Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: don27dog on February 15, 2008, 05:20:26 AM
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Hello Again All,
I just received my package from AmigaKit and have everything I need to get my 3000T fired back up after 12 years of collecting dust. I lost the HD that contained my previous OS and my mother threw out all my amiga disks over the years so I ordered 3.1 Roms and workbench 3.1 to get it back up and running. If all goes well will order os3.9 asap. Ok here is my problem. How do I get these 2.04 roms out of there? These suckers seem to be stuck in there pretty good. Not exactly a lot of finger room in there for my chubby fingers. I figured I better ask before I start prying on things and break something before I get started. I am really excited to get this up and running but it has sat for 12 years so I guess it is best to wait another day until I can get some advice. Thanks guys..
Donnie
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Your ROMs didn't come with an instruction sheet? That information should be around on Aminet or elsewhere on the net.
Basically, you need a flathead screwdriver. Insert it between the ROM and the socket and gently turn it to raise the chip out slowly. Be sure to take antistatic precautions.
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You will need a fingers like Chuck Norris, or ...a crab.
No, seriously, sharp flathead screwdriver will do.
Also check teh battery.
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Make sure you insert the screwdriver tip between ROM and socket and NOT between socket and board. ;-)
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Some people prefer to feed a cable tie under the ROMs, this allows you to apply even pressure to each end. I've always used a scewdriver though.
________
Buy Vaporgenie (http://www.vaporshop.com/vaporgenie-vaporizer.html)
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Thanks Mates... Going to be a long day at work today. I am like a kid the night before x-mas.
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Firstly, pay close attention to the orientation of the old chips (the new chips can be inserted backward). This is normally indicated by an indented "U" at one end of the chip. Then, go slow. Pry a little on one end of the chip and then the other, slowly raising the chip out of the socket. This prevents bending the pins.
When you are ready to install the new chips, first just set them gently on the socket. Check that the 2 rows of pins are bent to the same distance apart as the 2 rows of holes in the socket. Most new chips that have never been used before are a little wider. If this is the case, simply lay the chip on it's side against a table and GENTLY bend each row of pins a millimeter or 2 toward the center. When the pins can set perfectly in the holes on each side, you can have more assurance that none will bend under (or out) when you press and seat the pins into the socket. You can double-check your work with a magnifier.
Good Luck
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Well the problems keep mounting. I received my package from Amikit. Installed 3.1 Roms. Went to install os 3.1 and install got 45% and had a read error on the extras disk and install stopped. The good news is I now boot to a Workbench screen. Bad news is I can't transfer any files onto the amiga. I can't get the amiga to reconigize a pc disk.Workbench isn't seeing the cd-rom drive. I tried to install AmigaExplorer but get error msg in cli when I tried TYPE SER: to RAM:Setup
TYPE can't open ser:
object not found
Anyway this is my progress if you can call it that. Any direction I can go or do I have to wait for another copy of Extras disk?
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Any Ideas where to go from here?
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Manually install everything.
Keep your current installation, but, insert each disk one at a time, and copy the disk contents to your boot hard drive. You should be able to tell where everything goes pretty easy.
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If you need a copy of the extras disk I can help you.
Also once up and running your CD0: will not be working, you need to install a 3rd party driver like Asim or AmiCDFS. OS 3.5+ has a proper working CD driver, 3.1 does not.
As far as mounting PC disks, you need PC0: configured, it should be in SYS:Storage/DOS Drivers folder...
I have a A3000T with 060/60MHz, 128MB, 18GB HD, OS 3.9, Promethius PCI with Voodo3 3000 and PCI NIC! I love it.
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After install the Workbench manually, return the disk set to the seller and ask for another set with no faulty disks.
Without the serial.device (who is in the extras disk) and the cross-DOS (diddle), you can't transfer anything to another kind of computer.
But, if you have another Amiga around, use it to transfer files in the worst way: A-explorer, pc-floppies or whatever to the another Amiga (RAM: or HD), then format a real Amiga floppy to transfer the files to your 3000.
Yes, it's a pain in the back, but works.
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It worked.. I transfered files manually and now have ami-explorer up and running transfering files as I type. Thanks for the suggestions. Next question is what are my essential Amiga programs I should install first. I guess I will need to install SID or directory Opus pretty quickly.
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WOW how cool is that. After weeks of waiting for OS disks to installed. Tonight I removed a gvp card and reinstalled it. Presto. My amiga is back Workbench 2.1 and everything just the way I left it. After playing around for a few hours. I logged on to my old BBS and found last files uploaded on 2/16/97. It has been 11 years and 2 days since it was last used. Now I just have to get these stupid Amitcp and Amipop requests to disappear. I assume I can edit user startup. Will have to play around somemore. Well it looks like it is time for another Amiga. I kinda like this one just the way it is. Anyway today is a good day...
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UPDATE. I finally got AsimCDFS and have the cd-rom installed. I just installed os3.9 and am having some performance issues. It is bogging down under 3.9 I assume I need some more ram. I have 2Meg on board and 2 meg on GVP controller. Also I can only get resolution to 640 X 200. What are my memory options? Sorry for the stupid questions but it has been 10+ years since I played around with an amiga. I would like to update but not sure where I should go with it. I am thinking Mediator PCI Busboard, Voodoo graphics card, and network card. Any opinions or other options?
Donnie
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OS3.9 was really intended for a maxed out Amiga with a graphics card as the high color icons use a non-standard display engine, IIRC. You can, of course, convert all the icons back to standard 4 or 8 colors one at a time. GRIN.
