Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

[AndyLandy]

I've been thinking of upgrading the ChipRAM in my A2000 to the 2MB maximum, but as far as I can tell, you can only do that with the Mini-Mega or similar chip-replacement thingies. My concern is whether they will be compatible with Indivision ECS, since I believe that also replaces bits of the chipset.

So, my questions are:
1. Is there another way of upgrading the ChipRAM in an A2000? (I'm guessing not, since an Angus replacement is probably essential)
2. Does anyone know (or is able to make an educated guess) as to whether Indivision ECS could be combined with Mini-Mega
3. I have a later (probably rev 6.x) motherboard with 1MB Chip already; and plan to add an accelerator with buttloads of 32-bit FastRAM, is it even worth the bother upgrading the ChipRAM?

Cheers all!

 

[Harrison]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

It is definitely worth upgrading the chipram to 2MB if possible because of how the Amiga works with chip and fast ram.

However, also consider compatibility and what you might wish to run on the A2000. With 2MB chip ram a lot of older Workbench 1.3 software will fall over and cause gurus. But for Workbench 2 and above everything should work with 2MB.

I'm not sure about using a 2MB chip upgrade with the Indivision ECS though. It will work with a 2MB system based on the fact that it does on an A600, but I'm not sure regarding the hack method of adding 2MB to an A2000. Hopefully someone else will be able to answer that for you.

 

[playgeneration]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

I don't think having 2mb chip ram is as important to an OCS/ECS machine as it is to an 1200 or 4000. The number of colours a screen uses alters how much ram it needs, and 256 colours does eat up a fair bit more than 16 or 32 colour screens which you are limited to on a 2000. Having said that if you plan on using the indivision to have hi-res laced screens for all applications then 2mb would probably be useful. But then if the 2000 is going to be used more for serious stuff not just games, then an RTG graphics card would be better anyway, and the chip ram becomes a non-issue.

 

[Kin Hell]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

2Mb Chip on an A2K is a good move if it's running 3.1 ROM.

Kin

 

[playgeneration]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

2Mb Chip on an A2K is a good move if it's running 3.1 ROM.

Kin

why?

 

[Kin Hell]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

Because WB3.0 shipped with 2Mb Chip ram machines & it's how the 3.0/3.1 kernel interacts with the OS.

Kin

 

[AndyLandy]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

The plan is to use the A2000 as a 'workhorse' machine, as well as for playing with any weird and exciting hardware I find for it. It's got Kickstart 2.05/Workbench 3.0 at the moment (because I had a KS2.05 ROM spare), and KS2 does better Zorro diagnostics than 1.3 does) but I will probably (eventually) give it 3.1/3.9

I guess if I ever come across some software I really want to run, but which requires Kickstart 1.3 and/or won't work with more than 512/1MB ChipRAM, I can just pick up a vanilla A500 from somewhere; it's not like they're hard to find.

Finally, it'll eventually have a CPU accelerator, probably with an obscene amount of 32-bit FastRAM on it and possibly (if I can find one at a price I consider reasonable) an RTG card (Picasso or similar) -- So, not sure how important that extra 1MB Chip is going to be.

 

[rkauer]

Re: Amiga 2000, Indivision ECS and 2MB Chip RAM

First: pending on the motherboard revision you have you can hook 2Mb of chip directly on board. There even exists a hack to put 2Mb on 6.x mobo revisions. More of this in another future thread.

The interesting leftover:

I have OS3.9 (and 3.1 ROM) running happily on mine 6.2 A2000 with a GVP Impact 2 030 @40MHz (4Mb of 32 bit memory of possible 16Mb) plus a GVP SCSI HD 8+ (with 8Mb 60ns RAM). I use this rig to transfer things over the ethernet to/from the pc. :mrgreen:

Also it is a lovely WHDload machine for non-AGA games. :inlove:

The Indivision ECS will not clash with a MiniMegiChip or other 2Mb Agnus (Angus is the lead guitar from AC/DC), they are very far away from each other.

2Mb of chip RAM is important just for playing large modules on Hipo Player or the other player of your choice. I love to listen music on mine Amigas!

Also the IDE68k can be used if no other accelerator is present on the machine using a 37.350 (2.05) or 40.063 (3.1) kickstart.

Prefer 3.1 because executables are small and faster even if the accelerator is disabled. Workbench 2.x is buggy (the worst WB version, but visually better than 1.x).

WHDload is the answer to your prayers for incompatibilities. Just save the elder ROM images from older Amigas you have and be happy.

Any other advice?