Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: Galaxyc on November 17, 2007, 07:25:56 PM
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The list is online at http://www.acube-systems.com/compatibility/ . Hope we have at last Os 4 at the end of this month . :-D
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Not having any hardware that I can run it on, I'm not so worked up about it. It would be nice if I could buy it and have it run under WinUAE or better yet if there was a port for standard intel hardware. But of course, I'm beating a dead horse...
:horse:
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Very nice list :) November 30th is not too far now! Two more weeks... LOL :)
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What perfect timing for my CSPPC to pack up! :-(
I wonder if concerto works, don't see it mentioned on the list.
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looks like my a1200 blizzard bvision is ok to use
great
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Good compatability
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Interesting :-)
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WohO great all my card's is supported!!!
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damn, one of my 4000's has a g-rex... I hope they support it soon!
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@keropi
I think we would have to direct some emails toward bplan to make that possible. (I know the OS4 developers are happy to the port pending documentation)
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Hmmm...I can see Toccata v1.0 for an A3000 system in the list but not for an A4000.
Oh well! Just a few more loooong days to go :banana:
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Who had the mad idea to test the old Picasso II or the other Zorro II GFX cards under OS4 :-o
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Hey! I have a Picasso II that has been excellent plus some of those other old GFX cards, and I'm very grateful that they have been tested :pint:
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Great at last to have a compatibility list, but what a big disappointment.
Great, there is support for an A1200 Mediator, and for PCI cards in it, but wait a bit, there is no support for any PCI card that requires DMA.
My words to Hyperion are, get the DMA access for PCI cards sorted out, this is ridiculous.
So which PCI cards are being supported.
Voodoo, ah yes, marvellous, 24bit graphics, but wait, no sound unless you buy or maybe already own a Terratec 128i PCI card, but wait, no there are problems with that, so nice graphics, but no sound.
OOooh that sounds like . . . oh no it doesn't sound like anything, as there will be NO SOUNDS, other than the built-in sound of the basic A1200, IF that works, which is not mentioned in the list.
What a giant step forward for AMIGA mankind, this OS4 is!
NO on-board BLIZZARD SCSI, NO Mediator PCI Soundblaster, NO PCI SCSI card support, also there's no USB support for the Spider card for the Mediator, besides that, basically the most popular Ethernet chip the RTL8139 PCI Ethernet is NOT supported in an A1200 Mediator board.
So you would have an up-to-date OS4 with access to maybe 4 IDE devices, and 24 bit graphics on an A1200 with a Mediator, THAT'S IT.
If it was not for the VooDoo card support I might as well just throw the Mediator card away for the support it gets from OS4.
The Soundblaster was the first soundcard to be supported for the Mediator, but wait a minute . . . NOT ANY LONGER.
Not even a mention of the Squirrel device.
So switch the machine on, look at the pretty pictures , and see how fast the machine boots . . . then re-boot it and have another look at that OS4, WOW . . that really was worth all the wait.
So I can sit at home look at a great OS, but not be able to use my USB digital camera, or SCSI scanner, or SCSI hard drives, or listen to any music, or even go online, unless I buy a network card that plugs into the PCMCIA card slot, and of course buy a 90 degree PCMCIA adapter so I can put it in my tower. Is this an improvement over using my PCI Ethernet card . . . I don't think so.
So the machine I have, with all the cards, Mediator based, and Blizzard/Phase 5 PPC, clockport and Squirrel that work on OS3.9 will no longer be functional, so I won't have SCSI, USB, Soundcard, TV/Radio, or Ethernet. Maybe none of the clockport cards will work either, but there is no mention of any devices that connect to the clockport.
This really is a great INCOMPATIBILITY list
How is anyone using OS4 going to use it with only 4 IDE devices connected to the machine? That's IF you are lucky to have an IDE add-on card supported, without work-arounds.
How long has this OS4 been worked on ? Absolute ages, and now 2 weeks before it is due to be available we are told that hardware that has been around for all this time is not supported, well not at the time of availability.
Frankly it's pathetic.
To me it feels as though Hyperion have got to a point where they are running out of cash after all their hard work, which I ought to say, CHEERS FOR THAT.
However, the Classic machine seems to have been turned to, as a last ditch attempt, to get this cash back, and in my opinion it seems as though it had never been thought of as going to be used seriously for OS4, had the new hardware been approved.
The work that has gone on apace with the Classic Amiga, seems to have happened over only a short space of time, the last few weeks. When in reality, their availability, and AMIGA owners have been there to test them for a few years. I have even offered my own machine for such Betatesting, but had no replies about the offer.
Had the software been made available, or the work been put in for the Classic machines to be supported, and then adapted to run the boards/devices available for the Classic machines, then maybe most or all of the available hardware for these machines would have been supported by OS4.
I have not seen or used OS4 as yet, and I have really been looking forward to getting my hands on it, but there is no point in doing so if there is basically no support for the hardware I have. I would like to give a much better appraisal of OS4's compatibility, but at this moment, to use the well known expression, . . IT SUCKS.
I am an Amiga fan, make no mistake. I have stuck through these hard times, like many, hoping for OS4 to appear. I dislike Microsoft and don't like the closed-shop of the Mac.
I expected to see a fully formed OS4 capable of running the hardware my machine has had installed for a few years, which with OS3.9 runs very well I might add, but to get to this mediocre point of support for the Classic machine is pitiful.
No, no, wait, don't be so hard on OS4 I keep telling myself, after all this is a NEW OS for the AMIGA.
NO it's not . . . it's been 4 years or more, in the waiting.
What kind of development has been made for the Classic machine if the only headway, in that time, has been the disappointing lack of support for much of the well established boards for the Classic machine.
I really don't think much, if any, time has been spent over the last 4 years, developing to support the Classic Amiga A1200, maybe not even the A4000.
All the while ACube, as now is, has developed a brand new board, with no problems it would seem, other than a licence to use it, for running OS4. Their board has USB 2, modern graphics, and high quality sound built-in, and yet, has only recently become available.
So a brand new board for OS4, with many modern devices built-in, cannot be used as it has no licence. Wheras the Classic Amiga that has been around for ages, with some modern hardware designed to work with the Classic architecture, will not properly be supported by the release of OS4.
In my opinion, it would be far better for OS4 to be delayed a little longer, if it meant that the hardware support would be improved greatly, as the current compatibility is almost useless for anyone having a similar system to mine, which must be a lot of users with Classic machines with PPC boards.
For me, so far it is almost as much use as OS5.
