Jens Shoenfeld's anwer to the Apollo petition

[AmiDude]

I totaly understand Jens in this.

He have explained that he bought it to remove an issue of Apolloowners complaining on his hardware for being faulty when it's issues caused by their CPU board. I know people can have a hard time accepting that it's not a newly installed peice of hardware that is to blame for a surfaced issues but a previous installed component.

My Apollo 1260/80Mhz is running great and stable, happily together with Jens' IdivisionAGA!  :biglaugh:

It's the ACA 1230/42 accelerator from Jens that causes problems with some A1200 motherboard revisions.

[AmiDude]

I owned an ACA1230/42 and I can say it's a piece of crap! Very unstable design, especially with motherboard rev 1b & 2b. Also, the ACA630 is not compatible with a lot of games due to the SDRAM memory. Also, you can't change them if the SDRAMS are getting fried or something,  because there soldered to the board. Why didn't Jens use a plain oll' 72pins EDO socket!?
Another downside is te lack of an (optional) FPU. I know most of the people don't use the FPU anyway, but a certain percentage of us does. Think of JPEG loading in AdPro or faster 3D rendering. OK, you can say "wy not do that kind of stuff with your PC (WinUAE), because it's faster." But I (and others aswell) like it when I see my beloved Amiga work hard to do the job!
Google "aca1230/42 problems" to see how many complains there are about the ACA's from Jens...

[AmiDude]

@rewlako

#1
I'm into Amiga's since 1985, so I guess that makes me an expert user. And don't acuse me of trolling; I'm an A.org member since 2005. You on the other hand could well be a troll; member since April 2012... Very suspicious...

#2
Why not, you say? Ask Jens!

#3
Anything can get fried, especially by very novice users that don't know what they're doing.

#4
EDO is cheap too, and very easy to replace.

#5
He could put an FPU socket onto the boards, so that buyers can deside to put on an FPU or not. It's their decision in the end.

#6
I did too, and find many. Sorry.

[AmiDude]

@AmiDude
Most problems with ACA's are due to A1200-motherboards not having the timing-fixes done. Some problems are with the ACATune-tool that's still needs updating.

You could be right about that. But that makes the ACA boards not very "Plug 'n Play".
My Apollo's & Blizzard boards are not suffering from that problem.

[AmiDude]

I can't say I've seen many problems myself, actually.. and I looked on Google too. Do you have links? (Not trolling or criticising, I'm genuinely interested)

Just google "aca1230/42 problems" and you will see various of posts.
Example link: ACA1231/42 problems

[AmiDude]

...but you do sound very novice in your posts.

You're not a bright light neither.

No, you made the statement, you explain it. At least explain what happens, and how you know the SDRAM is to blame. Give me a reproducible real-life example.

I'm not an technical engineer. I just experience problems with some games which I don't have with other accelerators.

True, but that would mean A) a bigger board, B) more components (trust me, a socket isn't enough) C) more testing, D) people start messing with the boards (see your argument #3), E) more support for Jens.

If the board has no FPU, then it's not interesting for me and a whole bunch of other Amiga fans.

Sorry if I come out as rude, it's nothing personal against you.
Disclaimer: I'm not Jens (nor affiliated with him in any way)

You do sound so.

[AmiDude]

Ok.  I am an electronics engineer, so I wanted to see if your accusations were based on facts or.. well.. speculation.  Not even being able to give a reproducible example leads me to think it's the latter.

My accusations ARE based on facts. I (and others) encountered several problems with the ACA cards. I don't need to be an electronics engineer for that. That's a FACT!  
Don't get me wrong, but there is nothing wrong by holding new products against the light.

Ok, sorry.  I have a tendency to sound very harsh and aggressive.

Again, nothing personal.  Just the way I am.

I'm glad that you know yourself that good. So, you're an ACA worshipper... That's OK. Have fun!

[AmiDude]

Then, please, reproducible examples.  This is the third time I'm requesting it.  Start by giving me an example of a program that "doesn't work" because of the SDRAM - this should be an easy task for you.

By all means, for all that I know you could be right.  But, if you are, prove it or back down.



I don't even own one.  I'm sorry for pinning you down on this one, but I have problems with people blaming their incompetence on technical flaws, when it is obvious that they have no clue what they are talking about.

Unless you can give me some data to work with, I say we're done here.

I've give you an explanation about some "older" games that refuses to work with the ACA accelerator. They just don't start or freezing while playing the game. This doesn't occur with my Blizzard or Apollo accelerators. Don't need further explanation.
So, I DO know what I'm talking about, and you're obviously NOT, since you don't even own an ACA. Don't make me laugh! You just come and barg in here, screaming and yelling. about stuff you don't even have experience with.
Now, move along and go somewhere else trolling!

[AmiDude]

As I said in my previous post, we're not getting anywhere with this, I'm done here.

Great! Bye bye! :quickdraw:

[AmiDude]

The only Apollo who is a bit unstable is the A630@50 (and I think I found the reason why).

Please, be so kind to share your information with us.

[AmiDude]

Yes the best thing about the apollo cards is the cpu on them; as Individual Computers have documented the rest of the card is based on design error and functions on the basis of luck and possible compatibility with the mobo revision.

That's a lie! Individual Computers can make a "document" of anything, but that doesn't mean it's true. I've got 3 Apollo boards, and all are 100% functional and stable. And I'm not alone; there are many other happy Apollo owners.
Like I stated before: It's the ACA 1230/42 accelerator from Jens that causes problems with some A1200 motherboard revisions.
I think Jens bought the Apollo rights because he was scared that someone else would buy it. By doing so, he eliminated all potential competition. And the whole "unstable Apollo" story is one big lie!

[AmiDude]

The apollo horse is well and truly dead.

On the contrary, the Apollo is still alive and kicking *ss!

[AmiDude]

Don't mess with Apollo!

:roflmao: :laughing: :rofl: