Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Marketplace => Topic started by: Effy on April 13, 2005, 11:39:40 AM
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Just found this nice auciton on Ebay (http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=8142&item=5185647703&rd=1) about :
G-Rex 1200 PCI busboard with 2 DMA slots (newer version),
+ Voodoo 3 3000 PCI 16 MB 3D graphics card,
+ Terratec 128 PCI sound card with ESS Solo-1 chipset,
+ 10 MBit ethernet card with Realtek RTL 8029 chipset,
+ CD with drivers and updates,
+ user's manual (english/german.
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great..but is not for me...My BlizzardPPC have revision 0 :( any chance to run G-rex on BPPC v0?? without sending BPPC to DCE!!tnx!
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Nope, it's not possible to use a G-Rex on a BPPC rev 0. Maybe with an older G-Rex flash, but I don't think it is recommended anyway.
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Lord Spider had already an auction about a BPPC 200/040/25 (http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=8142&item=5184244686&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW) that appears to work with a Grex :-)
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DoctorQ : I have sent a mail to Lord Spider and just got the following stuff back :
Me : "Hi Lord Spider, is there a way to upgrade the firmware of a BPPC without sending it to DCE ??? "
LS : "I don't really know. The set just worked fine with a few BPPCs with "Revision 0", only one of them refused to work."
Now what ??? :-?
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Let me clear up some facts. :-)
I think that Lord Spider is basically talking out of his ass. What he does in his "tests" is this. He simply installs the latest Grex flashrom onto his rev. 0 BPPC card, and then plugs it in together with a Grex1200 busboard. He looks at the list of connected PCI cards (through the BPPC/Grex early boot PCI menu) and he sees all of them in the list, including Voodoo. He assumes that it works and he advertises it as "Grex compatible". This is of course incorrect and very misleading.
The point where you actually realize that your rev. 0 BPPC card will be incompatible with Grex1200 is when you try to "turn on" the Voodoo 3 driver, which of course will only work with a rev.2 card. CGX v4 simply can't see it and even if it does you would get errors if you try to set up screenmodes (e.g. heavy graphics corruption or a totally black screen).
I believe that Grex1200 can only be used with rev. 0 BPPC cards if you plan on using just a sound PCI and ethernet PCI card. RTG is not possible if you don't upgrade to rev. 2.
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Maybe you better send the seller a mail and ask for info, that´s how I often do when I have questions about an auction :)
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@Effy:
Of course. Especially with items such as PPC cards. :-)
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Please keep us up to date because I don´t know much about the Grex, only that it´s a lot cheaper than Mediator and if you forget to connect the power cablet to the Grex that it will fry your BPPC card :lol: But I guess that happens also when you forget to connect that cable to a Prometheus in an A4000 :lol:
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I'm not talking out of my ass. I tested the whole set with AmigaOS 3.9 and CGX4 for your information. The system works perfectly and the Voodoo 3 driver has NO problems with my Blizzard PPC Rev 0 card. If there were any Voodoo related problems, the Amiga wouldn't even show the Early Startup Menu (I had only one rev 0 card with such problem, but the card was upgraded from BPPC 040 to BPPC 060).
So what you're writing is NOT true, at all not for every BPPC rev 0 card.
My description of the card is NOT incorrect and very misleading, as you may think. All I wrote is true.
The CGX Voodoo 3 driver recognizes the Voodoo card without any problems, the screenmodes can be set up and there's no graphics corruption.
All applications just WORK, you can play games such Wipeout or Heretic II, so I just don't know where did you find all those informations about Voodoo and BPPC rev 0 problems.
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The CGX Voodoo 3 driver recognizes the Voodoo card without any problems, the screenmodes can be set up and there's no graphics corruption.
All applications just WORK, you can play games such Wipeout or Heretic II, so I just don't know where did you find all those informations about Voodoo and BPPC rev 0 problems.
because I have a bppc rev0 and a grex with voodoo3..
can you tell me what versions of the driver for pci,voodoo,cgx and also the flash ver of the ppc ?
