ACA1230 discussion
- Thread starter Amigarobbo
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Why would you need a catweasel? As above it's easy to transfer files over using cross dos.
I think it's fairly safe to assume most people with a A1200 today has Kickstart 3.1 and either a way to transfer files over the Amiga.
It's still going to take finding a hard disk big enough to hold win95, then setting up my old laptop, etc I don't think I have any blank CDs.
Let's both of us hope this patch is smaller than a 720k floppy.
---------- Post added at 23:48 ---------- Previous post was at 23:47 ----------
I've got the right, they've got my moneySoftware should have been supplied.
Are you actually reading any of the posts that people are making? Why would you need to set up Windows 95? :roll:
Also if they had delayed the boards to wait for the software (which only affects a small amount of users) then we would have had to wait even longer... (which no doubt would mean you moaning ever more) :roll:
Christ it makes you wonder why people bother!!!
Because I need to use a computer with a floppy drive in it?
Believe it or not computers these days typically don't have them.
If you don't have a floppy drive available, take your hd/cf card out of your 1200, and hook it up to a modern pc, then run winuae (or uae if you are a linux user), attach the hard drive to winuae and boot, then just map the floppy image of the util and copy it over. It doesn't take alot of effort, and if you learn how to do this, you will also have access to alot of other software. If you don't have a way to get access to other files why did you even bother with an accelerator? All your floppy games probably didn't need one, whdload games are what need it the most, and most people just use killer gorillas packs for that. You also might want to look at classicwb for your 1200 while you have your drive out, predone wb configs with lots of built in programs, and pcmcia/cf adapter drivers, aweb, dopus, sfs support, etc. I swear by it.
You attitude is more of a new style user that expects everything to be plug and play, not like the old days when we had to pay attention to everything to insure compatibility.
later,
dabone
Tajmaster
Truth, Justice, all that stuff.
Well, this has kicked up something of a mini sh** storm hasnt it 
@Steve
I second David, well said.
@Hell Labs
I dont have a problem with you but I am at a loss to understand your attitude :huh: Your posts seem short and you are seem very quick to snap at people, why??
@ AmigaKit
Hell Labs is correct in that this short coming should be clearly stated on the website. As should the trap door mod which at the moment is just one line and doesnt stick out as it should do.
Also, if the ACATune tool is required to get the full use of the accelerator then I agree with HellLabs that it should be provided on a floppy disk. At the very least the downloads should be split into files that fit onto a 720k floppy.
@Gehtjanx
Jens is very knowledgable about Amiga hardware and commands great respect from many areas of the Amiga scene, so how do you propose to attach an accelerator to the A600 when there isnt a proper CPU slot??
@all
Guys, ok, there were some failings in the sense certain "features" should have been noted from the beginning but at the same time if you, the customer, have a problem, dont jump onto public forum and bitch about it. As Steve rightly said, AmigaKit and Jens have earned much respect and it should be shown to them.
Lets not chase off the remaining good developers and retailers eh
Yes they should have informed their customers (us) about some things but if you have read the thread over at EAB you will have seen Jens apologise immediately when he noticed the trapdoor issue, this is not the attitude of someone trying to rip us off is it?
Lets all group hug now eh :grouphug: Afterall, were all getting brand spanking new accelerators for the first time in years!
@Steve
I second David, well said.
@Hell Labs
I dont have a problem with you but I am at a loss to understand your attitude :huh: Your posts seem short and you are seem very quick to snap at people, why??
@ AmigaKit
Hell Labs is correct in that this short coming should be clearly stated on the website. As should the trap door mod which at the moment is just one line and doesnt stick out as it should do.
Also, if the ACATune tool is required to get the full use of the accelerator then I agree with HellLabs that it should be provided on a floppy disk. At the very least the downloads should be split into files that fit onto a 720k floppy.
@Gehtjanx
Jens is very knowledgable about Amiga hardware and commands great respect from many areas of the Amiga scene, so how do you propose to attach an accelerator to the A600 when there isnt a proper CPU slot??
@all
Guys, ok, there were some failings in the sense certain "features" should have been noted from the beginning but at the same time if you, the customer, have a problem, dont jump onto public forum and bitch about it. As Steve rightly said, AmigaKit and Jens have earned much respect and it should be shown to them.
Lets not chase off the remaining good developers and retailers eh
Yes they should have informed their customers (us) about some things but if you have read the thread over at EAB you will have seen Jens apologise immediately when he noticed the trapdoor issue, this is not the attitude of someone trying to rip us off is it? Lets all group hug now eh :grouphug: Afterall, were all getting brand spanking new accelerators for the first time in years!
FOL
Active member
Well, this has kicked up something of a mini sh** storm hasnt it
@ AmigaKit
Hell Labs is correct in that this short coming should be clearly stated on the website. As should the trap door mod which at the moment is just one line and doesnt stick out as it should do.
Also, if the ACATune tool is required to get the full use of the accelerator then I agree with HellLabs that it should be provided on a floppy disk. At the very least the downloads should be split into files that fit onto a 720k floppy.
Sigh.
/Bites tongue.
MikeFishcake
New member
Hmmm... A little disappointing seeing as I only have KS3.0 but as long as it works for what I want it for (WHDLoad) then it shouldn't really be a problem.
Don't know if I've missed somewhere obvious, but where can I download ACATune from? Want to make sure it's on my Amiga ASAP so I can get it up and running quickly when the card arrives
Don't know if I've missed somewhere obvious, but where can I download ACATune from? Want to make sure it's on my Amiga ASAP so I can get it up and running quickly when the card arrives
@ Hell Labs / gehtjanx
Please take the time to calm down and stop turning this thread into a trollfest of AmigaKit. We are NOT a complaints department on here, OK?
Trolls aren't tolerated here as you well know and your actions in this thread are getting very close to the point where free holidays will be handed out... There are other sites available if you want to troll big time, but AmiBay isn't one of them.....:dry:
If you aren't happy with your purchases, contact them for a returns number and get a refund under the Distance Selling Regulations.
Otherwise, wind your necks in, calm down and contribute usefully and maybe others on here might decide to help you.
Please take the time to calm down and stop turning this thread into a trollfest of AmigaKit. We are NOT a complaints department on here, OK?
Trolls aren't tolerated here as you well know and your actions in this thread are getting very close to the point where free holidays will be handed out... There are other sites available if you want to troll big time, but AmiBay isn't one of them.....:dry:
If you aren't happy with your purchases, contact them for a returns number and get a refund under the Distance Selling Regulations.
Otherwise, wind your necks in, calm down and contribute usefully and maybe others on here might decide to help you.
If anyone needs the ACATune tool and does not have a way to get it on their Miggy (and assuming I can download it not being an owner of an ACA Card) I'd be happy to put it on a DD Disk and post it FOC* to anyone who needs it.
I have a big box of Floppy's and a Box of FreePost envelopes so it only costs me a little time which I'm more than happy to give to this cause.
Steve.
*There would be a small postage cost for overseas
I have a big box of Floppy's and a Box of FreePost envelopes so it only costs me a little time which I'm more than happy to give to this cause.
Steve.
*There would be a small postage cost for overseas
I was just wondering something similar. I can't find a download for the ACAtune tool, either at amigakit.com or icomp.de.
Matthew/FOL perhaps one of you could advise if/where we can download the tool from?
:grouphug:
That's my only complaint. Most of the stuff I use loads WB 1st, so not a problem that I need to use a utility to get the extra RAM - but the fact that there is nowhere to actually download what is effectively vapourware is a major ommission - This should have been availale OUT OF BOX
The instructions make no mention of the "emergency" fast ram - only that the jumper needs to be moved if you have KS3.0 - This again is not an oversight as I'm sure the manufacturerers know the limitation and deliberately decided no to mention it.
I'm not criticising Amigakit for supplying it or the fact it took ages to get here - that sort of stuff sort of just "happens" with such minority market product. But to allow it to ship without a "driver" and no explanation or, even now, a promise of when the vapourware is going to be available is frankly just bad business.
The instructions make no mention of the "emergency" fast ram - only that the jumper needs to be moved if you have KS3.0 - This again is not an oversight as I'm sure the manufacturerers know the limitation and deliberately decided no to mention it.
