stevelord wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 4:08 amOne point for anyone using a USB card in an Amiga - the Zorro bus has lower power limits than USB, so a powered USB hub is really useful if you want to plug in more than a couple of devices. I would honestly use a powered USB hub generally. While you can plug in and out, the electrical contacts while a USB device powers up can be quite electrically unstable - modern gear uses arrays of capacitors and diodes to smooth this out, but 30 year old gear may be quite sensitive.
Good advice! I had planned to use a hub if only for ease of access but I also heard about the warnings on hot swapping and devices that draw too much current.
I don't know of any sources either at the moment. It's just at the extreme edge of my skill level so my idea is to try and make one for myself to replace my PII in a year or two.
jdryyz wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:15 amThanks for sharing! I half remember reading about this one. It does seem like a nice fit for my setup. But, it also appears to be unobtainium at the moment.
The original shop that sold some is probably long out of the stock. I did find another shop but then read some negative remarks about improper builds
I see this is Matze's project and he does not necessarily revisit them for new batches.
Is there a legit Amibay thread even if not active? So far, I have only found "wanted" posts.
I saw a blank PCB for sale but SMD work is out of my skill range for sure.
fastrobplus wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 11:55 amI don't know of any sources either at the moment. It's just at the extreme edge of my skill level so my idea is to try and make one for myself to replace my PII in a year or two.
jdryyz wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 9:15 amThanks for sharing! I half remember reading about this one. It does seem like a nice fit for my setup. But, it also appears to be unobtainium at the moment.
The original shop that sold some is probably long out of the stock. I did find another shop but then read some negative remarks about improper builds
I see this is Matze's project and he does not necessarily revisit them for new batches.
Is there a legit Amibay thread even if not active? So far, I have only found "wanted" posts.
Matze never makes his cards.
Except some prototypes, of course.
The GBA-based card was also marketed by Kryoflux.
Usually, you can reach out to DJCook, who works together with quite a few people on A1k and is therefore able to provide most DIY-cards. You can reach him under that username on AmiBay and A1K, maybe other forums as well. Still, it’s a hobby for him, so no commercial contact.
I’d still vote for the ZZ9000, even if it means waiting. It’s worth it, especially with the sound module.
Except some prototypes, of course.
The GBA-based card was also marketed by Kryoflux.
Usually, you can reach out to DJCook, who works together with quite a few people on A1k and is therefore able to provide most DIY-cards. You can reach him under that username on AmiBay and A1K, maybe other forums as well. Still, it’s a hobby for him, so no commercial contact.
I’d still vote for the ZZ9000, even if it means waiting. It’s worth it, especially with the sound module.
I was not aware! I figured he might have made some small batches at least.
Yeah, the Kyroflux website was the shop I first saw them listed on.
DJCook is the same source for the Freeway USB so not a bad idea for me to ask him about the GBA RTG as well.
The ZZ9000 audio expansion is interesting, no doubt. This is a good example of something I wouldn't need, however. I'm very happy with Paula. In addition, I am not sure how good the USB support is on the ZZ9000 at this stage. It is still limited to just storage devices from what I have read. I know this can change over time but I am wanting support for input devices.
Yeah, the Kyroflux website was the shop I first saw them listed on.
DJCook is the same source for the Freeway USB so not a bad idea for me to ask him about the GBA RTG as well.
The ZZ9000 audio expansion is interesting, no doubt. This is a good example of something I wouldn't need, however. I'm very happy with Paula. In addition, I am not sure how good the USB support is on the ZZ9000 at this stage. It is still limited to just storage devices from what I have read. I know this can change over time but I am wanting support for input devices.
McTrinsic wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:46 amMatze never makes his cards.
Except some prototypes, of course.
The GBA-based card was also marketed by Kryoflux.