I have the problem where I can see all the devices on pciscan but the V3 driver does not load and I can't start cgxmode to setup some resolutions to the cgx driver...
But when I flash the card with latest grexupdate I can see in the output of voodoo the early-startup screen but when the amiga boots the above problem exists also. (ofcourse when I flash I exchange the pci driver and pciscan with the correct version it that it needs every flash). :pissed:
I know that some people here said that they have a working grex with voodoo3 and bppc rev0, but until now I'm not one of them.... :-(
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@lordspider:
You are being misleading again. I know that if you use the original, outdated...old firmware, things work as the original intention was by DCE...however quite slow...and Voodoo 3 capability is not being utilized to its true potential.
Originally, DCE knew that a lot of Phase 5 produced BPPC cards (perhaps 95% of them out there) were revision 0, so they utilized the firmware to be in compliance with this fact, as they needed this compatibility in order to have a market at all.
As the competition grew, they needed some improvements to their busboard performance, so they made a new standard...revision 2 BPPC required!
The latest firmware which requires BPPC logic to be revision 2 will not work with a Voodoo 3 card, period. This is a known fact. It is a very important update to any BPPC card that is to be used with a BVision or Grex as it provides better power management and fixes a lot of issues which originally concerned BVision usage. BVision will happily work with revision 0 PPC cards, however even for it I would recommend a revision 2 PPC card, however this is not a must.
If you want to use the original old revision (was it 1.3?) of firmware, go ahead. Things will..."work"...but you will have a joke of a busboard, crawling compared to other solutions out there.
If you want the regular, speedy Grex compatibility, you need 2.2 flashrom and a revision 2 BPPC card. Your eBay description fails to mention this.
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Didn´t know it was that complicated. All I see at his auctions are an Infinitiv tower, a BPPC card, and the Grex. Seems like he sells his entire tower ...
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@x56h34:
Hmm... I'm using flashupdate 2.2 and NOT the 1.3 (both can be found here: http://grex.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=de&page=15)
There are also CGX 3, CGX 4 and Warp3D drivers I've installed to use my Voodoo 3 3000 card.
About the speed: I also had Mediator 1200 and it was SLOWER than G-Rex. Isn't it strange? According to you're post, my G-Rex should work slower ("crawling") than other solution, but the fact is it works faster. Why? Maybe because of the 2.2 flashupdate. And the card still has revision 0.
So, I have regular, speedy Grex compatibility with the 2.2 flashrom and a revision 0 BPPC card. My eBay description is TRUE, because the BPPC has the newest flahrom.
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@lordspider:
I'm sorry if this offends you but:
A. You are either a liar
or
B. The first one to experience this new phenomenon.
I would suggest doing a google search, or better yet doing a Yahoo! Groups search for the Grex mailing-list and see if there is one single person that in the past or present can confirm your results.
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@StormLord:
I used the flash ver 2.2 from http://grex.amigaworld.de/
Versions of my CGX files are:
cgx3drave.library 1.2 (10/12/01)
cgxsystem.library 42.7 (01/02/02)
cgxvideo.library 42.1 (02/10/00)
Voodoo3 4.3 (01/18/02)
And here are the 680x0 libraries versions:
68040.library 46.5 (10/19/99)
68040new.library 46.13 (10/05/01)
68040old.library 44.2 (07/13/99)
68060.library 46.15 (10/05/01)
First I've installed CGX 3 drivers, than I upgraded them to CGX 4 drivers.
My BPPC has revision 0 according to the boardtype tool (can be also found on http://grex.amigaworld.de/)
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@x56h34:
No, this doesn't offend me :)
I read posts in the G-Rex mailing list and there are some persons which have BPPC rev0 and working Voodoo 3 card. But there are also persons who have BPPC rev0 and Voodoo 3 doesn't work with their hardware.
No, I'm not a liar, just tell me how can I convience you that all I'm writing is true.
