Amiga.org
Amiga.org specific forums => New User Introductions => Topic started by: SprPsycho on July 18, 2005, 03:19:53 AM
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Hi :-)
I've never so much as touched an Amiga before, though I've been intersted in the Amiga for a while and I just got myself an Amiga 2000 yesterday.
It has a SCSI card and hard drive installed.... 2MB of RAM, a 14Mhz Adspeed, smells like cigarrettes(yeck) and isn't seeing the hard drive.
It came with two floppies:
Workbench 2.1 and
Workbench 2.1 install
I was told that it did work, but that when they set it up to check before bringing it they couldn't get it to boot to the hard drive and it doesn't show when I boot to the floppies...
I have tried to use utilities on the install disk but they don't seem to see the hard disk when I try to partition or format it.
In general, I have apsolutly no idea what I'm doing. I've never been too good at getting SCSI going. Once I get it working I want to chuck a CD-ROM drive in that big gaping hole where the 5.25" face plate is missing and maybe get it on the ethernet network alongside my Apple IIgs.
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Well, welcome to amiga.org :-)
The Amiga 2000 is a great machine, I've got a couple of them. Even though they're one of the oldest models, they're still a great machine. Just so we can help you, what actually happens when you turn it on? Do you get a white screen with a hand on it, or a purple screen with a disk being inserted to a floppy drive, or does the screen just stay black? Workbench is the OS for Amiga computers, and so you've got the OS disk, and the install disk. Obviously you've worked out the basics of what you're trying to do, as you've tried to partition it. Is the drive detected when you use HDToolbox? If it is, well then it could be a SCSI problem (termination, etc). Also, does your Adspeed have an IDE controller? If it does, you could just add an IDE drive and ignore the whole SCSI problem.
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I get a purple screen with a disk interting into a floppy drive if I turn it on with no disk mounted.
The Adspeed Accelerator might have IDE? Now that'd be awsome..... Now.... I just need to figure out which card is the Adspeed :-D Is it that card I saw sitting rased over the motherboard underneith the drive bays?..
I'm going to go get a screw driver and open it back up...
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Yeah, that should be it, as far as I remember, the CPU on the 2000 sits underneath the drive bays, here, check out this (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=73). That's the standard Adspeed, this (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=74) is the Adspeed with an IDE controller. Also, you've got Kickstart 2.0 (that's the one with the purple screen). Try holding down both mouse buttons when you turn it on, and see if the HD is listed in the "Early Boot Menu".
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Well, I don't think the Adspeed has an IDE interface. But if I can get an IDE interface for my 2000 that would allow me to use a Hard drive and CD-ROM drive I'd really like to do that and forget about SCSI. I was told though that IDE interfaces are hard to come by.
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Well, they're not too hard to come by, but they're not very common either. Some go on ebay every now and then, check there. Also, what SCSI card are you using? If it's a Commodore 2091, check what Rom revisions are on it (they're on stickers, it should say something like "390722-02 (Copyright Symbol) 1991 CBM V6.6 F929" - what follows V on your card? (assuming it is a Commodore 2091). Also, what size HD are you trying to get running?
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Its possible you have a 2090 SCSI card, in which case
it won't be HD bootable.
What does the card look like, is there a place to mount
a HD on the card?
If no then its a 2090 card, (they are OK if you don't mind
booting from floppy all the time.)
What other cards are in the machine ?
Oh...BTW ... welcome to the Org :-)
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Well, the SCSI card. It just says "HARD DISK CONTROLLER GX B-VO 8829" on it...
As for roms....I saw three chips with similar labels and wasn't sure which one was which....
Here's what was on them....
All three had the first two lines on their labels:
copyright 1988 CBM
All Rights Reserved
First one read "309230-02 2090 3145"
Second "31508-01 2090 AB5C"
third "315097-01 2090 D32B
I can take pictures if nessessary.
On a side note, when I took out the SCSI card I discoverd the RAM card could actually be uped to 8MB or RAM...so I'll be looking to do that in a little bit here...
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That sounds like a 2090 card, (bad break) the 2091
card with ver 7.0 roms is a much better card, it
auto-boots to HD.
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So this SCSI card isn't bootable? eeew.
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Ouch, bad luck :-( SCSI controllers that are bootable are quite common though, you should be able to pick up a 2091 or a GVP SCSI card quite easily, and quite cheaply on ebay. Just to make sure, is this the same as your card? Here (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1159)
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I'd say that SCSI card looks an awfull lot like mine..outside of a few different colors here and there.
Anyway, for what it's worth I took a photo earlier....
(http://homepage.mac.com/superpsycho/.Pictures/amiga2000/2090scsi.jpg)
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So.... are there different IDE interfaces out there? Ones that won't work with CD ROM drives or anything I should be warry of?
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Yep, looks like you've got a 2090, sorry :-( . Your options are to either track down a new SCSI card (either a 2091 w/ 6.6 or 7.0 roms), or a GVP or other card that supports Autobooting, or to get an IDE controller. I would recommend getting a new SCSI card, adding a 500mb - 1gb HD to it, and using that for your OS, and whatever else you want, then getting an IDE controller that you use for games, etc, and your CD-Rom.
