Finally got my A3000 upto speed!

[tonyyeb]

Hi all

Anyone who has read my postings for the last week will know that I have been struggelling to get my A3000 running. It came to me with only a keyboard and a mouse. Bog standard. No easy of getting stuff from my PC to it. CrossDOS didn't work (KS is 2.0 not 2.04), no SCSI CD ROM to hand (was watching 20 on ebay at the time!).

So after buying a buddha IDE card from AmigaKit.com (great service, arrived next day!) and installing it with a 2.5" laptop hard drive, I eventually got HDtoolbox to partition it and then formatted it. A few glitches and simple (over eager!) mistakes by me later I was able to mount the newly partitioned drive in UAE using a 2.5" USB hard drive caddy. I could then copy files and ADFs to be written by TSGUI.

I had some great help and advice from fellow forum members, some even posting me disks! So here is the reward... some eyecandy of my naked A3000 running Oh No! More Lemmings! (it was the first one I got working!).





As for future plans:

* Some Kickstart 3.1 ROMs are on their way from the US
* About to order a CF-IDE adaptor for easier data transfer
* Tempted by a Amiga-PC networking kit (£15 from ebay, are these any good?)
* Failing that an X-SURF card
* Might remove the insides and mount in a new tower case to allow the install of CD/DVD Rom and new uprated PSU (are these available to buy or is it s simple mod of an ATX psu?) Keep the old case for when it is time to sell on
* Clean the keyboard and mouse with H202 (get new ones?)

Any other ideas / suggestions?

[alexh]

I dont think you could have KS2.0! Either you have KS1.4 (SuperKickstart that loads kickstart files from the hard drive) which then loads KS2.0 or you have KS2.04!

If you had KS1.4 I could have sent you the 3.1 files ;-)

If you are going to order a IDE->CF adapter, why not consider a back panel one? Makes it relatively clean and easy to install and gives you access to remove, transfer to the PC and copy over files.

If you use the CF card as a way to transfer files to the Amiga you wont need a network card or transfer kit. You'll be able to transfer files 10x faster than either too!

The A3000 case is a very nice case, I would not be in a hurry to get rid of it for some s#!t quality PC tower case which doesn't quite fit the Zorro slots with the back panel!

If you want an optical drive, why not use an external SCSI enclosure and a SCSI drive (ignore the photo in this advert it is not a 303S DVD drive) and connect to the A3000 external SCSI connector? Remember when you get the Amiga (25 pin D-type) to SCSI-1 (50-pin Centronics) cable it needs to be wired MAC style

But trust me you won't need an optical drive if you get a CF card or a network card. I've not used my Amiga optical drive in years and years!

Unless they are broken... just clean your keyboard and mouse. If you take the keyboard to bits and wash them you'll be amazed how well they come up.

[tonyyeb]

alexh wrote:
I dont think you could have KS2.0! Either you have KS1.4 (SuperKickstart that loads kickstart files from the hard drive) which then loads KS2.0 or you have KS2.04!

If you had KS1.4 I could have sent you the 3.1 files ;-)

You are right. It is 1.4 but upon booting (without double mouse button hold) it goes into 2.0 - thats why I said that. You can still send me the 3.1 files if you want while I wait for the ROMs to arrive.

If you are going to order a IDE->CF adapter, why not consider a back panel one? Makes it relatively clean and easy to install and gives you access to remove, transfer to the PC and copy over files.

If you use the CF card as a way to transfer files to the Amiga you wont need a network card or transfer kit. You'll be able to transfer files 10x faster than either too!

I was thinking of a back panel one. And true it would do away with the need for the networking.

If you want an optical drive, why not... SNIP ...I've not used my Amiga optical drive in years and years!

You are right again. Waste of time/money if get the CF-IDE.

Unless they are broken... just clean your keyboard and mouse. If you take the keyboard to bits and wash them you'll be amazed how well they come up.

I'll give that a go.

I forgot to say in my original post that I have also got a replacement battery. The other one looks ok but as it will be getting on a bit i thought it best to replace it. Im guessing this is just a desolder old one and solder new one on? There was a disk for backing up settings that came with it to run first.

[alexh]

tonyyeb wrote:
You are right. It is 1.4 but upon booting (without double mouse button hold) it goes into 2.0

?? You should not need to hold down both mouse buttons. I notice you have a floppy disk inserted in the photographs... do you need that to boot? You wont soon

If you hold down both mouse buttons after you switch on the A3000 you will be prompted to choose the operating system version to use. You can either bootstrap Kickstart 2.x and Kickstart 1.3 from hard disk or from floppy disk. BUTIf you don't hold down any mouse buttons the boot ROMs will bootstrap the Kickstart from hard disk, using the partition with the highest boot priority. Normally, this is the Kickstart 2.x boot partition.

tonyyeb wrote:
You can still send me the 3.1 files if you want while I wait for the ROMs to arrive.

Sure, see PM (in 5 mins). Do you know what to do with it?

The hard disk partitions must be named "WB_2.x" and "WB_1.3" (note: these are devices names like "DF0", *not* volume names) and the Kickstart files must be in "WB_2.x:devs/kickstart" and "WB_1.3:devs/kickstart". The partitions must be formatted either in standard filing system or fast filing system format.

You copy the file I'll send to Devs: (so you have a file called Devs:kickstart).

You'll probably have to rename your hard drive partition (not it's icon name) using HDToolbox to WB_2.x to get it to work.

You do not need a WB_1.3 partition if you do not want to.

