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Author Topic: A few questions about the GVP Impact A500 HD8+ Series II  (Read 91671 times)

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Offline Oldsmobile_Mike

Re: A few questions about the GVP Impact A500 HD8+ Series II
« Reply #14 from previous page: October 05, 2017, 10:10:16 PM »
Quote from: motrucker;831344
The point here is that you must use the correct name for the SCSI driver, which is dependent on the interface used, so this would be gvp.SCSI for an A500 or A2000.


gvpscsi.device or omniscsi.device, depending on if you have the Guru-ROM. :D
Amiga 500: 2MB Chip|16MB Fast|30MHz 68030+68882|3.9|Indivision ECS|GVP A500HD+|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|Cocolino|SCSI DVD-RAM
Amiga 2000: 2MB Chip|136MB Fast|50MHz 68060|3.9|Indivision ECS + GVP Spectrum|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|AD516|X-Surf 100|RapidRoad|Cocolino|SCSI CD-RW
 Amiga videos and other misc. stuff at https://www.youtube.com/CompTechMike/videos
 

Offline Oldsmobile_Mike

Re: A few questions about the GVP Impact A500 HD8+ Series II
« Reply #15 on: September 23, 2025, 07:42:41 PM »
Upgrading to 2MB Chip RAM is possible, but it requires the 8375 Agnus chip along with some motherboard modifications (easiest if your A500 is a Rev. 6A board). Without this Agnus, 2MB Chip isn’t an option.

On the other hand, 16MB Fast RAM and a 68030 CPU upgrade are not possible with the GVP Impact A500 HD8+, the card supports a maximum of 8MB Fast RAM and has no provisions for a 68030/68882 accelerator.

For modern video output, the Indivision ECS V2 is the recommended choice.

I’m not sure how straightforward it is to replace the original SCSI hard drive with a CF card on this controller, but as an alternative you could look into something like BlueSCSI, which is inexpensive and uses SD cards.

For 2MB Chip, maybe a Megachip board?  Anyone still producing these?

As above, for the other stuff.  Sidecar supports a maximum of 8MB.  I had mine upgraded to 16MB fast by using 8MB 16-bit fast in the sidecar and 8MB 32-bit fast in a CPU-socket based VXL*30 68030 accelerator.  It was a hack and a kludge but it worked, until (iirc) my RAM board stopped working due to tinkering with overclocking.  It's been a long time since I poked at it.  Assume more modern solutions exist now?

+1 for the whatever the latest Indivision ECS is.

I upgraded my sidecar to a CF card using a Mechware SCSI card reader.  That was the most direct solution since the Amiga "sees" the card reader just as another HDD.  I had to trim a few pieces for optimal fit, but since the power draw was much lower (and cooler) I was also able to ditch the internal fan and the external power supply.  It's packed up for nigh on five+ years, now, but am sure pictures exist somewhere on this forum.  😆  BlueSCSI sounds interesting - just gave it a google...
« Last Edit: September 23, 2025, 07:45:06 PM by Oldsmobile_Mike »
Amiga 500: 2MB Chip|16MB Fast|30MHz 68030+68882|3.9|Indivision ECS|GVP A500HD+|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|Cocolino|SCSI DVD-RAM
Amiga 2000: 2MB Chip|136MB Fast|50MHz 68060|3.9|Indivision ECS + GVP Spectrum|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|AD516|X-Surf 100|RapidRoad|Cocolino|SCSI CD-RW
 Amiga videos and other misc. stuff at https://www.youtube.com/CompTechMike/videos