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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Gavilan on April 26, 2004, 10:50:41 PM
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Hi guys: i seem to have a little problem, but surely some of you will help me:
- i bought a brand new pair of 3.1 roms for my A3000. Im not sure if they are the correct ones, or if they are for 1200. The roms have these text printed:
- MX 9550
391773-01
V3.1 (V40.68)
(c) AMIGA 1995
29151A
AND
- MX J9550
391774-01
(c) AMIGA 1995
29148A
So, basically, what i need to know if these are A3000 roms or A1200 roms
Kind Regards
Sebastian
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I am currently auctioning (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4598&item=4126642685) on eBay a pair of A3000 roms. There's a nice picture of the print on both chips. Have a look and see.
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Well, that part number is typically listed as an A1200 part. But, the 3.1 ROMs are something of a mystery. There are lots of versions and varients of them.
As I understand it, there wasn't an official Commodore blessed 3.1 ROM for anything except the CD32. C= went bust, and several places just burned the last test versions of the 3.1 ROM they had recieved into EEPROMs and started selling them. (Who'd know the difference? Who was going to sue for the infringement? C= had its own problems...) So you see all sorts of revision numbers, and improperly labelled ROMs. Whether the errors were through ignorance or malice is anybody's guess.
You may very well have an A1200 rom set. Or, (more likely, I'd think) you may have an A3000 rom set that is simply mislabelled. (I think the set of 3.1s I sold to Redrumloa recently was labelled similiar to yours.) It's tough to tell what the ROM is, unless you dump the contents and compare it to a known one. ;-)
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Well...definitely they are not the same...i assume i have a pair of 3.1 roms for A1200 then?
What would happen if i try them on my A3000? Will i damage anything??
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@Ilwrath:
Are you sure about that? I remember seeing OS3.1 upgrade kits (roms + OS3.1 floppies) on eBay every once in a while, which were released by Commodore. Boxed, with instructions, and a big C= logo. I think that Commodore only never included the 3.1 roms with new Amigas, but actually did sell them separately as an upgrade, through these mentiones OS3.1 upgrade kits.
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Are you sure about that? I remember seeing OS3.1 upgrade kits (roms + OS3.1 floppies) on eBay every once in a while, which were released by Commodore.
As far as I understood it, these were made by third party companies who WOULD have made the official run for C=, but the offical release versions were not yet out when C= packed it in. The third party companies (probably illegally) packaged and sold the test versions as C= products to cover their own expenses.
I remember reading this in an Amiga mag back in the day, but I forget which one. (sigh)
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Well..these roms dont have a white paper printed and glued to the rom. They have all the info printed straight on the top of the rom..and besides...the paper that comes with the roms says.."A1200 roms"...
But..now i wonder what would happen if i try them on the A3000...would i damage something? Becasue if nothing wrong could happen (otherwise than the machine doenst even booting), then i could just try them out and see, right?
But...i dont want to fry them!! I paid a lot of money, waited a long time for them to arrive..so i want to be 100% sure
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Wow. That's amazing. And it seems that you are right. Check out this link (http://amiga.emugaming.com/amigaos31.html). (warning, popups). It basically states the same thing.
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@Gavilan:
If I were you, I wouldn't try them in A3000. I am not sure if you would damage something, however I am 100% sure that A1200 3.1 roms are vastly different than A3000 roms in compatibility.
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If I were you, I wouldn't try them in A3000. I am not sure if you would damage something, however I am 100% sure that A1200 3.1 roms are vastly different than A3000 roms in compatibility.
Pinout wise, they should be the same. Installing them shouldn't harm anything, provided you align them properly, don't bend any pins, etc.
The contents ARE indeed vastly different, though. Most likely, if they are the wrong version, you'll be greeted with the yellow (kickstart/hardware fault) screen. (Or perhaps some other color fault -- it certainly wouldn't work, because it would have code for the IDE controller (A1200), not the WD SCSI (A3000).)
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Looks like I definitely purchased the Amiga Technologies gmbh Blule-Disk version.
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Well..these roms dont have a white paper printed and glued to the rom.
Heh... that's actually a sticker over the EEPROM erase window... Don't remove those! ;-)
By the fact that yours are actual ROMs, not EEPROMs, makes me think that you may indeed have an A1200 version. I don't think any actual ROMs were sold for the A3000. (Only various EEPROM versions.)
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Well..after looking around in the net...couldnt find any reliable info about this...so i feel like im in the twilight Zone right now...