Obviously the 3.1 Superkickstart file goes in the WB_2.x partition :-)

[tonyyeb]

alexh wrote:

?? You should not need to hold down both mouse buttons.

If you hold down both mouse buttons after you switch on the A3000 you will be prompted to choose the operating system version to use. You can either bootstrap Kickstart 2.x and Kickstart 1.3 from hard disk or from floppy disk. If you don't hold down any mouse buttons the boot ROMs will bootstrap the Kickstart from hard disk, using the partition with the highest boot priority. Normally, this is the Kickstart 2.x boot partition.

Yes that is what I meant. Maybe i didn't word it correctly. Basically if you dont do anything it boots to 2.x.

Sure, see PM (in 5 mins). Do you know what to do with it?

Cheers and no i don't!

The hard disk partitions must be named "WB_2.x" and "WB_1.3" ...SNIP

They are named correctly. So simply replace devs/kickstart with the one you have and away I go. Boot to 3.1?

[alexh]

tonyyeb wrote:
So simply replace devs/kickstart with the one you have and away I go. Boot to 3.1?

Yup. You'll need to upgrade Workbench etc. to 3.1 to get any real benefit but yeah.

As you probably know using a SuperKickstart eats 512Kbytes of RAM which you'll get back once your real ROM's arrive.

[alexh]

I'm sure I dont need to tell you this, but back up your old devs/kickstart just in case.

[alexh]

Have you considered a gfx card? While a little extravagant, especially if all you use your Amiga for is WHDload, they bring the Amiga desktop alive. And unlike an accelerator they are relatively cheap. Picasso II+ would be good? Cybervision 64/3D?

In order to fit an accelerator (with SCSI) in your A3000 you will have to check to see if the INT2 modification has been done to your A3000 motherboard. You might want to do this before you start screwing things back together, perhaps at the same time you are soldering in the battery as it requires the motherboard to be removed from the case. It's not particularly difficult, but you'll need a good quality soldering iron (not a maplins £9.99 one) and some practice on something that can be thrown away (An Atari ST or something!)

It would also be good to consider checking what Buster you have before getting any cards / accelerator and perhaps investing in a rev 11?

[amigadave]

alexh wrote:
..... If you are going to order a IDE->CF adapter, why not consider a back panel one? Makes it relatively clean and easy to install and gives you access to remove, transfer to the PC and copy over files.

Cool device location for big box Amigas, thanks for that link.

Auction specs say it cannot be "hot swapped", but by using the tray icon for "remove hardware safely", I have hot swapped CF cards in 7 port Card Reader of my Dell WinXP Pro tower.  Do you know if a CF card can be hot swapped from this or any similar device installed in an Amiga?

I am thinking of getting one of the back panel IDE->CF adapters for my A4000D in a PowerTower as everything is now connected to the CSPPC SCSI chain and it would be nice if it could be taken in and out of the Amiga and PC without having to cold boot either of them.

Another thing I have been thinking of is to add a second optical drive, a CDRW, that is IDE-Atapi and connect it to the A4000D's mobo IDE controller through a 4way buffered IDE interface from Schoenfeld/AmigaKit along with one of these back panel IDE->CF adapters.

Has anyone installed one of those 4way buffered IDE interfaces to an A4000's IDE controller?  I have only read about them being used in A1200's, or A600's.  Will this 4way buffered IDE interface be much faster than the slow mobo IDE controller on the A4000?

(apology for the thread jack)

Edit: The Dell PC Card Reader is USB which explains why it can be hot swapped, so I guess I have answered part of my question myself.

[cv643d]

Just an advice from a fellow Amigan, dont forget to open your windows when soldering, the fumes can make you dizzy.

[doctorq]

Have you considered a gfx card? While a little extravagant, especially if all you use your Amiga for is WHDload, they bring the Amiga desktop alive. And unlike an accelerator they are relatively cheap. Picasso II+ would be good? Cybervision 64/3D?

The Picasso II would be alright, but getting a CV64/3D would be a waste, when he can get a CV64 with a build in monitor switcher instead. The CV64 is the ideal card for an A3000.

Will this 4way buffered IDE interface be much faster than the slow mobo IDE controller on the A4000?

It will be just as slow as the onboard IDE controller.

[alexh]

amigadave wrote:
Edit: The Dell PC Card Reader is USB which explains why it can be hot swapped, so I guess I have answered part of my question myself.

Yup. PATA-IDE is never(?) hot-swap, not even in a PC.

amigadave wrote:
Will this 4way buffered IDE interface be much faster than the slow mobo IDE controller on the A4000?

It connects to the slow mobo IDE controller and so it will be the same speed. The only interface which can accelerate the internal IDE is an "IDE-Fix Express" which does not work in the A4000.

If you want fast IDE on Amiga you have to get either a FastATA from Elbox or a Deneb and USB->IDE adapter.

[alexh]

doctorq wrote:
getting a CV64/3D would be a waste, when he can get a CV64 with a build in monitor switcher instead. The CV64 is the ideal card for an A3000.

I disagree, the price difference means that if you have a dual input monitor then consider get a CV64/3D

[doctorq]

I disagree, the price difference means that if you have a dual input monitor then consider get a CV64/3D

And I disagree with you on this one, but if you are fine with fiddling around switching back and forth, when it could be done automatically, then fine with me.

[tonyyeb]

I have dual input on my monitor (HDMI to my PC and VGA to my A3000). Whats the difference between the two cards in relation to the monitor?

Whats the cost of the two cards?