Many question re:RAM,etc. for A2000

[recidivist]

 OK, I just got a nice  A2000 from someone who wanted it to go to an enthusiast rather than the city "recycling" program.

 It has GVP combo 030/50 rev 3  w 16 meg ram.(also Firecracker 24,Picasso II, DPS PAR,Emplant.
 I took the cards out to inspect since the system config didn't tell me enough.

  I have 2 meg video plus 16 meg  memory.
  I think I see a megachip  unit under the drive cage.

  Then where is the Picasso memory? I know its physically on the Picasso card but why dioesn't it show up?
  Village Tronic no longer has support for Amiga----
there were no manuals or disks provided with this computer.He said it was a "closet cleaning"

  IS DPS PAR manual /software available?

 Most software appears to still be on the hard drives,I just don't know how to USE these boards.
I DID re-arrange the boards so the DPS card that needed only an ISA  was no longer covering up a full ZORRO slot.

Now have one ISA and one full ZORRO/video/ISA slot available.

There are a total of 2 23pin video, 1- MAC video(15 pin), and 2-vga (15pin) connectors.Will I need 5 monitors hooked up to see just what all is going on?
 
 Can I upgrade memory  past the 16megs of the GVP combo board?

 Anyone know how to use the Appletalk (serial) ports of the Emplant card to network the Amiga  while using Amiga OS.
 Other networking suggestions?

 The A2000 has version 40.something ROM;was told they are 3.1.
  I have Amiga OS 3.5 CD boxed edition  coming in the mail.

 Any issues with GVP and 3.5?

  Consensus of best card to get it on internet?

 My DSL  box has  usb and ethernet ports.I have only used ethernet so far with Mac OS9/10,Ubuntu,and Windows ME and XP(took the Vista laptop back;no real improvement over XP for my needs!)

  Thanks.

[cv643d]

Yes I think you need 5 monitors. Amiga was way before PC's.

[save2600]

Wow, nice little video editing setup you have there. Sysinfo (Aminet) will tell you that you have 2mb memory on that Picasso - even if you only have 1mb. The way to truly tell is by physically looking at the ram chips on the board. If there are 8, you've got 1mb, 16 dram chips would be 2mb.

The bottom VGA port on the Picasso card is an Amiga video passthrough. You do not use this, unless you have a VGA monitor that can sync down to 15khz. Good luck with that one.

16mb is the max for that combo card and just fine for most Amiga apps.

DPS/PAR as well as many other hardware manuals & software here:
http://amiga.resource.cx

Deneb is a cool card you may want to look into. Can get on the net with it via USB ethernet as well as all the various USB devices. X-Surf is another (and cheaper) option. It has IDE ports and A1200 clock ports on it as well.

Should not have any problems with OS3.5 and your GVP card. If you get an 040 or 060 card someday, you'll quickly learn what a 68040/68060.library is though  ;-)
 
LMK if you ever want to sell that Emplant card...

[motrucker]

All of your RAM may not show up, or even be available! Remember the Zorro RAM limit(9Mb) for the A500 & A2000. This Zorro limit includes graphics cards as long they are Zorro cards. The only way around this limit is usually with an accelerator, and/or some very fancy remapping (NOT for the novice or faint of heart).

[save2600]

Yes and he said he's got a GVP 030 card, which has 32-bit ram - above the native 68k limit. Ram he's not seeing correctly would be his video ram. Not to be confused with Chip Ram either...

[recidivist]

  Thanks,
found the PAR manual,no manual links for Firecracker,Picasso II
  found emplant manual earlier elsewhere.
  Guess I will need to go through my Amiga mag collection looking for reviews and tips on using these boards.
  No Toaster manual either.
   I really do better if  there is a written reference.

  BTW, it wasn't free but was much less than auction sites!

  I actually have another 2000 with 060 and not much else;should I swap processors ? Paid BIG money for 060 then haven't used it !

  Most likely use is  making  little videos to "broadcast" on my amateur radio uhf atv  setup.Analog NTSC.

  I forgot about the zorro ram limit.

[marcfrick2112]

@recidivist:

I actually have another 2000 with 060 and not much else;should I swap processors ? Paid BIG money for 060 then haven't used it !

Assuming you have the proper RAM for the '060, then by all means, swap it into your current A2000. The PAR card (or any other graphics/video intesive app.) will benefit from the '060.
Only idea for the Toaster manual would be EPay, sadly....

My 4000T w/ Cyberstorm '060 mk-3 worked awesome with my PAR card, until the PSU died......

[hardlink]

recidivist wrote:
found the PAR manual,no manual links for Firecracker,

The Firecracker is mainly a 24 bit NTSC framebuffer card, no RTG like the Picasso. It really doesn't do much, however, it will genlock. There was a 24 bit paint program that came with it, which you don't need since you have the Picasso.