I've got a reasonably equipped A2000 (classic GVP Combo 030@50, Toaster, MegaChip) that I've recently done some restoration work on. I've got a ZuluSCSI recently added to it, along with the spiffy 3.2.2 ROM-but, I am bumping into the limits of the GVP's unique ASIC design and FW that makes it difficult to squeeze large partitions out of.
Doing some research on this issue has led me to find "GuruSCSI" (omniscsi.device) ROM+adapter that is the ideal fix for this card, enabling 64bit addressing and breaking through the 4gb barrier.
Learn more here: http://babel.de/amiga.html
Unfortunately, the creator/maintainer of this has made the decision to not leave a lot of breadcrumbs for reproductions. There seems to be some personality dynamics at play that make put this solution into a black box. However, it seems like at least two folks have produced and sold limited quantities of these boards in recent years. All of these folks appear to have dropped off the map.
Looking at the pics of the adapter board, it appears to be incredibly simple-I'd even attempt to KiCAD it myself if I had a enough information. But, I don't.
Anyone know more about this?
-
Mr.Toast
- Roseville, CA
-
dalek
- Australia
It's already been done:
English Amiga Board: A-590 questions
Amibay: some unassembled PCBs for diy projects
Yulquen74 made up some boards (I was lucky enough to buy 3 off him at the time) that are a working clone of the GuruROM and work with the GVP version.
He didn't release his files publicly so I would feel bad redistributing them. But the pal code from the first thread above should be enough for anyone to quickly mock up their own PCB.
Though from memory the GVP 4.15 version without adapter using PFS3 and Direct SCSI was enough to get large drive support even on OS 3.1 and any speed gain going to the guru rom wasn't noticeable. This is backed up here:
English Amiga Board: A-590 questions
Amibay: some unassembled PCBs for diy projects
Yulquen74 made up some boards (I was lucky enough to buy 3 off him at the time) that are a working clone of the GuruROM and work with the GVP version.
He didn't release his files publicly so I would feel bad redistributing them. But the pal code from the first thread above should be enough for anyone to quickly mock up their own PCB.
Though from memory the GVP 4.15 version without adapter using PFS3 and Direct SCSI was enough to get large drive support even on OS 3.1 and any speed gain going to the guru rom wasn't noticeable. This is backed up here:
I can back up what dalek has stated. My GVP '030 board has no trouble with >4GB drives/partitions so long as you are using a modern kickstart and DirectSCSI option in HDToolbox.
I was able to locate a GuruROM v6 which made sense to update to on my GVP '040 since it resolves a bug in combination with GVPCPUctrl. It was also said to improve SCSI transfer speed with the omniscsi synchronous mode but the bump (if any) wasn't significant in my case.
I was able to locate a GuruROM v6 which made sense to update to on my GVP '040 since it resolves a bug in combination with GVPCPUctrl. It was also said to improve SCSI transfer speed with the omniscsi synchronous mode but the bump (if any) wasn't significant in my case.