Kickflash - 3.1 ROMS

[jiffydos]

Hi All,

Anyone here have a kick flash doing either or both of the following:

1.) Booting into 3.1 ROMS with 2.04 ROMS installed on the board.

2.) Using a subway USB or other clockport device.  I want to get a kickflash for rom switching and attach a subway to it for USB keyboard, mouse, etc.

Thanks!

[keropi]

I have a usb on the kickflash clockport, no probs...
but I don't think u can use 3.1 roms with it...

[Galaxyc]

Well on Amiga 1200 with blizzard 030 and 3.0 Roms , i got with blizkick the 3.1 roms loaded into ram and managed to install wb 3.9   :-D  :-D  ... This blizkick programs rocks ...

[Argus]

By 2.04 roms I take it you have an A600, A500, A2000 or A3000.  Use SKick and you can boot fine into 3.1 (even seems to allow you to use games that normally break on 3.1 roms, like DungeonMasterHD).  You need to copy the 3.1 ROM image and install it in Devs:kickstarts/ along with the .rtb and .pat files used by SKick.  There are instructions with SKick that instruct you to use a program supplied with MKick to make the .rtb and .pat files from your 3.1 ROM image (I forget the exact name).  Then just place SKick in s: and type in s:startup-sequence before the command c:Setpatch the following line c:SKick devs:kickstarts/kick40063 nopatch quiet.  I found using the .pat file causes a guru on my A2000, thus the nopatch command.

[alexh]

@jiffydos

I think KickFlash can store KS3.1 (or even KS3.1 + OS3.9 ROM patches if you have a 68020 cpu or greater) and it DOES work if you have KS2.04 ROMS. It was designed to host KS for OS4.0 hence it's name.

KickFlash DOES have a clock port and so can be used in conjunction with a USB Subway adapter. However again you need a 68020 or greater CPU to run the USB stack.

If you have an A2000 or A3000 (and I think you have) I personally think there are MUCH better things to spend your money on than either Kickflash or Subway but that's just me

If you have an A3000 make sure that you dont REALLY have KS1.4 and not 2.04

[keropi]

really? you can store and use 3.1 rom in kickflash??? I think it is disabled, and u can only store the os3.9 romupdates... but I never tried to do it, my 1200 has 3.1 roms installed... the koyoteflash document leads me to believe that in the current kickflash firmware you cannot use a 3.0/3.1 rom...

[alexh]

Are you sure?

From the Kickflash OS4 Zorro manual:

This firmware currently only allows installing the OS3.5 or OS3.9 Rom Updates, but not the installation of Kickstart-roms. This feature will be available starting with Firmware1.1 or higher.

Has this firmware never been created?

[Doobrey]

Are you looking at old docs? cos AFAIK the latest firmware is 1.6

and from the manual

* (Other) Add ROM

Allows the user to add a KickStart ROM or AmigaOS ROM Updates. They are
always added to the mirror file (not to flash) and can be saved using the
Flash Save button. It will automatically tell if the firmware supports
KickStart remapping or not and will ignore the file on bootup if remapping
is not supported. The only way to remove the KickStart file is to click on
the 'ROMK Kickstart ROM' line of the programs file browser. To use the
Retro Kickstart remapping feature of firmware 1.6 or higher, simply
add the 34.005 Kickstart file to the ROMK slot or if you would like to use
the 512KB Kickstart remapping as well, join the files.

I couldn't find any mention of what CPU cards are supported, I guess it's probably the same set as Blizkick

Edit.. found this snippet in firmware.txt

* Kickstart remapping for Cyberstorm MK1, MK2, MK3, PPC, Commodore A3640
  and BlizzardPPC boards.

[keropi]

does "Retro Kickstart remapping feature" actually leads you to believe you can install and use a 3.1 rom? since when 3.1 is retro? If you read carefully it needs BOTH 3.1 + 1.x/2.x to operate in ONLY 1.x/2.x mode... and if you could use whatever firmware you wanted, wouldn't that be advertised as well??? Wouldn't the kickflash description read something like: "Use any version firmware you want" or something similar?

but I *never* tried to flash just a 3.1 rom, there is no point on my machine... I only say what I understand by reading the docs...

[Doobrey]

keropi wrote:
If you read carefully it needs BOTH 3.1 + 1.x/2.x to operate in ONLY 1.x/2.x mode...

Hmm, the way I understood it was that it uses Relokick's datafiles to softkick a 1.3 ROM (no CPU card dependancies), or you could join a 1.3 ROM to a 3.1 ROM and you had the choice to boot into either 1.3 or 3.1

[adolescent]

keropi wrote:
does "Retro Kickstart remapping feature" actually leads you to believe you can install and use a 3.1 rom? since when 3.1 is retro?

The retro remapping is for booting into Kickstart 1.3.

[jiffydos]

wowa...  hehe.  

Well...  the main reason that asked this question is in an effort to get USB on my GVP 040 Combo A2000.  I looked at all the different things I need and figured this might be a good way to go.  The other option I was looking to do was an X-surf with a subway.

Any other ideas out there?

[keropi]

yeah, I wish too I could flash whatever rom I wanted... it can be done for sure, but I think that it is disabled in koyoteflash to discourage piracy or whatever...
ofcourse you can use the kickflash as a clockport adapter, we even have the original clockport schematics in the a.org images...  :-D
better get a 3.1rom too, then install os3.9 and don't a single reboot to start 3.9 (except the power-on, lol) plus you can have the usb stack available at boot time...

[jiffydos]

See... that would be realloy nice too... to boot 3.1 roms on the kickflash, then the usb stack so I can do the old "Hold down the two mouse buttons" thing with my usb mouse b4 it even boots.

in the meantime, I want to use a kickstart utility to put a 3.1 image into fast ram as I understand this makes the GVP 040 Combo run MUCH faster.  

I am running 2.04 ROMS in my system.  I have a 3.1 ROM image from my other A2000.  What program can I use to reboot into the 3.1 ROM image?  And, where do I get it?  And, is there a way to use that same process to start the USB stack b4 boot too seeing as I do have a Budha Flash IDE I could attach my subway to.

[Matt_H]

You could just buy a 3.1 ROM. It'll save you a lot of headaches, and you'd be supporting a dealer.

Poseidon can be made reset resident so that it's available after the first boot (meaning once the machine has booted, you can reboot again and access Early Startup with a USB mouse). A Flash solution is the only way to have it available from a cold start.