Amiga 2000 & OS Version Recommendation

[madgrizzle]

I have an Amiga 2000, GVP 68030/25 MHz Combo Board, VA2000 graphics card and a Supra 6 GB RAM (downgraded to 4 GB through jumpers to work with the graphics card).  I'm running OS3.1 and want to know if this setup would work with OS3.9?  The GVP card has some RAM on it, but I'm not sure how much.  It's got 1 of the SIMMs populated.  Looks almost identical (maybe missing a sticker or two) to the G-Force 030 Combo with Items here: http://www.bigbookofamigahardware.com/bboah/product.aspx?id=177

I'd like to ultimately get the computer on the Internet so a TCP/IP stack is a must and I know(think) OS3.9 has that built in.  I'm just concerned that it will be really slow, like C-64 floppy drive slow..

Any thoughts?

[Matt_H]

3.9 will work on that setup, but you might find your RAM doesn't stretch as far as it does with 3.1 (3.9 needs more RAM). You can see how much RAM is on your accelerator using ShowConfig or SysInfo - it will show all the different contiguous RAM blocks. The Supra RAM will show as 16bit, the GVP RAM will show as 32bit.

But by no means is 3.9 required for TCP/IP. Miami, AmiTCP, and Roadshow will all work under 3.1.

[dovegrace]

I'm running 3.9 on a bog-standard A4000D (25mhz '030, 16mb fast) with no issues.

[QuikSanz]

Running 3.9 on a GVP combo 030/40 with 12MB and PicIV card and runs great but would suggest 2MB chip to go with it. I notice a difference.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

3.1 + BetterWB for low spec systems

3.9 + BB1, 2, 3&4 for high spec systems

Yours will run 3.9 fine (although I wouldn't try for high color modes), but better if you add more RAM.

[madgrizzle]

The GVP has 5 MB of 32-bit RAM.  The Supra has 6 MB but I had to set it back to 4 MB because the VA2000 needed 2 MB of address space.  So, if there is a max of 8 MB in the Zorro II address space, is the GVP doing 2 MB of Zorro II address space RAM, Supra doing 4 MB, the VA2000 taking up the other 2 MB and then the GVP doing the remaining 3 MB somewhere else?  Is there a way to put all GVP RAM "somewhere else" so I can set the Supra back to 6 MB?

[Matt_H]

I think the GVP should put all of its RAM into the 32bit space. So your current config is only using 6MB in the Zorro II space (Supra & VA2000). You should be able to put your Supra card back to 6MB, which will max out the Zorro space with 8MB.

[madgrizzle]

Just noticed the VA2000 is reporting as  4MB board.. The developer said it needed 2MB of address space so I'll inquire with him.

Anyway, if I switch to OS3.9 and don't like it, how hard is it to revert back to 3.1?  Can I just reinstall 3.1 from the floppies and all work?

Thanks for the help all

[QuikSanz]

GVP Combo cards can be picky. My 030/40 card will handle 16MB on board, after that nothing on Zorro. If I remove 1 Mem to 12MB it will take 4 MB on Zorro with room for auto config. A Tekmagic2060 will take anything even with 128MB on board. Depends on card.

[Minuous]

Anyway, if I switch to OS3.9 and don't like it, how hard is it to revert back to 3.1?  Can I just reinstall 3.1 from the floppies and all work?

Yes, you can. But you won't want to ;-)

[gary2000]

When I tried 3.9 with my 030 and 8 MB of fast ram, it was hogging resources to the point of being unusable.  I suppose with the right amount of tuning it would be better, but I ended up going with classic workbench.

http://classicwb.abime.net/classicweb/advsp.htm

I wish that an official version of 3.9x existed that included everything that classicwb has, including all the updates and optimizations to make it useful out of the box.

[madgrizzle]

Just noticed the VA2000 is reporting as  4MB board.. The developer said it needed 2MB of address space so I'll inquire with him.

I went to the website and it says it uses 4 MB of ZorroII address space.  So, If I have a Supra 6 MB card I had to jumper to 4 MB to get to work and a GVP 68030 Combo with 5 MB, how much Fast RAM do I have?  OS 3.9 needs 6 MB I believe.  When I go to sysinfo, it reports the Supra 4 MB as Fast RAM but the GVP as 32BitRAM.  Is this considered Fast RAM?

John

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

32-bit ram installed on an accelerator is considered "fast ram", that is correct.  In fact it is typically faster than the 16-bit memory installed in a Zorro slot by several orders of magnititude (how much faster, exactly, depends on the design of the accelerator card).

A properly configured system will use the 32-bit fast ram first (since it's the fastest), followed by any 16-bit fast ram, and lastly chip ram (once all other resources are exhausted).  --- The exception being for data that requires chip ram, obviously.

You may also want to look into installing the TLSFMem patch, which IMHO organizes the RAM a little better than the standard system architecture.  YMMV.  

[Gulliver]

You can also use BetterWB.

Anyway, if you want, I can guide you into torturing AmigaOS 3.9 to run, just eating only 1MB of ram. I have done it on my unexpanded A1200 with success.

For using internet with Genesis and Ibrowse you will need a minimum of 4MB of additional ram. Replacing Genesis TCP-IP stack with roadshow will probably eat you even less ram. And if you decide to go on the archaic internet that Amigas can provide, you may also replace your Aweb web browser for another ancient one, that will consume less memory, at the expense of fewer features.

[QuikSanz]

The GVP has 5 MB of 32-bit RAM.  The Supra has 6 MB but I had to set it back to 4 MB because the VA2000 needed 2 MB of address space.  So, if there is a max of 8 MB in the Zorro II address space, is the GVP doing 2 MB of Zorro II address space RAM, Supra doing 4 MB, the VA2000 taking up the other 2 MB and then the GVP doing the remaining 3 MB somewhere else?  Is there a way to put all GVP RAM "somewhere else" so I can set the Supra back to 6 MB?

I think I would try 9MB on the GVP and remove the Supra. You will probably see a jump in performance.