Posts by MarkSealey

ok.....how do i program the F1-F12 keys ? for games that use `F` keys....TIA

Quote from Jens

I was about to write something like "sorry, can't help, as this sounds like it requires a few scripts to send signals, and not all programs have an Arexx port", but good to see that you've sorted it out. Yes, MMkeyboard and the stealth transfer mechanism is great.

Jens

Thank you.....the Lyra3 was on show at the Kickstart 01 show here in Nottingham UK.......so cool to use the Multimedia keys etc I have yet to assign the F1-F12 keys to there "normal" function though.

FIXED lol

After some reserch Ive managed to get it working.....by using the RX command in C:....I copied the Arexx scripts from the eaglePlayer folder to a Folder Sys:Rexx....Gave it an assign in S/S.....then assigned the keys Via MMKeyboard app......Super cool

Hello all

I now have the Awesome Lyra 3 fitted to my A1200T project......with a Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard.....I`ve been assigning the "multimedia" keys......all working ok...even a Reset key......and "end" key for WHDload quit (instead of F10 etc).

Now as the Keyboard has "play...pause....eject...etc" keys I was wanting to use these with Winamp(Arexx) and Eagleplayer......so I can press the keys to Play...pause etc....Any hints on how to do this....?

I have the MMkeyboardServer running etc.

Kind regards

Mark

Thank you for the reply.....I see Amikit here in the uk sell replacement cables for the indivison ecs......so may buy a few.....are the pinout the same as the mk1 and mk2...?

thank you

Ok thank you for the Reply....i looked at the Description on the "shop page" and could not see anything stating nothing can be plugged in-between the ACA500+ but i can see That you cannot have anything plugged into the cpu slot "any internal expansion that uses the 68000 socket must be removed" so thank you again for bringing this to my attention....I can understand the battle you may have with Users having non standard Amigas and issues they may have.

Kind regards

Mark Sealey

The ACA500plus is the successor to the popular ACA500. We've taken all our customer's suggestions, added more hardware and software, and turned an already-successful product into an Amiga user's dream.

The existing concept of the ACA500 remains: It is your one-stop-shop tool for a quick and easy re-entry into the "hobby Amiga". We've looked at all the potential problems you might have when unboxing your A500 or A500+ after more than 20 years, and bundled all solutions into a single product that works on all A500 and A500+ revisions.

The ACA500plus features an MC68SEC000 processor, 8MBytes RAM, 8MBytes Flash, two CF card slots, an Action Replay-compatible freezer and a stylish 7-segment display called "DisMo". Several expansion ports let you add even more functionality. If you already have a memory expansion inside your A500, you can continue to use that in most cases.

The MC68SEC000 processor is clocked at 14.1MHz as standard, and is guaranteed to run at up to 21.2MHz.This will give your computer more than a double-speed boost. If that's not enough, you can choose overclocking to 21, 28 or even 42MHz. By attaching an ACA12xx or Blizzard 12xx accelerator, you make your A500 faster than a stock A3000.

The ACA500plus comes with essential software pre-installed in it's large flash. This includes fully licensed Kickstart versions V1.2 and V1.3 for backwards-compatibility, and Kickstart V3.1 for running the final version of the OS that Commodore has published. You've lost your installation disks of the OS? Not a problem with the ACA500plus. A full installer for OS3.1 is included in the product. All you need is an empty CF card, and you can install OS3.1 with a few key presses. After that's done, you can use the second CF card slot to exchange data with a modern PC: The ACA500plus supports PC-formatted cards and long filenames out of the box, no special installation required.

CF cards are handled like harddisks on the Amiga-side. You can use HDtoolbox or HDinsttools - whatever you prefer. Even the two popular 64-bit addressing modes are implemented: Both TD64 and NSD64 command sets are supported, so whatever your preferred filesystem requires, you can use it on your ACA500plus setup to access flash cards that are larger than 4GBytes. Speed-wise, the CF card slots are faster than most harddisk controllers that are available for other Amiga computers. The ACA500plus even outperforms the SCSI controller of an A3000!

ACA500plus is an external expansion which is plugged to the left expansion port of your A500 or A500+. There is no need to open the computer at any time. This includes a new revolutionary method that can turn your 512k trapdoor memory expansion into chipram! If your Amiga is equipped with an ECS Agnus chip and said internal 512k memory expansion, you can turn your computer into a 1MByte-Chipram computer, just by selecting a menu item in the configuration menu of the ACA500plus! A lot of stock A500 computers with board revision 6 or higher have this exact configuration.

Many users will want to use the ACA500plus with the popular WHDload software, which lets you install games on CF cards instead of swapping floppy disks if you want to play a different game. WHDload lists the 68010 processor as a minimum requirement for using the Quit-key and return to the Amiga's Workbench. The ACA500plus has special circuitry that lets you use the WHDload quit-key at any time, although you "only" have a 68SEC000 processor. This is supported by WHDload V17.2 and higher.