Maximizing ram would be high on my list. The MB can be expanded to up to 16 Megs of fast ram using zip chips (still findable). The DKB 3128 allows up to 128 Megs in a Zorro III card, but these are very rare and there is a lot of competition due to collectors. A non-GVP accelerator with ram expansion would probably provide the greatest bang for your bucks (GVP uses hard to find, proprietary ram).
You should now be able to select any of the standard ECS resolutions with Prefs/Screenmode if the drivers are in DEVS/Monitors drawer, IIRC.
You have good options available for ZIII cards for graphics, ethernet, sound, etc. Since the A3000 already has a built-in flicker fixer, you don't have to compete for a Picasso IV card. I would shoot for Picasso96 (Retargetable graphics driver/software) compatibility. The package lists supported cards and is available on your 3.9 CD.
If you want to play Mp3s and streaming audio, I've had excellent results with MasPlayer, but there are retargetable sound card available too.
Hang out for awhile and see where others have gone. You arguably have the most expandable Amiga model. Many of us are proud of our machine's relevance today. Some of us use Amigas for nearly everything. That's not bad for a 17 year old machine.
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Thank you for the advice.. Anyone else have any suggestions. When I first started this project I was just curious if I could get my my old childhood computer up and running. Over the last month or so gathering missing parts it has grown into a labor of love. It has brought back some awesome memories and the community has been very helpful. I now ready to invest some money into it and use it as much as possible.
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Just don't forget to take out the original battery! Those little monsters are well-known motherboard eaters.
Look on Aminet for "lithium hack" for a long last Amiga computer.
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Update.
I have found some ram for it. Still searching for other parts.
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I have an A3000T too and love it. For OS 3.9 you really need a 040 or more and lots of RAM, and a graphics card is highly recommended.
I have in mine:
Phase 5 Cyberstorm MK2 MC68060 @ 60MHz with 128MB RAM
16MB on the motherboard
18GB SCSI Hard Disk with OS 3.9 installed
Promethius PCI board
3Dfx Voodoo 3 3000 16MB PCI card
PCI Network card
two HD 1.76 drives
NEC SCSI CD-ROM drive
It flies on the internet, I use iBrowse 2.4 and use a 1024x768 screen at 32-bit.
Here is a screenshot (http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2126) shot of my WB
Happy computing!
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UPDATE..
I found more ram and reinstalled os3.9. It runs much better this time around. Still have one problem. When I reboot the computer I get a msg cannot open cdrom device unit 0. I click abort and it boots fine and the cd works. Any ideas?
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Go into SYS:Devs/DOSDrivers and find CD0 or CD1 and select with one mouse click and go to icon/information in the Workbench menu. Look for a a tooltypes entry of UNIT=0 and when you find the correct CD# entry then drag that icon out of the DOSDrivers drawer or delete it.
Your DOSDrivers mountlist entry is saying to mount a CD-ROM device at SCSI address 0 which doesn't exist and that is the reason for the error. The UNIT number is the SCSI address of the CD-ROM. Usually SCSI address 0 is a hard drive and CD-ROMs 3-5 on the Amiga.
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BINGO... you nailed it.. Thanks mate.. It is now working fine.. hummm pretty much stuck at the moment.. Still haven't decided what to upgrade next. I want a Cyberstorm but finding those has been a little more difficult than I expected. Will the Mediator PCI Busboard, Voodoo graphics card, and network card work with my current processor and the 8megs of ram I have on my GVP card? If so could I add the Cyberstorm later? How many PCI slots does the Cyberstorm have? I don't want to buy the mediator only to find out later it will be useless with Cyberstorm.
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I would get a faster processor like a 060 with Fast mem on board, it will provide much faster speed.
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The Cyberstorm accelerators don't have any PCI slots. They do have an expansion connector for a GREX that has PCI slots but they are even harder to find than the Cyberstorms. Almost any accelerator with memory is going to be expensive. I would figure out what SIMMs the GVP accelerator takes and try and locate at least another 8MB. If they are the "GVP" SIMMs I would even consider buying used 2000 accelerators on E-bay, taking some or all of the "GVP" SIMMs and reselling. Adding zip memory on the 3000T motherboard is another option but will be slower with the accelerator. You want at least 16Mb fast ram to run a fairly modern Amiga. The Mediator is very good if you don't have a newer Amiga graphics card. The cheap Voodoo3 PCI cards is one of the fastest graphics solutions for the Amiga. The 100 Mbit PCI ethernet cards are not much of an improvement over good 10 Mbit ZorroII ethernet cards but they are dirt cheap and widely available. The Mediator is a good value if you want both a graphics card and an ethernet card. It needs at least a 68030 and 8 Mb memory minimum to really be usefull. A 68040 and 16 Mb memory and you will have a nice usable system. Check out what hardware you have and want here...
http://amiga.resource.cx/expansion.html
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/
http://www.elbox.com/
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I was missing the front cover so went out to the garage today and made a front cover. I don't like the colors but it was all I had laying around. Will go to the hardware store this week and find better colors.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/fisupt/003.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/fisupt/008.jpg
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You don't *need* an expanded Amiga for OS3.9. I have an A2000 with 68000, 2M CHIP, and 4M FAST, and I run OS3.9 on it. Only because I have gotten used to the keyboard shortcuts for the 3.9 Workbench, and it really irritates me going from one Amiga to another and not being able to do certain things.
And, there's no problem with the icons. They don't look as good in 4 colors, but they do work just fine.