Amiga ACA500 is awesome!

[mindprober]

It is still strange that system info reports 1536k RAM, but if your total memory available under WB1.3 is 2.9MB, then you obviously have 2MB FAST being recognized where it counts.

Another thing you can do is open a Shell in WB 1.3, enter "cd c" then type "avail". That will show us how the ram is configured from the Workbench point of view.

No, in my "System Information" screen it shows:

Chip RAM: 512k
Trap door slow: 512k
ACA500 on-board Fast RAM: 1536k
1M Chip RAM expansion option available

[sm3]

It is still strange that system info reports 1536k RAM, but if your total memory available under WB1.3 is 2.9MB, then you obviously have 2MB FAST being recognized where it counts.

Another thing you can do is open a Shell in WB 1.3, enter "cd c" then type "avail". That will show us how the ram is configured from the Workbench point of view.

 

Code: [Select]

Type     Available     Maximum     Largest
 chip       955384         1047520   955288
fast  1960256       2089208  1526792
 total     2915640      3136728        1526792 I'm running WB 1.3.3 as well. I thought I understood how this thing worked until I started looking more into it after you posted your issue.

[mindprober]

Yeah, your system is seeing the entire 2MB FAST RAM just fine. In this case, I would just ignore what your system configuration is reporting.

Attached is what my "avail" command shows me.

By the way, I've tried both Kickstart 1.3 options from the boot menu. What option did you pick?

Code: [Select]

Type     Available     Maximum     Largest
 chip       955384         1047520   955288
fast  1960256       2089208  1526792
 total     2915640      3136728        1526792 I'm running WB 1.3.3 as well. I thought I understood how this thing worked until I started looking more into it after you posted your issue.

[sm3]

Yeah, your system is seeing the entire 2MB FAST RAM just fine. In this case, I would just ignore what your system configuration is reporting.

Attached is what my "avail" command shows me.

By the way, I've tried both Kickstart 1.3 options from the boot menu. What option did you pick?

 Before I started changing things here, I used the menu option for either 1.3 or 3.1. But now I saved my changes as profile #1 and I use that selection now to boot into my WB 1.3

[mindprober]

The basic difference between my system and yours is you are letting the ACA500 configure your trapdoor RAM as CHIP RAM for you.

I'm almost tempted to undo my 1MB CHIP RAM hack, but since I cannot say how long I would be using the ACA500, that may not be a wise decision.

[sm3]

You could open a ticket on icomp.de and see if they could provide a reason/fix. I didn't know you could do that until recently on a mailing list for Turbo Chameleon 64.

[mindprober]

Thanks for the tip. I thought I read that I should go through the retailer first. I have posted over on EAB. I will see if any help comes from it.

You could open a ticket on icomp.de and see if they could provide a reason/fix. I didn't know you could do that until recently on a mailing list for Turbo Chameleon 64.

[sm3]

Yeah, I think they want you to hit up your re-seller first of course.

I guess one benefit of posting on that other board (EAB) is that Jens actually posts there

[mindprober]

Very true.

Yeah, I think they want you to hit up your re-seller first of course.

I guess one benefit of posting on that other board (EAB) is that Jens actually posts there

[sm3]

And we have learned now that "add other on-board RAM" is the 512k that is reserved for MapROM. If you have MapROM off, it doesn't give you this extra RAM without also turning on "Add other on-board RAM". So in essence, there is 2 M available, however, only 1.5 is available by default without changing other settings too.

[mindprober]

Yes. I am seeing the connection with these settings and the behavior I am seeing matches it. My problem is pointing in the direction of corrupt flash memory. We'll see if it can be corrected once I get my CF cards installed.

And we have learned now that "add other on-board RAM" is the 512k that is reserved for MapROM. If you have MapROM off, it doesn't give you this extra RAM without also turning on "Add other on-board RAM". So in essence, there is 2 M available, however, only 1.5 is available by default without changing other settings too.

[mindprober]

I should have paid more attention to what you said here. After configuring the appropriate expert menu settings, saving and then hitting "boot", I see all of my RAM!

I also boot into profile #1 from the main menu and get the same results. Any other option referring to KS 1.3 on the main menu will make me lose the additional 512k and this is why I kept going nowhere. I never used the profile boot method. The "complete configuration using KS 1.3" appears to add IDE support (which I know sucks up another 300k) but the other menu option referring to "kickstart 1.3 and FAST RAM" does not behave as one would expect.

Before I started changing things here, I used the menu option for either 1.3 or 3.1. But now I saved my changes as profile #1 and I use that selection now to boot into my WB 1.3

[TjLaZer]

I wish there was a way to not map 512k for ROMs and just use the onboard ROM allowing the use of the 2MB RAM.  I think it's silly to have developed it this way.  2MB ram but not able to ever use 2MB, only 1.5MB!  Why didn't he add 1MB for the MapROMs or something so we can have the full 2MB?

[sm3]

I should have paid more attention to what you said here. After configuring the appropriate expert menu settings, saving and then hitting "boot", I see all of my RAM!

I also boot into profile #1 from the main menu and get the same results. Any other option referring to KS 1.3 on the main menu will make me lose the additional 512k and this is why I kept going nowhere. I never used the profile boot method. The "complete configuration using KS 1.3" appears to add IDE support (which I know sucks up another 300k) but the other menu option referring to "kickstart 1.3 and FAST RAM" does not behave as one would expect.

 Oh awesome, so you are good now? I was doing something similar, until reading your post. That made me question what I was doing and looked into it further.

[sm3]

I wish there was a way to not map 512k for ROMs and just use the onboard ROM allowing the use of the 2MB RAM.  I think it's silly to have developed it this way.  2MB ram but not able to ever use 2MB, only 1.5MB!  Why didn't he add 1MB for the MapROMs or something so we can have the full 2MB?

Well, you "can" use all the RAM if you have a real 1.3 or 3.1 ROM in your Amiga. Unless I'm not understanding your question properly. I only boot into 3.1 if I'm writing an ADF to a floppy, otherwise, I use 1.3 which is what I have installed on my PCB.  I'll admit, I'm a new Amiga user, so I'm still learning.

[mindprober]

Yes, I appear to be good now. I never thought to try other boot options because the main menu options at the top were more obvious.

Oh awesome, so you are good now? I was doing something similar, until reading your post. That made me question what I was doing and looked into it further.