Pistorm operation

[Boing-ball]

Hi all,

I am seeing buggy graphics in some games and software.  I have just run Amiga Test Kit on my A1200 and it has raised the following attached issues.  From this I am wondering if my Amiga has a memory chip problem.

It has a Pistorm 32 lite installed but I had the same issues before installing this with the graphics. 

Some software runs fine, ie. Word Processesors, X Copy.

Any guidance or advice welcome.



Regards
Steven

No issues there. What you have to remember that if running directly from a floppy disk, then the SD card on the Pistorm32 doesn’t run first. Hence no EMU68 emulation and setting up of Pi RAM as fastRAM. Therefore you will only see a stock A1200 config of 2MB Chip RAM. The PiStorm has to setup 68040 emulation first. It is not like other A1200 accelerators wher they will activate automatically and give you what you want on power up.

As for games glitching. Then yes, even with version 3.0 ROMs not all games from the past will run natively, especially those designed for the A500. Especially if booting from floppy disk.
The way forward is with WHDLoad and game images. As long as you own the KS ROM files that WHDload uses to emulate each machine type. Plenty of videos on YouTube about this.

[Boing-ball]

This is absolute rubbish. Emu68 is starting on boot already giving you all features as soon as Amiga starts. Already first CPU instruction of kickstart is executed by properly set up Emu68 with all the memory available (but not yet configured by exec.library).

Emu68 with PiStorm is exactly like any other A1200 accelerator. It is activated automatically and gives you everything on power up.

Have you tried this for yourself? I have with an Pistorm32 and Pi4B and I know when I boot straight from a floppy disk on a A1200 with ATK, it shows a stock A1200 setup. The only time EMU68 gets a chance to be setup is when no Floppy disk is in the drive. Remeber that the floppy drive has priority 5 which is higher.

[Boing-ball]

I have tried that myself and I am absolutely sure that I know how it is working. In case you don’t trust me feel free to ask Emu68 author. But I am more than sure he will give you the very same answer. Literally identical answer.

You are making the assumption that the OP has the SD card inserted into the Pi on bootup and has the correct partitions in place. Therefore the PiStorm will not function on startup
Don’t forget that with above you still have a stock A1200 setup.Therefore bootable software from floppy will ONLY access the stock A1200 config.

[Boing-ball]

Hi all,

I am seeing buggy graphics in some games and software.  I have just run Amiga Test Kit on my A1200 and it has raised the following attached issues.  From this I am wondering if my Amiga has a memory chip problem.

It has a Pistorm 32 lite installed but I had the same issues before installing this with the graphics. 

Some software runs fine, ie. Word Processesors, X Copy.

Any guidance or advice welcome.



Regards
Steven

You have setup the SD card for EMU68?

https://michalsc.github.io/Emu68/tutorials/SD_Preparation.html

[Boing-ball]

I assume that OP has correctly configured his pistorm, yes. Ptherwise one could also say that pistorm does not operate without a raspberry pi installed. For it to operate one needs a SD card with a FAT partition and raspberry + Emu68 files on it. No other partitions are necessary for Emu68 to operate and yes, you can boot from floppy with all features of pistorm/emu68 enabled.

Pretty much what one has eluded to… 👍🏻🙄

[Boing-ball]

No, what you’ve been claiming is that just booting off from floppy is enough to disable Emu68 - that’s just wrong.

Waldorf or stadler? Do not misquote the situation. Read the post properly. 😆 Your answer provides no help to the OP.

[Boing-ball]

@boingball when you said "What you have to remember that if running directly from a floppy disk, then the SD card on the Pistorm32 doesn’t run first." is kinda ... wrong?

With a slow Pi (like the Pi4) installed, the system will indeed boot correctly from the floppy for a few seconds before the PiStorm gets its legs under it and takes over the system, causing the boot process to restart.

It will then restart the floppy boot process but this time Emu68 will be in the driving seat - as well as the replacement kickstart ROM, the extra Fast RAM etc etc. Booting a floppy won't cause a properly set up Emu68 partition to fail to boot - that part will still happen.

Edit: Ninja's by Kolla

🤦🏻‍♂️ Read the posts will you…. What did I make clear afterwards? Does the OP have the SD card installed onto the Pi? What happens if no SD card installed? Yes? That’s right… No EMU68 and no 68040 and FastRAM… 🤔👊🏻🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Boing-ball]

Did you, or did you not, say:

I mean, that's pretty much assuming that the SD card will be overridden by a floppy, and that this would then prevent Emu68 from booting. I don't think there's any other way to interpret what you said - even if you insist that the SD card must not be present after the fact.

And then in the rest of the post I quote:

You are making the assumption that the OP has the SD card inserted into the Pi on bootup and has the correct partitions in place. Therefore the PiStorm will not function on startup
Don’t forget that with above you still have a stock A1200 setup.Therefore bootable software from floppy will ONLY access the stock A1200 config.

So again, I will ask you. Did you read the posts?

Pettiness for the sake of the OPs original question seems to be what one does not want to know 😉🤣

[Boing-ball]

Of course I did, you've made quite a name for yourself in the PiStorm community with this, I'd literally forgotten I had an account here now!

I have to say though opening up your Amiga to remove the SD card so you can go back to stock is quite the bold move.

One thinks you are going off topic. No help to the OP here. Short lived welcome back me thinks… 🤣🤣🙋‍♂️

Edit: Yay! You edited your post in time to make this post relevant again.. well done! 😆

[Boing-ball]

And your answers are helpful? Half the time you provide "help", you blend in false information and unfounded claims, which is frustrating to read. If you AT LEAST could do a little research before "helping" and be a little more humble when making bold

Hmm… And you provide help half the time. Or just make defamatory claims on here… Did I upset One’s friend on here or something? calm down sheldon… I believe the word “Humble” is something you must have researched as you are not this. I believe you have already upset one of the admins on here with your rudeness..

Back on topic:

okay just had a look at @kolla your helpful advice given to the OP.

The PiStorm SD card doesn’t need any special formatting?

So the fact you need a FAT32 partition with a windows format for the EMU68 files and then AMIGA partition such as FastFileSystem or PFS3 etc.. For the AmigaOS Installation.

Just to back up my helpful claim here:

https://youtu.be/04Ra86PE5Cs?si=nDYlCds12HwbBLJJ

[Boing-ball]

Strictly speaking you don't need either of those. You can have your Fat32 partition on a bootable USB drive plugged into the Pi (the Pi needs to boot from something after all, so that Emu68 can start), and your AmigaOS installation can be on any device the Amiga can boot from - plenty of people boot from an IDE CF card adapter rather than the SD card in the Pi.

You can put all those on the SD card if you like - it's the recommended setup - but it's not set in stone.

Useful information. Good to know. But you have to make sure you have a Pi that has USB ports to use that feature. Looks,like Doug @10MARC may need to do a follow up video.

Do you have any useful links to backup your claim there?

[Boing-ball]

He asked author of Emu68. I think this is the best place to ask and get a reliable answer.

Would be helpful for the OP to know how to contact with a link. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Where did “He” ask the OP at?

[Boing-ball]

Well, gee wizz… if you ask me

We weren’t asking you…

Hopefully the OP now has something to go on. What a Riddle and hard work that was.. No wonder people sell up their Amiga Hardware and give in… 🤦🏻‍♂️

Over to you OP from now on…. 👍🏻