2MB A600 CHIP RAM - Hack@Home

[UberFreak]

This is a great little hack, did it a little over a year ago

 

[rkauer]

A brazilian user did this very same hack (he used a few hints I gave him, guess from where I learnt about? ), but he used a slight different approach.

He piled up the two chips over just one RAM chip, as when piggybacking two very near chips as on the A600 will turn soldering into a hard procedure, at best.

Lemme show the result:

 

[Zetr0]

Hmmmm


3 wires instead of 4 wires.... easier to bond the bottom chip, test and avoid the floppy drive.

I think this is a result!

RAM Tower Hack for the WIN!!!! :thumbs up:



@rkauer

my friend, what's the hackers name so I can credit him in my revised "how to" ?

 

[rkauer]

Yes, I'm inclined to agree with you: RAM tower FTW!

Victor Trucco is his name. A good guy that was one of the creators of the floppy emulators.

 

[Zetr0]

@rkauer

my thanks indeed for sharing!

I shall credit Victor on the re-do and image update, as I seem to of lost the originals =(

they might be on the other laptop - but I do love the simplicity of Vic's take on it... its almost (if not so) like hardware poetry =)

 

[Merlin]

@ Zetr0

Please don't forget to credit the guys over at a1k.org, that came up with this hack in your update.

 

[Simon_G]

Zetr0, any chance of those pics being uploaded again? Was looking at the possibilities fo doing this mod but cannot see what I am doing

Thanks in advance.

 

[rkauer]

If you don't mind reading in Brazilian Portuguese: http://www.victortrucco.com/Commodore/ExpansaoA600/ExpansaoA600.asp

 

[Allen1]

If you don't mind reading in Brazilian Portuguese: http://www.victortrucco.com/Commodore/ExpansaoA600/ExpansaoA600.asp

That's Brilliant rkauer,

now that wouldn't be you that is mentioned in the comments would it

I did a google search using part of your link ie :- ExpansaoA600.asp

This allowed me to use google translate to read everything in English, that is a brilliant idea to piggyback and solder the two acquired memory chips together, then solder it/them onto the one memory chip on the Amiga. No problems with the floppy drive screw and less legs to solder on the actual Amiga

 

[fitzsteve]

Zetr0, any chance of those pics being uploaded again? Was looking at the possibilities fo doing this mod but cannot see what I am doing

Thanks in advance.

Zetr0 lost these pics AFAIK, but I sent him a spare A600 Motherboard recently which he is going to apply the hack with some new knowledge so I expect he will upload new ones soon

Maybe a new guide too

 

[Zetr0]

Indeedy

I lost the pics in a system failure, however I didn't worry as they were hosted on my server.... alas - sever sub-ended, they didn't offer me the correct contract to continue so I lost what was on there as well.... even a very early alpha AmiBay =(

Anyway, these things happen and its not healthy to get angry at faceless useless organizations - its a waste of protien and time that I could use to build / do somthing else.


Now, I plan to do the RAM tower modifcation with a little twist, as an omarge to the one posted by rkauer - which I believe was done by Victor Trucco


@rkauer

Would Victor Trucco be TabajaraLabs or have I got very confused again ?


Anyway, the RAM tower is a better implementation of the upgrade/hack as

1. it uses less wire
2. it is easier to solder
3. it physically fits better (away from the Disk drive Screw)
4. it looks cool

I have the mobo here from stevie so with a bit of luck and time we should be good to rock =D

 

[rkauer]

Nope, Tabajara is a member here (aka Alexandre, a great guy in more than one sense).

@Allen1: yours truly.

 

[BinKino]

no pictures?

can give you space for them

 

[Zetr0]

@BinKino

unfortunately its lost pictures =(

I will scourer my file store again tonight to see if they were backed up... although I didn't find them last time I looked.

 

[Simon_G]

I have the mobo here from stevie so with a bit of luck and time we should be good to rock =D

Look forward to seeing the updated pics and methods

 

[Virge]

Hi all

After this hack the trap door will work to use A604 ( 1mb memory expansion ) ?

Regards
Pedro Henriques

 

[AndyLandy]

Hi all

After this hack the trap door will work to use A604 ( 1mb memory expansion ) ?

Regards
Pedro Henriques

No, sadly not. You can only have 2MB of ChipRAM. If you do this hack and plug in an A604 you'll just end up shadowing RAM, you won't be able to use any more.

@Zetr0: Sorry to hear about your fileserver crash. I had something similar recently. I've lost all my A3000 and A4000 pr0n pics.

 

[Virge]

Ok Andy.
Thanks for the info

Regards
Pedro

 

[kire_online]

Is this chip OK for this hack;

MT4C16257 4-MBIT (256K x 16) FPM DRAM

I'll be attempting this hack on my A600 soon, need to source the chips first.

 

[Methanoid]

Ah, found the thread.

So if this disables the expansion slot, why do it? I mean if you fit an A604 you get 2Mb chipram AND can use the Indivision ECS?

I may be being dense here so somebody help me out !!