Usually, you can reach out to DJCook, who works together with quite a few people on A1k and is therefore able to provide most DIY-cards. You can reach him under that username on AmiBay and A1K, maybe other forums as well. Still, it’s a hobby for him, so no commercial contact.
I’d still vote for the ZZ9000, even if it means waiting. It’s worth it, especially with the sound module.
I've hijacked this thread a bit already so I won't feel too bad continuing to do so. I will open a new one if it gets out of hand.
I found another source for the GBAPI++. It is installed in an A3000. An old set of instructions was followed referring to the last freely available version of P96 software and the GBAPII++ driver.
The install did not go well. At least, the results I saw were not in accordance with the instructions. I was able to find a work-around, however. I started with the latest P96 that *I* have (v3.2.1). This eliminated some warnings I received with the older install. The GBAPII++ driver was also installed but I had to manually add "fastlayers.library" to my system first since it checks for that.
With P96 and GBAPII++ drivers installed, I was able to get P96Mode to see the board. I removed invalid resolutions and saved the settings.
Here's where the trouble starts. The GBAPII++ monitor file does not seem to activate itself on startup, even though my PAL and NTSC monitor files work fine. I need to manually double-click on the GBAPII++ monitor file in order to see the new screenmodes appear in the screenmode prefs. I tested the screenmode I wanted and saved the setting.
As would be expected, the new screenmode does not load when the system is turned on or restarted. Screenmode prefs will only show PAL and NTSC modes unless I manually double-click on the RTG monitor file.
Any GBAPII++ users know what is going on here? If the screenmodes are not available all of the time, using the new RTG card is just not practical.
I found another source for the GBAPI++. It is installed in an A3000. An old set of instructions was followed referring to the last freely available version of P96 software and the GBAPII++ driver.
The install did not go well. At least, the results I saw were not in accordance with the instructions. I was able to find a work-around, however. I started with the latest P96 that *I* have (v3.2.1). This eliminated some warnings I received with the older install. The GBAPII++ driver was also installed but I had to manually add "fastlayers.library" to my system first since it checks for that.
With P96 and GBAPII++ drivers installed, I was able to get P96Mode to see the board. I removed invalid resolutions and saved the settings.
Here's where the trouble starts. The GBAPII++ monitor file does not seem to activate itself on startup, even though my PAL and NTSC monitor files work fine. I need to manually double-click on the GBAPII++ monitor file in order to see the new screenmodes appear in the screenmode prefs. I tested the screenmode I wanted and saved the setting.
As would be expected, the new screenmode does not load when the system is turned on or restarted. Screenmode prefs will only show PAL and NTSC modes unless I manually double-click on the RTG monitor file.
Any GBAPII++ users know what is going on here? If the screenmodes are not available all of the time, using the new RTG card is just not practical.
Thought I would give an update to this old post. The problem ended up being very simple-- the "Execute" attribute was not enabled on the monitor file!
I traced the source of this back to the archive being in .zip format as it was not the only .zip file I was having this problem with. It seems the Amiga "unzip" program does not set all the proper flags on files that it unzips....at least not the Execute flag. I am using the latest unzip program as far as I know. I found no info on anyone else mentioning this problem, however. Since other archivers (lzh, lha, etc.) gained much more ground in the Amiga community, I can see how it might have not got any attention.
Still, there are many "new" sources of .zip files being used for Amiga archives. I'm just extra observant when unzipping them on an Amiga.
I traced the source of this back to the archive being in .zip format as it was not the only .zip file I was having this problem with. It seems the Amiga "unzip" program does not set all the proper flags on files that it unzips....at least not the Execute flag. I am using the latest unzip program as far as I know. I found no info on anyone else mentioning this problem, however. Since other archivers (lzh, lha, etc.) gained much more ground in the Amiga community, I can see how it might have not got any attention.
Still, there are many "new" sources of .zip files being used for Amiga archives. I'm just extra observant when unzipping them on an Amiga.
Glad it worked out for you and thanks for sharing the solution!