I'm not criticising Amigakit for supplying it or the fact it took ages to get here - that sort of stuff sort of just "happens" with such minority market product. But to allow it to ship without a "driver" and no explanation or, even now, a promise of when the vapourware is going to be available is frankly just bad business.
ACATune is a tiny program at only 15.8 Kb and is available so it is not "vaporware"
Version 1.0 is available from the manufacturers website and link has been advertised by Individual Computers:
http://www.icomp.de/t/bin/ACATune_V10.lha
More updates to ACATune are planned and in development.
The manufacturer did not supply the utility in the box- we shipped the product as provided by the manufacturer.
If 99% of customers here are using their Amiga for WHDLoad retro gaming, then transferring gigabytes of WHDLOAD games data is a much hard task than simply using CROSSDOS to transfer a tiny 15.8Kb file across to the Amiga.
Version 1.0 is available from the manufacturers website and link has been advertised by Individual Computers:
http://www.icomp.de/t/bin/ACATune_V10.lha
More updates to ACATune are planned and in development.
The manufacturer did not supply the utility in the box- we shipped the product as provided by the manufacturer.
If 99% of customers here are using their Amiga for WHDLoad retro gaming, then transferring gigabytes of WHDLOAD games data is a much hard task than simply using CROSSDOS to transfer a tiny 15.8Kb file across to the Amiga.
Thanks fgor the link - if I'd had that at the start, or included in the box, I wouldnt have had to post here at all.
After copying the lha file to a 720K disk, extracting and adding to startup-sequence as advised in the included guide, I can report all is well. Its an inelegant solution for KS3.0 users, but OK for me.
Thanks for replying to what is becoming a difficult thread for you. And thanks for continuing to suplly products for our "old ladies"
After copying the lha file to a 720K disk, extracting and adding to startup-sequence as advised in the included guide, I can report all is well. Its an inelegant solution for KS3.0 users, but OK for me.
Thanks for replying to what is becoming a difficult thread for you. And thanks for continuing to suplly products for our "old ladies"
It is best to contact us directly on our Support Ticket System if you have any Support issues.
MikeFishcake
New member
OK, just to confirm, which command would us KS3.0'ers need to put in the startup-sequence? Is it ACATune -fastmem on ?
---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------
IT'S ARRIVED!!
Will fit it in a bit
---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 ----------
IT'S ARRIVED!!
Will fit it in a bit
Re: The problem with the hard drive not been seen after rebooting with the acatune -maprom * feature
(taken from http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=55059&page=28 )
The ACA1230-56 has a very fast CPU->Amiga mainboard and CPU->SDRAM interface. The card can indeed do some memory related operations faster than a 68060 board.
When you turn on your Amiga the first time, Kickstart is executed from the slow internal ROM. So, when your Amiga waits for the IDE device to initialize, it waits long enough to be recognized.
When maprom is active, Kickstart is executed from very fast SDRAM. When the Amiga reboots with maprom activated, it doesn't wait long enough for your IDE device, jumping to the purple disk screen before it can answer "HERE, I AM THERE, I AM READY".
This happens when you use acatune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL: option, because that way, maprom is reset proof.
There is a second way to do maprom, by using the cpu command, which is part of your Amiga OS. This time, maprom is not reset proof, since the MMU is being used to map the rom. Which means, every time you reset the Amiga, it starts from ROM, recognizes the IDE drive, boots, and THEN copies the Kickstart to RAM.
Put into the startup startup-sequence?
acatune >NIL:
cpu cache burst fastrom >NIL:
That way, you should have a booting Amiga WITH maprom (which is called fastrom if you use the cpu command).
(taken from http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=55059&page=28 )
The ACA1230-56 has a very fast CPU->Amiga mainboard and CPU->SDRAM interface. The card can indeed do some memory related operations faster than a 68060 board.
When you turn on your Amiga the first time, Kickstart is executed from the slow internal ROM. So, when your Amiga waits for the IDE device to initialize, it waits long enough to be recognized.
When maprom is active, Kickstart is executed from very fast SDRAM. When the Amiga reboots with maprom activated, it doesn't wait long enough for your IDE device, jumping to the purple disk screen before it can answer "HERE, I AM THERE, I AM READY".
This happens when you use acatune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL: option, because that way, maprom is reset proof.
