Upgrading a 4000

[Tupin]

I've finally got it basically working, but I want to do more with it. I have several questions:

1. How do I check the current specs of my machine?
2. What program do I need to use a Golden Gate 386SX card?
3. How do I get started transferring files with a CF card? What program should I download first?
4. WHDLoad is pretty much essential, I guess?
5. Would it be better to have a CD drive or an extra hard drive for the 386SX card? If the former, what kind of CD drive will work?
6. As for 3.9, what are the requirements and advantages?

Please excuse my (many) newbish questions, I want to do a lot on this machine but don't know where to start.

[Tupin]

There can be only two IDE devices, right? Any IDE CD-ROM drive will work? I ask because I want to install 3.9...

[Tupin]

Get a Zorro 4xIDE adapter (FastATA4000 or Buddha).  Before I towered my A4000 I ran a CF card adapter to a slot cut in my blank 3.5" bay cover.  Do this and you'll be able to FAT format it and use it to transfer files between a PC (with a CF card reader) and your Amiga and use it for Amiga formatted cards.  I keep a 2GB card with a backup of my initial ClassicWB 3.x installation for use as an Emergency Boot Disk in case my Hard Drive all decide to fail.

That will enable you to have 2 x Hard Drives, DVD ROM and the CF Card Reader installed.

I'll definitely look into getting a Buddha IDE adapter. I want to use a CF card in a similar fashion, though I planned on installing it in a card slot. Did you just cut a hole in the front? I want to avoid that for aesthetic reasons. Unfortunately, the IDE and power cables are too short to mount in a card slot.

I think the RAM is stock...

[Tupin]

Actually, now that I think about it, I would prefer another method. Could I set up a CF card in WinUAE so my 4000 recognizes it as a bootable 3.9 drive?

[Tupin]

Hm, Buddhas appear to be sold out. What about a TrueIDE? Would this work?

http://www.vesalia.de/e_trueide.htm

Oh, and how can I tell which is the master/slave drive?

[Tupin]

Nevermind, I found a four-way IDE splitter on amigakit. But for now, I think I will take out the drive it does not boot from and use that for a CD-ROM drive with which I can hopefully install an OS.

My ideal setup for it would be one hard drive to boot off of, an internal CF card for storage, an external CF card for transfer, and a CD-ROM drive. Is that possible with this splitter?:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=599

[Tupin]

Update: Trying to get back into Amiga, got the HDDs out of my 4000. The master drive was about 145 MB, slave about 500 MB.

How exactly do I go about installing a new OS through WinUAE, again? My modern PC won't recognize the drives.

[Tupin]

I want to use the original drives that I got with the machine. My computer does not even recognize the drive, I'm using a USB to IDE adapter as my PC uses SATA.

[Tupin]

A bit rusty on my Amiga jargon, excuse me. What do I need if I have a blank, formatted drive to install 3.9 on it? Kickstart ROMs and an OS?

I can't even get the Amiga drive to show up using this adapter. In fact, most drives don't work. Guess I need a new one.

[Tupin]

Actually, a CF card is easier, and I already have stuff I need. So, what else do I need again? I have stuff to install OS 3.9., not sure what else I need.

[Tupin]

Does your real Amiga have a CD/DVD ROM drive?

You will need Kickstart 3.1 on your Amiga to install/run OS3.9

No, it doesn't. I think I have Kickstart 3.1 on the 4000, though.

[Tupin]

Yeah, just forget about that whole line of thought. I was confused myself, but now I think I understand most of this after researching it.

Mounted the CF card under "Add a Directory", used my 3.1 disks that I found after posting that, installed 3.1 to the drive. Plugged it in my 4000, does nothing but having a white screen? Is it because of the jumper setting is on "Slave?"

[Tupin]

If you used Add A Directory to mount your CF card in UAE then it is not prepped for use on an Amiga.  You have to mount it as an Amiga drive and use either ADF files of your 3.1 OS to prep and install it or boot into a HDF file.

If you have real OS3.1 floppies then just prep the card on your actual A4000.  Do you have the OS3.1 "Install" disk?

Look at this link:
http://winuaehelp.back2roots.org/gui/hard-drives.htm

In the first picture you will see THREE options, ADD DIRECTORY OR ARCHIVE, ADD HARDFILE and ADD HARD DRIVE.

ADD HARD DRIVE is gray because in this case UAE has not been run as an administrator.  Run UAE as an admin and then use this option to mount your CF card as a hard drive.  Then use ADF files of OS3.1 (available on the internet with a little bit of searching) to prep and install it.  For ease of use, use a 4GB CF card and set it up with 2 x 2GB partitions called SYSTEM and WORK.

Make sure you check the READ/WRITE box.

Strange, I followed your instructions directly and still could not select the drive. I made sure to run as Administrator.

[Tupin]

Okay, is there something I have to edit with WinUAE? I've seen some people say that you have to to use the -disableharddrivesafetycheck command, but I'm not sure how to do that.

I'll cross the bridge on how to get WHDLoad working when I come to it.

[Tupin]

I just tried it with a bunch of memory cards of various types, just to see if the CF card didn't work. Toolbox recognizes none of them. "Add Removable Drives" doesn't do anything to help me make a bootable image.