Believe me, I did google/yahoo groups search before I bought Grex and I was affraid if it will work with my card, but it works fine and fast, so I wrote it in description of my auction.
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@lordspider:
So far I've had about 6 BPPC cards in my posession that were revision 0. I've tried a few of them with Grex1200 and they didn't work. One had problems with Voodoo (glitchy graphics...really unusable) and the other would just give me a black screen. The remaining revision 0 cards I never tried as I assumed that they wouldn't work either.
Any revision 2 card that I tried worked fine with Grex (e.g. good Voodoo display).
I don't know...from experience and from other people's testimonials I am convinced that you really need a revision 2 card, but maybe I am wrong. It's not easy to test without obtaining a lot of ppc cards again. :-( I only have two left and I think that both are revision 0. Perhaps when I find some free time, I'll give it another try with the PPC card that I don't use, but my hopes are kind of low.
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@x56h34:
I forgot to mention that I'm using BPPCFix and BlizzKick, maybe it is something important, or maybe not.
I had many BPPC cards because I'm selling them on eBay. All of them were revision 0 cards, I never had the revison 2 card.
Since I have G-Rex I test every BPPC with it. Some of cards refuse to work due to old (pre-Grex) flash rom, but after update to the G-Rex 2.2 version everything run nice.
Maybe it depends on the G-Rex revision? I just don't know...
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@lordspider
Actually I though of a screenshot to prove that grex is working with rev0 :-)
you can post a grab with screenmode showing the resolutions of the voodoo and the selected res, also in the same screen you must show the rev of the ppc and another window showing the ouput of the pciscan!
I thing thats enought! And because I have the same setup with the above problem and I don't know if its my mistake (software) or bppcs prob I'm in need for this grab to have faith and continue messing with software instalations!!!!
So with one grab you help yourself and me :=)
I hope to convinced you!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
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@lordspider:
I remebmer that originally Phase 5 released BPPC cards which they internally referred to as v1.1. These were the first cards released...buggy with BVision usage and Phase 5 offered an upgrade for free to v1.2, in order to fix the problems.
Remember, both v1.1 and v1.2 are only internal Phase 5 names...these are both reported as revision 0 by boardtype.
How does one know that their card is v1.1 (revision 0)? It won't work with BVision without glitches, and in order to work in any way, you must supply power to the A1200 motherboard, through the floppy connector, and you still get bugs and glitches.
How does one know that their card is v1.2 (revision 0)? It works with BVision fine. You could supply power to the A1200 motherboard through the floppy connector, but only if your overall usage seems unstable (system crashes after a while).
How does one know that their card is the revision 2 (latest)? I guess if boardtype reports it as revision 2. Other than that, these work fine with BVision, and no power to the A1200 motherboard floppy connector is required (unless you really want to make sure, but even without it I've had a very excellent, stable usage), and are Grex compatible.
Now...it could be that v1.2 which Phase 5 calls internally (still reported as revision 0 by boardtype) is actually the missing link in our little dilema here, which may sometime work with Grex, or may even perfectly work with it.
It could be that DCE simply wanted to avoid overall confusion and they stated that revision 2 is needed.
It's a guess. Nothing more. :-)
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x56h34 : how come you know all this ?? Are you that old and wise or just highly intelligent :-?
No offense of course, I just love Amiga freaks do so much explanation here on this forum, it convinces me every time how much I like it here :lol:
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Well, bottom line must be that the G-Rex isn't a good choice if the goal is to run OS4. If OS4 is the goal, either go BVision, Mediator or Zorro busboard.
For OS3.9 or lower the G-Rex is a nice expansion, and will surely boost the performance of the computer, enabling the world of cheap PCI cards. The problem would be the rev. of the Blizzard PPC board.
Is it possible for someone to make a programme that can surely determine which rev. the BPPC board is, so both rev 1.1 and 1.2 is included? Maybe a suggestion for Pirus WhichAmiga tool...
