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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: gdanko on November 11, 2006, 05:25:48 AM
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I heard someone in the Amiga community knows how to upgrade the Fastlane Z3. I'd like to upgrade mine and if someone has the contact info for this person I'd be most appreciative.
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If it's just the software upgrade you're after (new EPROM), I can program and supply one of those for you.
Search A.org for the other threads on this topic, I worked out pricing a while ago and posted on one of those.
Send me an Email if you're after one. Note that the current version of the Fastlane Z3 firmware is 8.5.
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I am looking for the upgrade that will allow me to fit 256M on the card. :)
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Unfortunately the required GAL-images got lost in time. To my knowlage no one is able to perform this upgrade today. Maybe if one of the 10-20 Fastlanes that actually got this upgrade can be found it could be reverse eginered....
Then again I am searching for such a "golden" Fastlane for about 5 years without success.
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I am also looking for one those. I wonder if anyone here has one, as a matter of interest.
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If the GAL's are not READ protected it might be possible to read their configuration?
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@alexh
Uh how could they work if they were "read protected"?
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Not sure if this is useful data, but I have actually seen two Phase5 Z3 cards that are different in signifigant ways. Supposedly, both of these cards were "upgradeable". For example, Card-A has an Emulex scsi controller, while Card-B has a Q-Logic. One card has only three socketed ICs on the whole unit, the rest are surface mounted (including all 5 "GAL" chips). The other card has about 10 socketed ICs, including the "GALs"; the remainder are soldered.
From what I have read, this upgrade "kit" was something the end-user just bought from dealers and installed himself. Is this assumption not correct? The word "kit", to me, implies "user-installed". Anyway, if this is indeed the case, then can we also assume that the "kit" would NOT require the user to replace surface mounted ICs, and only socketed ones? I mean come on, this is a PCB board.. what else could this "Kit" possibly contain besides maybe jumpers?
Jumping back to my first point: looking again at the two boards (neither of which is precluded from being upgraded), I notice that out of all the ICs on the board, only 3 chips are socketed ON BOTH BOARDS. Can we safely assume that the mysterious "upgrade kit" must be a replacement for one or more of these three chips? FYI, the "GALs" are not among the three.
On one of the cards, these three chips are labeled:
1: "Microchip 27C256-12/L 9420 CHA"
2: "PALCE22V10H-15JC/4 310VT2K"
3: "Mach110-15JC 310PNP5"
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1)EPROM
2)PAL
3)CPLD
All programmble logic devices.
The MACH chip almost certainly is the "guts" of the design.
I doubt that anyone not connected to the Fastlane design will be able to provide details on upgrading.
However it would be interesting if anyone with a Fastlane 256 could "dump" the contents of these three chips
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@Piru:
When read protected they do work, but you cannot read out whats actually programmed into them. You can in other words not make a simple copy if that is the case.
You would have to reverse-engineer such a chip. If the gal just was programmed to be say a big nand gate it would be simple, but if it contains state-machines it isn't straight forward.
/Patrik
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the eeprom contains the version v8.5 firmware, right? The kit must be more than just a simple firmware upgrade so that narrows it down to only two chips. I think.. :)
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@patrik
Ahh. Thanks for the explanation.