Amigakit Rom Switcher

[QuillOmega0]

I have a question on: http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=947

I suspect at least someone else here has one so here it goes...

Will this work in a A500 Rev. 5 on it's own? or Will I have to modify the Kickstart ROMs to work with it?

[kolla]

Sounds to me that you dont quite know what this device is for?
It lets you change between two kickstart chips by pressing ctrl-a-a for more than 5secs, so you can for example have both 1.3 and 3.1 kickstart and shift between those. There is no need to modify the kickstart roms.

[QuillOmega0]

Sounds to me that you dont quite know what this device is for?
It lets you change between two kickstart chips by pressing ctrl-a-a for more than 5secs, so you can for example have both 1.3 and 3.1 kickstart and shift between those. There is no need to modify the kickstart roms.

Misunderstood what I meant. (I do know what the Kickstart switcher does, switches Kickstarts. )

On Rev 5 motherboards, if you're putting a Kickstart (I believer greater than 1.3) you need to short a couple pins, and rewire another for compatibility.

I was wondering if the same had to be applied to the Kickstart ROM switcher, or would shorting the jumper on the lowerleft corner of it, make the changes so I wouldn't have to rewire the Kickstart ROM.

[gertsy]

Speak to amigakit. If they are supplying the kickswitcher I am sure they will supply you with the info for the newer (lol, not as old) roms.
They do say "Compatible with Kickstart 1.2, 1.3, 2.0, 2.04, 2.05, 3.1 (for A500/A2000)"
But I am guessing you will need to do the whatever mods are required for your older A500 as if you were you to insert the rom directly into the MB.

Gertsy

[jkirk]

Misunderstood what I meant. (I do know what the Kickstart switcher does, switches Kickstarts. )

On Rev 5 motherboards, if you're putting a Kickstart (I believer greater than 1.3) you need to short a couple pins, and rewire another for compatibility.

I was wondering if the same had to be applied to the Kickstart ROM switcher, or would shorting the jumper on the lowerleft corner of it, make the changes so I wouldn't have to rewire the Kickstart ROM.

just looking at it the switcher looks like it configures itself based on the rom inserted but if any mods need to be done they will be part of the package.
the one i bought many years ago(10 or more years) only required a jumper. maybe this one is similar.

[Buzzfuzz]

I have kickstart 1.3 en 2.04, but it only requierd a switch and an ic holder.
This one is a lot better cause of the pressing of the keys, no more searching for that switch at the back of your Amiga and first turning it off
 
But a kickstart upgrade is only usefull if your programs requier it and if you have a harddrive (which I don't have, but at the time it was usefull for a few tools I was running).

[Jope]

The Amigakit switcher has a jumper you can set if you have a rev5 board, so you don't need to solder the wire onto the chip.

But yeah, they're still in business, why not ask them next time instead of making us do their product support for them. ;-)

[QuillOmega0]

The Amigakit switcher has a jumper you can set if you have a rev5 board, so you don't need to solder the wire onto the chip.

But yeah, they're still in business, why not ask them next time instead of making us do their product support for them. ;-)

Did, their reply:

The jumper is to allow further EEPROMs and non-mask ROMs  to be used with this board.

Now I'll admit, that's pretty hard for me to understand the exact meaning of that.
But thanks for everybody's help, and I'lll see how it goes when I get the switcher in and installed.

[guest7146]

Hi QuillOmega0,

A "mask" ROM is a device that is programmed by the manufacturer and whose contents cannot be changed.  The standard ROMs in your machine will be "mask" ROMs.

A non-mask ROM would be a re-programmable device.  For example, you can get EPROMs, which can be erased by exposure to UV-light (and then re-programmed) and EEPROMs, which can be electrically erased via a programmer.

You could, for example, use an EEPROM programmer to copy your ROM chips and use the data to program your own EEPROM device.  Why? Ummmm... well it'd be useful as a backup I suppose.  If you damaged your ROM chips in the future you could easily make your own replacements!!!

It sounds to me like AmigaKit are telling you there is a jumper on the board to select between mask ROMs (standard Amiga ROM chips) and non-mask ROMs (devices you have programmed yourself, or someone else has programmed for you).

Does this make sense?

Apple Hammer

[QuillOmega0]

Perfectly explained AppleHammer

Thanks for your information everybody. I'll know more when I get to installing it.