I'm just glad my BPPC 060/200/SCSI is rev. 2; I'm hoping my new board will be rev. 2 as well...
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@Effy:
Hehe, well it's a hobby. It's fun to mess around with Amiga hardware so you learn the tricky parts as you go. I guess I learned it through testing, reading, beign around when cards were comming out, etc. The previous post was speculation in some parts. I can't guarantee that I am right. It's just a big extremely well educated guess. :-)
It's not so hard to pick up the clues about Amiga hardware. Just use google groups, get a cup of coffee, and read away. You can read interesting articles written by commodore staff/amiga hardware & software companies themselves, during the late 80s and all the way upto present time.
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Another thing to consider (more educated speculation :-)) is that there are so many different versions of BPPC cards out there.
Some have 040 and 603e.
Some have 060 and 603e.
Some have 040 and 603e and SCSI.
Some have 060 and 603e and SCSI.
603e power requirement varies depending on the type, e.g. a 160Mhz requires less power than a 240Mhz.
040 requires more power than an 060.
SCSI on-board eats up even more power, especially if used together with an 040 and a 240Mhz 603e chip.
Maybe this is why the logic update to revision 2 by DCE is the only guaranteed way of using Grex? Could it be that it's all down to the power management? Maybe DCE figured that a certain power need is in order, so that Grex could work stable, so they recommend revision 2, but on the other hand cards that don't eat up much power due to a certain combination of on-board features (low power usage) can get away with it, and work with Grex? :-)
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@StormLord:
StormLord wrote:
@lordspider
Actually I though of a screenshot to prove that grex is working with rev0 :-)
Here they are:
(http://www.student.euv-ffo.de/~euv91031/eBay/rev0/rev0-1.jpg)
(http://www.student.euv-ffo.de/~euv91031/eBay/rev0/rev0-2.jpg)
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x56h34 wrote:
@lordspider:
I remebmer that originally Phase 5 released BPPC cards which they internally referred to as v1.1. These were the first cards released...buggy with BVision usage and Phase 5 offered an upgrade for free to v1.2, in order to fix the problems.
Remember, both v1.1 and v1.2 are only internal Phase 5 names...these are both reported as revision 0 by boardtype.
[...]
Now...it could be that v1.2 which Phase 5 calls internally (still reported as revision 0 by boardtype) is actually the missing link in our little dilema here, which may sometime work with Grex, or may even perfectly work with it.
It could be that DCE simply wanted to avoid overall confusion and they stated that revision 2 is needed.
It's a guess. Nothing more. :-)
Yes, this can be solution to our dilemma, but how to check this revisions??? Maybe cards with serial numbers above certain figure are revision 1.2?
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@doctorq:
I know G-Rex is not good solution for those who want to run OS4.
As you wrote, it is nice expansion for AmigaOS lower than OS4, and maybe for MorphOS in the future?
Yeah, programme to determine the exact revision of BPPC would be nice, but is there someone who can write it?
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Maybe the key to the solution is the rev. of the PPC CPU reported by WhichAmiga.... I see WhichAmiga reports your PPC CPU as v2.1.
Well, the screenshots convinced me, even though I myself have tried to connect a G-Rex to a BPPC without getting it to work.
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I guess the new rule for rev. 0 BlizzardPPC usage with Grex1200 busboard is..."try it and see if it works". :-)
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I guess we are never too old to learn something new :lol:
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I'm tempted to give it another try.
Right now my Grex1200 is stored away in a closet, and the A1200T/PPC is connected to a Mediator 1200 busboard.
I'm kind of lazy to do it right away just to see if it would work, as it would involve flashing the PPC card to Grex compatible firmware and a lot of extra work in preparing the OS3.9 system partition, etc., etc.
I'll most likely try it out over a boring long weekend or something. :-)
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Take an empty beer glass, fill it with red Cabarnet Sauvignon and put some Rammstein music on, that might get you into the right mood :lol:
And if it doesn´t then at least you hopefully have some fun :-)
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@thread:
I've tried installing Grex1200 again this weekend in my Elbox Power Tower 1200, and it wouldn't work with my BlizzardPPC rev. 0.