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OK, nothing wrong with an PII itself, but who would put a Zorro II GFX card into a PPC Amiga ?? Well it is kind of cool to see OS4 making use of such old hardware though.
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who would put a Zorro II GFX card into a PPC Amiga ??
A madman like me I guess :lol: I've had a CV64, a CV64/3D and a CyberstormPPC 604e in the same A4000 for months :-D
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:cry: No A2000HD compatibility?
redfox
MicroA1 (OS4.0)
A2000HD (OS3.1)
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No A2000HD compatibility?
I think Its not worth to develop for the small amount of ppc-developerboards, I guess.
But no onboard SCSI (A4000T) thats bad.
And the concierto on the PicasoIV isn't mentioned at all?
I think I have to wait for the first BoingBag :-)
Markus
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But no onboard SCSI (A4000T) thats bad.
I don't see this as big problem since the majority of users won't have onboard SCSI anyway, and those that do there is already faster SCSI solution built into the CSPPC.
And the concerto on the PicasoIV isn't mentioned at all?
Yes thats strange, Rogue had mentioned before there was currently no support for Paloma TV cards, so I guess that's true for concerto too.
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I am confused how will the speed on the voodoo3 "mediator" be in Os4 compared to Bvision. As they did mention something about DMA hack = ZERO ... Will you have any speed by it at all ..
But no onboard SCSI (A4000T) thats bad.
No it is not bad the onboard ide sux compared to the UWSCSI 3 on the CSPPC
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No it is not bad the onboard ide sux compared to the UWSCSI 3 on the CSPPC
Actually I'm talking about the onboard SCSI, not the IDE.
I agree that the SCSI-Controller on the CSPPC is much faster than the NCR-SCSI of the A4000T board, but I don't like to put all 50pin SCSI-devieces onto the 68pin UW3 string. And I have a lot (1GB-HD, 4,2GB-HD, SyQuest200, Ricoh burner, Yahama burner and Scanmaker E3)
Markus
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Nearly-Right wrote:
... or even go online, unless I buy a network card that plugs into the PCMCIA card slot, and of course buy a 90 degree PCMCIA adapter so I can put it in my tower. Is this an improvement over using my PCI Ethernet card . . . I don't think so.
I believe that you can use an RTL8029 ethernet card on your mediator bus, although of course it is only a 10Mb/s card.
Not much consolation, but hey - at least you don't need that 90 degree pcmcia adapter.
Also, I'm under the impression that all the onboard devices are supported, ie native sound through Paula.
Better to ask someone who's been a beta tester though.
Also, perhaps better to pressure Elbox into porting their proprietary drivers to OS4 rather than the OS4 developers who, as far as I know, have insufficient documentation to do the job.
Regards
Rich
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Markus_Bieler wrote:
No it is not bad the onboard ide sux compared to the UWSCSI 3 on the CSPPC
Actually I'm talking about the onboard SCSI, not the IDE.
I agree that the SCSI-Controller on the CSPPC is much faster than the NCR-SCSI of the A4000T board, but I don't like to put all 50pin SCSI-devieces onto the 68pin UW3 string. And I have a lot (1GB-HD, 4,2GB-HD, SyQuest200, Ricoh burner, Yahama burner and Scanmaker E3)
Markus
Sorry did i write IDE i meant SCSI 4KT. You should change the SCSI You will be impressed by the speed difference i know it will be alot of work but belive me its worth it..
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@Lemmink
Who had the mad idea to test the old Picasso II or the other Zorro II GFX cards under OS4
ACube guys still haven't added my latest cards tested... expect a GVP EGS Spectrum 24 listed very soon ;-P
@Markus_Bieler
A4000T scsi is useless since uwscsi is much faster and you can connect everything to you csppc directly.
ConciertoIV used to work in previous betas but I haven't tested the ultra-latest CD so that's the reason it's not yet in the compatibility list. I have to asure that it works with the latest CD.
BTW PalomaIV also works, but the list needs to be updated.
ACube guys are busy so let them work ;-)
@Nearly-Right
you are a troll, but I'll feed you a little...
-Elbox are the ones who should get proper DMA in their PCI busboards. And also the ones who should write stable drivers for their busboards. If their PCI DMA implementation is rubbish it's not Hyperion's fault. Elbox is free to release updated drivers that support OS4. I mean... Mediator1200 sucks. G-Rex has nicer points but Ralph Schmidt won't provide docs so it's not possible to use that.
-Spider is already useless and unsupported by Poseidon, so no reason to rant.
-You can use Highway. IIRC correctly poseidon worked inside OS4 with Subway but maybe someone tests that
-If you really, really care about sound quality, you probably won't be using a SB128. Since you think a SB128 is "great quality", you will be able to buy (yeah, it costs 10€ on eBay and 20€ new, don't be a rat) a Terratec128i when the driver becomes more stable. You can use paula to hear sounds while you wait. It's better than no sound I think.
-8029 are dead cheap. 8139 was as slow as 8029 on Mediator1200. The SDK is free to download, if you are so clever you can write your own driver. I prefer to use RTL8029 as I don't like to use my gfx card memory to store network stuff (bizarre! isn't it?)
-Not having scsi on BlizzardPPC sucks. But not having OS4 sucks even more. You can wait until a scsi driver is developed (maybe in a boing bag). In the meanwhile people who don't think OS4 sucks can enjoy it. You can wait shouting "OS4 sucks", switch to Linux or whatever you want (I won't care)
-Compatibility is VERY good. Most of cards I own work. I have a big tower amiga, that's different than 1200-sandwitch-of-hacky-cards machines. Simply compare the number of supported graphic cards with e.g. MorphOS powerUp (no offense guys, you did a great job too).
-BTW... you could probably disable OS4 PCI library and use elbox drivers under emulation but you would probably not like it and would complain anyway.
-You could sell your "sucky" amiga classic and buy a "sucky" A1 or Pegasos. These modern machines also "suck" because nVidia cards don't work, but you may make an user happy since he could be able to run OS4.
You can simply wait until boing bag #45617 is released to buy it. ATM I prefer to buy it now and use it now with the current hardware support. More native drivers are going to appear from 3rd party coders and hardware support could improve in the future.
Take a look at MOS Team. The first powerUP 1.4.x release didn't support CV3d/CV64/PicassoIV but they added support in the latest versions.
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BTW PalomaIV also works, but the list needs to be updated
Well that's put a big smile on my face :-D
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Nearly-Right wrote:
So you would have an up-to-date OS4 with access to maybe 4 IDE devices, and 24 bit graphics on an A1200 with a Mediator, THAT'S IT.
