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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: mrmoonlight on January 01, 2014, 06:34:20 PM

Title: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 01, 2014, 06:34:20 PM
Hi I am trying to reinstall start up ,but cant remember where I go to add the start up details ,I remember if I drag ACATune in to the c directory ,and then enter ed s:user-startup a editor comes up and I have to enter the start up details but I am not quite sure where as there is no mention of ACATune on the page I have opened in the ed , so how do I find this ,sorry if this is confusing but I am a little confused mysif
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 01, 2014, 07:18:24 PM
Quote from: mrmoonlight;755918
Hi I am trying to reinstall start up ,but cant remember where I go to add the start up details ,I remember if I drag ACATune in to the c directory ,and then enter ed s:user-startup a editor comes up and I have to enter the start up details but I am not quite sure where as there is no mention of ACATune on the page I have opened in the ed , so how do I find this ,sorry if this is confusing but I am a little confused mysif

If you have an ACA1232, then the line needed is:

C:ACATune -cache on -burst on -vbrmove  -maprom * >ram:acaoutput.txt

This line will need adding to the beginning of your Startup-Sequence, not User-Startup...

So type in a shell:

ed s:startup-sequence

And add the line before any other command (usually). It depends on your setup though. Once typed in, click save in the file menu.

If you only have a 3.0 Kickstart you could use this line to softkick 3.1:

C:ACATune -cache on -burst on -vbrmove -maprom DEVS:Kickstarts/Kick40068.A1200 >ram:acaoutput.txt

After your Workbench appears you can open the text file RAM:acaoutput.txt to have a peek at the output of the ACATune command in order to make sure everything's okay (ie. no errors or anything). That's what I've always done anyway. ;)

Honestly though, with a different ACA card it's probably a slightly different line you'd need...so could really do with knowing your ACA model.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: giZmo350 on January 01, 2014, 08:11:28 PM
Thanks for this Paul! I sure hope it helps mrmoonlight. It sure helped me! I had bought an ACA1232 when they first came out and went by the readme file (or maybe EAB) to setup ACATune. So, just for the heck of it I thought I would compare what you have with what I had set up a long time ago. (never checked output message as I had it set to >nil: Well, turns out I was doing it wrong!

I had this for my ACATune command line:
ACATune -maprom * p -cache on - burst on >nil:
After adding an output file I was getting the following error:
ERROR: maprom already active

So I guess I was never mapping the ROM to FASTRAM!

With your command line I get no error, with a message:
VBR is moved to fastram

THANKS Paul!!!  :D
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 02, 2014, 07:32:11 AM
Hi thank you so much for your help ,my board is a ACA620, or that's what it shows when it detects the board has been fitted ,I have not added any start up command yet because I am still not sure what is needed for this board ,what I don't understand is how come the A600 shows a marked performance already as show by sys info in yet I have not finished the start up yet and the figures show its not far behind the A 3000 lol infact should I just leave it as it lol ,best wishes Brian.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 02, 2014, 05:37:46 PM
Quote from: gizmo350;755923
Thanks for this Paul! I sure hope it helps mrmoonlight. It sure helped me! I had bought an ACA1232 when they first came out and went by the readme file (or maybe EAB) to setup ACATune. So, just for the heck of it I thought I would compare what you have with what I had set up a long time ago. (never checked output message as I had it set to >nil: Well, turns out I was doing it wrong!

I had this for my ACATune command line:
ACATune -maprom * p -cache on - burst on >nil:
After adding an output file I was getting the following error:
ERROR: maprom already active

So I guess I was never mapping the ROM to FASTRAM!

With your command line I get no error, with a message:
VBR is moved to fastram

THANKS Paul!!!  :D

Hello gizmo,

I've slightly edited the line as I forgot to use the maprom * feature in my post (I always softkick 3.1). So basically, here's the line you need:

C:ACATune -cache on -burst on -vbrmove  -maprom * >ram:acaoutput.txt

The reason the -maprom argument should be used last is because of a bug in AcaTune (even up to 17) whereby if maprom is already active (which it is after a reboot) it doesn't read other arguments (such as -cache on & -burst on -vbrmove etc etc). Not sure why this keeps escaping the programmers. So enter the line exactly as I have written it.

If after a reboot you get a black screen and it doesn't boot then you will need to use the -maprom * p which will add a delay upon reboot to allow slow hard drives to spin up in time. But if this isn't needed then don't use it because it adds a delay to the startup which is undesirable.

