User avatar
Overmann

Posted Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:53 pm

Hi all,

I recently bought an A1000 (with 256kb ram expansion installed) and I would really like to get a good 1.3 system up and running. For that I am hoping to get some HDD solution, some extra ram and a kickstart. Additional bonus would be a faster 68000 (but I don't really want an 020 or faster).

Now my problem Is that I would LIKE for it to be internal and not require modifying the motherboard in any way. But I can't seem to find something that fits the bill. Alternatively a good external solution would be good but the best I can find offers ram and HDD but no kickstart. I would also really like to avoid having an A500 accelerator sticking out the side of my machine. If I'm going external I would like for it to be in one of those slick white/beige metal chassis.

Does anyone know of something that fits the bill? Or what my easiest path to success will be. Any suggestion is GREATLY appreciated :)

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Aug 14, 2019 3:26 pm

This is a topic I often have with some of my friends. There are several solutions out there, but (for me) it's been a tough road.

I'm stubborn. I like my A1000's to run 1.3.

Most of the solutions you'll find out there utilize IDE HDD options for Compact Flash, etc.

I recently picked up one of these, which fly off the shelves when they get restocked. To the shop owner's knowledge no one has publicly stated if they've put one in an A1000. I only got mine a couple of days ago and haven't had a chance to install it.

It would provide plenty of internal Fast RAM and provide a speed boost (not really critical to me, to be honest). But this board claims it can run 1.3 which is why I decided to get it. I do not yet know if a CPU relocator will be necessary for it to fit (my guess is yes but I don't know for sure).

That all being said, I rather love my external solutions that I'm currently running. They work flawlessly. I have a fully souped up Starboard 2 that has 2MB RAM, a janky but functional (if wrong) RTC, and SCSI port. Via the SCSI port I have a SCSI Zip Drive (100mb) which semi-autoboots off 1 single floppy. Plus, this wacky setup provides a nice table for the external second FDD.
a1000-dreamin.jpg
This machine also has a Rejuvenator, so we get the 2mb Chip RAM and KS 1.3 ROM.

But that's a bizarre setup, I know.

The board above might deserve your research as well as the Wicher 500i, which is also an internal solution if you don't mind using one of EzdineG's Amiga 1000 KS ROM boards (found on this site) and OS 3.1.

No black and white easy answers, really, but the Amiga 1000 is a diva after all.

My favorite internal RAM solution is the MKL 68000 RAM board (8MB) which is affordable and well-built. And I've got a couple of ADspeed accelerators which also stack above the CPU, but mine only work after workbench has booted and the software launched. The manuals say it should work all of the time via a jumper, but mine don't (sigh).

User avatar
dansalvato
Boise, ID

Posted Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:36 pm

Although you mentioned your preference against A500 side expansions, I wanted to voice my satisfaction with using an ACA500plus on my A1000. It features a faster CPU, 8MB Fast RAM, two CF slots for HDDs (one bootable, one hot-swappable with FAT32 support), and a multi-Kickstart ROM. Its boot interface also lets you create multiple profiles with different configurations - for example, I have a profile for a full Workbench 3.1.4 HDD boot, and another for booting floppies on a Kickstart 1.3 ROM. I think given its unrivaled capabilities and pleasant user experience, it would be impossible for me to recommend anything over it.

edit: As McTrinsic says below, ACA500plus doesn't officially support the A1000 and a few people have reported it not working for them. So it's a small risk to purchase one. Sorry, I forgot to mention this in the original reply.
Last edited by dansalvato on Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
McTrinsic

Posted Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:47 pm

The previously mentioned boards for the CPU socket seem very good options. It would especially be great to have an autoboot option with onboard ROM. However, it would be good if anyone could confirm they do work with the A1000. There was a similar homebrew project on a1k.org that eventually had to add wires for certain signals from the motherboard.

The ACAs may or may not work, ymmv. The designer explicitly stated that during tests some A1000s failed to work with them. A few reports on a1k.org confirm this. Most of them work with the ACAs, some just wont.

