dissapointed with your proposed 600 after your 1200 experiences.

The 3.1 rom takes an awfully long time to boot in comparison.. at least fifteen to twenty seconds, even with a CFHD installed.

WHDload seems to take an age to load anything even with 2mb SRAM and 2mb on board.

The quit key can be changed with some games, but for those that cannot....yet another soft boot and another long wait.

I'm not trying to put you off Steve, I just believe that the 600 should be used as a floppy driven games machine and only upgraded should you manage to obtain an 020 or 030 acellerator.

Magno

[fitzsteve]

Thanks for the advice mango

I'm not setting my expectations too high though...

I have 100's & 100's of games on floppy so it will get some floppy use

Re: an 020/030 these must ber very rare for the 600?

[Peter]

030's for A600's are very rare and from my experience they can be unstable.

My A600 project is still ongoing - I am still waiting on some definite news regarding the A608 Memory upgrade for one thing.

Once you put the lid back on an A600 project there is a feeling of... what now?
I say this because I agree with some opinions here that the expansion possibilities of the A600 in comparison to the A1200 or A500 are very limited.

Nice Amiga - I love my A600 but it is slow and the size of it although cute means hardly any room inside... mind you I know Cammy and Zetr0 both have great A600 machines/projects.

[Gordon]

I love my 600 becuase it was my 1st. But it just sits in the cupboard now after installing a HD, added 2+4mb ram and painting it black. After a while I started to miss 020/030 speeds, AGA games and most importantly for me having all the pitches available in SWOS.