Fitzsteve's A1200 Tower Project =)

[fitzsteve]

Hey guys, I just fitted a Soundblaster 128 instead of the Terratec card that came with the Tower.

Workbench boots up fine now without the mixer error but I'm not sure what AHI or sound mode to use, I've tried a couple of the SB128 modes in the long list and if I try to play audio it crashes and the Amiga restarts, you get a sound through the speakers (like its stuck in a loop playing a sound) just before the crash.

Any idea's?

Theres really no info in the instructions on how to set this up, Elbox really don't give much away lol

Other then this the Tower is running great, played some CD Games in RTG like Napalm, Payback and Genetic Species, only @320x240 but they run nice and quick, 640x480 was too slow... (Maybe they'll be ok when I get an 060) Would be nice to get sound with them though!

The workbench is stunning at 800x600, I'm so pleased this is working, I can't get 1024x768 going I've tried for ages but there is no way to get horizontal and vertical scan to the correct setting to suit the JVC, maybe when I get a better TV

Thanks as always,

Steve...

 

[rkauer]

Lemme find the instructions in the mediator group mail list and I'll return ASAP.

[EDIT]

Make a directory called "Mixer" in ENVARC:Mediator. Then run GhostMix,
adjust the volume levels you want, SAVE & reboot. Now you should have
sound.

Also put the lines at the end of the User startup, then it will run perfectly.

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks rkauer, I've grabbed GhostMix from Aminet and I'll give that a try

Steve.

 

[fitzsteve]

No luck with GhostMix, follwed the above and also the steps in the guide but it still crashes when I try to play sound

 

[fitzsteve]

Long overdue an update this thread, well with the Apollo 1240 dead I'm running a Blizzard 1230 MkIV which is doing a nice job, maybe one day I'll get a Bliz 1260 or PPC in here but for now I'm still pleased with the progress.

Here's a new Vid I shot today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErfN77celM

 

[Tomse]

how did it go with your SB pci128 ?? and is the mediator a TX model ?

I'm having some of the same problems with my setup of mediator tx vs SB pci 128

 

[fitzsteve]

how did it go with your SB pci128 ?? and is the mediator a TX model ?

I'm having some of the same problems with my setup of mediator tx vs SB pci 128

It produces sound, but my 030 is too slow to decode MP3's or anything to really test it. Once I get an 060 in there (won't be for a long while) I'll be able to try it out properly...

Steve.

 

[Tomse]

ok, so it doesn't just freeze up ?

have you tried playing mods or other sounds using the ahi ?

and which version of the AHI are you running ?

 

[fitzsteve]

ok, so it doesn't just freeze up ?

have you tried playing mods or other sounds using the ahi ?

and which version of the AHI are you running ?

Its just the stock AHI off the CD that came with the Mediator, I can't seem to find a mod player that will let me use the soundblaster though, can you suggest one and I will try.

I tried playing Genetic Species with the sound blaster, the sound worked in the menu but the game crashed on loading.

Most games I play through Scart now with the normal Sound.

Steve.

 

[Tomse]

I'm comming to suspect that there are compatibility problems with SB and the mediator TX.. :-(

 

[fitzsteve]

Well this is long overdue an update

Got this baby running with a Blizzard 1260 now =) and setup with Large Disk Support & SFS.

@Tomse the Soundblaster is working now, the 030 was just too slow to drive it, no problems at all. It was working with the drivers on the Mediator CD and still working after updating to the latest drivers from the Elbox site. Just using the standard mixer, I think mostly the problem is if you put it in a PCI slot that it dosent like.

I took some fresh pics today and plan to a video of it all up and running at some point soon.

 

[Kin Hell]

Steve, babes.....

Get the PCMCIA Ethernet out & put a PCI Ethernet card in there. - You're seriously killing the rig.

PCMCIA is about 8Mps bandwidth. The cheapest wireless PCMCIA solution is capable of 56Mps meaning you're about 1/7th the speed of the PCMCIA card itself. Chuck a PCI card in there & at least see 10MBit, even with fudged Elbox drivers.

I know we spoke earlier about a suitable PCI card, but heck fella, you're missing out on some serious performance.

PM me if you want to fly on the Web. - Price from before very negotiable.

Charlie

 

[rkauer]

As I know from self experience is a wired PCMCIA cannot go much over 1Mbit/s. Wireless (prism2.device) will go a bit under (typically ~800kbit/s).

A Realtek RTL8029 (10Mbit) will go for a bit less than 2Mbit/s and a RTL8139 will go a bit over 2Mbit.

So ditch the PCMCIA LAN card and get yourself a RTL8029/8139. Cheap as chips and way faster than PCMCIA with no CPU/Gayle overload at all!

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks for the advice guys but to be honest I'd rather have the Wifi instead of another cable accross the lounge

I don't do any serious browsing on the Amiga, I Zone the odd ADF here are there over at EAB or browe the Mobile Amibay/EAB sites but thats really it.

Steve.

---------- Post added at 08:58 ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 ----------

I uploaded a little Demo Video to Youtube =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3zK86R6gj8

Enjoy

 

[Zetr0]

Thats a great Demo!

what are you booting from, I see you have the Mediator in there, did you manage to get the FastATA shoe-horned in?

