Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: KCS Power PC Board 500  (Read 8832 times)

Description:

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« on: November 04, 2011, 07:55:01 AM »
Oh yes, that's a great card. I owned it since it came out somewhere in 1990 or so and I used it heavily to run MS-DOS software up until 1993 when I switched to a real i486.

It's a very capable and very, very compatible XT-emulator. It does not multitask, though, so you can run either Amiga OS or MS-DOS at any given time, but not at the same moment. When running MS-DOS, you have to reset your Amiga to get back to Amiga OS.

Ofcourse, being it only an XT-emulator, its speed is rather limited compared to more recent solutions. Compared to a real XT, it really shines though: with the latest software, it is capable of emulating a broad range of videocards, up and including VGA. It supports quite a lot types of harddisk controllers (including the A590, ofcourse) where it uses a complete partition of the drive. It also makes use of extra ram and turboboards on your A500. A turboboard significantly improves videospeed, extra ram can be used as EMS/XMS compatible memory. I don't know if it works with all turbo boards, as I never tested this myself.

In Amiga mode, you can use the 1 MB onboard ram as 512 KB chip/ranger ram (depends on the revision of your A500) and the other 512 KB can be used as a reset resistant RAM drive. The software you need to run the card can still be downloaded from the net, with the latest being v4.5something. The early versions of the software were rather limited (no hard disk support, amongst others), but all updates to the card were software only, so no problem with that.

As mentioned, it is very compatible. I never found any software that refused to run on it (apart from software that required a better processor, of course). I used MS-DOS 4.01 to 6.2 with it.

I still find it the best expansion I ever bought for my A500, period. Highly recommended when you want to run MS-DOS programs on your A500. It still is the ultimate cool factor for any A500, imo.

With a special adapter, you can use it in a big box Amiga and there even was a version for the A600. With the A600, it connected to the trapdoor slot with an extension cable and was put under(!) the A600 in a specially designed case.

I have the adapter for a big box Amiga together with the board itself, but haven't used it in years as it is residing in my A3000 which is a work in progress. I never saw the A600 version live, but I know it existed. It could be ordered straight from KCS, the manufacturer, back then.

There also was a special version for the A500+. It differed only slightly, as the battery backed RTC was removed/disabled and the entire on board 1 MB ram could be used as chip ram. I am not entirely sure if the standard version works in an A500+. I guess it still works ok, but I doubt you will be able to use the entire on board 1 MB ram as chip ram. You will most likely have 1,5 MB chip ram on the 500+ with the standard version of the PC Board.

If you can't find anything usefull to do with it, I will happily take the board from you. :-)
« Last Edit: November 04, 2011, 08:32:02 AM by Jiffy »
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2011, 10:23:32 AM »
Quote from: DonutKing;666488
That's very cool. Can you comment on how well the soundblaster and adlib emulation worked?
I don't see any OPL chips on it so I'm guessing the FM synth didn't sound like a real soundblaster...
Everything which can not be found on the board itself is emulated, of course. I never played games on it (hell, any Amiga game kicked any pc game big time back then!), apart from running them as a test.

As I did'nt have a real pc back then, I couldn't compare it to a real Soundblaster, ofcourse, but when tested, everything sounded very acceptable. It never gave any trouble when sound emulation was necessary.

I had the board almost as soon as it was released and used version 1.00 of the software, which didn't have any support for hard drives at all, only supported Hercules & CGA graphics, while the only sound it could make was 'BEEP'.

Updates were sent to me for free by KCS on a regular basis, each update giving very nice extras. When hard disk support was implemented, it didn't support the SCSI-controller I had (a MacroSystem Evolution). I sent KCS a letter explaining that and a few days later, I received an update which did support my controller. The great support back then by KCS is a major reason I still am a very fond supporter of the Power PC Board.

Quote from: dougal;666491
Wow Jiffy, Nice description. I see you love the card just a little.. :-)
Only a little... ;-)

Quote
I'll try and make some time to try it out today. I have an A590 so this should be some fun.
In order to use a partition on the pc-side, you have to repartition the hard drive. For testing, you can refrain from that and just use a floppy. Funny thing is you can use up to four floppy drives with the Power PC Board, something which is not even possible on a real pc.