There is a second way to do maprom, by using the cpu command, which is part of your Amiga OS. This time, maprom is not reset proof, since the MMU is being used to map the rom. Which means, every time you reset the Amiga, it starts from ROM, recognizes the IDE drive, boots, and THEN copies the Kickstart to RAM.
Put into the startup startup-sequence?
acatune >NIL:
cpu cache burst fastrom >NIL:
That way, you should have a booting Amiga WITH maprom (which is called fastrom if you use the cpu command).
MikeFishcake
New member
OK, it's installed and working!
Here's my opinion so far, from a "used to do PC repairs for about 10 years until 2 years ago but haven't touched the insides of an Amiga for about 14 years" perspective
* hur hur hurhurhurhur
Here's my opinion so far, from a "used to do PC repairs for about 10 years until 2 years ago but haven't touched the insides of an Amiga for about 14 years" perspective
- Well packaged, nice clear instructions.
- With not touching Amiga hardware for nearly a decade and a half, I'm not sure how it should have felt, but it was very, very stiff when I stuck it in.* It was hard work to shove it in and I had to wiggle it around a bit before it went all the way.*
- It didn't work first time - powered up the Amiga after the initial installation and just got a black screen with nothing happening. Power but no display. Under the advice of the instruction sheet I pulled the card out (which was even more difficult than pushing it in), wiped the contacts and put it back in. 2nd time lucky! Hopefully that's all it was, and it's not an intermittent issue...
- I had to open up my Amiga to bend the RF shield so that the card would fit in (the instruction sheet does mention that this is a possibility)
- I also found it difficult to install the card from the bottom of the amiga. I had to have the top open as well to help guide it in a bit.
- Even after modding the trapdoor slot, it is ever-so-slightly raised. We're talking about 1mm here though - you probably wouldn't notice it if you weren't looking for it.
- Getting a KS3.0 A1200 to see the full amount of RAM is dead easy. The jumper is clearly labelled, and all you have to software wise is run the install program, then ed the startup-sequence to add the command ACATune at the start, and it finds it. No args/switches needed. Note that the install program is a silent install. I was unsure whether it had done anything after I'd double clicked it, but it copied the ACATune command to C:.
- As others have already mentioned, a copy of ACATune on floppy would be advantageous to some people, even if you just charge an extra £1 for supplying it. (Whilst I have a CF card adaptor, I can't find the reader for my PC, so had to link the amiga HDD to a USB connector and copy it from WinUAE )
- Tried a few WHDLoad installs and it works an absolute treat. Looking forward to trying some more!
- Not sure how much mucking about I'll be doing with ACATune; all I really wanted it for was the extra RAM for WHDLoad
- Top marks go to Jens and his crew, plus AmigaKit for getting the package to me within only days of receiving it themselves. Not only that, but there was an AmigaKit test sticker on, so nice to see they tested the card themselves before shipping out.
* hur hur hurhurhurhur
That's pretty much my experience, it's a millimeter or so thicker than an old Blizzard 12030, and as such has needs more force to ram it home*.
With the exception of the -maprom thingy I mentioned before, it's working fine, I'd say it was faster than a 1230 at 50mHz, I almost put the word significantly in there, but chickened out.
There's a couple of typos in the read me file, and I don't like the use of the hyphen in the options, ie 'acatune -cache on' not 'acatune cache on' maybe I'm wrong but it seems
unamiga to me.
All the WHD load games seemed to work, I'm sure there was something else I was going to say, but I forgot.. Oh, I had no problems with seeing the memory on a 3.1 Rom 1200. Oh, and mine came with a floppy with acatune on it.
* hur hur hurhurhurhur etc.
With the exception of the -maprom thingy I mentioned before, it's working fine, I'd say it was faster than a 1230 at 50mHz, I almost put the word significantly in there, but chickened out.
There's a couple of typos in the read me file, and I don't like the use of the hyphen in the options, ie 'acatune -cache on' not 'acatune cache on' maybe I'm wrong but it seems
unamiga to me.
All the WHD load games seemed to work, I'm sure there was something else I was going to say, but I forgot.. Oh, I had no problems with seeing the memory on a 3.1 Rom 1200. Oh, and mine came with a floppy with acatune on it.
* hur hur hurhurhurhur etc.