I would reccomend the SCSI on the BLizzy 060, its blisteringly quick, ask FOL or Matt at AmigaKit they can make you a 25pin female to 50pin Male Adapter (so you can use standard 50pin female conector scsi cable).

since you are in a tower, I would recommend grabbing any $2 50 - 68 - 80 sca SCSI adapters and you can fast SCSI disk VERY VERY CHEAP

with the right setup (and help from us fellow AmiBayers) you should be able to double the 4MB speed you get with the Fast ATA (thus drastically reducing load times) and the added bonus of much lesser CPU useage (so it has more time to work on the loaded data). - We just LOVE DMA FastSCSI 2 =)

Now I have some questions my friend,

1. Have you got Warp3D working yet?
2. Have you got the GL version of quake running ?
3. I beleive that there is a version of DooM that has better textures and runs in 800x600x16 (perfect for the Voodoo),
4. I also there is a GL DooM too that can be used.
5. I thought Genetic Species supported gfx cards... its been a while though

I believe that once you get the Warp3D sorted you are going to be one very happy Stevie, for at the moment, even though you are using NewMode Promotion, the CPU is still doing superfluous C2P (Chunky 2 Planar) routines in the back-ground and thats quite an overhead.

r0jaws had a hell and all's time installing W3D - in the end we had to chuck on ClassicWB 3.9 (without the boings) and install W3D from the WipEout 2097 CD

Nice to see it running I must say. =D

 

[fitzsteve]

Thats a great Demo!

Thanks Zetr0! Glad you enjoyed it =)

what are you booting from, I see you have the Mediator in there, did you manage to get the FastATA shoe-horned in?

You'll be shocked, its just running off a 4way buffered IDE

The FastATA fits fine with the mediator but I came accross the same problem I had before, it just dosen't like my hard drive, I don't know if the problem is taking the power to the drive, its a 2.5in HDD and maybe the cable I'm using is too long? So I stuck the FastATA in my Desktop A1200 instead where it works great with my CF setup

I would reccomend the SCSI on the BLizzy 060, its blisteringly quick, ask FOL or Matt at AmigaKit they can make you a 25pin female to 50pin Male Adapter (so you can use standard 50pin female conector scsi cable).

since you are in a tower, I would recommend grabbing any $2 50 - 68 - 80 sca SCSI adapters and you can fast SCSI disk VERY VERY CHEAP

with the right setup (and help from us fellow AmiBayers) you should be able to double the 4MB speed you get with the Fast ATA (thus drastically reducing load times) and the added bonus of much lesser CPU useage (so it has more time to work on the loaded data). - We just LOVE DMA FastSCSI 2 =)

Yep, this is my plan going forward, to use the Blizzard SCSI and like you showed me with the A4000 just have an IDE CF card from the native IDE going to the back plane of the case to speedup those boots.

I'll certainly be getting the cable made up and and the adapters you suggest.

Now I have some questions my friend,

1. Have you got Warp3D working yet?
2. Have you got the GL version of quake running ?

Sadly No, I get a error message that the display cannot be opened, I'm sure it can be sorted I just need to spend some more time on it!

3. I beleive that there is a version of DooM that has better textures and runs in 800x600x16 (perfect for the Voodoo),
4. I also there is a GL DooM too that can be used.

I did not know this, I will be looking for that when I get home, fun times will be had this evening - thanks mate

5. I thought Genetic Species supported gfx cards... its been a while though

Yep, thats right after the 'new mode' requester I then get the 'RTG Master' screen where I chose 320x240, it runs in 640x480 but dosent look any better and just runs a little slower lol, the game as I've read was designed to be ran in 320x240

I believe that once you get the Warp3D sorted you are going to be one very happy Stevie, for at the moment, even though you are using NewMode Promotion, the CPU is still doing superfluous C2P (Chunky 2 Planar) routines in the back-ground and thats quite an overhead.

r0jaws had a hell and all's time installing W3D - in the end we had to chuck on ClassicWB 3.9 (without the boings) and install W3D from the WipEout 2097 CD

Yeah I think CWB is the problem somewhere, I will probably start to disable things one at a time until I isolate the problem...

Can't wait to get it all up and running though!

Nice to see it running I must say. =D

Sure is mate, has been a while since I started this one and its been keeping my mind off the A4000 woes.

Thanks for all the support mate, its really appreciated

Steve.

 

[Justin]

+1 from me

 

[fitzsteve]

A new toy has arrived! I don't have a clue what I'm doing but it seems to work

Unable to properly test the PPC yet though, installing WarpOS messed everything up so this time I'll read the instructions!

This last one was taken in the desktop, was having trouble getting it going in the tower, but started again with a fresh install of CWB OS3.9 now...

 

[Peter]

One step at a time with this one mate - Holly Molly - what a set up now!!

 

[fitzsteve]

Hi!

I took a simple OS3.9 setup last night from UAE and I felt like giving it a try on the Blizzard SCSI, here's my setup:

CF-IDE Backplane and SCSI-IDE Device, plumbed this all up to the Blizzard PPC SCSI with the 50pin Cables-Blizzard SCSI cable:

Here she is all setup! Obviously the idea is to be mounted at the back of the case for easy access but that would mean re-routing cables and since this was just a test I set it up there.

(Should have read the manual but thought fook it and flipped the switch)

YAY, booted straight to workbench! So I setup the mediator files and Voodoo screens:

Speeds are ok, expected better but hey 3x faster than the stock IDE so can't complain!

Now for the frustrating part, just like CWB OS3.9 when I install WarpOS it freezes on boot up. oh:

I think this had the boing bags installed so I'll try one without later, but hey at least the SCSI concept is working

Off to fiddle with something else... (After I've mowed the lawn )