Amiga 1200 and 4000 expansion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Flink
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 27
  • Views Views 4681
I've tried my old drive from my dead A4000, and it doesn't seem to work at all... but nevermind. I can get away with it using the external drive.

Please enlighten me about something: I've used a couple of floppy disks on the Amiga, all HD except for an original WB3.0 disk (this one is DD). When you format a disk on Workbench, how is it formating? HD or DD? I remember having a choice on my Miggy, but can't see any here. Is there a problem to format an old HD floppy as DD? Wikipedia says there might be, but I don't remember any problems.

I've already installed a couple of ClassicWB systems on my new A4000D, and it's been a pleasure to play around with it! But I really can't get my Retina to work on my A4000... it's never seen by the Amiga. I've cleaned the contacts with isopropyl alcohol, changed to another Zorro slot, but to no avail.

Oh boy, I feel like a real n00b now (maybe because I am one?!)...
 
Hi people!

Sorry to ressurect this thread, but I'm in that point in time that I need the most help... :(

I've made a real mistake in the A4000: I've gone and trashed the OS... I tried to install CybergraphiX, and the Amiga couldn't boot anymore. It just gives a black screen (in fact, I think it boots, but takes an inordinate amount of time and then the mouse moves at like a frame per second... you can't even click on an icon). :(

I had previously been fooling around with ClassicWB, so I had an Adv version on the second partition (DH1:). I formatted DH0:, moved ClassicWB to the empty DH0: partition and booted fine!

I tried to install Picasso96 and the same thing happens... no boot (or a veeeeery slow one like before if I leave the system booting). Wierd.

I just want to install a simple system (I have the AmigaOS 3.1 disks and a friend got me OS3.9... on CD) and then a means of accessing the CD drive (to install software and test my new Zorro cards). Whats the best CD filling system? I have an A1200 now, and I can get a file on disk to use on the A4000. I tried using the CDROM "drivers" from ClassicWB and it worked while on that session, but a reboot always brought a "cannot open scsi.device unit 1"...

Also, out of curiosity, I always get a DOpus5 icon on the desktop, even if booting from the Workbench disk of AmigaOS 3.1! It's really handy for the system copies I've been doing, but I'd like to understant why it is there?!

In the end, I'm just trying to test both of my new cards: a Cybervision64/3D and an X-Surf. :cool:

Please help... :help: you can probably tell from the lack of organization in the text that I'm a bit confused! :roll: Thanks!
 
Last edited:
I got the system to work again with the original OS 3.9 installation. I didn't want to give up, because I always had the impression the Amiga was really easy to screw up :roll: but really easy to fix again! :D

So I dived into the Startup-Sequence and the User-Startup, and saw a couple of things that smelled bad; some references to NewHD: when I had renamed the boot partition to System:, and a reference to Retina files. I also removed the CV3D monitor from devs:. And it boots again! :thumbsup:

I'd still like to install a clean 3.1 system from scratch; what is (in your opinion) the best CDROM software to use on a clean install?

Thanks!
 
I got the system to work again with the original OS 3.9 installation. I didn't want to give up, because I always had the impression the Amiga was really easy to screw up :roll: but really easy to fix again! :D

So I dived into the Startup-Sequence and the User-Startup, and saw a couple of things that smelled bad; some references to NewHD: when I had renamed the boot partition to System:, and a reference to Retina files. I also removed the CV3D monitor from devs:. And it boots again! :thumbsup:

I'd still like to install a clean 3.1 system from scratch; what is (in your opinion) the best CDROM software to use on a clean install?

Thanks!

I think Workbench 3.1 comes with CDROM software and support. I added CD support manually to my A1200, using the following files (Someone can correct any mistakes, as I'm pulling this from memory)

Code:
L:CDFileSystem
DEVS:cd.device
DEVS:scsi.device (or whatever -- in my case it was squirrelscsi.device)
DEVS:DOSDrivers:CD0 (modify the tooltype to match your scsi.device file)
I think that's all there was to it.
 
Andy

The CDFilesystem with OS3.1 is very basic indeed.

What you need is CacheCDFS, If you have OS3.5 you can take the files from this, and then copy the prefs utility from IDEFix97 (nag requester does not occour)

Add a custom CD0 file for your Devs folder and off you go.

I did this myself with help from Thomas over at EAB about a year ago.

I Will see if I can find the thread for you, and if you need it I can email you "my" CD0 which configures L:CacheCDFS for use instead of L:CDFilesystem.

The benefits are simply too many, CDFilesystem is very basic & quite pooey.

TC :)
 
Thanks people!

I got it working, I've even installed a vanilla AmigaOS 3.1 with CD support. (It couldn't find atapi.device unit 1 because there was no atapi.device in devs... go figure).

Now I'm trying to get both my Zorro cards working, but alas, there is nothing I can do to get my Cybervision64/3D to output an image... I've installed both Picasso96 and CybergraphiX V4 on a fresh install of OS3.1, and both exhibit a strange behaviour: they apparently stop booting with a black screen after some HD activity.

In both cases, if I remove the CVision3D from Devs:Monitors, the system boots fine. But the CGraphiXMode app never runs (I double click it and nothing appears), and the Picasso96Mode app runs but (obviously) never shows the card...

Any ideias? Thanks!
 
I got the X-Surf working with EasyNet!

I guess this means the Zorro daughterboard is working well... and the Cybervision probably isn't.

Is there any software I can use to diagnose the board (check if it's connected, and working, probe the chip, stuff like that). The X-Surf has one it it said the board was there and working, even told me if the cable was connected or not.

Thanks for your help!
 
I'm really lost... I don't know what else to try, save buying another card and testing that. The short version:

The card shows up as "working" in the boot menu diagnostic.

The card shows up on the "Boards" section of the "ShowConfig" tool.

After installing CybergraphiX V4 (or Picasso96, they both exhibit the same behavior), the system freezes on boot (black screen). :(

Removing the CVision3D file from Devs:Monitors makes the system bootable again.

If I double-click the CVision3D file (that should be in Devs:Monitors), the system freezes immediately. :blink:

CyberGraphiX V4 installs a tool called "showcgxconfig"; if I run it, I get the message: "0 graphics devices installed". :(

If anyone with a CyberVision64/3D card can help me out, I'd be very thankful! :D

Thanks,
 
Back
Top Bottom