Minimig Review completed!

[amazing]

if u use this list then u know what kickstart u need

http://www.opencircuits.com/Minimig_Software_compatibility

[TheDaddy]

What I don't understand is this:

Isn't the minimig supposed to work just with KS1.3?

Has anyone tried the failing games with KS2.04 or 3.0?

[Piru]

MiniMig works with A500/A2000 KS ROMs, 1.x, 2.0 and 3.1 at least.

The file must be 524288 bytes (so KS 1.x must include the 256KB ROM twice).

As far as I know you must use the vanilla KS ROM Image, not any Amiga Forever encrypted one (the encrypted have size 262155 and 524299).

[TheDaddy]

>>The file must be 524288 bytes (so KS 1.x must include the 256KB ROM twice).

>>As far as I know you must use the vanilla KS ROM Image, not any Amiga Forever encrypted one (the encrypted have size 262155 and 524299).

I thought this was one of the requirements:

from vesalia website:

http://www.vesalia.de

So people who get a minimig will get Amiga Forever too...I am getting confused!
 :-?

[Piru]

Let me try to explain again.

The files on the Amiga Forever are encrypted. WinUAE decrypts them at loadtime, and when the emulation is running the KS ROM are available in memory.

You must use some program to grab the KS ROM from within the emulation, with for example SaveROM program in BlizKick archive.

For 256KB KS ROMs you need to merge the file with itself so that you get 512KB file (for example "join kick13.rom kick13.rom to kick13_512k.rom").

[TheDaddy]

So basically you are saying that the kickstart roms from Amiga Forever cd don't work?

I am sure that I have used the Kickstart 1.3 ROM from the Amiga Forever CD when testing the games on my list.

What I would like to know is if anyone has tested the reported failing games with other versions like 2.04 or 3.0.

Do you think it's a good idea if I run Amikit and grab the roms from within emulation (1.3, 2.04 and 3.0) and then test those games again?

The 2.04 and 3.0 roms I have used (AF CD) didn't work on the minimig (red screen) I could give it a go but this means re-installing Amikit... :-)

[freqmax]

Minimig requires the KICK.ROM to be exactly 512kB (524288). In the case of a 256kB rom you can simple pad the rest so that it becomes 512kB. It doesn't matter.

As for using different kickstart, it's a simple matter of reprogramming the OSD menu. Then we can have KICK13.ROM, KICK20.ROM etc..

[Piru]

@TheDaddy

So basically you are saying that the kickstart roms from Amiga Forever cd don't work?

They do not. As I've stated many times already, they're encrypted, and MiniMig requires vanilla unencrypted images.

[Piru]

@freqmax

In the case of a 256kB rom you can simple pad the rest so that it becomes 512kB. It doesn't matter.

Oh, interesting. Typically most implementations that require 512KB ROM will place the whole 512KB at address 0xf80000, in which case with 256KB ROMs the 2nd 256KB will actually be used as the ROM (0xfc0000).

If it manually handles the mirroring then it IMO could have directly supported 256KB files, too.

[bloodline]

A little off topic, but I can't believe how small 256k seems now...

Only yesterday I was grumbling to myself how useless my 2Gig USBdrive is for anything but the smallest project! :-D

[TheDaddy]

How do you explain my minimig working with the rom from amiga forever cd?

Also is the rom.key (3kb) needed by the minimig? :-)

[TheDaddy]

Sorry double post ARGH! :-(

[alenppc]

bloodline wrote:
A little off topic, but I can't believe how small 256k seems now...

Well, in this case it's not that small as you have only 2 MB of RAM on the Minimig...

So are the compatibility issues maily due to the 68sec000 or the chipset implementation? Would it actually help to add a "standard" 68000 maybe connected through a voltage regulator?

[Piru]

Missing sprites and such glitches are due to chipset implementation and should be possible to fix easily.

68ec000/68sec000 only causes trouble with games/demos/apps that use "move from sr" in user mode, or call GetCC() [as long as GetCC is not patched].

I'd estimate most trouble are from the chipset emulation issues, rather than "move from sr".

[Piru]

@TheDaddy

How do you explain my minimig working with the rom from amiga forever cd?

Well, I checked with AF6. At least that CD only has encrypted KS 1.3 ROM.

What is the location and size of the file on the CD? And which AF version is it?

[TheDaddy]

>>Well, I checked with AF6. At least that CD only has encrypted KS 1.3 ROM.

I can't find my AF6 cd (I think it is) but I have them all saved on an Amiga hard disk and two of them are 524,288 (one 3.0 the other 1.3).

I am going to rename the 3.0 one to KICK.ROM and see what the minimig makes of it. If it reads it fine I should get the animated floppy is this correct?

But you might be right though it looks like all the other Kickstarts I have are XXX,299 (encrypted) plus one or two 256KB.

I'll let you know what happens to the minimig when it boots with the 3.0 renamed to KICK.ROM.

Also, I forgot to ask, does the minimig need the rom.key file (3KB)?

Thanks  :-)