I only have 4 devices on my SCSI-UW chain, works fine for me. 2 HD, a CD-RW and a ZIP drive. What else do you need?
If it was not for the VooDoo card support I might as well just throw the Mediator card away for the support it gets from OS4.
At least it's supported. The Prometheus seems to have even less support, and the G-Rex has none at all.
So switch the machine on, look at the pretty pictures , and see how fast the machine boots . . . then re-boot it and have another look at that OS4, WOW . . that really was worth all the wait.
If OS4 is really that useless to you, why the hell have you been waiting for it?
So I can sit at home look at a great OS, but not be able to use my USB digital camera, or SCSI scanner, or SCSI hard drives, or listen to any music, or even go online, unless I buy a network card that plugs into the PCMCIA card slot, and of course buy a 90 degree PCMCIA adapter so I can put it in my tower. Is this an improvement over using my PCI Ethernet card . . . I don't think so.
You can't expect a new OS to support every pice of hardware ever made. The bottom line is you bought the wrong equipment. My A4000/CSPPC/CVision/AriadneII are fully supported, but if they weren't I still wouldn't dismiss OS4 as a waste of time.
This really is a great INCOMPATIBILITY list
It's disappointing, but would you rather find out after you paid for OS4? At least you know what to expect.
How is anyone using OS4 going to use it with only 4 IDE devices connected to the machine? That's IF you are lucky to have an IDE add-on card supported, without work-arounds.
You only need 2 devices: a HD and a CD-ROM.
How long has this OS4 been worked on ? Absolute ages, and now 2 weeks before it is due to be available we are told that hardware that has been around for all this time is not supported, well not at the time of availability.
Frankly it's pathetic.
No, it's because "hardware that has been around for all this time" is now ancient. Are you actually surprised that a new version of the OS needs better hardware than the last version? OS3.9 doesn't work on a stock A500. Get a clue.
I expected to see a fully formed OS4 capable of running the hardware my machine has had installed for a few years, which with OS3.9 runs very well I might add, but to get to this mediocre point of support for the Classic machine is pitiful.
Pitiful? No. OS4 is a complete break from the legacy hardware, which is why the A1 version was completed first. Only top of the range systems really get close to the A1s' capabilities. Your system is more of a mid range machine, compared to the A3000s and A4000s.
I really don't think much, if any, time has been spent over the last 4 years, developing to support the Classic Amiga A1200, maybe not even the A4000.
Of course it hasn't. The plan was to have new hardware in plentiful supply. Support for PowerUP machines was really to provide developer and testing facilities.
All the while ACube, as now is, has developed a brand new board, with no problems it would seem, other than a licence to use it, for running OS4. Their board has USB 2, modern graphics, and high quality sound built-in, and yet, has only recently become available.
So a brand new board for OS4, with many modern devices built-in, cannot be used as it has no licence. Wheras the Classic Amiga that has been around for ages, with some modern hardware designed to work with the Classic architecture, will not properly be supported by the release of OS4.
What's your point? Do you want OS4 on Classic, or OS4 on new hardware?
For me, so far it is almost as much use as OS5.
It's actually of more use. It's known to exist, will soon be available and has software written for it. OS5 is just vapour.
Go post at EAB, they'll appreciate your rant much more.
________
BUY MFLB (http://www.vaporshop.com/mflb-vaporizer.html)
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@Nearly-Right
Use an 8029 instead of 8139 card if you don't want to use PCMCIA. Its not like the 8139 ever went much faster than 10Mb/s in a Mediator 1200 anyway.
Nobody said that its impossible to get TV cards working under Mediator/OS4 either, its just that there are currently no native drivers for that. It might or might not work, at this point we don't know.
At least you actually can use network (8029), sound (terratec) and graphics (voodoo) in the mediator. Would you rather there was no support at all?
Besides, if you want, you can use the elbox 68k drivers. Just remove all OS4 native drivers for mediator cards and install them like on OS3.9, they even use the native Picasso96.
Theres no need to be so hostile about it, its not like hyperion owe you anything.
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nd the G-Rex has none at all.
well, nobody tries after all ?
Bvision and Cvision works so as a GREX + Permedia 2 card is seeing as the 2 previous, it should work...
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@CLS2086
G-Rex doesn't work because the people behind the G-Rex actively refuse to give documentation to Hyperion.
The G-Rex simply doesn't work; some OS4 betatesters have G-Rex boards.
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That's my 1200 out of the equation with it's Blizz SCSI. Then again as it's only a 030 might as-well stick to 3.9. :lol:
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Does anyone know if Elbox plan to release updated drivers for OS4?
Have just emailed them so will see what happens.
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Terratec 128i PCI Prometheus/Mediator YES
:-o
Is this verified?
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A4000_Mad wrote:
who would put a Zorro II GFX card into a PPC Amiga ??
A madman like me I guess :lol: I've had a CV64, a CV64/3D and a CyberstormPPC 604e in the same A4000 for months :-D
Those cards support (CV64 even requires) the Zorro III bus found in A4000.
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I agree its a shame the blizzard SCSI and onboard SCSI for 3000/4000 are not supported. Sometimes its handy to have an external port without buying a lot of expensive SCSI hardware. I have external 68pin scsi devices on one of my 3000D's but it cost about $250.00 for all the cables, terminators, external case. It keeps the load off the standard power supply, but it would be easier to be able to plug in an external 25pin cd to install the OS on a 3000D with out all the hassle. Maybe they will come out with drivers later, right now I have three machines set up ready to go with OS 4.0. More if it works well. :-)
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redrumloa wrote:
Is this verified?
Everything on the list is verified; thats how the list was made. OS4 betatesters reported their actual findings to ACube.
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@CLS2089
GREX4000 does not work. In fact, it has to be actively ignored. I doubt a lot that grex+permedia is seen as CyberVisionPPC but you may try. I guess it won't work.
@AndrewBell
Prometheus support is more or less as good as Mediator.
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xeron wrote:
Use an 8029 instead of 8139 card if you don't want to use PCMCIA. Its not like the 8139 ever went much faster than 10Mb/s in a Mediator 1200 anyway.
Dose it work with the Mediator a1200 bus boards under OS4? as the hardware list only says "Realtek RTL8029AS PCI Prometheus YES" not mediator?
I would really like to now as that's the network card I have plugged into my mediator at the moment, and after ditching my old Eye-tech MK1 tower last year I can no longer use my HydraPCMCIA network card which is not on the harware list.
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@ Crumb
As you seem to be be a beta tester how does the emaultion of classic apps and system friendly games compare to the real thing.
