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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Samuar on July 09, 2003, 02:25:39 PM

Title: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 09, 2003, 02:25:39 PM
The great people at phinixi (in particular greenboy) and Genesi (in my case, their French office) yesterday sent me their Pegasos I board, phree of charge - which arrived today.

I can't thank them enough, and I look forward to getting coding. From September, I will be back in Manchester, where demonstrations of the board will be presented, and time will be available for developers to test, compile or code their applications on the machine.

Until then, I aim to show it off at several Linux user groups in West Yorkshire, (together with my Sega Dreamcast running Linux).

Thanks once more to all the people at Genesi and Phinixi.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: TheMagicM on July 09, 2003, 02:36:08 PM
Excellent!!  I'm supposed to be getting mine in today or tomorrow.  This weekend I need to buy a case, kb, mouse, hd and memory..then my system will be up and running !   :)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: MarkTime on July 09, 2003, 02:46:23 PM
Though mine has not yet arrived, I will thank them now in advance for sending me one as well.  I will use the developer board to develop for the MorphOS platform.

I have a case from several weeks ago, and most of hte parts for a computer waiting around.  Though I am waiting on video card, motherboard/cpu, and will be purchasing ram this weekend.

I wish it would be ready this weekend, but I doubt it, what with the video card company taking their sweet time to ship.......oh well, soon! next week for sure...

Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: on July 09, 2003, 02:51:32 PM
Be very careful about the memory.  Other than that, you'll never regret getting your system up and running.  I don't want to give my evaluation system back!
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: bloodline on July 09, 2003, 03:00:25 PM
Quote

Wayne wrote:
Be very careful about the memory.  Other than that, you'll never regret getting your system up and running.  I don't want to give my evaluation system back!


Then, I'm sure you can find that it needs some more evaluation :-D
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 09, 2003, 03:46:17 PM
it has to be ECC and Registered right?

Will the mobo and cpu fit in a Mini-ITX or a Micro ATX case? or is the riser too high?


What do u lot reckon?

Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: KennyR on July 09, 2003, 03:51:22 PM
Look at morphzone.org to see a list of tried and tested RAM. Be extremely careful getting any that's not on this list.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: amigamad on July 09, 2003, 03:52:11 PM
Quote
Be very careful about the memory. Other than that, you'll never regret getting your system up and running. I don't want to give my evaluation system back!


Move house and change your name and you might not have to. :-D
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: itix on July 09, 2003, 03:54:41 PM
My Pegasos board should arrive tomorrow. Great :-D

Thanks Genesi & greenboy :-)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: gary_c on July 09, 2003, 04:39:36 PM
The graphics card is the tallest thing perpendicular to the motherboard. My Radeon 9100 makes the package 110mm tall. A low-profile graphics card is about half that, isn't it? Apart from the graphics card, the cpu card is about 75mm tall. And I guess you'd want to keep the area above the PCI slots clear.

When I was looking around, it seemed the smallest boxes were too small. But just pay attention to the internal dimensions, allowing for the cards, drives and power supply. The Pegasos board is about 173mm by 240mm with the backplate on a long side.

Take a look at these cases (http://www.phinixi.com/tiki-index.php?page=Cases) and these cases (http://www.phinixi.com/tiki-index.php?page=CasesOther) for fun.

-- gary_c
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Piru on July 09, 2003, 05:14:57 PM
@Samuar

See pic1 (http://zuik.org/cam/Pegasos/DSCN3544.JPG) and pic2 (http://zuik.org/cam/Pegasos/DSCN3545.JPG)

At least this particular riser with 2 PCI + AGP is below the CPU card level.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: lempkee on July 09, 2003, 05:24:21 PM
small cases = crAP.....

maxi towers is the thing!! :)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Vincent on July 09, 2003, 05:44:36 PM
@gary_c

Interesting cases.  Especially this one  :-o  :-?  :-o

(http://www.phinixi.com/show_image.php?id=65)

:-o :-D

edit, ok that doesn't work, but it's the 2nd link in his post the first one here (http://www.phinixi.com/tiki-index.php?page=CasesOther)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: gary_c on July 09, 2003, 05:45:29 PM
Quote
At least this particular riser with 2 PCI + AGP is below the CPU card level.


That's interesting. My board doesn't have a riser; but I guess it depends on which version you get.

-- gary_c
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: gary_c on July 09, 2003, 05:49:52 PM
Quote
Interesting cases. Especially this one


Is that the cardboard one? Yeah, I thought that was pretty amazing. Sometimes the boxes things come in are more interesting than the stuff they contain. I guess somebody took that idea and ran with it. But if you had much humidity in your house it could get pretty messy.

