whats the Deneb USB card like in day to day use?

[darksun9210]

I've just managed to get myself an A4000/030 in very nice condition, and need an ethernet hookup for it.

i was looking at the price of an X-surf, but for the money, i could get a Deneb USB card and have more options open to me.

how do people find it in day to day use? particularly for networking with USB2lan adapters, and anyone use it with usb audio cards?
i only have a base A4000/030, with 16Mb ram, 3.1roms, and rev11 socketed buster. (40Gb drive, CDRW drive, 33Mhz FPU)
the only other zorro stuff in there is a lone kickflash, so hopefully no DMA issues...

just wondering if this is the way to go? anyone shine a light?  :-)

[Marcb]

I'd say go for the Deneb, I use mine in a 3000D and I think it's the best purchase I've made for it...

I'm using it to boot off a thumbdrive and to connect to my network/internet  via a usb to ethernet adapter. Very happy with it...

[mboehmer_e3b]

i only have a base A4000/030, with 16Mb ram, 3.1roms, and rev11 socketed buster. (40Gb drive, CDRW drive, 33Mhz FPU)
the only other zorro stuff in there is a lone kickflash, so hopefully no DMA issues...

Well, as designer of that card I will answer only the technical part here. With this configuration (I guess it is an A4000D with no internal SCSI on motherboard, only IDE) you will no have any DMA issues.
Which CPU card is inside? The original ec030 one, or a Blizzard 4030?

For the "day to day" usability of the DENEB I hope some of the users will be able to answer your questions - my opinion is certainly biased, so to say :-)

Michael

[darksun9210]

yup, its the basic A4000 desktop with the Commodore 25Mhz EC030 CPU card, but with an added 33Mhz fpu. :-) no scsi or zorro scsi. if i get a warpengine/cyberstorm2/3 will it be a problem then?

the only reason i'm asking really, is that i have a subway/usb2lan combo on my A500 with a 40Mhz 030, and as soon as the TCP/IP stack has activated the lan adapter, it slaughters the CPU. but i think thats a quirk of the subway/A500 clockport combo :-)

i just hope it doesn't go out of stock before i finish saving for it!  :lol:

[Beast96GT]

@Michael

Since it uses USB, will the Deneb read USB drives in other file systems, say an NTFS drive I use with the PC?  

I think that would be a great way to store data and transfer it back and forth without having to use some kind of serial port or fill up my 40 meg Amiga HD!

[mboehmer_e3b]

Since it uses USB, will the Deneb read USB drives in other file systems, say an NTFS drive I use with the PC?  

Partially true.
NTFS support is read only, normal FAT file systems are supported read/write.

Check the README files here:

http://aminet.net/disk/misc/ntfs_0.6.readme

http://us2.aminet.net/disk/misc/fat95.readme

Otherwise it is very easy to transfer files now from PCs to the Amiga - an 8GB USB stick costs about 14EUR nowadays, and using FAT32 file system (you may need to format your stick on the PC side once to get FAT32 instead of NTFS) makes transfers in both ways possible.

Michael

[mboehmer_e3b]

yup, its the basic A4000 desktop with the Commodore 25Mhz EC030 CPU card, but with an added 33Mhz fpu. :-) no scsi or zorro scsi. if i get a warpengine/cyberstorm2/3 will it be a problem then?

CPU card based SCSI controllers are not a problem for Zorro III DMA at all. Only Zorro III DMA cards (A4091, Fastlane Z3) and the A(3/4)000(T) motherboard SCSI controller are known trouble makers.

but i think thats a quirk of the subway/A500 clockport combo :-)

Definitely clockport related. Clockport is 8bit SLOW PIO transfer, DENEB is 32bit FAST DMA on Zorro III.

i just hope it doesn't go out of stock before i finish saving for it!  :lol:

Keep saving :-)
Just let me note that I can't image that there will be a shortage around Xmas on DENEB cards. So to say.

Michael

[darksun9210]

what about other Z3 cards like graphics cards?

i think i'm pretty convinced to get one :-D

[Darrin]

I've been using a Deneb in my A4000D 040/25 with 24MB RAM for several months now and it is great.

I use a dirt cheap USB-Ethernet device with Genesis to connect to the internet with no problems.  I've also used a variety of USB sticks, USB floppy drive, IDE/SATA drive interface to connect 2.5" & 3.5" drives, a USB SD card reader/writer and an external USB DVD+RW.

With regards to graphics cards, I also use a Cybervision 64/3D to get a colourful 24bit 1024x786 display to surf the net.

I my opinion, it's worth every penny especially as I can't fit another thing inside my A4000 case so external expansions are the way to go.

[mboehmer_e3b]

what about other Z3 cards like graphics cards?

I have several Picasso IV here in operation, besides a CV64, and I would definitely recommend the Picasso IV (also due to its integrated Scandoubler, which is very handy).

The CV64/3D is also nice, but has a buggy Zorro III interface with some bad timing problems - which *can* lead to trouble with Zorro III DMA cards.
I had to fix this bug in the DENEB firmware some weeks ago, so it is not a critical issue (as there are almost no Zorro III DMA cards besides DENEB, A4091 and Fastlane Z3; and at least the first is being supported with firmware upgrades :-) ).

Michael

[Crumb]

A Deneb is the best Zorro card you can buy (together with a gfx card). With a gfx card and a Deneb you'll have access to everything you want: ethernet, pendrives, external usb devices like HDs or CDs... it works great!