As for your message "maprom already active" - this is normal after a reboot. First boot should say "Copying 512K Kickstart...done!" instead.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 02, 2014, 05:59:00 PM
Quote from: mrmoonlight;755988
Hi thank you so much for your help ,my board is a ACA620, or that's what it shows when it detects the board has been fitted ,I have not added any start up command yet because I am still not sure what is needed for this board ,what I don't understand is how come the A600 shows a marked performance already as show by sys info in yet I have not finished the start up yet and the figures show its not far behind the A 3000 lol infact should I just leave it as it lol ,best wishes Brian.

You're in luck. I have an ACA620 too. :)

Here's the line you need. Enter it exactly as I write here:

C:ACATune -cache on -vbrmove -maprom * -maxram >ram:acaoutput.txt

Or if you don't want to debug its output just redirect ouput to NIL: (you can do this once you're confident you have it set up right. Personally I like to have the output available so I can read it if need be).

C:ACATune -cache on -vbrmove -maprom * -maxram >NIL:

There you go. Remember, it needs to be the 1st line in your Startup-Sequence (below the ; $VER: startup-sequence xx.xx (xx.x.xx) etc...).

It will be much faster if you use this line Brian than not using it. You'll notice a big difference. Also it allows you to use all the ACA620's RAM.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: giZmo350 on January 02, 2014, 06:00:26 PM
NICE! Thanks Paul! So I guess I partly had it correct. I never knew about the ACATune bug. And, before I replied yesterday I didn't go back and look up what * & p arguments were for. Again, THANKS! :laugh1: Arrrrg! Can't test till later tonight! :razz:
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 02, 2014, 06:06:08 PM
Quote from: gizmo350;756022
NICE! Thanks Paul! So I guess I partly had it correct. I never knew about the ACATune bug. And, before I replied yesterday I didn't go back and look up what * & p arguments were for. Again, THANKS! :laugh1:

You're welcome. Enjoy your new Amiga! ;)
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 02, 2014, 09:30:48 PM
(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/scarrabri/096_zps24ce9882.jpg)
Quote from: paul1981;756021
You're in luck. I have an ACA620 too. :)

Here's the line you need. Enter it exactly as I write here:

C:ACATune -cache on -vbrmove -maprom * -maxram >ram:acaoutput.txt

Or if you don't want to debug its output just redirect ouput to NIL: (you can do this once you're confident you have it set up right. Personally I like to have the output available so I can read it if need be).

C:ACATune -cache on -vbrmove -maprom * -maxram >NIL:

There you go. Remember, it needs to be the 1st line in your Startup-Sequence (below the ; $VER: startup-sequence xx.xx (xx.x.xx) etc...).

It will be much faster if you use this line Brian than not using it. You'll notice a big difference. Also it allows you to use all the ACA620's RAM.

Hi thanks again ,I must be totally in the wrong place for the startup because I don't see the $VER: that you refer too ,to get to the startup I input ed s:startup-sequence ,is this wrong? I am using 3.9 ,best wishes Brian

oops right I found it but below the $VER: it says startup-sequence for amigaos 3.9 should I go below or above which will put me directly below $VER: lol best wishes Brian
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 02, 2014, 09:38:30 PM
Quote from: mrmoonlight;756050
Hi thanks again ,I must be totally in the wrong place for the startup because I don't see the $VER: that you refer too ,to get to the startup I input ed s:startup-sequence ,is this wrong? I am using 3.9 ,best wishes Brian.

You scrolled all the way to the top?  I suspect if you take a screenshot of your Startup-Sequence or post a photo of it from your phone he can tell you exactly where this command goes. That's what I'd do. ;)
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 02, 2014, 10:17:50 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;756054
You scrolled all the way to the top? I suspect if you take a screenshot of your Startup-Sequence or post a photo of it from your phone he can tell you exactly where this command goes. That's what I'd do. ;)

 LOL now why did I not think of that ,thanks very much ,I have just included it in a post ,best wishes Brian
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 02, 2014, 11:07:05 PM
The $VER: statement that Paul mentioned is right in the middle of your picture. It looks like you've got some other stuff going on above that, however? You'd probably want to put the ACAtune command all the way at the top, before your CardReset patch and wireless drivers (and whatever else you've got going on there) kick in.
 
Not trying to be a smart-ass but you may want to post a better picture, for clarity sake. Here's how to take a photo of a screen. I did this with my cheapo camera phone, or you can use a screenshot capture utility (no special camera required). ;)
 
You can use the "Manage attachments" button to attach it to to post, rather than having to embed it.
 