I have a 603e/175mhz what sort of speeds compared to native could i expect. Though I suppose dual boot would be the way to go
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Oh and does anyone know if Z4 busboard is supported
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@JJ
It feels faster than 680x0 based systems, including 060. Of course, if you have a 040 you will notice your system has become very very fast :-)
Keep in mind that even if your 603e is not the fastest one, the rest of the OS runs native PPC code so even if Petunia couldn't match a 060 in some parts, you probably won't notice it because all the rest is running much faster.
I think Classic release is polished and well finished.
Keeping an old OS3.x for old stuff like WHDLoad is a good idea. I also have one with MOS so I can enjoy all amiga-like flavours :-)
Anyway Xeron has published a list of 68k demos compatible with OS4. In some cases you may get more speed if the demo is more or less system-friendly.
-edit- I didn't have much time to test an A1200 with ZorroIV but I think it will work as Zorro cards were listed correctly. I couldn't test it more, sorry.
I think ZorroIV board is more or less "clean" and probably will work correctly. Anyway keep in mind that some zorro2 card drivers may be more sensible than others to timings so most of cards probably will work but others could have problems.
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Yeah was thinking would need to keep os3.9 for games. Have you tried EUAE on it? I would imagine it would suck
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@JJ
I haven't tried it as I focused in hardware compatibility more than software. I guess E-UAE will be slow, it's slow on a G3/600 with L2 cache and SDRAM so I guess it will be unusable on a 604e. You can run the real games directly at perfect framerate with perfect timing, blitter/copper effects... there's no need to run E-UAE in such a system.
I tested my BasiliskII port and it worked correctly with Voodoo3 at 32bits. I didn't run any app inside it, but I think running basiliskII on the 060 would be much faster.
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Im confussed now. Obviously games that boot off floppy will still work, but HDD games and whdload games will not run will they.
Which games are we talking about ?
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I'm pretty confused... I waited OS4 to use my spider USB properly as Poseidon doesn't support it anymore but it seems that it's not a good choice...
Moreover I don't see any fastlane support and that's really a shame for someone that doesn't want to mix SCSI2 and SCSI3 peripheral on the same chain...
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@Reflex
For usb you need a Zorro/Clockport version, as standard pci UHCI/OHCI/EHCI cards uses DMA and that won't work with Mediator1200
I don't know about the Fastlane, if its not on the list don't mean that its not supported only that its not tested.
RWO
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No native SCSI support for the Top end Amigas?
Fs,.....you gotta laugh! :lol:
Dont put CDROMS on your PPC SCSI WITH hard drives. It'll seriously slow up your hard drives performance. Do the above on IDE & you might as well use an Abacus.
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Im confussed now. Obviously games that boot off floppy will still work, but HDD games and whdload games will not run will they.
You could always do a small 1gig partition with os3.9 and all your old games on it.
On the first power up simply access the boot menu and select that partition over the OS4 one and hey, best of both worlds.
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Dwyloc wrote:
Dose it work with the Mediator a1200 bus boards under OS4?
In general, if an OS4 native driver works on one classic PCI system, it'll work on all of them.
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@JJ
I don't play games. I just know WHDLoad does not work. You can load your games rebooting into OS3 in less than a minute.
@Kin-Hell
The UWSCSI controller of my CSPPC works without problems, thanks.
@Reflex
Fastlane probably won't work as it uses DMA and OS4 uses virtualized memory. Maybe if you put the buffers in chip ram... but I don't think it's possible. It's faster and easier to use the CSPPC UWSCSI controller.
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Do you know if anyone has tasted zorro cards in the Z4 busboard
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@JJ
I think I could try one again in two weeks, not earlier. But I guess it will work. You'll see the card listed when it's tested completely.
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What's up with PicassoIV, Paloma overlay? Is the problem serious and what apps using overlay are likely affected?
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@ crumb
Thanks. I was about to sell all my amiga stuff cause im in the poo at the moment, but as all my hardware is listed as working more or lesws, might buy os4 and see how it goes
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@Nearly-Right
I very much agree with you. But, getting it out there is the a step in the right direction. I was horrified when I saw the list at first tho..
I have a RTL8139 and a Voodoo5 ( which isn't even mentioned ) and a whole heap of incompatible audio cards...
Maybe I have a voodoo3 somewhere, but with my luck that's agp.. Anyway that big thing that's supposed to hang the back of it is missing. :inquisitive:
I was hoping this (http://elbox.com/mediator_driver_guide.html) list of hardware would be supported tho...
But I guess Crumb is right, people will develop, and hopefully elbox will sort us incompatibles out =)
Edited: No point in feeding the trolls. :lol:
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I'm glad that the IDEFix express is supported because i'm about to receive one from amigakit, along with the OS4. :-)
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Crumb wrote:
@Kin-Hell
The UWSCSI controller of my CSPPC works without problems, thanks.
I dont recall saying your UWSCSI was having problems!
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While this is all very well and very cool.
It still leves me and, I guess, a bunch of toher users no fecking HW to use... To bad, for me this is atm useless.
I so much want new HW and AOS4.0
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yssing wrote:
While this is all very well and very cool.
It still leves me and, I guess, a bunch of toher users no fecking HW to use... To bad, for me this is atm useless.
I so much want new HW and AOS4.0
Do you have the funds for an A4000 604e?
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@ AmigaMance
Is IDEfix express something new then mate? I've got IDEFix 97 for A4000's and and EIDE99 for A1200's, but I could have missed that one!
EDIT - Sorry mate I read that too quickly. It's hardware of course and I've found it here (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=425&osCsid=cb4c995a5f156c5308c5e84bb427f673) thanks :-)
Can you just confirm that you've actually been able to order and pay for OS4 from Amigakit?
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A4000_Mad wrote:
@ AmigaMance
Is IDEfix express something new then mate? I've got IDEFix 97 for A4000's and and EIDE99 for A1200's, but I could have missed that one!
EDIT - Sorry mate I read that too quickly. It's hardware of course and I've found it here (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=425&osCsid=cb4c995a5f156c5308c5e84bb427f673) thanks :-)
Yep. It's like a plain IDEFix splitter on steroids. I chose to buy this instead of FastATA because it's cheaper.
Can you just confirm that you've actually been able to order and pay for OS4 from Amigakit?
I have ordered the IDEfix plus some other stuff and then sent the money to AmigaKit about a month ago. Then, some days later, the news about OS4 came out, so i asked matthew if he intents to sell OS4. He said yes and i told him to put my order on-hold until he receives OS4.
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Hmmm... no A3000 SCSI... damn!