I've flashed the card with the latest Grex compatible firmware (2.2).
In the BlizzardPPC early-boot-menu, by clicking on the PCI button, I could see all the PCI cards connected to the Grex busboard. Voodoo 3, Terratec 128i, and Realtek 8029.
This means that Grex detects everything OK, however if I try to connect a VGA monitor to the Voodoo output, I get only a black screen. Right away this seems strange, as Voodoo 3 (just like BVision) should be able to display the BlizzardPPC boot menu on your monitor. Mine doesn't, and I even made sure that Enable 31khz display is set.
After installing OS3.9 with both boing bags, and the latest version of blizkick, I installed the grex drivers and I've updated CGX to v4 through the 42.7 update file.
By clicking on the CGXMode file in SYS:Prefs, it doesn't load up. SnoopDos shows that CGXMode tried to load some tooltypes from the Voodoo3 monitor file, but when I actually look at the tooltypes of Voodoo3, there are none. :-?
I haven't fooled around with Grex in about a year and my memory is not 100% fresh on how to exactly install all the drivers, so I was wondering if there's something that I missed? AFAIR, CGXMode should simply load up and detect my Voodoo 3 card, however I'm not sure if there's a step that I may have missed. LordSpider, any tips?
Also, when I run the latest pciscan file from shell, I can also see all the pci cards connected to the Grex busboard just fine.
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How did you connected the PCI cards? I don't know if it may be important, but my G-Rex had LAN in first slot (closest to the BPPC), Terratec in 3 slot and Voodoo in 5 slot.
The Early Startup Menu and the BPPC menu are displayed through the Voodoo card without problems, even with I set "No 31KHz screen".
I've first installed CGX 3 from this archive:
http://grex.amigaworld.de/download.php?id=31
After it was working fine, I've upgraded it to the CGX 4 version using the second archive:
http://grex.amigaworld.de/download.php?id=32
and the CGX 4 CD-ROM.
As far as I can remeber installing CGX 4 without installing CGX 3 lead to displaying the boot logo forever.
My Voodoo3.info has following tooltypes:
BITMAPCACHE=YES
BOOTLOGO=YES
DRAGGING=NO
PASSTHROUGH=YES
And the CGX variables are set as follows:
56KHZAUDIO = 1
ALERTEMU = 1
CPUP2C = 0
FORCECHUNKY = 0
HIDE15BIT = 1
HIRESCRSR = 1
KEEPAMIGAVIDEO = 0
NOMOUSERATIO = 0
NOPASSTHROUGH = 1
PLANES2FAST = 1
SAVEMEM = 1
SUPERGELS = 1
SUPERLAYERS = 1
USESEMAPHORES = 1
WBPATSPEEDUP = 1
Versions of all my CGX libraries you can find in one of previous posts.
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When I flashed mine with the latest grex firmware I could see the early-startup on my voodoo3 . But when the machine booted the driver didn't init .. so I could not open cgxmode to setup some screenmodes.. When I double click cgxmode it does nothing but the last command menu show my attemp to run it....
When I flashed back for bvision and pluged it in the cgxmode worked as it should.
I belive its something to do with CGX setup.. I thing it a crappy software as long as installer goes.. I also made the latest update to cgx4 but nothing.
I tried also a clean install of OS3.9 and cgx but nothing again.. I think the only solution is for someone with a working setup like this to archive all the needed files in the wright positions and send them to me... I know that its illegal but I have the original CGX4 CD.. so I belive its not too illegal !
edit: also the pciscan recognise corectly my voodoo3 card thats the only card atm connected to grex...
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As far as I can remeber installing CGX 4 without installing CGX 3 lead to displaying the boot logo forever.
Yes, thats because the V4 archive contains only a patch for the voodoo driver of V3. Without V3 you cant patch it.