In other words, if your startup-sequence were mine, you'd probably want to put the command directly below those first two lines. The ; (semicolon) at the start of them means they're commented out. Or you might want to put it after all of the 3.9 ROM updates. That's a question for Paul. If your startup-sequence looks anything like mine, that is. :confused:
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: fitzsteve on January 03, 2014, 08:57:26 AM
Better still you should compile a custom 3.9rom and use ACATune's MapRom to load it in instead of having them load via OS3.9 and do away with the slow reboot.

ACATunes MapRom is a very fast reset at the start and then loading commences :)

BTW, I always use the command -maxmem on my ACA620, I guess -maxram is the same?

All the best,

Steve.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 09:09:27 AM
Quote from: fitzsteve;756101
Better still you should compile a custom 3.9rom and use ACATune's MapRom to load it in instead of having them load via OS3.9 and do away with the slow reboot.

ACATunes MapRom is a very fast reset at the start and then loading commences :)

BTW, I always use the command -maxmem on my ACA620, I guess -maxram is the same?

All the best,

Steve.

Woe I love all this but it is some time a little over my head lol  but I will eventually find out what all this means  ,but thanks anyway very best wishes Brian.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 09:27:11 AM
Sorry about the pic quality ,but is this where I should put my new startup info,best wishes Brian.
 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/scarrabri/1245475d-fb6e-42dd-af5d-71751ffff395_zps3df3c292.jpg)
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 03, 2014, 02:30:01 PM
Quote from: fitzsteve;756101
BTW, I always use the command -maxmem on my ACA620, I guess -maxram is the same?

All the best,

Steve.

Yeah, maxmem = maxram according to docs, so either can be used.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 03, 2014, 02:43:57 PM
Quote from: mrmoonlight;756105
Sorry about the pic quality ,but is this where I should put my new startup info,best wishes Brian.
 (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/scarrabri/1245475d-fb6e-42dd-af5d-71751ffff395_zps3df3c292.jpg)

Hello Brian,

Go to the extreme top left of the Startup-Sequence (line 1, cursor in top left corner). Make the top line empty by pressing return twice, then on the 2nd line (now blank line ) enter the ACATune line. Then save it. Then re-open it and check that it's saved the changes correctly as ed is a bit flaky with trashing the top line, hence I tend to keep top lines blank if editing with ed.

So you should have a blank line at the top, 2nd line should contain the ACATune command, and third line should be whatever was at the top before editing (; Added by NETPCM00X......... in your case according to your photo).

Hope this helps.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 04:06:35 PM
Quote from: paul1981;756134
Hello Brian,

Go to the extreme top left of the Startup-Sequence (line 1, cursor in top left corner). Make the top line empty by pressing return twice, then on the 2nd line (now blank line ) enter the ACATune line. Then save it. Then re-open it and check that it's saved the changes correctly as ed is a bit flaky with trashing the top line, hence I tend to keep top lines blank if editing with ed.

So you should have a blank line at the top, 2nd line should contain the ACATune command, and third line should be whatever was at the top before editing (; Added by NETPCM00X......... in your case according to your photo).

Hope this helps.
 
 Hi Paul ,went to top left side with cursor but cant make the top line empty ,I know the lower ones work but no joy with the very top one and I have tried for a while with no joy ,lol  can I go a little lower ?
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 03, 2014, 05:25:03 PM
Quote from: mrmoonlight;756140
Hi Paul ,went to top left side with cursor but cant make the top line empty ,I know the lower ones work but no joy with the very top one and I have tried for a while with no joy ,lol  can I go a little lower ?

Yeah, course you can mate. As long as you put it somewhere it'll do. ;)

The reason it should be as early as possible is because it will speed up subsequent execution of the commands in the Startup-Sequence, that's all.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 05:34:39 PM
Quote from: paul1981;756154
Yeah, course you can mate. As long as you put it somewhere it'll do. ;)

The reason it should be as early as possible is because it will speed up subsequent execution of the commands in the Startup-Sequence, that's all.

Thanks Paul for all the help ,I have had it installed as the pic shows ,but I had a lot of trouble booting up is the some thing I can do if the same thing happens again, it was really fast until I rebooted then nothing ,so I went in to the boot menu and messed about a little and it booted up but as soon as I turned it off and rebooted the same thing happened again,lol
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: paul1981 on January 03, 2014, 05:56:24 PM
Quote from: mrmoonlight;756155
Thanks Paul for all the help ,I have had it installed as the pic shows ,but I had a lot of trouble booting up is the some thing I can do if the same thing happens again, it was really fast until I rebooted then nothing ,so I went in to the boot menu and messed about a little and it booted up but as soon as I turned it off and rebooted the same thing happened again,lol

I don't quite follow, but maybe it's something to do with os3.9 modules or something. Your Startup-Sequence seems a bit odd from the picture though. If you're having trouble, put the Startup-Sequence back as it was for the time being, and add the line in your user-startup instead.

