@X-Ray : Revision 1.0 of the Disk Module
I finally got to spend some time with the Beast this week. First thing I did was to make sure that 4060 card was still in place and that all the cables were hooked up properly. I hooked it up to my 1084 and it powered up without any problem. My system came with no HD so I had to re-learn how to configure SCSI drives. I have a handful of 10 year old server-grade SCSI disks, so I had to adapt connectors accordingly. I then booted from the OS3.1 disks and had all sorts of trouble partitioning the HD. The HD toolbox program that comes with OS3.1 is pretty bad IMO. I would have much preferred an FDISK type solution.
Unfortunately I accidentally made the boot partition 4MB instead of 4GB! Strangely enough it was big enough to install the basic OS3.1 components before I realized my mistake. I used that HDDFixSize program to straighten things out.
Here are my observations regarding the 4000T vs my AmigaKit 1200:
* The 4000T keyboard is much better than the 1200. I'm a touch typist and I'm always bumbling around the 1200 keyboard. Not so with the 4000.
* My 1200 gets very hot with all the components it has crammed in it: 1260, IndivisionAGA, Subway, CF-Card adapter. The IndivisionAGA gets wonky after about an hour of use and the video actually looks sync with the LCD ( black picture, flashes, etc). Only solution is to turn off and let it cool down.
* The 4000T does not get hot at all and runs for hours and hours.
* I am using a Viewsonic VX924 (19" LCD, 1280x1024) monitor attached to the Picasso IV. Things look horrible in non-native resolution from both the IndivisionAGA and also the SD/FF part of the PicassoIV. Before installing the Picasso96 drivers, I was using both the 1084 and LCD simultaneously in low res NTSC. Things looked much better on the 1084. Conclusion: I think more pixels are needed to make low res look good (eg. an LCD that runs 1920x1080). Out of curiousity, I ran my MBP's 17" (1920x1080) screen at 640x480 (stretched) and it didn't look nearly as bad as the viewsonic at that resolution.
* In RTG mode, the PicassoIV is awesome! Picasso96 drivers installed w/o any problems! Fast fast fast and looks great! Native 1280x1024 24bit resolutions.
* I installed MagicWB demo just for fun. Looks great and love those new fonts and icons!
* OS3.1 boots in like 5 seconds! FAST! My A1200 came preconfigured with OS3.9 and it is a little bit of a dog. Too much crapola loaded up. Might have to drop the 1200 down to an OS3.1 configuration.
* I highly recommend that anyone coming back to the Amiga from early years (kickstart 1.3, 2.0) should do an install of OS3.1 so you can see the evolution of the OS. I didn't have any kind of appreciation for what was going on with the pre-configured 1200 sytem.
* Ran SysInfo on the 4000T. 44MIPs vs 34MIPs (4060 vs 1260). Disk speed was the biggest difference. I get a little over 1MB/s on the 1200's CF card and almost 7MB/s on the 4000T (7200rpm SCSI).
* I wish the 4000T had an external floppy connector! Swapping all those floppies was no fun!
Next up: Install Deneb card and get CDROM going.
Yeah, I love my A4000T too. Still in mint condition. I have mine fully decked out:
New Old Stock A4000T (software hut)
Phase5 Cyberstorm PPC 233MHz and 50MHz 060 (also in great shape)
Deneb USB Card (amazing purchase, highly recommended). Poseidon in Flashrom.
2GB Compact Flash card hanging off an ACARD UW SCSI to IDE converter, about 13.5MB/sec (under OS4.0 - which is very good for OS4)
Elbox Mediator A4000T PCI Busboard with Voodoo 3 (soon to be Voodoo 4), and RTL8029 NIC.
Love that system
PS - you didn't mention if you have the Desktop version of the 060 card or the original Tower version? My A4000T came with the Desktop version. "XP" version.