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lordspider wrote:
How did you connected the PCI cards? I don't know if it may be important, but my G-Rex had LAN in first slot (closest to the BPPC), Terratec in 3 slot and Voodoo in 5 slot.
Voodoo 3 in first, Ethernet in second, and Sound in third slot.
I also tried using only Voodoo 3 connected in first, and only Voodoo 3 connected in second slot with the same results.
I don't think it should matter where you plug in each card.
The Early Startup Menu and the BPPC menu are displayed through the Voodoo card without problems, even with I set "No 31KHz screen".
I think this could be a clue if your rev. 0 card works or not. Since I didn't see anything on my monitor (black screen) probably this means that my rev. 0 card is not Grex tolerant.
I've first installed CGX 3 from this archive:
http://grex.amigaworld.de/download.php?id=31
After it was working fine, I've upgraded it to the CGX 4 version using the second archive:
http://grex.amigaworld.de/download.php?id=32
and the CGX 4 CD-ROM.
As far as I can remeber installing CGX 4 without installing CGX 3 lead to displaying the boot logo forever.
I did the same thing, except since nothing worked for V3, I upgraded to V4 and again, nothing worked.
My Voodoo3.info has following tooltypes:
BITMAPCACHE=YES
BOOTLOGO=YES
DRAGGING=NO
PASSTHROUGH=YES
This I don't have. I'll give it a try.
And the CGX variables are set as follows:
56KHZAUDIO = 1
ALERTEMU = 1
CPUP2C = 0
FORCECHUNKY = 0
HIDE15BIT = 1
HIRESCRSR = 1
KEEPAMIGAVIDEO = 0
NOMOUSERATIO = 0
NOPASSTHROUGH = 1
PLANES2FAST = 1
SAVEMEM = 1
SUPERGELS = 1
SUPERLAYERS = 1
USESEMAPHORES = 1
WBPATSPEEDUP = 1
I have these more or less set like yours.
Thanks for the tips. I'll try again when I find time. :-)
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Sound cards will not work in the third slot. Install any DMA-able cards in the first two slots (Sound or 100MBit ethernet or TV-Card), the Voodoo should not occupy a DMA slot, it does *NOT* support BusMastering.
Wierdly, so far I've heard of a lot of stuff that should not work on a certain PPC cards and yet worked when I tried. ;-) No, 95% of BPPC cards are not Rev.0, most 160MHz ones are iirc and some of the 200MHz ones. All the 240MHz boards I came across are rev.2.
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@AmiGR:
Interesting...
My Grex is the new version (2 DMA slots).
It seems that I only tried Voodoo 3 in slot 1 and slot 2 (the DMA slots), so I guess it's possible that that's why it didn't work / show any video when in early-boot-menu.
I guess I need to try again and see what happens when I use Voodoo in slots 3, 4, or 5.
BTW, my BPPC is an 060/240Mhz/SCSI version (not an overclocked 603e) and the card is a revision 0, according to boardtype.
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AmiGR wrote:
Sound cards will not work in the third slot. Install any DMA-able cards in the first two slots (Sound or 100MBit ethernet or TV-Card), the Voodoo should not occupy a DMA slot, it does *NOT* support BusMastering.
But the Terratec 128 WORKS in the 3 slot! I wanted to use the LAN card and sound card in the 2 DMA slots, but the sound card freezed computer after a few seconds of playing sound, that's why I moved it to the 3 slot, where it works perfectly.
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@x56h34:
My G-Rex has also 2 DMA slots, but when I used the sound card in one of them, the computer freezed after a few seconds when I tried to play any sound.
After experimenting I found the combination 1 (LAN) - 3 (Sound) - 5 (Voodoo3) as the best one.
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@lordspider:
Thanks for the advice.
It's probably best for me to try using just Voodoo 3 in the 5th slot (without anything else connected to Grex), until I iron out the bugs.