The battery backed RTC on the PC Board can also be used by your A500, but it is not compatible with, for example, the RTC on an A501. You need to put the software KCS supllied with the board for the RTC in your Startup-Sequence to use the clock on the A500.
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2011, 10:47:38 AM »
Quote from: loth77;666498
i have one of them... but, since i don't have an A500 anymore, it is closed in a drawer at my mother's since years :/

jiffy, you seem expert of this card, does it have any value to be sold?


That's a tough one... They were quite common back then and still can be found quite easily. The adapter to use it in a big box Amiga is much more rare.

It's practical use nowadays is of course rather limited, as it only emulates an XT and therefore can not run anything past DOS 6.2 or Windows 3.0.

If, on the other hand, you like to fool around on both an A500 of the KS1.3 era and on an XT with something of DOS 4.x to 6.x, this is a very cool add on.

With the ACA520 arriving in the near future, I would like to test the PC Board to see if it is compatible with both the AKA and more recent KS-versions. But for that, I would first need to have an A500...

For me, I would find it extremely cool to have an A500 with ACA520, Indivision ECS and KS3.1. A neat all-in-one package with many possibilities of running Amiga OS, MS-DOS and maybe even System 6 or 7 through Shapeshifter.

I wonder if the Power PC Board would support the IDE-controller on the ACA520. The software supports the IDE-port on the A600, if I am not mistaken, so it all depends on the amount of compatability of the ACA520.

All in all, I don't expect its value to be great. Most people will only use the card as a ram expansion to their A500 as they have no use of an XT and will not use its emulation capabilities. I even expect quite a lot of people who have the card without even knowing it is anything else than a ram expansion.

Do not throw it away, though. That would severely hurt my feelings...
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2011, 11:18:39 AM »
That's the version for a standard A500 (it has a coin cell battery, the A500+ version does not), which will get your A500+ to 1,5 MB chip ram. I'm not sure if you will be able to use the remaining 512 KB as a RAM disk on the A500+, though. Or if it runs at all in a 500+.

Fun thing is, the Amiga Hardware Database mentions there is a version 1 (running @ 8 MHz) and a version 2 (running @ 10.7 MHz) of the board. This is not entirely correct. All revisions (which differ only slightly) run at the same clock speed, depending on the software you use. The original version (1.00) lets your PC Board run at 8 MHz, the later versions (2.x and higher) lets your PC Board run at 10.7 MHz. You can use the latest software on any revision of the PC Board.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2011, 12:04:12 PM by Jiffy »
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2011, 07:46:34 AM »
Quote from: marcfrick2112;666903
Sadly, no 500's here anymore.. tho, it was my first miggy....
Same goes for me. I plan to buy a nice 500 in the near future, though. I want to build a nice set, consisting of an A500, Indivision ECS, ACA520, KS3.1 and a nice flash drive. And a KCS Power PC Board, ofcourse... :-)
« Last Edit: November 08, 2011, 07:49:48 AM by Jiffy »
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2013, 09:40:52 PM »
Hmm... I need to search through my disks to see if I have any older versions of the system software. The most up to date version would be v4.5xy, if memory serves me right.

Will get back to you later this week. :)
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2013, 12:20:56 PM »
Quote from: Tenacious;741628
I wonder if it is compatible with Supra's 500XP and with their Turbo28?

I used the 500XP back in the day: no problems at all and the Power PC Board happily used the extra ram.
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200
 

Offline Jiffy

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: May 2003
  • Posts: 474
    • Show all replies
    • http://clausewitz.nl
Re: KCS Power PC Board 500
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2013, 12:47:09 PM »
Quote from: spirantho;741512
It does VGA Mono - it'd be difficult to do 256 colour VGA on an A500 :)

It also does VGA color when using the correct system software. Albeit not with 256 shades of whatever. :-)
Life sucks. Then you die. Then they throw mud in your face. Then you get eaten by worms. Be happy it happens in that order... My Amiga 1200