A1200+8MB+PCMCIA?
Joseph Snider
I was wondering something..
Ive heard there are conflicts with having more then 4 mbs of memory in an
a1200, while using the pcmcia slot. Is this correct? I currently have a
memory board with an 8mb simm/68881 fpu and want to add a pcmcia scsi
controller.. (Like the squirrel scsi2) Would there by any problem? Or have
I misunderstood?
I know it would be easier to just buy an accelerator with a scsi option,
but im short on funds and scsi needs to come first.
Thanks for any help.
--
Jurjen Oskam
In a message dated 08 Nov 97 (04:35:26) Joseph Snider wrote to All:
Hi Joseph!
JS> Ive heard there are conflicts with having more then 4 mbs of memory in
JS> an a1200, while using the pcmcia slot. Is this correct? I currently have
It's correct that some boards map the memory in the PCMCIA space. Boards that
can take more than 8 Mb generally don't have that problem. I don't know whether
your board disables PCMCIA. Are you using the 3.1 ROM? Then you can test it:
check (using ARTM or something) whether cardres.resource (or something alike)
exists. If it exists, your PCMCIA is working fine.
--
Jurjen Oskam -=* Finger joskam(at)worldonline(dot)nl for PGP public key *=-
* Please replace "usur-" with "usura" *** AddFlitsendGedeelte() ; -- rbos *
... Join the TAGLINE CHAIN! Copy this and add one. This is number #98423176
Hannu Nevalainen
On 09-Nov-97 13:18:23
Jurjen Oskam <joskam@usur-.worldonline.nl> wrote
>In a message dated 08 Nov 97 (04:35:26) Joseph Snider wrote to All:
>Hi Joseph!
JS>> Ive heard there are conflicts with having more then 4 mbs of memory in
JS>> an a1200, while using the pcmcia slot. Is this correct? I currently have
>It's correct that some boards map the memory in the PCMCIA space. Boards that
>can take more than 8 Mb generally don't have that problem. I don't know
>whether your board disables PCMCIA. Are you using the 3.1 ROM? Then you can
>test it: check (using ARTM or something) whether cardres.resource (or
>something alike) exists. If it exists, your PCMCIA is working fine.
- -
1> PROCESSOR: CPU 68040/68040fpu
CUSTOM CHIPS: AA PAL Alice (id=$0023), AA Lisa (id=$00F8)
VERS: Kickstart version 39.106, Exec version 39.47, Disk version 40.42
RAM: Node type $A, Attributes $5 (FAST), at $1000000-$2FFFFFF (32.0 meg)
Node type $A, Attributes $703 (CHIP), at $1000020-$1FFFFF (~4082.0
meg)
BOARDS:
Board + ROM (HD?) (unidentified): Prod=8738/35($2222/$23) (@$EA0000 128K)
- -
(The strange CHIP RAM entry is caused by FastExec beeing active)
If the above RAM list contains entries in the ($200,000-) $600,000-$A00,000
range, then you may have PCMCIA<->RAM conflicts AFAIK
Hannu E.K.Nevalainen C= A1200/Apollo1240/40 32M, WD 1.2GB Caviar
he...@warez.it.kth.se C= 1084S/Euro36:Hires Lace/68Hz 704x400
--
The QUIZ: Will a 64MB Wintel run as smoothly as a 10MB Amiga?
- Amiga RAM-map: (extract from first version if RKRM Hardware) -
$00,0000 - $20,0000-1 : 2 MB CHIP RAM (512K/1MB in older Amiga)
$20,0000 - $60,0000-1 : 4 MB FAST RAM \_ "external expansions"
$60,0000 - $A0,0000-1 : 4 MB FAST RAM or PCMCIA /
$A0,0000 - $C0,0000-1 : "Do not use"
$BF,D000 - $BF,DF00 : 8520-B (even address CIA)
$BF,E001 - $BF,EF01 : 8520-A (odd address CIA)
$C0,0000 - $E0,0000-1 : "Reserved for future use"
$E0,0000 - $E8,0000-1 : "Reserved for future use - do not use"
$E8,0000 - $F0,0000-1 : "Expansion slot encoding"
$F0,0000 - $F8,0000-1 : "Reserved - do not use" (ROM in newer Amiga)
$F8,0000 - $100,0000-1 : System ROM
$100,0000 -$FFFF,FFFF : Free space for _32 bit_ addresses
Note that the 68020 in an A1200 uses 24 bit addresses (6 hex digits). Thus it
cannot be used with "things" residing in the 32 bit space.