I'll report back in here after I finish my second test. :-)
I am anxious to try it again as I've obtained new info, so I'll probably mess around with it tonight, after I return home from work. ;-)
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@thread:
No go. This BPPC rev. 0 definitely doesn't work with Grex. I've tried using Voodoo 3 in every PCI slot, and the results were always the same. CGXMODE doesn't run, and there's no video output through Voodoo 3 when in early boot menu, or when in BPPC boot menu.
I've even made sure that the motherboard gets extra power through the floppy power connector, as well as the PPC card itself (+5V through the fan connector). P8 and P9 connectors are inserted directly to the Grex.
:-(
Back to mediator for me. :-) I'm not going to fool around with this anymore, as flashing the PPC card with different firmware back and forth ain't healty. I was curious to see if rev. 0 would really work, however it seems that it won't (at least not my card).
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The auction for these cards is ending in one day and nine hourse (http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5185647703&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1) and is currently at 68,12 euro or 89 USD ... and the Infinitiv tower auction is ending around the same moment (http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5185628207&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1) and is currently at 45,50 euro or 59,55 USD ...
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No go. This BPPC rev. 0 definitely doesn't work with Grex.
I heard from one that has a BPPC rev0 (040/25 + 160) and it works with G-Rex.
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Anyone knows exactly whats the problems with a bppc rev0 ??
x56h34 says that it does not even display earlyboot startup in voodoo..
mine displays it correctly but does not init the voodoo3 monitor driver (maybe because i setup CGX 4 from the begining and not first cgx3...)
AmiGR ? do I need to setup CGX3 BEFORE going 4 ?
If I make it to work I will write a tutorial with all my experience and knowledge I have gain from this.
With too many new users registering in AO we need some tutorials so they can start to learn 8-)
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I'm using a BVision now with the same BlizzardPPC card and it works great. I can see the early-boot-menu and PPC boot menu just fine.
Grex 1200 is another story. :-(
I think that my rev. 0 card simply requires too much power in order to "trick" Grex into working. So far everyone that says that a particular rev. 0 card worked seems to be talking about a no-SCSI version. My BPPC is an 060/240/SCSI version, and I think that unless upgraded to rev. 2, its power management is simply not good enough for such a major attachment (an entire busboard).
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x56h34 wrote:
I think that my rev. 0 card simply requires too much power in order to "trick" Grex into working. So far everyone that says that a particular rev. 0 card worked seems to be talking about a no-SCSI version. My BPPC is an 060/240/SCSI version, and I think that unless upgraded to rev. 2, its power management is simply not good enough for such a major attachment (an entire busboard).
I was using the G-Rex with BPPC 060/200/SCSI and it worked. The card had revision 0, but I never used the SCSI because there was no cable with the card.
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@lordspider:
I don't know what to think anymore. :-)
- Maybe your Grex was tolerant of BPPC rev 0. cards more than mine is?
- Maybe your tested rev. 0 cards were all tolerant of Grex, unlike mine?
- Maybe my Grex busboard is faulty (it worked before with a rev. 2 card, but who knows...)?
Anyway, I don't think it's worth the trouble messing around with making my Grex work anymore. It's simply too demanding as far as requirements go for it to work.
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As far as I know, the omissions in the Rev.0 board PCI logic are DMA related. I've never heard of a BVPPC not working at all (while they are supposed to), and if that works, the Voodoo 3 should too, DMA might or might not work, apart from the DMA stuff, the PCI bridge on the 1200 version is virtually identical to the BVPPC one afaik, the 4k version is different (includes full dma on all slots and parity support). Stormlord: if you're getting a signal on the early startup, the G-Rex *is* working. People, don't forget that many BPPC cards might be damaged. My own card sustained some damage when I did something pretty stupid that fried my mobo and PSU and found that PCI stuff with a dynamic PCI address (G-Rex stuff for example) don't work on PPC OSes anymore, the board returns an incorrect base address, while it works fine with static ones, or in 68k mode. (Yes, WarpOS/PowerUP stuff *do* work)