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Hi Andy, and by the way thanks a not, for the abuse, I must say I don't admire people who can spit out nasty comments at other people in an uncalled for way, and I am glad it was edited out, for all on this forum, as we can well do without it.
Quote: by Andrew Bell on 2007/11/18 5:42:55
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Nearly-Right wrote:
So you would have an up-to-date OS4 with access to maybe 4 IDE devices, and 24 bit graphics on an A1200 with a Mediator, THAT'S IT.
I only have 4 devices on my SCSI-UW chain, works fine for me. 2 HD, a CD-RW and a ZIP drive. What else do you need?
It's great for you to have 4 devices on your SCSI-UW chain, which from what you have said you are using with a pre-release version of OS4 on a CSPPC, but what about lots of other Blizzard PPC users who have no SCSI driver to use their HDs, and CD/DVDs, and other SCSI devices, such as ZIP drives, with OS4, and no prospect of having a SCSI card available for them to use SCSI through the Mediator PCI slots?
What I was trying to say about Hyperion is that THEY are the one's developing this software, and have been for 4 years, approx.
So when during all that time, until now, were any of the users told, formally or otherwise, that the Mediator would not be supported properly? Included in that would be other significant attached devices, and importantly the SCSI device on the Blizzard PPC board, which would not be supported, or any of the other hardware that would be likely to be used by many Amiga users, they had been hard at work developing OS4 for.
NEVER!
People who are Betatesters may have known this information, users who have a pre-release of OS4 using an A1200 on a Blizzard may also know, but it has not been published anywhere, to my knowledge, and so leaving it until 2 weeks before it is going to be released as a FULL release, is disgraceful by Hyperion, and should have been something during the development time that should have been said, so Amiga users could have gauged there purchases accordingly.
In fact if OS4 could be compared to an electrical appliance it would more than likely be classed as unfit for the purpose.
I did say . . Quote:
If it was not for the VooDoo card support I might as well just throw the Mediator card away for the support it gets from OS4.
At least it's supported. The Prometheus seems to have even less support, and the G-Rex has none at all.
Here again this is information that all Amiga users should have been told, ages ago, not now, at the release time of the software.
I said . . Quote:
So switch the machine on, look at the pretty pictures , and see how fast the machine boots . . . then re-boot it and have another look at that OS4, WOW . . that really was worth all the wait.
If OS4 is really that useless to you, why the hell have you been waiting for it?
I have been waiting for OS4 to be released so that I can use my hardware on OS4 . . Doh !
But thanks to Hyperion, and the other developers of other already existing Amiga hardware/software who have either passively or actively been unhelpful to development, the hardware I have is not as fully supported as I would have been led to believe was likely, as Hyperion had been tight lipped about the progress, or should I really say lack of progress, into the development of OS4 for the Classic hardware.
Also, if there is a problem that DMA access to PCI boards, through the Mediator is mot supported, then support the boards another way, otherwise how do they work under OS3.9 without any problem. Someone commented that the Mediator drivers were buggy, well I have to defend Elbox at this point and say their Mediator board has been GREAT, and VERY RELIABLE, and the main reason I have kept my Amiga.
It is the hardware developer that should have made every effort to support the Classic hardware, not me, including approaching, and finding a way where necessary to get the developer of the hardware/software to assist or release code that would enable the success of the board being utilised under OS4. If this would not help all parties concerned then I don't know what would. Some people should grow up, and learn to help one another. Get a grip on life, and be a thoughtful being to the next person, as we should all be helping one another where possible, though where business is concerned suitable payment may assist with the help. If this was not going to have been possible, then it should have been disclosed to the intended customers, us, so we all could have made an informed decision sooner.
I said . . Quote:
So I can sit at home look at a great OS, but not be able to use my USB digital camera, or SCSI scanner, or SCSI hard drives, or listen to any music, or even go online, unless I buy a network card that plugs into the PCMCIA card slot, and of course buy a 90 degree PCMCIA adapter so I can put it in my tower. Is this an improvement over using my PCI Ethernet card . . . I don't think so.
You can't expect a new OS to support every pice of hardware ever made. The bottom line is you bought the wrong equipment. My A4000/CSPPC/CVision/AriadneII are fully supported, but if they weren't I still wouldn't dismiss OS4 as a waste of time.
So you are saying I bought the wrong equipment, an Amiga A1200, with a Blizzard PPC board, with built-in SCSI, and added to it a Mediator, like lots of other users, who then populated it with well known PCI PC hardware, such as Ethernet cards (RTL8139 - just about the most well used chip for Ethernet use on PCs, Soundcards - Soundblaster - don't come much more well known hardware on the PC than that, and a basically standard USB PCI card, made by NEC, and sold by Elbox. These are not obscure hardware manufacturers to either the worldwide audience of computing or the more specific Amiga users, so why have they (Hyperion) failed, not me, to get support for the OS in the time they have had available, approx 4 years ?
I'll give you my opinion on this matter again, it is that we were the overlooked ones, the ones that owned all this older hardware that they never really intended to support anyway.
The ones who would buy the new hardware when it was released when the older hardware was seen to not be fully supported and a new choice had to be made.
That would not be so bad if the new hardware, I believe to be made available via ACUBE, was actually available to use, but as there is no licence for it and it cannot be seen to be released for OS4 use, it is not available.
So, in my opinion, plan B came into effect, go back to the Classic Amiga supporters and supply them with a half-hearted attempt at OS4, and see if they would part with some cash, even though the hardware/software had not been worked on fully, or properly, to get the older hardware to function correctly with OS4, as the time had mainly been spent on developing the new hardware, which at the moment is basically halted.
If my suspicions were found to be true I would be really disappointed about Hyperion. As they have not said anything about the release recently, other than this pitiful compatibility list, but have not replied to e-mails from me recently.
I did send an e-mail to Hans-Jorg Frieden some while ago, which he replied to, in which he said that the A1200 would be supported, but he never mentioned the poor support it would have, or gave me any reason to suspect it, which he should have done if he knew then.
I said . . Quote:
This really is a great INCOMPATIBILITY list
It's disappointing, but would you rather find out after you paid for OS4? At least you know what to expect.
I am glad you see my real point, the list is disappointing, and if you owned an A1200, rather than what I suspect you own, an A4000, then you too would be agreeing with me, rather than making unfair comments.
I said . . Quote:
How is anyone using OS4 going to use it with only 4 IDE devices connected to the machine? That's IF you are lucky to have an IDE add-on card supported, without work-arounds.
You only need 2 devices: a HD and a CD-ROM.