I guess the previously mentioned board to add a kickstart-ROM should be the first addition anyways.

User avatar
McTrinsic

Posted Wed Aug 14, 2019 10:48 pm

Oh, and for those CF-cards you can get adapters and cables to get down to use a mSD card. These could then be reached through the gaps behind the front expansion.

User avatar
Rossb

Posted Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:57 am

Hi,

I've seen the ACA500Plus mentioned a few times being used in the A1K , and the obvious caveats of installing it the right way round! Also the mention of it sometimes working and sometimes not. I know it's not officially supported, but is there any tips to ensure that it works "most" of the time or indeed why it sometimes doesn't I guess the other bonus of the ACA is that you can add for example a Blizzard or similar. I did toy with buying an ACA500 for my 500 recently but went for the Vampire instead so don't actually have one here to play with.

Regards,

Ross.

User avatar
Rossb

Posted Thu Aug 15, 2019 8:10 am

intric8 wrote: I recently picked up one of these, which fly off the shelves when they get restocked. To the shop owner's knowledge no one has publicly stated if they've put one in an A1000. I only got mine a couple of days ago and haven't had a chance to install it.

It would provide plenty of internal Fast RAM and provide a speed boost (not really critical to me, to be honest). But this board claims it can run 1.3 which is why I decided to get it. I do not yet know if a CPU relocator will be necessary for it to fit (my guess is yes but I don't know for sure).
Be interested in the outcome of the HC533 once you;lve had a chance to try it in your A1000

User avatar
Overmann

Posted Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:50 pm

Thank you to everyone for the responses!

@intric8

Yeah, that IS a bizarre setup! I really like your setup and if I could source/afford these parts I would probably put something very similar together. There is a starboard2 on ebay right now (no stardrive, sadly) but it only ships to the US.
The HC533 looks fantastic! I'd love an update from you once you've given it a spin.

I'm having a hard time figuring out the MKL 68000 RAM board and EzdineG's KS rom board. I seem to find some different things and it appears that I need to solder things to the motherboard for both solutions (or are those some earlier rev's)? I hope to avoid soldering to the board, but that might not be an option?

Witcher500i looks good too, but it requires ks 2.x in order for IDE to work? It does look like it has a feature of some sort to make it easy to make custom ROM's but as far as I can tell it doesn't have a maprom function.. That can't be right? :P

@dansalvato

Thanks, but the ACA500 is out of the question for me. I FULLY understand why people love it but I bought it for my A500 and it just felt wrong. I somehow suddenly felt that there was a piece of modern software/hardware between me and my Amiga. Almost like an emulator. I don't like the vampire solution either, probably for the same reason. Just a preference i guess.

@McTrinsic

Do you know of any KSrom boards that require no soldering? It's not that I don't know how to solder but I would really prefer to not mess around with that sort of stuff on this machine if it can be avoided.

User avatar
BatteMan
France

Posted Fri Aug 16, 2019 12:13 am

On my side, I'll try to install a Classic 520 (from iRIX Labs) in my A1000.

Even if we can't add a Blizzard or another accelerator to this card, the memory is fully fonctionnal with Kickstart 1.3. And, as we can put kickstart in the flashrom, I want to make a kickstart 1.3 with scsi.device in order to use IDE with a WB1.3 :D

Amedia Computer, a french Amiga seller, uses a Classic 520 in his A1000 and I asked him a couple of questions. With his answers and iRIXLabs' answers, I think I can do what I want to do with this baby (a WB1.3 with some extra memory and a hard drive on my 1000) ;)

But ACA500 seems a good option too.
Is ACA500+ fully working on 1000 as ACA500 ? Or do we need to find an old ACA500 ?

User avatar
McTrinsic

Posted Fri Aug 16, 2019 4:08 am

BatteMan,

my question about the 520 is mainly if you can store the ROM permanently in the card or just during boot.

I have seen both in accelerators.





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