Questions on A2000 rig.

[Beast96GT]

Hi,

I just picked up an A2000 setup this weekend.  I didn't find the direct answers for these questions in the search, so I thought I'd ask outright.

1.  Battery question:
Can I run this A2000 with the battery removed? (not replaced yet)  The battery was leaky, so I removed it and cleaned the area with isopropyl alcohol.  I haven't gotten in the replacement coin battery yet, but I want to test the other cards that came with it.

2.  GVP EGS Spectrum 28/24 question:
Will the VGA output on this card allow me to use a modern LCD with the A2000, or do I need some kind of multisync monitor?  It says it has a "built-in" pass-through for the Amiga-video, but what does that mean?

3.  GVP G-Force 040 question:
Will this card allow me to select the 68040 or the 68000 processor on bootup like my A2630?    I want to make sure I can keep my old games compatible.  

Thanks for your help guys!!

Chris

[spaceman88]

Hi,

I just picked up an A2000 setup this weekend.  I didn't find the direct answers for these questions in the search, so I thought I'd ask outright.

1.  Battery question:
Can I run this A2000 with the battery removed? (not replaced yet)  The battery was leaky, so I removed it and cleaned the area with isopropyl alcohol.  I haven't gotten in the replacement coin battery yet, but I want to test the other cards that came with it.

2.  GVP EGS Spectrum 28/24 question:
Will the VGA output on this card allow me to use a modern LCD with the A2000, or do I need some kind of multisync monitor?  It says it has a "built-in" pass-through for the Amiga-video, but what does that mean?

3.  GVP G-Force 040 question:
Will this card allow me to select the 68040 or the 68000 processor on bootup like my A2630?    I want to make sure I can keep my old games compatible.  

Thanks for your help guys!!

Chris

1. Yes, only used to store time/date

2. & 3. not sure, someone else will chime in.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

1 - Yes, you can run it without a battery
 
2 - I believe this card does passthrough with monitor switching, it's not a scandoubler. In other words, if you install software such as Picasso96 or CyberGraphX you'll be able to take advantage of this cards capabilities for higher screen modes with supported software (most anything operating system friendly can be mode-promoted). Native Amiga screenmodes will pass through, but not be scan-doubled, so they'll still be 15KHz. For scan doubling native output that you would want to get something like the Indivision ECS and hook it's output into the passthrough input connector, which would allow you to use one monitor.
 
Obviously disregard all the above if this card actually does scan doubling, not just passthrough.
 
3 - I own this same accelerator and have never had any problems with games - I use WHDLoad. it can be disabled via the GVPCpuCtrl program.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

You might want to check these links for more info on your two cards.  FYI I've got a PDF of the GeForce manual, if you'd like me to email you a copy.  It's SCSI is a bit slow, but otherwise it's a nice accelerator.  

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/egs28
http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=451

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/gforce2040
http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=179

[Bobo68]

FYI I've got a PDF of the GeForce manual, if you'd like me to email you a copy.  It's SCSI is a bit slow, but otherwise it's a nice accelerator.  

it is slow compare to CS Mk III

for A2000 it is fast enough

[Beast96GT]

1 - Yes, you can run it without a battery
 
2 - I believe this card does passthrough with monitor switching, it's not a scandoubler. In other words, if you install software such as Picasso96 or CyberGraphX you'll be able to take advantage of this cards capabilities for higher screen modes with supported software (most anything operating system friendly can be mode-promoted). Native Amiga screenmodes will pass through, but not be scan-doubled, so they'll still be 15KHz. For scan doubling native output that you would want to get something like the Indivision ECS and hook it's output into the passthrough input connector, which would allow you to use one monitor.
 
Obviously disregard all the above if this card actually does scan doubling, not just passthrough.
 
3 - I own this same accelerator and have never had any problems with games - I use WHDLoad. it can be disabled via the GVPCpuCtrl program.

Thanks for the response.  

I'm pretty sure you're right about the scandoubling.  I guess I'll need to pull my flicker fixer from the other machine to test out the EGS then?   I don't have a 1084s anymore!  

