Interesting A600's

quarkx

insane in the main frame
AmiBayer
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I posted this in another fourm, but I thought I would try here, as we have a bunch of more "tech" guys here (and Girls). :bowdown:

If you have been following my blog lately, you know I am or have been getting in a few A600's. I have been trying to hunt down information on the differences between motherboard revisions (and which is the most desirable) but other than listing the numbers, I have found nothing worth while.
I also have been trying to hunt down information on what the different ROM revisions are.
According to most sources (from the WIKI to the BBOAH) the first ROM Revision was Kickstart 2.05 revision 37.299, But one of the machine I got in is (was) V2.05 37.229 (it is a Commodore Chip not am "MX")

I am trying to find out if this chip was "from Factory", because if not, why would they "downgrade" revision numbers.

Anyways, it is a interesting mystery.
Anybody know of a page that actually explains what the difference is between Motherbord revisions are? Most sites are pretty useless except for pictures.

Looking for the "Meat" of the matter. :help:
 
Re: Interesting A600's

Looks like others have also got the 37.229 ROM. I wonder if ALL the sites are wrong. Makes sence if all the Info for those sites came from one wrong source.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

C= always use the same scheme for ROM revisions: 37 meaning Workbench 2.xx , value after the dot is the revision.

That 229 probably is a version without PCMCIA and IDE support. Oh, and all revisions prior to 37.300 are called 2.04. 2.05 is only 37.300 and 37.350.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

rkauer said:
C= always use the same scheme for ROM revisions: 37 meaning Workbench 2.xx , value after the dot is the revision.

That 229 probably is a version without PCMCIA and IDE support. Oh, and all revisions prior to 37.300 are called 2.04. 2.05 is only 37.300 and 37.350.
Not this chip. Its lableled 2.05 (photo from Amiga.org member) mine is the same except the botom number is 2412351
 
Re: Interesting A600's

Is it possible that the silkscreen is mislabeled? It's close enough to .299 to be a possible misprint right? Do all the functions work, like the PCMCIA and IDE? I am really curious now. Oh, I'm also going to be getting another A600.... and it has an 030 accelerator card in it!

Nathan
 
Re: Interesting A600's

At least 2 people on the .Org has confirmed that they have these chips also, but like mine, one came from the UK. Not sure if that has any relivance. I only noticed it when I swapped it out for a 3.1 ROM.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

Can you test if the old ROM recognize an HD or PCMCIA card? I bet it cannot.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

rkauer said:
Can you test if the old ROM recognize an HD or PCMCIA card? I bet it cannot.
Oh, I fully agree with you there, It is labled 2.05. But that has nothing to do with the fact that these are earlier than what all the sites say.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

When you boot the A600 with this rom installed what does the Workbench information window show as the kickstart revision number? That would show if it really is identical to the 37.299 revision.

I've been trying to build a complete detailed set of information about the A600 in my classicamiga Wiki. You can view the page at http://wiki.classicamiga.com/A600_Upgrade_Options

I don't have any information about motherboard revisions though, and that is about the only section of information missing from that page. So if you do find out about the different motherboard revisions could you please let me know so I can add it to the page?
 
Re: Interesting A600's

I could be wrong but I *think* my A600 originally came with 2.04 and when I had a hard drive fitted, it came back with 2.05 ROM's from the Commodore dealer.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

2.04 was only ever included with the A500 Plus AFAIK, and A600's always came with 2.05, with the original revision 37.299 not being able to access and use the PCMCIA slot or the internal IDE port. I expect when you sent it of to have an HDD fitted they replaced the rom with a later revision 37.350 one. Or maybe a 37.300 if it was only a 40MB HDD.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

Just for clarification: ks37.299 is a 2.04 ROM, since no IDE nor PCMCIA functionality.

Elder A600 (with no HD) use to be shipped with this 2.04 ROM (which runs perfectly on A500 & A2000, of course).
 
Re: Interesting A600's

rkauer said:
Just for clarification: ks37.299 is a 2.04 ROM, since no IDE nor PCMCIA functionality.


Why would you insist this when we have clear Photographic proof that KS37.299 is obvousily a 2.05 ROM? I am confused why your are so adimate about it :shrug:
Just because it has no IDE nor PCMCIA function is not an argument that this is not a 2.05 ROM when we have a few that are obvoiusly labled from CBM 2.05.

You almost come across as angry when you make these statements, and I am confused at this. These are real ROMS not made up here.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

BTW,
Because I lack the Skills to do so, I am offering the following.
I am willing to send my chip to ANYONE that can do a dump of the ROM and list side by side with a known 2.04 ROM and A 2.05 ROM, so we can all see what this ROM Contains.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

quarkx said:
Why would you insist this when we have clear Photographic proof that KS37.299 is obvousily a 2.05 ROM? I am confused why your are so adimate about it :shrug:
Just because it has no IDE nor PCMCIA function is not an argument that this is not a 2.05 ROM when we have a few that are obvoiusly labled from CBM 2.05.

You almost come across as angry when you make these statements, and I am confused at this. These are real ROMS not made up here.

Not angry, mate.

Just I think this a miss labelled chip when CBM made it (intended for A600), but with the functionalities of A500 ks only. Dunno if they made this on purpose. On a second thought, maybe the internal code is just broken, hence the non-working IDE & PCMCIA, which will validate the ROM as a true 2.05.

quarkx said:
Because I lack the Skills to do so, I am offering the following.
I am willing to send my chip to ANYONE that can do a dump of the ROM and list side by side with a known 2.04 ROM and A 2.05 ROM, so we can all see what this ROM Contains.

I think you can, friend.

Do you have Amiga Forever @ home? If so, it's just a matter of dump the ROM image to the PC and then start an WinUAE session using an A1200-compatible settings with 3.1 ROM you can run REMUS to analyse the innards of this kickstart.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

No need to have Amiga Forever. WinUAE comes with an Amiga DOS utility to easily dump rom images to file. Just look in the files. A readme is included that shows you the correct commands to run it.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

I do have AF, but the Chip itself is not installed in anything! I found it when I replaced it with a 3.1 chip, but I will give it a shot.
 
Re: Interesting A600's

You can dump the chip even on an A500 for WinUAE/AmigaExplorer purposes.
 
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