So open a shell and type:

ed s:user-startup

Add the ACATune line in there at the top, or as near to the top as you can and see how that goes.

Hope that works okay.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 06:44:14 PM
Quote from: paul1981;756161
I don't quite follow, but maybe it's something to do with os3.9 modules or something. Your Startup-Sequence seems a bit odd from the picture though. If you're having trouble, put the Startup-Sequence back as it was for the time being, and add the line in your user-startup instead.

So open a shell and type:

ed s:user-startup

Add the ACATune line in there at the top, or as near to the top as you can and see how that goes.

Hope that works okay.

 Hi Paul that's worked ok  I have checked the ACATune status and all's ok in there with maprom saying its activated and it seems very quick so should I leave it alone now ,lol
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 03, 2014, 06:54:04 PM
Haha, yes, if it's working now then leave it alone. From that photo you posted of your Startup-Sequence I was kind of amazed that your system manages to boot at all. ;)
 
Edit - Paul is right, from what I recall 3.9 can be picky with MapROM stuff because of the way it replaces some of the ROM data with it's own updated routines. You've got to get it just right, so the ROM is mapped into fast memory, but the correct updates still take precedence over them. My GeForce '040 can do MapROM too, but I just disabled it since so much of the libraries in ROM get replaced by 3.9 stuff anyway, it's hardly worth it, LOL. ;)
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 07:04:27 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;756171
Haha, yes, if it's working now then leave it alone. From that photo you posted of your Startup-Sequence I was kind of amazed that your system manages to boot at all. ;)
 
 LOL hey you are having a laugh now my friend ,what do you make of that ,a two second boot up ,and would I lie to you  no no no no no no ,I would not dream of it ,but it is quick like warp speed ,joking apart I think its brilliant ,really pleased ,now what's this vampire board I keep hearing about with a phoenix  cpu will it fit in my A600 CASE ?best wishes Brian.:):):):):):):)
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 03, 2014, 07:27:50 PM
LOL, I thought my A2000 booted up pretty quick, but then I had it sitting next to an X1000 and that thing was smokin'! ;)
 
Homepage for the Vampire 600 board is here:
 
http://www.majsta.com/
 
More details here:
 
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=49021
 
and here:
 
http://kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/
(scroll down)
 
I believe it's designed by Majsta and built by Kipper2K, who's hardware I can recommend 100% (looks like you have some of his stuff as well). Good stuff, if I had an A600 I'd be all over this thing! :D
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 07:51:39 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;756178
LOL, I thought my A2000 booted up pretty quick, but then I had it sitting next to an X1000 and that thing was smokin'! ;)

Homepage for the Vampire 600 board is here:

http://www.majsta.com/

More details here:

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=49021

and here:

http://kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/
(scroll down)

I believe it's designed by Majsta and built by Kipper2K, who's hardware I can recommend 100% (looks like you have some of his stuff as well). Good stuff, if I had an A600 I'd be all over this thing! :D

 lol   Smoking ,nice talking with you my friend and kipper gear is pretty good ,thanks for the links ,I am going to have a look now ,whilst my A600 has a rest bye for now Brian
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 03, 2014, 09:23:42 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;756178
LOL, I thought my A2000 booted up pretty quick, but then I had it sitting next to an X1000 and that thing was smokin'! ;)

Homepage for the Vampire 600 board is here:

http://www.majsta.com/

More details here:

http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=49021

and here:

http://kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/
(scroll down)

I believe it's designed by Majsta and built by Kipper2K, who's hardware I can recommend 100% (looks like you have some of his stuff as well). Good stuff, if I had an A600 I'd be all over this thing! :D

 
 Wow I have just put my name down for one of the Vampire boards this is going to be a good year for the Amiga ,amazing read up on this Gem ,best wishes Brian.
Title: Re: ACATune
Post by: mrmoonlight on January 04, 2014, 09:35:04 AM
Hi again are these figures ok for the A600,best wishes Brian.(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww301/scarrabri/d361cdfb-1a3d-4d31-95f8-159a9b82e989_zps30ed88f2.jpg)