So your saying then that I shouldn't need to use my SCSI scanner, or my SCSI HD, or SCSI based DVD drive, or my USB mouse, and graphics tablet? You really are being very unreal about this factor in OS4.
If I have an A1200 with the only PPC board available in it, and with the only PCI capable add-on board fitted in it, should I not be able to expect that ALL the features of that board are supported for the new OS? Of course I should, or I should have been told so, 4 years ago, or some time long, long ago, not now 2 weeks before release.
I said . . Quote:
How long has this OS4 been worked on ? Absolute ages, and now 2 weeks before it is due to be available we are told that hardware that has been around for all this time is not supported, well not at the time of availability.
Frankly it's pathetic.
No, it's because "hardware that has been around for all this time" is now ancient. Are you actually surprised that a new version of the OS needs better hardware than the last version? OS3.9 doesn't work on a stock A500. Get a clue.
Precisely, it's been around all this time, and maybe by modern standards it is "ancient", BUT Hyperion had never said that a greater proportion of that hardware would not be, or could not be supported in OS4.
Besides which, as you said above, if the new OS needs better hardware, then why are they trying to release OS4 for the Classic machines at all?
I believe it is money, not because they gave their word/promised to do it, but simply money. If they had kept their word/promise the hardware/software that makes up OS4 would have been better finished or the truth would have been told much sooner.
If the SCSI device of my card works under OS3.9, and it is a well known standard, then why have Hyperion not been able to get it working for OS4. Likewise for the Mediator board, if the Soundblaster PCI128, and Spider USB card works under OS3.9 why can they not get it to work under OS4? If it works under one OS, then it just needs to be programmed correctly for OS4, after all it's all just data that the hardware has to be told to understand the commands/requests correctly.
I said . . Quote:
I expected to see a fully formed OS4 capable of running the hardware my machine has had installed for a few years, which with OS3.9 runs very well I might add, but to get to this mediocre point of support for the Classic machine is pitiful.
Pitiful? No. OS4 is a complete break from the legacy hardware, which is why the A1 version was completed first. Only top of the range systems really get close to the A1s' capabilities. Your system is more of a mid range machine, compared to the A3000s and A4000s.
So top range Amigas have ZORRO slots, ha-ha, which are really "ancient" compared to PCI systems, which are still current in modern PC hardware.
Can't say I have seen a ZORRO slot in a PC, but not really any surprise there is there Andy, to be truthful.
So my A1200, which has a PPC 603 with a 240Mhz CPU on it is more inferior to your CSPPC, I don't think so. I have an A4000 desktop, which to be honest is a whole lot less easy to upgrade to more modern hardware than the A1200. There is no clockport built into the A4000. There is no PCMCIA slot built in either, which is also a currently supported piece of hardware on PCs, which you are saying makes my machine not as high performance as yours.
I beg to differ, well I am actually laughing to differ.
I said . . Quote:
I really don't think much, if any, time has been spent over the last 4 years, developing to support the Classic Amiga A1200, maybe not even the A4000.
Of course it hasn't. The plan was to have new hardware in plentiful supply. Support for PowerUP machines was really to provide developer and testing facilities.
Well, there's one shot in the foot for you Andy. So Hyperion never really intended to support the Classic Amigas, is that what you are saying ? Do you know this ?
I said . . Quote:
All the while ACube, as now is, has developed a brand new board, with no problems it would seem, other than a licence to use it, for running OS4. Their board has USB 2, modern graphics, and high quality sound built-in, and yet, has only recently become available.
So a brand new board for OS4, with many modern devices built-in, cannot be used as it has no licence. Wheras the Classic Amiga that has been around for ages, with some modern hardware designed to work with the Classic architecture, will not properly be supported by the release of OS4.
What's your point? Do you want OS4 on Classic, or OS4 on new hardware?
I want Hyperion to supply the new OS4 with support for all well established hardware, and software packages, that would enable Classic users to use their older hardware in harmony with their older software while using OS4.
Is that not "exactly what it said on the tin"?
I said . . Quote:
For me, so far it is almost as much use as OS5.
It's actually of more use. It's known to exist, will soon be available and has software written for it. OS5 is just vapour.
Go post at EAB, they'll appreciate your rant much more.
It's certainly of more use than no OS4, when it finally does arrive, but for many Amiga users who have held on for ages, and ages, with an A1200 with a PPC and a Mediator board it will not be seen as the best thing since sliced bread, will it?
I really do hope that OS4 is improved on, but I am really disappointed, and cannot decide if, in it's current state, OS4 is worth spending/wasting my money on.
I would really like to hear from Hyperion about all this, surely someone from there has read some, or all of comments in this forum, but as yet has not been heard from.
They should be answering questions, and supplying information about progress, on a day-by-day basis, if they expect Amiga users to support their work.
So come on Hyperion, it's no good hiding at the back, step up to the plate, and make your voices heard.
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AmigaMance wrote:
I have ordered the IDEfix plus some other stuff and then sent the money to AmigaKit about a month ago. Then, some days later, the news about OS4 came out, so i asked matthew if he intents to sell OS4. He said yes and i told him to put my order on-hold until he receives OS4.
Many thanks :pint:
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@Akiko
Some apps like AMP2 work correctly while others like DvPlayer only show the image when you drag the window (so you may have to turn off overlay).
PalomaTV works in window, but IIRC it has problems in full screen. You can resize the window to an almost full screensize.
@mike-
I haven't tested Voodoo5 but I'm 100% sure it works without problems.
@Kin-Hell
I dont recall saying your UWSCSI was having problems!
You claimed scsi does not work. Well, CSPPC uwscsi controller works perfectly in my machine running OS4.
@BinoX
use a 7€ 50pin->68pin adapter and problem solved.
@Nearly-Right
This is ridiculous!
Elbox can update their drivers to work with OS4. They can lock a bitmap in the vooodoo memory just like they did on OS3.x and simply call OS4 PCI expansion.library functions instead of using their pci.library ones.
I mean, why should Hyperion do Elbox work? When I buy a PCI card for my PC, the ones who provides the driver are the Company who sold me the graphic card, not Microsoft. Hyperion has already provided native support for Mediator, and that's more than they should have done.
About the Blizzard SCSI controller maybe a driver is released in the future but it would be stupid to make wait to the rest of owners who already can enjoy OS4. You can wait until a scsi driver is released before buying OS4.