I typically run floppy's off my floppy emulator, not WHDLoad, so I have to have the machine boot with the correct processor on startup.  However, I also have a 2 GIG flash drive mounted as DH0: and have never used WHDLoad.   I always assumed most early games need WB & KS 1.3 and my DH0: has 3.1 installed.   (I use a ROM switcher for those).  I might have to figure it out.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

it is slow compare to CS Mk III
 
for A2000 it is fast enough

Depends on your definition of "fast enough". It maxes out at around 1,700KB/sec. Even an old IDE drive on a Tandem controller is faster, in my system. According to Ralph Babel the SCSI on the GVP GeForce accelerators is slower than on their dedicated hard cards (the HC8+ was rated for up to 3.58MB/sec). I struggled for quite a while to get a HC to work in combination with the GeForce because I wanted that faster speed, before giving up, LOL.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I typically run floppy's off my floppy emulator, not WHDLoad, so I have to have the machine boot with the correct processor on startup. However, I also have a 2 GIG flash drive mounted as DH0: and have never used WHDLoad. I always assumed most early games need WB & KS 1.3 and my DH0: has 3.1 installed. (I use a ROM switcher for those). I might have to figure it out.

Haha, I never understood why people use a floppy emulator when WHDLoad makes it so much easier.  It uses .slave files and softkick ROMs to make the games compatible, you can boot them straight from an icon on Workbench and press a key to quit back to Workbench when you're done.  It's quite a brilliant piece of programming.  Welcome to the 21st century.  

[Beast96GT]

Haha, I never understood why people use a floppy emulator when WHDLoad makes it so much easier.  It uses .slave files and softkick ROMs to make the games compatible, you can boot them straight from an icon on Workbench and press a key to quit back to Workbench when you're done.  It's quite a brilliant piece of programming.  Welcome to the 21st century.  

Do you have to configure every single title?
Can it use ADFs?  

I happen to like the floppy emulator thank you very much.     But I'm always eager to learn a better way.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Do you have to configure every single title?
Can it use ADFs?

Yes and yes.  It depends on the game, really.  There's a ton of sites out there where you can download ready-to-go games that you just extract and click on the icon, as long as you have the WHDLoad executable installed you're ready to go.

There's an overview of how it works here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHDLoad

Also here:

http://whdload.de/

[Beast96GT]

Yes and yes.  It depends on the game, really.  There's a ton of sites out there where you can download ready-to-go games that you just extract and click on the icon, as long as you have the WHDLoad executable installed you're ready to go.

There's an overview of how it works here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHDLoad

Also here:

http://whdload.de/

Fair enough, and thanks for the links.  However, with my floppy emulator, I just select the image and boot.   Sometimes I flip a switch to use Kickstart 1.3 and select the 68000, but that's it.  

The main thing I'd be interested in is if there is a speed up in load times.   Even with the floppy being emulated, it's still slow.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Fair enough, and thanks for the links. However, with my floppy emulator, I just select the image and boot. Sometimes I flip a switch to use Kickstart 1.3 and select the 68000, but that's it.
 
The main thing I'd be interested in is if there is a speed up in load times. Even with the floppy being emulated, it's still slow.

It's loading off the hard drive rather than a hard-drive-emulated floppy, so other than the WHDLoad splash screen poping up for a couple seconds (if you're unregistered) I would assume so?  I dunno, guess I'll never understand you floppy emulator folks.  Who wouldn't want a game neatly installed to their hard drive in a system-friendly manner?  To each their own, I suppose!  :insane:  :swords:

[Beast96GT]

It's loading off the hard drive rather than a hard-drive-emulated floppy, so other than the WHDLoad splash screen poping up for a couple seconds (if you're unregistered) I would assume so?  I dunno, guess I'll never understand you floppy emulator folks.  Who wouldn't want a game neatly installed to their hard drive in a system-friendly manner?  To each their own, I suppose!  :insane:  :swords:

That's why I'm asking questions, smart guy!      Thanks, I'll check it out.