GVP G-Force 030, firmware question.

[barney]

Hello, I have a GVP G-Force 030 accelerator for my Amiga 2000.  I am not sure what version firmware it has since the ROM doesn't have a sticker on it.  

My question is, is there a way within the Amiga OS, to see what firmware version I am running.  I tried using Sysinfo, but I didn't find any firmware versions.

Thanks.

barney

[Matt_H]

GVP accelerators don't have upgradeable firmware. You might be thinking of the SCSI driver, though. Type

Code: [Select]

version gvpscsi.device in a shell.

[barney]

There is only one problem.  I have two GVP SCSI cards in my Amiga 2000.  The first one is a GVP G-Force 030 accelerator/scsi which I use with my SCSI HD and CDROM.  The other GVP card is the 2000 HC+8, which I use strictly as a Ram expansion (nothing connected to the SCSI connector).

When I type "Version gvpscsi.device", how do I know which device it is describing?  My GVP 2000 HC+8 does in fact have the version 4.15 ROM Version but the G-Force 030 I have no idea.

Thanks.

Barney

[Matt_H]

Interesting question. Some devices prefix a "2nd." or "3rd." if multiple cards are detected (resulting in 2nd.scsi.device), but I think GVP just adds unit numbers (so the first device on the second card will be unit 100 instead of 0). I don't remember exactly how it works.

Fortunately, the version command has a UNIT keyword that might help. (type "version ?" to get the command template).

If you can't get the shell to cooperate, just boot up without the SCSI/RAM card and run "version gvpscsi.device" again.

[barney]

I ran that command in shell and it worked fine.  I just think that it was referring to my GVP 2000 HC+8, which I already know has the most recent ROM (4.15).  I am trying to see what version my GVP/sCSI accelerator has.  

I do have another idea.  Maybe the startup disk for the GVP/SCSI card will have an app that will give me this information.

Thanks.

Barney

[Matt_H]

If you want to be 100% certain, just pull out the RAM card and run the command again.

BUT, I think GVP cards can use the SCSI ROM from a different GVP board if the jumpers are set correctly. If that's the case, the SCSI version of your accelerator won't even matter.

[Tahoe]

Just swap the ROM's around, and jumper the HC8+ to NON autoboot. You can even leave the ROM off completely as it is only used for SCSI, not RAM.

[barney]

My current configuration now is I am runnining my hard drive and CDrom from my GVP G-force scsi/accelerator card.  My 2000 2000 HC+8 is only used as a RAM card and I have the autoboot jumper disabled.  So are you saying that I can remove the ROM from the 2000 HC+8 and put it in my GVP accelerator/SCSI card?  Thanks.

Barney

[Matt_H]

If autoboot is already disabled on the HC+ and you don't have anything in SYS:Expansion, then I *think* the version command you've been running has already been reporting back the status of the SCSI ROM on the accelerator. You may not need to change anything.

Like I said before, if you want to be absolutely certain as to the SCSI version of the accelerator, just pull out the RAM card.

[rkauer]

Exactly.

 But if you want to speed up things, do the other way: disable the SCSI from the accelerator and use the HC+8 SCSI because it is faster!

[Tahoe]

...and I have the autoboot jumper disabled.  So are you saying that I can remove the ROM from the 2000 HC+8 and put it in my GVP accelerator/SCSI card?  Thanks.

If you have the Autoboot jumper set to off you basically switch off the boot-rom alltogether. I must agree with Matt_H in that the version command is now reporting your gvpscsi.device version from your G-Force combo.

You can indeed remove the rom from the HC8+ if you want; you're not using it.

[barney]

Rkauer, is the 2000 HC+8 really faster than the GVP SCSI/ACCelerator?  I get approx 2000 - 2200 kb/s with my GVP accelerator but I need to check and see what I get on my 2000 HC+8.  

Isn't it also true that the memory on my accelerator is much faster than my 2000 HC+8 memory?  Would I be better off just removing it and use only my accelerator?

Thanks.

Barney