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Offline sovietTopic starter

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best way to softkick using a T536
« on: March 17, 2021, 06:21:47 PM »
Hi guys,

Got recently a terriblefire TF536 and have a full 68030 cpu on it.
I have it installed on an Amiga 500+ and using the new kickstart rom 3.1.4
The ide performance is quite poor, and was told that softkicking the kickstart rom could improve the speed dramatically.

Not sure what is the best option to softkick kickstart 3.1.4 on this accelerator ?.

 :)
 

Offline Pat the Cat

Re: best way to softkick using a T536
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2021, 10:17:25 PM »
I don't know about "best" but the one I'd try first is the one built in to the os.

https://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/AmigaOS_Manual:_AmigaDOS_Command_Reference#CPU

"FastROM" switch. Plus other switches in case you need to turn Burst or a cache off.

There are 2 rough categories of softkicker, ones that just map the current ROM, and ones which load ROM files from disk.

I think it's more a case of some work and others don't.
"To recurse is human. To iterate, divine."

A1200, Vanilla, Surf Squirrel, SD Card, KS 3.0/3.z, PCMCIA dev
A500, Vanilla, A570, Rev 5, KS 1.2/1.3 Testbench system
Rasp Pi, UAE4ARM, 3D laser scanner, experimental, hoping for AmigaOS4Arm, based on Watterott Fabscan Pi
 

Offline sovietTopic starter

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Re: best way to softkick using a T536
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2021, 03:41:07 PM »
Tried the option CPU fastrom but it says "this is no longer supported".
Seems this option is deprecated, also tested skick but don't have any map file for the kickstar 3.1.4 image
 

Offline Pat the Cat

Re: best way to softkick using a T536
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2021, 06:44:31 PM »
According to this thread, it can actually slow things down anyway...

https://www.exxoshost.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=3091

What you really want is scsi.device running in fast RAM and IDE buffers in the same area. How you do that on 3.1.4 I have no idea... possibly a setpatch option?

EDIT: I did also find this, handy illustrated guide to finishing up a 3.1.4 so that Direct scsi and right filesystem are used. Do this on ANY install of 3.1.4.

https://lyonsden.net/installing-amiga-os-3-1-4-part-5-finishing-touches/#Update
« Last Edit: March 18, 2021, 07:22:43 PM by Pat the Cat »
"To recurse is human. To iterate, divine."

A1200, Vanilla, Surf Squirrel, SD Card, KS 3.0/3.z, PCMCIA dev
A500, Vanilla, A570, Rev 5, KS 1.2/1.3 Testbench system
Rasp Pi, UAE4ARM, 3D laser scanner, experimental, hoping for AmigaOS4Arm, based on Watterott Fabscan Pi
 

Offline Pat the Cat

Re: best way to softkick using a T536
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2021, 04:20:55 AM »
I think I found how you are supposed to do it on 3.1.4, it seems to eat gobs of RAM in total? I get no clear picture of how you do this;-

Quote

4.4 * OS 3.1.4 is terribly slow!

You are using a disk-based installation, right? Well, LoadModule needs
to load the updated ROM modules into some reset-resident memory. In a
worst-case scenario, this is done via Chip RAM, and yes, access to
Chip RAM is slow.

However, you can do the following:

1. Buy a physical ROM and install it, thus eliminating the need for
   replacing ROM modules by RAM modules.

Or, in case your system is equipped with an MMU:

2. Install the MMUlib archive from Aminet and add the following
   command below SetPatch in the S:Startup-Sequence:

MuProtectModules ON REMAP

This will remap the ROM modules from their current location to the
fastest available RAM and give you some extra speed
. Bear in mind
though, that using this option will use RAM which you won't be able to
free.

From;-

aminet.net/aminet/docs/help/AmigaOS_3.1.4-FAQ.txt
« Last Edit: March 19, 2021, 05:29:23 AM by Pat the Cat »
"To recurse is human. To iterate, divine."

A1200, Vanilla, Surf Squirrel, SD Card, KS 3.0/3.z, PCMCIA dev
A500, Vanilla, A570, Rev 5, KS 1.2/1.3 Testbench system
Rasp Pi, UAE4ARM, 3D laser scanner, experimental, hoping for AmigaOS4Arm, based on Watterott Fabscan Pi
 

Offline sovietTopic starter

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Re: best way to softkick using a T536
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2021, 09:03:40 PM »
Thanks Don't know why i don't see that FAQ before  :o
Have installed the MMULib modules and added the remap.
Now i got 3 megs /s of read transfer not sure if this is faster or slower ?.
Also increased the buffers in the drive.
3.1.4 don't seem to eat much ram the chip ram is almost 100% free i see 2 megs free.
And i have 63 megs free of fast ram from the 64 megs, so theres no ram eating in 3.1.4 at least using a clean install.
 

Offline Pat the Cat

Re: best way to softkick using a T536
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2021, 11:45:33 PM »
That sounds better than many A1200s manage. One way to shave a few seconds off the boot time is to have 2 hard drives on the cable,

ATA standard demands both master and slave are checked on startup.

When setpatch does this, it adds an extra few seconds for the channel that isn't occupied - about 3.

This is not so easy to do with compact flash though, and the card itself has an effect on data read speed.

The scsi.deice in 3.1.4 isn't perfect by any means, but it was designed to be as compatible as possible rather than fastest possible.
"To recurse is human. To iterate, divine."

A1200, Vanilla, Surf Squirrel, SD Card, KS 3.0/3.z, PCMCIA dev
A500, Vanilla, A570, Rev 5, KS 1.2/1.3 Testbench system
Rasp Pi, UAE4ARM, 3D laser scanner, experimental, hoping for AmigaOS4Arm, based on Watterott Fabscan Pi