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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Hardware News => Topic started by: Spidi on February 23, 2016, 04:12:13 PM

Title: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: Spidi on February 23, 2016, 04:12:13 PM
A500Flash (http://retro.7-bit.pl/?lang=en&go=projekty&name=a500flash) is a Kickstart switcher allowing Flash-memory reprogramming. The device should be installed inside the Amiga A500/A500+/A2000.

The design of Flash memory chips being used in our product enables loading another Kickstart image by running additional software on the same Amiga computer and subsequent switching between available ROM images by holding down CTRL+A+A keys.

(http://retro.7-bit.pl/images/A500Flash_250.png)

A500Flash 5k

A500Flash 1M

Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: apsturk on February 24, 2016, 03:34:50 AM
I am not sure i get it? Why would someone buy this over any other. There is only 1 ROM pinout is that the flash ram part, if so why and how does it work. Please inform me with some details  THANKS
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 24, 2016, 03:37:52 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks like an easy way to flash a custom 1MB ROM image (such as those custom 3.9 Kickstarts) into an A500/2000, correct?  If so, that's pretty sweet!  :)
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: apsturk on February 24, 2016, 04:10:45 AM
One would think it does state "standard and extended ROM images" I don't know much about them. Question would the DOS part of the system on the ROM operate faster, kind of like a MAP ROM? I am just guessing ?  Thanks Mike
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: QuikSanz on February 24, 2016, 04:45:07 AM
But won't a 1Meg chip eat into bus max? or is it not mapped that way.
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on February 24, 2016, 05:18:12 AM
Quote from: QuikSanz;804542
But won't a 1Meg chip eat into bus max? or is it not mapped that way.

That's an interesting question.  CD32 and A1200 support 1MB, the others 512K?  Not counting the various "Romy" hacks that allow A3k and A4k to support 1MB.

Trusty Wikipedia tells me the following:

0x00F0 0000     512.0     512K System ROM (reserved for extended ROM image e.g. CDTV or CD³²)
0x00F8 0000     256.0     256K System ROM (Kickstart 2.04 or higher)
0x00FC 0000     256.0     256K System ROM

(link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Memory_map))

Maybe it banks into that additional space?  I've never seen a memory map that lists it like that, not that I spend a lot of time studying A500 memory maps.  ;)

Again, this is one of those products that would probably sell a whole lot better if it was more clearly explained.  I'm in though, if it does what I think it can do.  One of my biggest reservations about burning custom 3.9 ROM's is I just don't want to buy the hardware (http://www.mfilos.com/2010/12/guide-create-and-burn-custom-kickstart.html), LOL.  ;)
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: NorthWay on February 24, 2016, 08:39:05 AM
All Amigas Kickstarts check $F00000-$F7FFFF for a "Diag ROM" signature during early startup.

That is how the CS060 (and I expect all other 060 cards) can run with existing KS versions - there is a small ROM that has a snippet of code that fixes the FPU so it doesn't throw exceptions and continously resets your machine.

All you need is to make sure the addressing reaches your ROM which might need some Gary or other chips prodding. Then you have another 512M that will be scanned for OS modules just like the regular ROM at $F80000. IIRC - it's been a while since I looked at the gory tech details.
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: psxphill on February 24, 2016, 09:06:14 AM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;804543
Not counting the various "Romy" hacks that allow A3k and A4k to support 1MB.

There are similar hacks to get 1mb rom in an a500, AFAICT the extra 512k is mapped at the same address ($e00000 as on the a1200/a3000/a4000)

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/A2000Kickstart.html

Apparently the cdtv memory card slot also appears at $e00000. If this board follows the same convention as other hacks, then I would expect problems on the cdtv.

Quote from: QuikSanz;804542
But won't a 1Meg chip eat into bus max? or is it not mapped that way.

It shouldn't eat into the 2mb chip, 8mb fast, 1.8mb trapdoor "ranger"/"slow" ram space.

However if a product like the http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA620#Memory came along that could map memory anywhere you wanted within the first 16mb then then you would have 512k ram less address space to put ram in. If you want a 1mb kickstart rom then it has to go somewhere.
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: polyp2000 on February 24, 2016, 11:18:19 AM
Quote from: Spidi;804476
A500Flash (http://retro.7-bit.pl/?lang=en&go=projekty&name=a500flash) is a Kickstart switcher allowing Flash-memory reprogramming. The device should be installed inside the Amiga A500/A500+/A2000.

The design of Flash memory chips being used in our product enables loading another Kickstart image by running additional software on the same Amiga computer and subsequent switching between available ROM images by holding down CTRL+A+A keys.

(http://retro.7-bit.pl/images/A500Flash_250.png)

A500Flash 5k

  • designed for Amiga A500/A500+/A2000 models,
  • comes with 512kB of built-in Flash memory,
  • support for 512kB ROM images – only the primary ones,
  • switching between available Kickstart images by holding down CTRL+A+A keys for about 3 seconds,
  • original ROM chip required,
  • PCB boards installation in place of original ROM and Gary chip,
  • Flash chips programming using native Amiga OS software,
  • included software requires Amiga OS 1.3+

A500Flash 1M

  • designed for Amiga A500/A500+/A2000 models,
  • comes with 1MB of built-in Flash memory,
  • support for 1MB ROM images - standard and extended ROM images,
  • switching between available Kickstart images by holding down CTRL+A+A keys for about 3 seconds,
  • original ROM chip required,
  • PCB boards installation in place of original ROM and Gary chip,
  • Flash chips programming using native Amiga OS software,
  • included software requires Amiga OS 1.3+



Is there an a1200 version in the pipeline?
Title: Re: A500Flash - new Kickstart switcher
Post by: trekiej on February 24, 2016, 06:00:11 PM
I hope this turns out well. It is good to see more cool stuff for the Amiga.