50 dollars missed...anyone interested in brand new A1200 3.1 roms ?? (i presume) :-D
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What that page in the Amiga History guide doesn't mention is that VillageTronic were responsible for initial distribution of OS3.1. If I remember correctly, the manuals even state that it's licenced to them for distribution.
I kinda doubt VillageTronic would have supported piracy...
I don't doubt that pirate copies leaked out, but the Commodore packaging from that page I'm 98% certain is completely legit.
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Well..after looking around in the net...couldnt find any reliable info about this...so i feel like im in the twilight Zone right now...
Yeah... That's because there ISN'T much reliable information on it. The ROM revisions and packaging may vary by region and original vendor. There's a lot of variations out there. I recently sold a set of A3000 40.68's. (So there IS a 40.68 for A3000 -- but there also is for A1200)
I still have a set of A3000 40.70's. Both sets were EEPROMs with stickers, though. Who knows who made 'em..... But, just because I haven't seen a non-EEPROM A3000 ROM doesn't mean they don't exist. People find all sorts of things that no one else believes existed. :-D
50 dollars missed...anyone interested in brand new A1200 3.1 roms ?? (i presume) :-D
Bummer. If you're good at swapping them out, you might want to try it just to make sure... But, from first glance, it does appear that someone sold you the wrong one. :-( (And, actually, I could use a set of A1200 40.68's, but I don't know how expensive shipping from Argentina would be -- it'd probably be cheaper for me to go to Software Hut. ;-) )
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What that page in the Amiga History guide doesn't mention is that VillageTronic were responsible for initial distribution of OS3.1. If I remember correctly, the manuals even state that it's licenced to them for distribution.
Hmm... You might be right. I think they were responsible for the black box/documentation version. They also had the closest thing to a legal agreement with C=. I believe they did legally get clearance to release the last (still testing) version they had obtained. I never said any of the versions were pirated or not. Just that they weren't blessed by C= as final versions, and there's a LOT of different revisions out there. Some of which are mislabelled.
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A1200 roms will have the drivers for the AGA Gayle chip (IDE interface), and the A3000 Roms will have the WD SCSI and DMAC drivers for SCSI. The A3000 also has something called bonus code I think but that might just be for the Superkickstart version.
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Gavilan wrote:
Well..these roms dont have a white paper printed and glued to the rom. They have all the info printed straight on the top of the rom..and besides...the paper that comes with the roms says.."A1200 roms"...
But..now i wonder what would happen if i try them on the A3000...would i damage something? Becasue if nothing wrong could happen (otherwise than the machine doenst even booting), then i could just try them out and see, right?
But...i dont want to fry them!! I paid a lot of money, waited a long time for them to arrive..so i want to be 100% sure
I think all roms are somewhat 100%pin compatible.(as long as they are the same size) The thing that differs them are the contents. Your A3000, for example, has an onboard SCSI whereas an A1200 has onboard IDE. Thus scsi.device, which is in the kick-rom is different. In my A4000T I have both onboard SCSI and IDE, so I have scsi.device(ide) and 2nd.scsi.device(scsi). Workbench.library, which normally is in the rom, is kept in sys:libs because there weren't place left for it the rom.
Conclusion: only "software" differs the rom's as long as they are the same size. As I recall, the A1200 and A3000 has identical 2x256kB roms. The A500/A2000 Kick3.1 roms are 1x512kB.
Just pop them in, you won't damage anything. But don't hold me responsible :-)
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Well..thanks for all the info and tips guys...
According to this site http://vgr.com/tbocl/KICKSTART.html
what i have is a brand new A1200 roms!!!
Anyway, i will get in touch with the seller of these to try to make an exchange (or maybe i will keep them, since i have 3 A1200 and who knows..someday i may need them..
:-D
cheers!
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Hi
@graffias79
> The A3000 also has something called bonus code I think but that might just be for the Superkickstart version.
This bonus code is also present in the 3.1 ROMs and still found in the resident list, when the OS 3.9 patch is made.
But what I'm not knowing is: What is the purpose of this resident module ?
Noster
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Noster wrote:
This bonus code is also present in the 3.1 ROMs and still found in the resident list, when the OS 3.9 patch is made.
But what I'm not knowing is: What is the purpose of this resident module?
From http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/aminet/util/misc/MakeSuperDisk.readme
The extra data, called "the bonus code", is to make the image files usable with the A3000. Without the bonus code the machine will not configure its fast RAM or the SCSI hardware. The boot ROM code will make the images reset resident with the bonus code and enable special features, such as the "A2630" emulation for Kickstart 1.3.
HTH :-)