BTW, a Seagate 500GB IDE HD with 16MB cache costs around 100€ in Spain. A CDRW probably less than 22€. ZIP is *obsolete*. You can copy all your ZIP cartridges to hard disk and you'll still have a lot of space. If it is absolutely neccessary to use your ZIP you can reboot on OS3.x can't you? If OS4 got BlizzardPPC scsi support some day in the future you could simply buy two 25€ Yamaha SCSI-IDE adaptors for your cdrw/dvd and HD and continue using your IDE devices.
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From what I am told and I'm sure Rogue confirmed this, Mediator owners can use the Elbox pci.libs instead of the OS4 libs and still have access to all the pci cards currently in use.
What are the disadvantges of this?
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Crumb wrote:
@Kin-Hell
I dont recall saying your UWSCSI was having problems!
You claimed scsi does not work. Well, CSPPC uwscsi controller works perfectly in my machine running OS4.
You mis-understood what I wrote. I said that for running CDROMS & Hard drives on the same SCSI Bus, you will slow up the hard drives performance. I didn't say it wouldn't work.
The problem doing this practice with IDE, is the CPU overhead which SCSI does not have. It's better to have CDROMS, Tape devices, scanners etc on one SCSI bus & your hard drives on another independent SCSI bus. Faster transfers all round! :-)
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Crumb wrote:
@BinoX
use a 7€ 50pin->68pin adapter and problem solved.
Yeah, I know.. didn't want to do that though.. maybe I'll put some actualy 68pin SCSI HDDs in and use that for OS4 and use the other for OS3.9... (Not much in the mood for messing around with it too much.. lol)
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Oh.. and there's no mention of the Mediator ZIV... does that work?
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@Kin-Hell
You mis-understood what I wrote. I said that for running CDROMS & Hard drives on the same SCSI Bus, you will slow up the hard drives performance. I didn't say it wouldn't work.
AFAIK as long as you use proper cables performance shouldn't decrease by the presence of mixed 8bit and 16bit devices regardless of being CD or HD.
Could you provide some kind of benchmarks to prove that you get better performance using both controllers simultaneusly instead of using just the more advanced UWSCSI one?
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I have 8 and 16 bit drives mixed om my CS-PPC and that doesn't slow down anything. And yes, I tested with and without 8-bit devices. I get about 30Mb/s.
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Crumb wrote:
@Kin-Hell
You mis-understood what I wrote. I said that for running CDROMS & Hard drives on the same SCSI Bus, you will slow up the hard drives performance. I didn't say it wouldn't work.
AFAIK as long as you use proper cables performance shouldn't decrease by the presence of mixed 8bit and 16bit devices regardless of being CD or HD.
Could you provide some kind of benchmarks to prove that you get better performance using both controllers simultaneusly instead of using just the more advanced UWSCSI one?
Why should I provide Benchmarks? Try it yourself. ;-)
Flashlab wrote:
I have 8 and 16 bit drives mixed om my CS-PPC and that doesn't slow down anything. And yes, I tested with and without 8-bit devices. I get about 30Mb/s.
Not 40Mb/Sec then!?
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Crumb wrote:
@Reflex
Fastlane probably won't work as it uses DMA and OS4 uses virtualized memory. Maybe if you put the buffers in chip ram... but I don't think it's possible. It's faster and easier to use the CSPPC UWSCSI controller.
it's not much easier at all!
Get the picture... I have 2 SCSI3 Hard Disks, One SCSI2 DVD-rom, one SCSI2 CD-Rom, One SCSI2 CD-Burner, One SCSI2 Scanner, a SCSI2 Iomgea Zip100 and a SCSI2 Iomega Jaz 2GB.
8 SCSI peripherals!!!
Now if I want to use all of them on My CyberstormPPC SCSI3 controller I have to use a shorter 50pin cable (I already have the 68=>50 pin adapter) not longer that 50cm with 5 or 6 50 pin connectors, or so, as I have a lot of external devices and the SCSI chain can't be longer than 2 meters...
I have to build it but I don't even know where to find 50 pin connectors to crimp :-(
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@Kin-hell
Never achieved 40Mb/s; not with or without 8-bit devices...
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by Crumb on 2007/11/21 10:52:59
@Nearly-Right
This is ridiculous!
Elbox can update their drivers to work with OS4. They can lock a bitmap in the vooodoo memory just like they did on OS3.x and simply call OS4 PCI expansion.library functions instead of using their pci.library ones.
I see your point, but why are we only getting to know this information, 2 weeks before release. Why were we not told about 4 years ago by Hyperion that the hardware such as the BlizzardPPC or CyberstormPPC board would more than likely not be supported.
Why have Hyperion not made this approach to Elbox, and if they did why were we not told about any frosty reply.
I, like many I suspect, have been waiting for OS4, and for it to have more than just very basic support for the available hardware.
Why have we not been kept informed of the problems associated with the hardware we have? While I'm on the subject why were we not told that the manufacturers of the boards have not been helpful in resolving these issues, or whatever or obstcales stood in the way of porting OS4 for such hardware.
There is such limited hardware supported by OS4 it's like Hyperion have shot us in the foot, and impaled with a sharp pointy thing in the back.
I mean, why should Hyperion do Elbox work? When I buy a PCI card for my PC, the ones who provides the driver are the Company who sold me the graphic card, not Microsoft. Hyperion has already provided native support for Mediator, and that's more than they should have done.
Hyperion should not have to do Elbox's work, but you are missing my point, which is, why have we not been told a long time ago about any approach made by Hyperion to Elbox, and the reply that ensued. We have been left in the dark until virtually the last moment.
It should also be said that the Mediator was brought out when OS3.9 was the current Amiga OS, and no forward planning may have been taken at that time, for OS4, and beyond. However, if the adaptation is likely to be so easy then why have Elbox not told their users not to worry, as it will be fixed by them, or Hyperion been able to let us know now that this was on the horizon, as an imminent fix by Elbox?
About the Blizzard SCSI controller maybe a driver is released in the future but it would be stupid to make wait to the rest of owners who already can enjoy OS4. You can wait until a scsi driver is released before buying OS4.
Yes, but again why are we in this position, only knowing 2 weeks before OS4 is released that there will be no support for the SCSI part of the Blizzard PPC card? It is just disgraceful on the part of Hyperion. With all the software they have been writing, and testing of hardware in the 4+ years of OS4 development could they not have said, sorry but there won't be any SCSI support for the integrated SCSI parts of the Phase 5/DCE cards. They must have known about this issue for some time, I mean years, and said nothing.
I don't care which way anyone looks at it, from a Classic Amiga point of view the silence about the lack of Classic Amiga developed hardware support has been disgraceful, and we should have been told in plenty of time, to prepare us for the situation.
