My 500+ Project

[djos]

Thanks Az I'll have a play and see what happens.

[djos]

Is the autoaddram command fully resident? I mean it exits without screwing up A0-A4 or D0-D7 registers when it exits back to the command line after executing?

Intuition is different between KS1.3 and KS2.04+ due to the primary colour pallet it assigns to the WB from within the preferences file. KS1.3 is limited to 4 colours if I remember correct with its LoadWB command.

With ClassicWB it assigns 8 colours to WorkBench and therefore Intuition as well. Have you tried to copy preferences from a WB1.3 disk onto the HD to see if this allows the autoaddram to exit without forcing Intuition to reset?

Maybe you could also try these commands

c:autoaddram >NIL:

to collect any junk pointers left on the stack at program exit

I also notice that

If exists c:stackattack

is in the startup-sequence twice, is this needed? Not sure why it would be so maybe remark one instance out and try?

Hope this helps

Az

Nice calls mate, moved c:autoaddram to the top, added >NIL: and deleted the first lot of StackAttack (second one had the auto option so kept that) and I no longer get that intutition error and I have over 500kb chip ram free.

Now I just need my autoconfig 8mb ram board and it'll be even better.

[djos]

Cheers Az, I'll add that one in too.

[djos]

okies found the util I used to have for memory allocation from Aminet

util/sys/PoolMem.lha

use the "nochip" option to help force more programs into fastram

Az

You're the the man, I'll try it tonight. :cool:

Btw, I have my 68010 on top of toms 8mb fast-ram board which is on-top of Mika's IDE68k and I've found after about an hour my system get's too hot and crashes - all the major chips are pretty warm (68010 & Denise in-particular) so I've ordered some self-adhesive aluminium Ram Heatsinks to help keep the major chips cool (I dont want to install fans if I can help it).

[djos]

When I was installing 6X A1200's into 19inch rack mount systems we had many over heating problems. Lisa usually was the hottest custom chip.

Small heat sinks on top the custom chips solved most heat related problems. Use very small heat sinks, compound and use hot-melt glue on the corners to hold the sink in place.

Az

I reckon the self adhesive should be fine, its come a long way in the last 10 years.

Btw, i tried poolmem and it doesnt seem to make any difference using the NOCHIP option, I havent really tried any other options yet tho.

Not a big deal tho as I have a rev8a board and 1mb trapdoor ram board on the way and will soon have 2mb chip ram + 8mb autoconfig fast ram. :cool:

[djos]

Hehe, good thing my wife has no idea how much I've spent or I'd be dead!

[djos]

What will your wife say when you mention "honey I'm driving to north east victoria to pick up some Amiga stuff"

Az

Don't come back!

[djos]

Well folks I got all the various bits I needed to try making my 500+ work with sata/e-sata but unfortunately even after trying every trick in the book I couldn't even get my Miggy to boot from my CF card let alone work with the external DVD-ROM!

I strongly suspect the limitations are caused the IDE68K adapter which doesnt seem to like having anything other than a "master" device connected. I couldnt even get my CF-IDE and DVD rom to play nice using stock IDE connections.

Oh well, for now Im just going to run with my 25watt Amiga power brick and a basic config and not worry about having a higher powered PSU and External DVD drive.

I'll prolly get a Zeus68k accelerator when they come out and revisit my experiments then but for now my 500+ does make a great little WHDload Machine as is (been playing the Space Quest Series again and loving it!).

:cool:

[djos]

It's an IDE68k HW limitation, not software - everything lights up and is active but KS3.1 cant recognise the CF Drive on the sata bus. If the IDE68k was a buffered IDE device it would most probably work fine.

I'd have a 4000 if I could afford one!

[djos]

Got my RamSinks today and promptly installed them in varying quantities on all the major chips although I did have to remove the one closest to the camera from the 68010 as it prevented my keyboard from sitting all the way down:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-09-26%2018.43.52.jpg

and to see if they fix my overheating problem (was only lasting for about an hour before crashing) I have SWIV on Floppy currently looping it's intro screens and music.

[djos]

WoooHooo, overheating problem sorted! After an 1/2 an hour of looping the SWIV intro then extracting a highly compressed zip (a Demo) and then running the demo via WHDLoad for about 40mins (Fairlight & Virtual Dreams) my Miggy is still 100% stable.

I checked the RamSinks and most of them are very very warm so they are clearly doing their job of extracting heat from the chips. :cool:

[djos]

What did you use to stick the sinks on the ram chips?
I use "Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive" to fix  heatsinks, it's permanent but it does the job a lot better then sticky heat pads that some use
Just a tip, good tho that you sorted it out

The RamSinks I bought have very thin adhesive thermal pads on them and are more than good enuf - 2mins after switching off my 500+ the formerly hot RamSinks where cool to the touch. Interestingly my case around the CPU/Denise area used to get warm to the touch, now the RamSinks are doing such a good job of transferring the heat into the air that my case no longer feels warm at all.

Considering the Miggy's chips where designed for use without heatsinks, I dont believe there is any need for a higher quality thermal adhesive. :cool:

[djos]

I'd been having some major speed issues with my IDE68k which I've now resolved and I suspect that I may be able to get my 500+ use sata now, so stay tuned, it may work after all!

[djos]

I ordered some clear 3mm thick acrylic the other day and a cutting tool to make a nice little stand for my GBS-8220 ScanDoubler/Scaler. I think it turned out quite well as it's very stable and the VGA cable doesn't cause it to tip backwards any more - but I may make some improvements (use some different stand-offs and maybe makes sides and a top for it):

[djos]

I've got the 1mb trapdoor card, still waiting for my replacement rev8a board tho - hopefully it will show up this week.

[djos]

Arrrgh, still waiting for my rev8a board

I also have one of Kippers 8mb auto config boards on the way and I bought some 20pin IC sockets for my rev6a board as im going to move the extra 512k from the trapdoor card to the Mainboard (because I can).

I've also ordered a bulk lot of resistors (I was completely out of them) with the intention of modding my video lead that connects to my GBS-8220 - the intent is to try to remove or reduce the slight ghosting issues using Ian Steadman's "LCD Fix" schematic (just the 330ohm resistor on Composite-sync as Im not using the 12/5v DC outputs).





Once all that's done I prolly wont be doing much to my miggy aside from using it as I need to be a bit more cautious with how I spend my "tech allowance" due to our second Bub now on the way (due May 2013). :cool:

PS, I will still keep an eye out for the a500 accelerators that are currently in development and one of those is likey to be my last purchase for a while.