Advanced floppy control: If your computer has a defective or even a missing floppy drive, the ACA500plus can handle this. With the built-in "bootselector" circuitry, you can turn an external drive into a fully-compatible df0: drive. In addition to that, the floppy control functions allow you to make external drives invisible, although they do not have an off-switch. This saves you the work of (un)plugging drives in order to make older floppy-based software compatible.

The ACA500plus features three expansion ports:

1. A1200-compatible clockport
2. local 16-bit expansion port
3. A1200 CPU card connector

The A1200-compatible clockport can be used for expansions that were initially designed for the clockport of the A1200, for example Catweasel MK2, Delfina or RapidRoad. Please note that some drivers may require patching in order to work on a non-A1200 computer. Contact the vendor of your A1200 expansion to find out if they provide such a driver.

The fast 16-bit local expansion port is reserved for our network expansion X-Surf-500.

The A1200 CPU card connector is meant for further CPU and RAM upgrades. It is guaranteed to work with our ACA1220, ACA1221(ec), ACA1232 and ACA1233(n) models. Our older ACA1230 accelerators are not supported. We will therefore only answer support questions about ACA1220, ACA1221(ec), ACA1232 and ACA1233(n) accelerators.

The same applies to old Blizzard accelerators by Phase 5: We've done our best to make them work, but there are limits to what we can do. Please keep in mind that the A500 is a 16-bit architecture, and the Blizzard accelerators have been developed for the 32-bit architecture of the A1200.

Another new feature of the ACA500plus is it's capability to make use of the clock port(s) that an A1200 accelerator provides, even if the clock port of the ACA500plus is already occupied. A maxed-out configuration can use up to three clock port devices. Further, the ACA500plus gives you all possibilities to connect and use a realtime clock: Either on the trapdoor expansion of your A500, directly on the clock port of the ACA500plus or on the A1200 accelerator. This kind of flexibility was not available on the predecessor ACA500.

With all these expansions, certain software may be incompatible. However, this is not a reason to unplug the ACA500plus, as it features an advanced cloaking mode that lets you downgrade the computer to standard memory configurations with minimal expansions (like Action Replay) or even no expansions at all, your choice of Kickstart ROM, running at the original 7MHz speed. Even if your computer does not have an internal 512k trapdoor memory expansion, the ACA500plus can not only add this, but even emulate the cycle-exact speed of the internal expansion with the same slow-down effects that an internal memory expansion has. In other words: There is no reason to unplug the ACA500plus at any time.

Package includes:

• ACA500plus with DisMo, 68ec000, 8MB RAM, 8MB Flash
• short instruction manual German/English

Software included in the flash ROM:

• Kickstart V1.2, V1.3, V3.1
• Full OS3.1 disk set with fully automatic installer
• Action Replay 3 (patched for ACA500plus)
• HRTmon
• Thor's 040/060 libraries as resident modules
• Thor's mmu and memory libraries
• Network software, TCP/IP Stack for X-Surf-500

_{Pictures vary. CF cards, A1200 accelerator and the A500 computer are not included with the package. For operating the card on an A500, any internal expansion that uses the 68000 socket must be removed. "Autofire" function of original Action Replay 3 cartridge is not supported. Chips on this card are used/refurbs and may have scratches.}

Hi all...this project is still live.....but now i have a A500+

my next question is....

With the Current ACA500+(the firmware its shipped wih) firmware is it ok with a a Z500 zorro Adapter....?

I have a Retina v1.1 Graphics card that 4mb but only uses 256K zorro address space....i want to use(only cost me £100)

I have the Z500 and are saving up for a ACA500+

Thanks Again

Kind regards

Mark Sealey

Ok it seems this issue with the VGA cable has returned.....and its worse....the cable has not been moved for a few weeks and is out the way at the back of my A600......I see that Amikit sell replacement cables for the Indivison are the cables the same as the mk1 ?

Or can i buy one from you.....?

Thank you

Very nice.....dont think i will be brave enough to remove my modulator.....btw do you have any problems booting with os3.1.4...? with mine i have to boot into the early startup menu and disable CC0(pmica) and cpu cashe.......i Heard that the os3.1.4 expansion.library chokes the furia on startup.....so burnt a Custom Rom with os3.1 expansion.library and the Furia boots like normal....!

Thanks for the reply.....I thought of that but my A600 Furia is too precious for me to attempt to de-solder the RF modulator......wouls be nice to see a picture of yours.

Thanks

Mark

Hi everyone.....had a issue with my indivsion ECS v2 the other day......fixed it in about 15 minutes but thought I would post it on here just in case it might help someone.

