Making your own Kickstart

[motorollin]

I did this with an A1200. AFAIK the chip you need (and the process) is the same. Details and instructions here.

HOWEVER, it will be much easier, cheaper and actually more flexible if you buy a KickFlash. It's a zorro card flash card which will allow you coldboot a ROM Image of your choice, plus modules. The flash utility is a much nicer option when you want to modify your boot image than removing the chips and re-programming them.

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moto

[motorollin]

HammerD wrote:
So the Kickflash will hold my new Kickstart Image permanently and when I cold power-on the computer it will first look to the Kickflash?

That's correct. Whatever is in the KickFlash will replace the physical ROM, and the Amiga will behave in exactly the same way as it would if you had burned the ROM image to a chip. It also has the added bonus that you can add more to the KickFlash than you could fit on a ROM chip, and you don't need to compile them in to the ROM image first (you can just add BlizKick modules to the KickFlash as separate files and they will be included).

HammerD wrote:
Does it need to use Blizkick also?

No. Once the data has been written to the KickFlash no software is required to make it operate. It is done entirely in hardware, and is available from cold boot (even if you boot without startup-sequence - again, think of it just like a ROM chip)

HammerD wrote:
I looked at Individual Computer's website and the software seems to be old and the Coyoteflux webpage sites a new version which offers more support, but I do not see that version available for download on Individual's site...

I wouldn't worry TBH. The version which comes with the KickFlash does the job.

HammerD wrote:
What about the elbox eFlash?  

I have never used it and don't know much about it, but it looks to do much the same as the KickFlash. The advantage of the KickFlash is that it comes with a clockport on board, which adds another dimension of expansion to your Amiga.

HammerD wrote:
If you could explain the process of what happens with the Kickflash or eFlash that would be great.  I've never used or seen one.

Ok. It just sits in a Zorro slot and when in write-enabled mode it doesn't modify Kickstart (the ROM chip is used). CoyoteFlash is used to insert a ROM image and, optionally, modules and patches. When the KickFlash is write-protected, you can't modify the contents. In this mode, as soon as your turn the Amiga on, the KickFlash will remap Kickstart to the contents of the KickFlash and bypass the ROM chip. I don't know technically how it does this though :-)

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moto

[motorollin]

Yes having all the ROM updates and BlizKick modules available from cold is great. And burning the ROM image to EPROMs and replacing the chips is cool for the geek factor, but as soon as you want to ammend the image you will regret it (say hello to dismantling your computer, removing the chips, erasing them with UV eraser, reprogramming, replacing and rebuilding computer every time you want to add a BlizKick module).

So yes, I would definitely go for the KickFlash :-)

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moto

[motorollin]

Sorry guys I have no idea whether or not it works on an A1200 with a Zorro bus. IIRC only zorro "native" Amigas were listed as compatible when I bought it, but it may be worth checking with Jens.

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moto