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@Nearly-Right
I don't care which way anyone looks at it, from a Classic Amiga point of view the silence about the lack of Classic Amiga developed hardware support has been disgraceful, and we should have been told in plenty of time, to prepare us for the situation.
Obviously you haven't been reading forums, Rogue has stated for years it would be quite impossible to support every classic configuration, mostly because of the crude or hacky methods implemented by some manufactures, mediator being a prime example.
If you don't have compatible hardware then it's unfortunate, but don't turn around and say you should have been warned earlier, when it has been repeated many times on the "official" OS4 forums.
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@Nearly-Right
I see your point, but why are we only getting to know this information, 2 weeks before release. Why were we not told about 4 years ago by Hyperion that the hardware such as the BlizzardPPC or CyberstormPPC board would more than likely not be supported.
:-? PlizzardPPC and CyberstormPPC boards are supported. Otherwise OS4 simply wouldn't run on any classic Amiga. Moreover, how would they have known 4 years ago which particular peripherals weren't going to be supported? That's completely unrealistic. Rogue mentioned several times (over on AW.net) that they would not support the DMA hack that Mediator boards use. IIRC, it is possible to use the Mediator's own drivers, but then you'll have to use all 68k drivers as there's no way to mix native and 68k ones. Also, it's still possible that someone will write the necessary drivers.
Hans
P.S. To end a quote you need a [ /quote] tag (remove the space between [ and /).
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Have had an email from Amigakit about the release of OS4.0 for classics so I assume they are now taking orders.
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@Nearly-Right
Elbox coders have been on OS4-beta list for years. If they don't create native OS4 PPC versions of their drivers it's clearly Elbox fault.
Hyperion told us years ago that BlizzardPPC version was going to be released *after* CyberstormPPC version because A1200 version required more drivers and testing. Instead of making all the A1200 users wait, Hyperion gives you the chance of testing it *now*. They could have perfectly released just the CSPPC version and make A1200 users wait one year instead of releasing both CSPPC and BlizzardPPC versions in just one pack.
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@Crumb
Have you got round to testing Voodoo 5500 yet?
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BinoX wrote:
Hmmm... no A3000 SCSI... damn!
Why damn?!
To run AOS4 in A3000 you need a CSPPC so you have a 10x better SCSI controller on that, why use anything else?
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@ nearly right
some of us can't use it at all. hang back and wait for a mac hack version. the hardware will be sadly better and cheaper.
i feel that alot of what goes on in the amiga market place is pretty deceptive and evasive so glad i haven't paid the earth for all the things that were touted... and yes why couldn't drivers be written for release day like with ms? mmm... but then it's a small platform give it time. a who knows the best ever hardware and software may be around the corner. :-)
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by Akiko on 2007/11/25 3:37:20
Obviously you haven't been reading forums, Rogue has stated for years it would be quite impossible to support every classic configuration, mostly because of the crude or hacky methods implemented by some manufactures, mediator being a prime example.
It's not right saying it's my fault, that I should read posts in the forum. Hyperion ( & Amiga Inc.) are producing a major upgrade to the Amiga OS. It should be they who should clearly publicise where they are up to with their work on porting it to Classic PPC supported hardware, such as in any/all the current Amiga magazines. Not 2 weeks before release. Even if they did not put articles in Amiga magazines, there is NO excuse for them not keeping Classic Amiga users "in the loop", which of course they have not done. They could have had information on their own websites, about any problems with converting hardware or software. I feel this is mainly because they saw the Classic machine as a backward step, and really did not want the task of trying to work out how each hybrid add-on could be modified to work under OS4, and wanted to have a new machine only, capable of performing well with modern architecture, which though understandable is not what was being asked of them initially.
These problems with the on-board SCSI have not just appeared overnight. The Cyberstorm, and Blizzard boards were around, and were part of the equation when OS4 was initiated, so don't throw that one around as it just doesn't measure up.
In fact in the 4 years of development, I have seen ZIP, NALA, nothing in the Amiga press about where exactly, or more precisely, where they were not exactly up to, from either Hyperion, or Amiga Inc.
Magazines are much more widely read, and it is much easier to view or understand a written article, rather than trying to search out a thread of somekind on a forum in one or more of the many Amiga forums.
It is not possible to watch, read every thread about OS4, and if that had been said on this site then I missed it, but my point still stands. Hyperion should have been publicising these facts, about their work, and any help they had received, or lack of it, from any other Amiga associated hardware or software suppliers.
I also do not see how you can say that the Mediator is a crude/hacky piece of hardware, as that implies it being unstable. I have not seen a better produced piece of hardware/software for the Amiga that has enabled many Amiga users obtain graphics, sound, Ethernet, TV/Radio cards, etc. and there has not been any other similar piece of hardware produced that supports the Amiga as well. I am sure many Amiga users would have left the Amiga completely without such hardware, which is one of the reasons I remained keen on Amigas. With regard to it's inner workings of course I do not know, and I am fairly sure no-one does, outside of Elbox.
The fact that the Mediator does not have built-in DMA is a disappointment, but when the board was designed I am not sure that that would have been much of a concern to it's designers, but someone on another forum has said that they have spoken to someone at Elbox who gave the impression that this problem could be overcome, so that would be good news, if true. :-)
when it has been repeated many times on the "official" OS4 forums.
Where are these "official" OS4 forums, please point me to an "official" OS4 Amiga Inc. or Hyperion forum that has made this information available ?
There are none, what you are describing is "official-vapourweb".
The only article that I can find so far, that I know I read before is at, http://www.intuitionbase.com/static.php?section=en_OS4_Classics which was contributed by Darren Glenn. I also remember reading an article at this same website http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=709 this article/forum was started on 16-May-2004, and a question was asked about the Mediator on 15-Aug-2005, but was not responded to, and Rogue is a member of this site, so why was this question not answered way back then?
UPDATE: 28-12-2007
Well it's now almost a month since I posted this comment, but there is still no update from Rogue, or Akiko, and no solutions to many of the questions that Amiga users have asked, who spent their money on OS4 Classic Amiga for PPC hardware.
There are many flaws with the installation procedure of OS4 for Classic Amigas, and as yet I cannot find any "hot-fixes" spoken of on other forums by Rogue and still not available on Hyperion's site, or anywhere else as far as I know, and yes I have registered my copy.
So far, as far as I am concerned, this is the worst release of Amiga OS that has ever taken place, up to this point.
My comments though some may think do little to help our situation is the truth, I am sorry to have to say, as far as I see it.
I'd like to see, or be offered a ray of hope for the OS4 Classic Amiga PPC future, so anyone with some good news, it would be great to hear from you.