A1200 as a development platform

[OlafS3]

That would be a huge help, thanks! (only if it's not too much of an hassle, of course!)

perhaps this:
http://aminet.net/package/docs/help/aga_guide

[nicholas]

Comrade J's How to Code has AGA docs.

http://www.mways.co.uk/amiga/howtocode/

[rabindranath72]

Thanks for the info guys!
Is AGA the only relevant piece of hardware different from the rest? I'd say, for example, that PCMCIA hardware is also new w.r.t. the other Amiga models. And what about the DMA, blitter, copper etc.?

[nicholas]

Thanks for the info guys!
Is AGA the only relevant piece of hardware different from the rest? I'd say, for example, that PCMCIA hardware is also new w.r.t. the other Amiga models. And what about the DMA, blitter, copper etc.?

The AGA chipset is mostly backwards compatible to OCS/ECS as it was a minor evolution of the hardware.

[OlafS3]

Thanks for the info guys!
Is AGA the only relevant piece of hardware different from the rest? I'd say, for example, that PCMCIA hardware is also new w.r.t. the other Amiga models. And what about the DMA, blitter, copper etc.?

I found another nice page:
http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/amiga/amiga-commodore/

[rabindranath72]

Yeah I have got those documents, too; but nothing really specific about the A1200
I suppose if Amiga experts like you guys here know nothing about these documents, I suppose they never existed. It reminds me the policy Apple had about its Macintosh machines; the first models up to the Plus were well documented, both from a hardware and software point of view. But if you try to get info on later models...good luck.

[OlafS3]

Yeah I have got those documents, too; but nothing really specific about the A1200
I suppose if Amiga experts like you guys here know nothing about these documents, I suppose they never existed. It reminds me the policy Apple had about its Macintosh machines; the first models up to the Plus were well documented, both from a hardware and software point of view. But if you try to get info on later models...good luck.

and this?
http://amiga-manuals.xiik.net/amiga.php

nice design btw :-)

[OlafS3]

there is schematics with the hardware layout of A1200

[OlafS3]

Yeah I have got those documents, too; but nothing really specific about the A1200
I suppose if Amiga experts like you guys here know nothing about these documents, I suppose they never existed. It reminds me the policy Apple had about its Macintosh machines; the first models up to the Plus were well documented, both from a hardware and software point of view. But if you try to get info on later models...good luck.

and here is another reference:
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/downloads/A1200FuncSpec.txt

[nicholas]

Found this list in my bookmarks.

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=21516

[Fats]

I suppose if Amiga experts like you guys here know nothing about these documents, I suppose they never existed. It reminds me the policy Apple had about its Macintosh machines; the first models up to the Plus were well documented, both from a hardware and software point of view. But if you try to get info on later models...good luck.

I think Commodore introduced this policy as they did not want people to access hardware directly and use only OS provided interfaces (likely same reason for the Mac).

greets,
Staf.

[rabindranath72]

and here is another reference:
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/downloads/A1200FuncSpec.txt

Very useful, thanks!
That's the kind of information I'd need, but it should be somewhat more detailed. I think I am going to contact Vesalia and aks whether they have any specific books or tools.

Thanks,
Antonio

[psxphill]

I think Commodore introduced this policy as they did not want people to access hardware directly and use only OS provided interfaces (likely same reason for the Mac).

I think this may have been part of it. The documentation existed though and games were using AGA functionality.
 
Commodore may just not have had the money to publish the HRM. The OS3.0 documentation came on floppy disks, I can't remember if there was any AGA documentation on them.

[Zetr0]

A1200 as a Development Platform

Pro's

• OCS / ECS and AGA graphic chip sets are available
• Internal IDE (cheap inexpensive mass storage)
• 020@14Mhz provides 1.1MIPS of processing power
• 2MB of RAM

Cons

I cannot see any, arguably you may come across some compiler issues when compiling for lesser 68k machines, however if you have your environment setup correctly I can not see that being a problem.

I would suggest the purchase of an 030 or higher CPU to assist in compile times - alternatively there is cross - compiling, but that defeats the purpose of this thread.


In regards to resources, get yourself a hard copy of the latest ROM Kernal Reference Libraries and a good quality compiler / IDE suite - perhaps Storm C4.0 or similar would suit you well for your endeavours.

[nicholas]

I've just remembered that Asm-one has AGA hardware docs in Amigaguide format bundled with it.

Send me a PM with your email address if you want it.  I'd post links here but the self-appointed copyright police are very active on this forum.

[rabindranath72]

Nicholas,
thanks for the files, got them

Indeed I was interested in an Amiga 1200 due to the pros listed above; in particular having a small footprint (I don't have much space) is important, and the fact that it can be easily connected to monitors and TVs (I have a Samsung TV/monitor so I should be able to run all resolutions.)
I will try to acquire a 68030 accelerator, since I need an MMU and FPU for my projects. Apparently no card with 68882 FPU+separate 68851 MMU was ever produced; that would have been enough, and perhaps cheaper than the 68030 boards.