-- gary_c
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: zacman on July 09, 2003, 05:51:37 PM
>My board doesn't have a riser; but I guess it
>depends on which version you get.

Every board has a riser slot. However the boards
don't ship with a riser card. But you can get a
standard riser card which does also work on the
Pegasos in every better PC shop.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Vincent on July 09, 2003, 05:53:46 PM
@gary_c

Yup it's the cardboard one.  It's... erm... interesting :-D

Better make sure a heatsink and fan'll fit in there aswell or it'll be a bit crispy :-D
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Dietmar on July 09, 2003, 08:06:06 PM
>it has to be ECC and Registered right?

There is a memory list/faq with tested modules on morphzone.  Personally, I just bought a no-name 256MB module from the next dealer, and it works perfectly. Ironically, the registered module that came with the board failed to work. If you have a tolerant local dealer (with a good return policy), and they still have SD-RAM, why not give it a try?
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Madgun68 on July 09, 2003, 08:15:27 PM
Quote
There is a memory list/faq with tested modules on morphzone. Personally, I just bought a no-name 256MB module from the next dealer, and it works perfectly. Ironically, the registered module that came with the board failed to work. If you have a tolerant local dealer (with a good return policy), and they still have SD-RAM, why not give it a try?
That's similar to what happened to me. I bought a ECC/Registered 512Mb module off the internet. While it works, it only recognises half of the memory. Not wanting to use half of what I paid for, I swapped it for the PC-133 256Mb module in my PC.. Worked perfectly.

Strange how that works.. :-o
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 09, 2003, 10:13:19 PM
Right, I'll try my normal SDRAM first then. Thanks for the information.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: magnetic on July 09, 2003, 10:21:48 PM
Welcome to the family guys!
 Enjoy your peg! You are going to love it/
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Cymric on July 09, 2003, 11:14:14 PM
@Piru:

What an odd vertical contraption for AGP and PCI cards... Why is this necessary? And why is there such an odd little PCB in the outermost PCI slot? (Forgive me if these questions have a high 'duh!' level, but I don't know the Pegasos, and it looks rather odd.)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: takemehomegrandma on July 10, 2003, 12:02:29 AM
Would be interesting to know if these "phree" boards are with or without Aprils?
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Lando on July 10, 2003, 12:53:21 AM
Quote

takemehomegrandma wrote:
Would be interesting to know if these "phree" boards are with or without Aprils?


It was already announced that they are sans-April - that is why the offer came about.  Genesi had a bunch of non-April'd boards which had been traded in by customers upgrading to April.  

Rather than have these boards just sitting around doing nothing, Genesi generously said they would give them away for free to people interested in developing for MOS.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Piru on July 10, 2003, 01:52:37 AM
Quote
What an odd vertical contraption for AGP and PCI cards... Why is this necessary?

It's not. It's there to allow placing the motherboard into very thin case. Normally the PCI and AGP cards add lots of height to the machine, and if you want to place the mobo + gfxcard + few pci cards into very small case such riser cards is necessary to get the cards vertical.

Quote
And why is there such an odd little PCB in the outermost PCI slot?

It routes some of the needed signals of the 2nd PCI slot to the riser card. So that is part of the riser card, not Pegasos itself.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: bbrv on July 10, 2003, 06:01:42 AM
We are pleased to be making these Phree Phoenix (http://www.phinixi.com) boards available.  Best wishes to all of you and welcome!

:-D

R&B   :-)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 10, 2003, 12:41:18 PM
Just a small question, probably wont take long to address: where is the soft power on pins, for me to connect my power button from the front of the ATX case to. I'm a bit too comfy with x86s, so I'm probably looking in the wrong place.

Thanks,

Samuar
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Lando on July 10, 2003, 01:16:23 PM
Quote

Samuar wrote:
Just a small question, probably wont take long to address: where is the soft power on pins, for me to connect my power button from the front of the ATX case to. I'm a bit too comfy with x86s, so I'm probably looking in the wrong place.

Thanks,

Samuar


Last two pins on the right as you look at the board with the ports at the front (the pins farthest from the edge of the board).  Next left is the reset and then power LED and HDD LED.

: : : : : : : : : : : :
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: blubbe on July 10, 2003, 01:56:35 PM
Just got the Peggy :)
Thank you Genesi and Phinixi.com !

Cant wait to get it up and running..

Leif

Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 10, 2003, 02:19:29 PM
Thanks Lando.

By the way, which part of Manchester u living in?
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Lando on July 10, 2003, 02:33:40 PM
I'm in East Didsbury right now, but hoping to move into an apartment in the city centre next month.  What about u?  

