Kickstart ROMS

[orange]

..or have Amiga Forever

[ErrethAkbe]

My solution to this problem was a set of 3.1 ROMs from a trashed 2000 on eBay, plus a ROM switcher. Mine works by holding CTRL-A-A for a few seconds, which toggles between the two ROMs.

Having said this, WHDLoad is so good that it's rarely been necessary for me to use the 1.3 ROMs at all. For example, I can now play Archon (my favorite game since my Atari 800 days) on 3.1 ROMs with my 030 running, and the commercial release of the game never ran on anything but KS1.2.

You do need an image of the KS1.3 ROM to play a lot of the WHDLoad games, but since I had the actual ROM, this was easy. ;-)

[lymang]

ErrethAkbe wrote:
My solution to this problem was a set of 3.1 ROMs from a trashed 2000 on eBay, plus a ROM switcher. Mine works by holding CTRL-A-A for a few seconds, which toggles between the two ROMs.

Having said this, WHDLoad is so good that it's rarely been necessary for me to use the 1.3 ROMs at all. For example, I can now play Archon (my favorite game since my Atari 800 days) on 3.1 ROMs with my 030 running, and the commercial release of the game never ran on anything but KS1.2.

You do need an image of the KS1.3 ROM to play a lot of the WHDLoad games, but since I had the actual ROM, this was easy. ;-)

OK, I have done due diligence now and searched the web for a "kickstart switcher" and been unable to find one for sale anywhere (eBay or on the Amiga vendors I have bookmarked).  
I can see references for what they look like and what they do on Amiga hardware reference sites but nothing current.

Can anyone point me at a place to get one or plans to build one?

I also am now searching for these 3.1 ROMS.  It looks like I may have found a place to purchase them.

Lyman

[TjLaZer]

As far as playing disk based games, I seem to remember that 3.1 is more compatible than 2.0x ROMs.  Anyone care to share their experiences?  

I was just playing with a A600 I just got fixed and could hardly get any old A500 games to load with its 2.05 ROM!  I actually ended up installed a softkicker to kick back to 1.3 for games, that might be another option to a ROM switcher.  I can send you the files.

But anyhow if want to play games, and network your Amiga to fiddle online, etc.  I, like others already, highly recommend a Kickstart 3.1 ROM.  The A500/600/2000 ROM is the same.  Software Hut has them I believe.  Being an American I would steer clear from Vesalia, unless you want problems or your order canceled for no reason.   I hear AmigaKit is pretty good too, so they might help you out.

Remember, you can always use WHDLoad to play all the great games!  It is great to be able to play any game then quit right back to WB and continue surfing!  I would download games from back2roots and unarc them to RAM:, play to test them out and then quit right back to WB and download another!  Truly cool to be able to do that don't you think?  :banana:

Other notes,  I would get a '030 card with fast RAM to speed things up but for now a '000 is fine.  Just make sure you have like 2MB+ of Fast RAM in either case as WB runs better with it.  The stock 1MB Chip is not enough to use WB for stuff like networking and WHDload gaming.

[adolescent]

@Lyman

Check with Software Hut.  I had inquired about one a while ago and more recently recieved an email saying they had (at least) one in stock.

[Tomas]

I would rather get a pair of ks3.1 roms + an updated workbench. Unless you run some games/software that has compitability issues with 3.x?

I personally swapped my a500 kick1.3 roms with some 2.x and i would say that 95% of my games works just fine, with the exception of some very few titles.
The increased funcionality of wb2.x was definitely worth the very small sacrifice in compitability in my opinion.

[ErrethAkbe]

OK, I have done due diligence now and searched the web for a "kickstart switcher" and been unable to find one for sale anywhere (eBay or on the Amiga vendors I have bookmarked).  
I can see references for what they look like and what they do on Amiga hardware reference sites but nothing current.

Can anyone point me at a place to get one or plans to build one?

Software Hut shows a listing for a DKB MultiStart II switcher for $20, in their "refurbished Amiga hardware section" which is linked here. This is what I am using. Works great! I got mine off eBay for about the same price.

[lymang]

OK, Software Hut sent me KS 1.3, 2.04 and 2.05 (they were cheap enough I just decided to get all of them in case).

I have put in the KS1.3 ROMS as a start, and that upgrade seems to have gone flawlessly.  Now I want to get the accelerator and harddrive in and working.  Once I have that scenario good I'll think about going to 2.05 but I want to change variables slowly.  I may eventually move to the 3.1 ROMS.  At this time it's all unknown territory so I'll take it slow.

There was a dead spider under the Kickstart 1.2 chip. :-)

I note that the two hardware reference sites for the Amiga I looked at didn't have pictures of the Kickstart 1.2 chip, OR pictures of my A2000's motherboard.  

Would it be of some use to take pictures of at the least the kickstart chip and send it to them?

Lyman

[Thomas]

I have put in the KS1.3 ROMS as a start, and that upgrade seems to have gone flawlessly. Now I want to get the accelerator and harddrive in and working.

Check the prerequisites of the accelerator first. From my experiences with WinUAE Kick 1.3 does not run on anything else than a 68000 or perhaps a 68010. So you should consider first to upgrade to Kick 2.0 and then add the accelerator.

Bye,
Thomas

[orange]

mostly people complain that accelerators (like a2630) don't work with KS3.1 and need their ROM upgrade.

[lymang]

Thomas wrote:

Check the prerequisites of the accelerator first. From my experiences with WinUAE Kick 1.3 does not run on anything else than a 68000 or perhaps a 68010. So you should consider first to upgrade to Kick 2.0 and then add the accelerator.

Bye,
Thomas

Well I can't say 100% until I try it but I'm pretty certain this GVP accelerator works with 1.3.  The seller made note specifically when I bought it that the hard drive had a Bootable hard drive with WB 1.3 on it and I would need KS 1.3 at least.  I figured I'd start there because of that.

Hopefully I'll figure it out tonight!

Lyman

[TjLaZer]

At this time I would stear away from upgrading to KS 2.x and when you are ready move to 3.1.  It is a lot better and more compatible with old A500 games.  I have an extra ROM if anyone needs one.

[DaDigz]

Speaking of Amiga dealers, I haven't seen Compuquick mentioned. They're in Columbus, OH, and I've been up there a couple times to buy stuff. Good guys from what I can see.

http://www.compuquick-amigadirect.com

[melott]

orange wrote:
mostly people complain that accelerators (like a2630) don't work with KS3.1 and need their ROM upgrade.

After re-reading your post ... you are correct  :-D
The A2620 and A2630 cards require the ver. 7 roms to
work with 2.xx and above roms.

[Eclipse]

I'd go for KS3.x as well.
WHDLoad has the ability to soft kick to a 1.3. It's uses a ROM dump so 9/10 times it works.

[Mark]

lymang wrote:

Can anyone point me at a place to get one or plans to build one?

Aminet has at least three sets of plans for kickstart switchers.