Bruno Miguel Rosa - LEF
On Sat, 8 Nov 1997, Joseph Snider wrote:
hello joseph
> I was wondering something..
>
> Ive heard there are conflicts with having more then 4 mbs of memory in an
> a1200, while using the pcmcia slot. Is this correct? I currently have a
> memory board with an 8mb simm/68881 fpu and want to add a pcmcia scsi
> controller.. (Like the squirrel scsi2) Would there by any problem? Or have
> I misunderstood?
well ....concerning your board..i dont know...but from my personal
experience..i know that for instance my board (M-Tec 1230) conficts with
the pcmcia when you fit an extra 8 meg..i have 8 megs and my pcmcia does
not work..i know this does not happen with the newer tutrbo cards...
well i hope that helped..
> I know it would be easier to just buy an accelerator with a scsi option,
> but im short on funds and scsi needs to come first.
true...:)
### ######### ###### ####
#### #### #### ################# ####### # ###
## ###### ## ####
# Bruno Miguel Contente Rosa - Student of Physics #####
## New University of Lisbon - Faculty of Science and Technology ###
# -----> Email- B...@Students.si.fct.unl.pt <----- ##
### ##### ##### ##
####### ########### ############# ######### #####
#### ### ####
###
Oliver D Jones
Joseph Snider wrote:
>
> I was wondering something..
>
> Ive heard there are conflicts with having more then 4 mbs of memory in an
> a1200, while using the pcmcia slot. Is this correct? I currently have a
> memory board with an 8mb simm/68881 fpu and want to add a pcmcia scsi
> controller.. (Like the squirrel scsi2) Would there by any problem? Or have
> I misunderstood?
Most reputable board manufacturers recognised the problem with A1200
PCMCIA and 8MB(+) clashes. Here's the problem: in a standard A1200, you
can only address 16MB of memory. I'm not sure where the PCMCIA card
memory appears to the 68EC020, but I think it's fairly low(ish.) Some
board manufacturers map their boards down lower in memory so you can
fit, say a 4MB + 8MB SIMM pair at 0x40000000, rather than one 8MB SIMM
at 0x80000000.
Personally, what I would recommend to you is this: junk your memory
board. Buy something like a Blizzard A1230 (they are *excellent* value,
especially considering the tremendous speed advantage they offer.) You
can add as much memory as you like to the Blizzard (up to 256MB, I
believe. Whether you can afford to, or would want to in the first place,
is another matter! :-) )
> I know it would be easier to just buy an accelerator with a scsi option,
> but im short on funds and scsi needs to come first.
What you need to do is step back and ask yourself if you are going about
it in the best way you can. Consider getting a second-hand A1230-IV, and
buying a SCSI interface (possibly second-hand, too.) There are two
advantages here: Firstly, you get a VERY fast SCSI-II capability. I
haven't seen anything faster for the A1200. Secondly, you *gain* a port,
instead of losing one. Why sacrifice your PCMCIA slot as well? If you
*have* to use that old CPU slot, why not reap the best benefit you can
from it? PCMCIA isn't as useless as it would seem - I use a PCMCIA modem
in mine - frees my serial port for other fun things! ;-)
Using a modem via PCMCIA allows you to use a much quicker modem than you
can with your serial port. Even with a 68060, anything above 57,600 baud
is tricky - however, 115,200 baud via a PCMCIA modem is a snap. It
hardly impacts on system performace at all. You could be forgiven for
thinking it wasn't working at all! :-)
Really, really consider getting a Blizzard 1230. There are other things
to consider as well as SCSI. For instance, you might decide to get
yourself a SCSI tower and have no hard disk inside your A1200 to reduce
interference and lower those demands on your A1200's PSU! It makes all
the difference when you decide to do something fun, like get a sound
sampler. Having loads of interference from your system buggering up your
samples is no fun at all.
Oliver.