There seems to be quite a lot of us (Amigans) in Manchester.  Could be a good idea to have a Pegasos/Amiga user group?
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 10, 2003, 02:42:50 PM
Being a 4 eyed computer science student, when it isnt summer, i live nr Oxford Road. I'm studying at UMIST, but live on the private student halls "Student Village" off Lower Chatham Street, on the Man Met Campus.

Yeah, I would be up for starting/attending such a group.

However, I still can't find where to plug my "Power On" button connector. :-( U got a diagram/piccy from a webcam/digital camera that u could circle with a thick red line with the words "Sam u n00b, plug ur power button here!".???
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: bbrv on July 10, 2003, 02:53:34 PM
Hey!  You guys get the group organized and we will provide free MorphOS t-shirts for your first meeting!  :-D

If one of you is weilling to get a Pegasos Users Group website up and running we could do something more...;-)

Raquel and Bill  :-)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: takemehomegrandma on July 10, 2003, 03:26:40 PM
@ Samuar

Didn't you get the "Technical Specifications" document? Log in to the Beta2 FTP server and download "docs/FrontPanel.pdf" (and "PegasosTechSpec.pdf", but it's the "FrontPanel.pdf" that contains the detailed info about the pin layout).

OK, I assume that you are mounting the motherboard into a tower case, with the ATX PSU connector "up", the PCI slots "down", the external connectors "left" and the Floppy and IDE connectors "right".

You will find the "Miscellaneous Connectors" (a lot of pins) just to the left of the Floppy drive connector. The "Power On" is the two pins furthest to the bottom (going left to right). The Reset pins are the two pins just above the power on pins (also left-right). Above the reset pins are the Power Led pins (also left-right) and above that you will find the HDD Led (also left-right). The Speaker connector are four pins wide, with the "Speaker +" pin Top Left.

Hmm, hope you understand. ;-)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 10, 2003, 03:51:30 PM
ah i see (lightbulb above head shines brightly).

I couldnt work out what device that was for, but now it all makes sense. Thanks for that.

Pegasos/Amiga Manchester Users Group - PAMUG
What do you think?

I think we can freely/cheaply use the rooms in the Reynolds Building at UMIST, after hours... ....but I'd have to look into it. As for the website, I have plenty of time - so I'll start work on that soon.

And the offers for the free t-shirts for our first meeting - sounds like a great idea and offer - thank you very much.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: bbrv on July 10, 2003, 04:02:12 PM
Samuer...you start it; you name it!!!  :-)

PAMUG!

MMAPUG!

MPUG!

Whatever!  Just do it!  :-D

R&B  :-)
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 10, 2003, 04:06:45 PM
It was Landos idea - so I think it shud be up to him.

But I think it would be a great idea to share ideas and to see other people's hardware.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: downix on July 10, 2003, 04:25:46 PM
@samuar

With the IDE and FD ports in the upper righthand corner (looking at the pegasos from the PCI side) is a smallish port, only 26-pins.  That is where you go.  The last row of pins is the power-on jumper.
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 10, 2003, 04:33:04 PM
Right, power button problem solved - system powers on. Cue next problem......


.....nothing is displayed on screen, but hard drive, cdrom are clearly being used from sound. I've tried two good AGP cards I know work (one ATI and one NVIDIA GeForce 2 Pro). However, I am using a 256MB SDRAM PC133 stick - instead of ECC + Registered. Am I right in thinking the problem should go away if I purchase and use ECC & Reg Ram instead of the bog standard SDRAM?
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: takemehomegrandma on July 10, 2003, 04:42:45 PM
@ Samuar

Like this (click here and browse forward)? (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2371)

Edit:
Yes, the Articia is rediculously fastidious when it comes to RAM. But in the linked thread above you will find a lot of hints and suggestions ...
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: takemehomegrandma on July 10, 2003, 04:46:38 PM
BTW, does anyone know if Wilse finally got his Pegasos to work?
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: porneL on July 10, 2003, 06:14:59 PM
I got mine few days ago :D
With free shipping too! (polish distributor)

Now I must get slick microatx case with fanless power supply (dont want to spoil cool board with noisy case :> )
Title: Re: Thanks to Genesi and Phinixi.com
Post by: Samuar on July 11, 2003, 12:04:55 AM
Phinixi have run out of their phree boards for developers, for now. Thanks go to them for their efforts in providing these boards, and for the efforts made to create a development community with access to online tools and facilities.

Genesi through the various worldwide websites, including http://www.pegasosppc.com. In the UK, the bare pegasos boards are available much more cheaply than the bare AmigaOne boards. Well worth it.