Ok moved my A600 furia into another room to play games......Connon fodder ....when i plugged in the VGA cable...I got funny screen colors.....Clearly one of the RGB colors was missing so checked all the hardware connections.....on my A603n etc...still the same....tried my other monitor...still the same...used the "rescue disk2 in my Geotec...reset the Indivsion back to default......still the same........now i have a xbox classic with winuaeX that had the same issues a while back.....then i remembered the RGB cable on the xbox was loose with this in mind I picked up the end of the VGA cable.....the screen colors flickered from Faulty to Normal......so i found out the VGA connector was loosed or had been upset by me moving the A600.

All i did was press the flat cable in slightly(gently though) and haven't had any problems since......   

Now i need to mount the vga connector somewhere permanently.....(any idea where..?)

my boot screen.....and connector........  

On my A600 Furia A603n..indivison V2 i had loads of problems with a Modded pc psu.......went back to my old A500(heavy type psu) And the issues vanished......I can confirm Jens Products are of high quality and have quite a few of them now.....even a older A512 works....and plan on buying a ACA500+ asap.

Quote from pwsoft

Don't be sad. As this is a support forum we have the tendency to focus (only) on the technical aspects. Although I'm not responsible for the ACA500+ you did wrote "EVERYONE" in caps. So... thanks! I will continue to do my best on these innovative products for you and all other customers. Peace

Thank you for your reply....now i understand.

Quote from Jens

Peter is right - I do focus on solving tech problems here, and I quickly click on the next "open" thread if I don't see any work to do "here". I don't mean to be rude, just efficient. An honest thank-you also from my side. I do see all the eMails and forum posts here from satisfied customers, and it does influence my will to continue Amiga products. Although Cloanto is still constantly firing against fellow Amiga-related companies and us, they do seem to run out of ammo.

Jens

Yes I`m aware of your Battle against the Dark Side lol.....I admie what you do and sympathize with you......You sir are a living LEGEND and i wish there was something i could do to ease your pain.

It wont be long before i order a ACA500+

Quote from MarkSealey

Huge thank you for the reply.....ok im stuck with only 1mb chip.......Super intrestind how you know all this tec info about our Amigas.

Thanks for your acknowledgement of my compliment to you and your team ;-/

"While I am here I would like to Thank EVERYONE on here and Jens for the Support and innovative products you make...Design.....Im very old school and have Brand Specific Loyalties towards Individual Computers and its products...Keep up the Great work."

Sorry its just me being old school...when someone pays you a compliment I acknowledge it .

guess not then

As Jens says really.....a A500 is the best bet....like you know Ebay can be a Minefield when buying Amiga`s.....I bought one A500 as "powers up...sold as seen" but when i got it it had a Green Screen Fault(chip ram error)....a few days ago i got another A500 rev 6a and it works just fine...nice 1.3 rom in it too.Now there is the A500+ but most will have battery leakage by now...that can kill the Motherboard in a nasty way so unless its Shown as working then run away.

The A600 is a great option....small and compact.....easy to add a SD card as a hard-drive for WHDload etc....Both Amiga`s can be equipped with a Geotec drive...this replaces the Floppy drive with a upgrade that uses a USB stick to load games from.

One thing i do say to anyone thats selling an Amiga is..."does the power light come on and stay on..?" if i get Replies like "no its not been plugged in for years" ask them to plug it in and ask this question ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ if the power light flashes there`s a fault that might be able to be fixed at a cost.

IF you do facebook im Amiga a600/500 https://www.facebook.com/AmigaDudeA600/

Huge thank you for the reply.....ok im stuck with only 1mb chip.......Super intrestind how you know all this tec info about our Amigas.

Thanks for your acknowledgement of my compliment to you and your team ;-/

Hi all....managed to get a working Rev6a A500....yaaay Had a faulty Floppy drive.....but as we do i had a spare.

ok As is....the A500 is super cool...but with only 512k chip.....i need more...With the OS1.3 rom i get 1mb as i have a awesome A512 in the trap door i dident need another A500 ram expansion but as It had a pass through port i thought it would be better than a normal 512k expansion.....and it has the all mighty Individual logo on lol With the os.3.1.4 rom i get 512k chip 512k fast/ranger ram.....ok i thought but i need more chip.

Now....Ive been looking into the ACA500+ if im right the ACA500+ converts the trapdoor ram into chip ram....?....Also I dont think if i add another Chip ram card on the pass through of the A512 THAT also would become Chip ram....? giving me 1.5meg chip....?

What would happen if i upgraded to a 2meg Agnus....?

While I am here I would like to Thank EVERYONE on here and Jens for the Support and innovative products you make...Design.....Im very old school and have Brand Specific Loyalties towards Individual Computers and its products...Keep up the Great work.

Fair enough.....Looks like i will have to keep my "individual computers" fettish inside my Amiga Case lol

Awesome thread...just what i was going to ask....lol But I have a 6a mobo A500 not plus