ACA1233N + 1233N.library + MMU.library

[giZmo350]

Hi all, I finally got around to installing my ACA1233N accelerator. I downloaded the latest SW from iComp and thought I would go thru a pretend install first. I like to see where everything is going. All good. Then I came to a screen that states “If you want to use this SW with the MMULib by Thomas Richter, we’ll have to create a special config for mum.library. It will either be created or attached to your existing config in ENVARC:mmu-configuration. Would you like to do this now?

So, I went and downloaded ThoR’s MMULIB package and read thru the docs and guides. It seems that the only thing I really need to install is MMU.library in Libs. I also checked to see if I had an existing mmi-configuration file in ENVARC - which I don’t. I don’t usually install performance software if I don’t need it but I have read a lot about the mmu.library over time and thought it might help the performance of the ACA1233N.

So question is, has anyone here that owns an ACA1233N installed the mmu.library along with the ACA1233N.library? Did it give any performance boost? I’m not going to load an alternate KS-ROM with MapRom (just load my 3.1 KS into memory) unless there’s a patched ROM file (in DEVS) in the mmu.library package, that will also boost performance.

Any comments or advice from anyone with an ACA1233N would be great! Thanks!

[giZmo350]

WOW! This A1200 boots more than twice as fast now. Programs and HDD games load lickity split! So, here’s what I accomplished…

(In order)
Installed AC1233N
Installed MMU.library (ThoR)
Installed 68030.library (ThoR)

Installed (manually) ACA1233N.library (iComp)

Installed (manually) C:ACAMapRom (iComp)

Installed ACA1233N Tools (iComp) via ACA1233N install routine

Installed MMU-Configuration file in Prefs/Env-Archive via ACA1233N install routine (which added the line: SetCacheMode from $47e80000 size 0x0f800 to valid)

Added C:ACAMapROM I >NIL: to Startup-Sequence

Added C:CPU DataBurst >NIL: to Startup-Sequence (for some reason my card does NOT startup with Data Burst enabled)

Blazing Fast! Thinking about adding an FPU now. 

Thank you Jens for creating a fairly straight forward install routine!
http://wiki.icomp.de/w/images/2/21/ACA1233nLib.lha

Also huge Thanks to Thomas Richter for this great MMU library!
http://aminet.net/package/util/libs/MMULib

[paul1981]

Does it work if you turn data burst back on after bootup? SysInfo is what people use to gauge the speed of these cards so that you'll know it's running at the speed it should. What mips do you get?

[giZmo350]

Hi Paul!     I guess I should have mentioned that I had the card in the A1200 for a couple of weeks with no software installed (performed no better than my ACA1232@33MHz - which motivated me). I had run SysInfo a few times and noticed that Data Burst was never ON. I could turn it on with a button in SysInfo but was never sure if it was actually ON until I read that you can control many functions of the CPU at the command line. That was actually kind of fun as I could toggle the Data Burst with SysInfo and could immediately see the result by running the CPU using CLI. Typing "CPU ?" showed me all the CPU arguments available. AmigaOS is so cool. So, I added C:CPU DataBurst >NIL: in the startup-sequence which turns it on at startup (verified with SysInfo). Problem solved.

MIPS.... ahhh, that brings me to another little problem. I run WB in Super Plus mode and SysInfo is the only program that won't cooperate at that screen resolution. The program is shifted about 30% to the left and top of the screen which prevents me from seeing the mips calculation. I had this problem with a few other programs. However, I was able to correct those telling the offending program what screen res to use in their screen menus and hit save. SysInfo has no way to do that - I read the guide to see if I could some how force SysInfo to use Super Plus (800x600) but can't figure it out. Is there a way, maybe in SysInfo's "Tool Type" to do that? Would be great if I could. Then I could tell you the MIPS of the board! 

[giZmo350]

MIPS.... ahhh, that brings me to another little problem. I run WB in Super Plus mode and SysInfo is the only program that won't cooperate at that screen resolution. The program is shifted about 30% to the left and top of the screen which prevents me from seeing the mips calculation. I had this problem with a few other programs. However, I was able to correct those telling the offending program what screen res to use at startup. SysInfo has no way to do that - I read the guide to see if I could some how force SysInfo to use Super Plus (800x600) but can't figure it out. Is there a way, maybe in SysInfo's "Tool Type" to do that? Would be great if I could. Then I could tell you the MIPS of the board! 

Okay, solved that (temporarily?) after reading that I can drag the SysInfo screen to the left and down by holding the left "A" key and dragging the screen! This function, I learned, is possible my checking "Mode Promotion" in iControl. Learn something new everyday!!!! 

SysInfo MIPS = 9.24
Sysinfo Dhrystone = 8828

[goldfish]

MMU.lib is important if you use a mediator board my A1200 would crash every time without this lib took me ages to find this out.

[paul1981]

Hi Paul!     I guess I should have mentioned that I had the card in the A1200 for a couple of weeks with no software installed (performed no better than my ACA1232@33MHz - which motivated me). I had run SysInfo a few times and noticed that Data Burst was never ON. I could turn it on with a button in SysInfo but was never sure if it was actually ON until I read that you can control many functions of the CPU at the command line. That was actually kind of fun as I could toggle the Data Burst with SysInfo and could immediately see the result by running the CPU using CLI. Typing "CPU ?" showed me all the CPU arguments available. AmigaOS is so cool. So, I added C:CPU DataBurst >NIL: in the startup-sequence which turns it on at startup (verified with SysInfo). Problem solved.

MIPS.... ahhh, that brings me to another little problem. I run WB in Super Plus mode and SysInfo is the only program that won't cooperate at that screen resolution. The program is shifted about 30% to the left and top of the screen which prevents me from seeing the mips calculation. I had this problem with a few other programs. However, I was able to correct those telling the offending program what screen res to use in their screen menus and hit save. SysInfo has no way to do that - I read the guide to see if I could some how force SysInfo to use Super Plus (800x600) but can't figure it out. Is there a way, maybe in SysInfo's "Tool Type" to do that? Would be great if I could. Then I could tell you the MIPS of the board! 

I got the wrong end of the stick, my mistake. I read it as in you had problems booting with data burst enabled. I have the ACA1232 @ 33MHz which uses the ACATune command to enable all the features, but alas, it's sitting in it's box currently. Your mips rating sounds about right for that card so that's good news. I'll overclock my card one day when I get around to it!