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Yes, you need to make sure that whichever one you get actually has an IDE controller, and not a Mitsumi controller - they look the same, but they're quite different, and only devices that support Mitsumi controller will work on them. Quite often they're labelled as "CD-Rom Controllers" whilst real IDE ones are labelled as IDE. There are many different ones though. Basically, check out The Big Book of Amiga Hardware (http://www.amiga-hardware.com) before you buy any Amiga stuff, to make sure it's exactly what you want. I think you'll find it much easier to pick up an old SCSI card though. IDE is obviously easier to find devices for, but you may have problems finding the controllers. Have a look around though :-)
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Yup... thats an 2090 card.........
It does have an MFM controller on it also, although
I'm sure that won't do you any good.
It will work fine if you don't mind booting from floppy
or it can be used as a second SCSI controller.
The 2091 cards are pretty common on EBay for cheap.
Just watch what the roms are in the card. Older roms
don't support large HD's. I'm not sure just what roms
under 6.1 support but the 6.1 roms support up to a 1 gig
drive. Although I don't have a set, I'm told the 7.0 roms
support up to 4 gig. (I just ordered a set from Softhut
so I'll find out.)
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If I'm going to have SCSI anything I'd probably rather just get it to workt with both the CD ROM and Hard drive.
I found one SCSI card on ebay sofar... an "A2091 REV 4.1 SCSI controller (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5220497807&category=74945&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1)".
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SprPsycho wrote:
If I'm going to have SCSI anything I'd probably rather just get it to workt with both the CD ROM and Hard drive.
I found one SCSI card on ebay sofar... an "A2091 REV 4.1 SCSI controller (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5220497807&category=74945&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1)".
I think I would pass on that one, (IMHO I think its a
bit expensive and probably only supports a 52 meg drive)
You probably want a card with roms 6.1 or better.
They seem to show up all the time (except when you're
looking for one) :-)
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Well, I've gotten my A2091 working with an HD, 12x CD-Rom and external SCSI Zip drive, so if you're not planning to upgrade the processor too much, I think the 2091 is a good choice, but try and find one with 6.0 or 6.6 roms, 7.0 is the best.
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Is $75 too much for one with rev 7 roms? I found one that's not on ebay.
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$75 US? I don't know. That's probably alright, considering the 7.0 roms are fairly hard to find. If it's $75 AUD, well then yeah, that's not too bad, but you could probably find a GVP or something a little cheaper.
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SprPsycho wrote:
Is $75 too much for one with rev 7 roms? I found one that's not on ebay.
Well ... I've seen the A2091 card go for as little as
$5.00 to $10.00 US with the older roms. SoftHut has the
7.0 roms for $29.00 US (I just ordered a set).
So you'll have to decide what you are willing to pay.
If the $75 card is fully populated with 2 megs ram then
that may not be to bad a price, without the ram .. Well :-D
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@SprPsycho:
Here (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=8142&item=5220610124&rd=1) is one of those GVP cards, which also accepts quite a lot more memory and already is equipped with memory and a decent-sized harddrive.
As you say you have troubles understanding SCSI, read this (http://wonkity.com/~wblock/SCSI/SCSIExamples.html) guide to learn how to propely connect SCSI-devices.
@melott:
I am pretty sure the revision of the A2091 card itself isnt synonymous with the revision of the software in its rom.
/Patrik
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patrik wrote:
@melott:
I am pretty sure the revision of the A2091 card itself isnt synonymous with the revision of the software in its rom.
/Patrik
Ummm :-D ... sorry if I wasn't clear on that point.
I have used a couple revisions of the 2091 card.
The difference seems to be in the version of roms on
the card, not the revision of the card.
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@SprPsycho I have an Octagon 2008 scsi card that you can have, not sure if it's better or worse than the 2091 but it should be fine to get you started, drop me a PM if you're interested.
Robert
Edit: Although for 35Euro that GVP above seems good, since it takes memory sticks rather than chips on the octagon, the octagon doesn't have DMA either, but, up to you :)
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SCSI is great, that is why it is the standard with Amigas. However, I don't know about anyone else, but I have a neverending supply of older IDE devices though, e.g. I've just been given a 6GB hard disk because it's not big enough for the friend who's upgrading his PC...
What I'm trying to get anyway, is that there's always the Buddha IDE controller (http://www.jschoenfeld.de/products/buddha_e.htm) which is available, among other sources, from Vesalia (http://www.vesalia.de/?V02b0f155856411172575d53520b514e01101f0954414752050140090a1e31115579633a223c6373744e03263f2a2a76610539676f66277829207f105e0a702c6245145a57080e6b187f7374067d584643463d3d45154e074d087755585) in Deutschland. Its 50 Euro there, about 30 squid or 50 U$...
Its autobooting BTW.
That's the buddha flash version, the other may be cheaper if you can find a US supplier.
edit: I live in Kent!
But it's the other one
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scsi drives also tend to be quite loud, which is another good reason to get an ide controller.
also, beware the GVP scsi/accellerator/memory combo cards - as they use proprietary 64 pin memory simms, which are expensive and difficult to source.
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start here;
http://www.amigawiki.com/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/Amiga_For_Newbies
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Thanks for all the advice so far... and offers too...I've got a SCSI card on the way now. SCSI cards on the Amiga are a lot cheaper than they are on the Apple II.
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Actually I have a Buddha Flash, it's cheap and it works really well, no choice now since my a4k IDE header has packed up :-(
Robert