ACA500+ and Workbench 1.3

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • I have an ACA500+ with an ACA1233n@40MHz installed in my Amiga500+ and I have a couple of questions:


    1. What is the recommended why of installing Workbench 1.3 onto a CF card?

    I ran the automatic installer from the main menu. Does this just install Workbench 3.1 or does it install 1.3 as well?

    After the install finished, I rebooted the Amiga and selected the standard 1.3 configuration (F2) from the main menu but only a 1.3 Shell was shown not Workbench.


    2. How are CF cards larger than 4GB supported? The product page indicates they are supported (https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en…s/product/ACA500plus.html) but the wiki page for the automatic install recommends not using them. "The easiest way to setup a new system on a fresh CF card is to use a card not larger than 4GB:"


    Thanks!

  • 1. What is the recommended why of installing Workbench 1.3 onto a CF card?

    Use the floppy disks of 1.3 that you have. It's mostly "copy all files to the SYS: partition".


    I ran the automatic installer from the main menu. Does this just install Workbench 3.1 or does it install 1.3 as well?

    We do not have an automatic installer for WB1.3. However, for a large-enough CF card, it will automatically generate a partition for WB1.3 and hide it (that is: does not mount it) if you are booting to 3.1. However, you can manually mount the partition, so you can access it also from 3.1. This is merely a cosmetic thing, so it doesn't occupy space on the desktop (and some memory).

    2. How are CF cards larger than 4GB supported?

    Fully transparent - if you use the automatic installer (not the WB3.1 installer-setup), you don't have to take care of anything; the installer will partition the card and install 3.1 for you.


    but the wiki page for the automatic install recommends not using them. "The easiest way to setup a new system on a fresh CF card is to use a card not larger than 4GB:"

    This recommendation is only for the manual install method, where you want to have more control over installing, or maybe just for the "classic feel" of seeing the installer run. This is still described in the Wiki, but it's not needed any more, as the automatic installer is way more convenient and much less error-prone. Another reson to start in this config would be if you want to extract single files off one of the install-disks.

    When I remove the CF card and try to boot Workbench 1.3 from floppy I get this error

    There's a number of reasons why you may see this - I'd expect one or more incompatibilities with the hardware configuration. First of all, 1.3 does not know about Z3 expansions, as Z3 wasn't invented yet when 1.3 was "current". As a result, the memory of the ACA1233n needs to be added in a different way. The ACA500plus does that for you if you launch it with the right parameters, so please let us know which option you chose from the menu for launching the computer, or if you made yourself a custom startup.


    Further, it's most interesting what type of 1.3 disk(-set) you have there. There may be versions around that contain software not compatible with 68030 processors. The obvious path would be to disable the 68030 CPU on the ACA1233n and launch with the 68000 of the ACA500plus, then try booting the 1.3WB disk again.

  • I’ve tried the standard 1.3 configuration from the main menu (F2) as well as the three other 1.3 configurations (F3). I tried disabling the ACA1233n accelerator and even removed it entirely but still hit the same error attempting to load Workbench 1.3.


    I’m using the 1.3.4 Workbench ADF image from AmigaForever 7. I’ve tried loading the ADF from a real floppy and a HxC floppy emulator and get the same result.


    Is there a different Workbench disc I should be using?

  • Is there a different Workbench disc I should be using?

    To be honest, I don't know if the Amiga Forever disks are in any way patched to not work on the original systems - they may be, just like the Kickstart binaries. I'd try a genuine disk, nothing "downloaded".

  • It was the disk images causing the problem. They must be designed for use under emulation. I purchased the separate "Classic Support Media" set of disk images and I'm able to boot to 1.3.


    Thanks for the help.

  • Ok - i found and copied WB1.3 from the original disk into the partition. However I also get the software error task held, when booting up - And I used original disks. :/

  • One way to installing 1.3 system is using the floppy that came with the old A590 side HD unit.


    As i remember, you have to open HDToolbox and read the HD definition to be able to recognize all CF size and partitioning It.


    The same floppy has a 1.3 system installer.


    The DMS image can be found in some webs cataloging old hardware accesories 🙂.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.