Posts by Jens

The reason for the requirement of a re-design is that the old FPGA is not available any more - at least not at affordable prices. What changes/improvements there will be is yet to be decided. Note that HDMI normally includes audio, which is not "easily" available on the Lisa chip. Should we decide to include that, it will most likely mean that the MK3 becomes more expensive than the MK2cr.

Once again, a decision still has to be made. Right now, we're on Indivision ECS V2, which is taking up all resources of Amiga development that iComp has to offer.

Such random crashes can still mean that *all* your power supplies are flakey. Remember that these are as old (or even older) than your A1200, which you gave a "professional re-cap" (whatever that is - I'd have to see the datasheets of the used capacitors in order to tell if that was professional or not). So you have an A1200 with band new caps, but a power supply with a 30-year-old output capacitor.

Other sources of random crashes are bad house wiring, missing earth connection, missing shield of the A1200 (or plain missing screws in that shield), or a mobile phone being placed too close to the Amiga.

What's the state of the PSU connector on the A1200? Does the computer continue to work if you wiggle that a bit?

Quote from Mattias

I have tested with a couple of differenct power supplies., but havent measured what i can actually get out of them

If you measure, don't look for "how much power" - look for regulation trouble such as step response and ripple. An Amiga does not need much power, but it requires really good regulation.

Also, it may be worth to check the rest of the system for any sources of instability - the prime suspect is any "specialties" on the IDE port, especially if you're using long cables.

The power supply is indeed a key thing to check, but before you jump to conclusions, I'd look at the capacitors E123C and E125C, located at the bottom of the A1200 board. If these are installed (which unfortunately is the case for the majority of A1200 computers), the computer will be instable with any power supply and any accelerator.

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1…uired_board_modifications

Quote from Firstaid2008

I have found the issue. If i unplug my Blizzard1230 IV card. The CF lights work... LOL

Issue confirmed - hope to have a fix soon.

Quote from Firstaid2008

I also see in the Icomp/Indivision directory. There is a folder ECS-V2. Is this still work in progress and when are these expected to be in production. More new toys to buy. lol

Indivisino ECS V2 is currently work-in-progress. I may be able to publish all specifications either late this week, or next week.

I still have to investigate why certain C64 board revisions fail to work with RR-Net MK3. This has been on my list for very long, but I cannot say if there will be time for it this year.

ACE1k ist still in the planning phase, and the "race with the crystal manufacturer" is lost already: The parts have arrived, but I had to move this project into 2019, as it's way too many other things that MUST be finished before Xmas 2018.

There will be two Agnus-sockets: One for the 1MB version with 8372a-compatible pinout (there's a variant of the 8375 that has this pinout), and another with the 2MB-8375 pinout. Of course only one of the sockets can be used.

The plan is to have a little adapter board inside the Amiga that replaces the DIP48-Agnus. A cable is routed to the outside through the 86-pin port opening, and the ACE1k board is attached to the side of the A1000. All signals for an external Agnus to work will come through the cable. The most tricky part is clock generation - note that other than the DIP48 adapter, there will be no other connections to the inside of the computer. The concept is geared towards making as little changes to the classic machine as possible.

Quote from Firstaid2008

CF lights still not working after upgrade to 0.126 ??

Check if you really updated to 0.126 - hit the TAB key and see if it's the latest. Other customers have confirmed that it works, and the test-setups here also confirm that the CF lights are OK with the latest menu system.

Moisture should not be an issue with the newly-produced ACE2 units, as they have been low-temp baked before production.

The PAL Agnus you've purchased is a VBB type, so it will be a drop-in replacement for the NTSC type.

I would not use a PLCC SMD socket. I have never seen any SMD PLCC socket of decent quality, and you're only constructing an instable-by-design-machine.

We do have some internal software (internal=not properly tested, therefore not published) that switches to PAL and then continues to boot: It's a Bootblock, so should fit on any disk that does not have a trackloader. And for Trackloaders, it would be "insert disk, wait for dick-change-prompt and insert trackloading disk". Development/testing of this software has been interrupted in favour of all the projects that need to be finished this year, but we may get back to that in december.

That's going to be a re-design, planned for 2019.

Quote from Firstaid2008

The CF lights on the ACA500PLUS have stopped working.

This is now fixed in V0.126 of the menu system.

Quote from Firstaid2008

Using Amiga Explorer is really fast.. Saves having to change CF card from Amiga to PC.

Since you now have a grown-up TCP/IP stack and networking hardware, Amiga Explorer is kind of a step back. Not only will it cost money, it requires installation on both sides of the network for a proprietary protocol. This may be useful if you only have a serial link, but now that you have Ethernet, I'd say try mounting a drive with Samba. Even with a 68000 CPU, it's surprisingly fast. And best of all: it's free.

Fixed in V0.126.

With the low quantity of boards available, the limit per customer is one. No exceptions.

Good news for the ACA500plus: The last parts for SMD production have arrived with DHL express today. I immediately took them to the SMT assembly place, so everything for this project is complete, and we can get in line for the assembly machine.

Quote from Firstaid2008

Small bug. If the X-Surf-500 is online. Whdload games wont boot. They go to black screen and stop.

Try going offline before starting a WHDload game. Note that WHDload just stops multitasking to make the old games run. This may leave the Ethernet chip in a state where it will issue an IRQ, and without multitasking, there is no driver to catch that IRQ, and the machine will just hang.

WHDload has scripts that are executes before launching a game, and after ending a game. Just add for the start-script:

..and when returning from a game, add:

Indivision AGA MK2cr is currently not a reseller item. We do have stock, but the available quantity is too small to make a decision "which reseller gets how many units" - no matter how I'd distribute them, I'd have to deal with complaints, as I have learned the hard way in the past.

I do know that AmigaKit claims that we're not making them any more. This is not right - we will make new ones, but they are not on the (rather long) list of things that we're producing this year.

I have dropped the idea of making a separate USB device, as RapidRoad works nicely on the clock port of the ACA500plus.

For anyone else reading this: Using Checmicals like such a super glue is an "at your own risk" action. While it's not 100% clear what the chemical compounds are and what they do to the solder/plastic/PCB material, iComp cannot assume any responsibility for the outcome or long-term effects. Note that the recommendation for that specific brand or the use of epoxy or other glue in general is NOT backed by iComp.

Quote from dbugster

I see the 12V adapter is in the shop now, but I was waiting for the 12V to C64 converter adapter - Any chance this happens soon too ? Nervous about all my PSUs .. !

I have interrupted the development of that adapter in favour of many other projects that need to be finished this year. The current state of the prototype is "works, but causes bad noises in the coils of older C64 boards". I cannot sell it like that, so more development is required to keep those noises from happening.

I suggest to check your SMD equipment for proper temperature control, as I cannot confirm "smoking" these parts away with properly-controlled hot air. I don't use IR, but that should also work fine, as the plastic of the CF card connectors is RoHS compliant, meaning that it can withstand higher temperatures than non-RoHS parts.

As for the metal of the pins, I find it hard to believe that you call it "soft copper", as the hard metal is the cause for the pins breaking off when bent. So your "soft copper" description conflicts with the observation of pins breaking off if you bend them too hard.

As for pins being pushed back through the plastic, yes, this is possible, and if you push hard enough, it's possible for every part out there. That's why there is a paragraph in the manual that says "almost no force required". As soon as you feel mechanical resistance, stop pushing, and the CF card slots will live for many years to come. The ACA500 is out there since 2013, and most, if not all of them are still in use.