jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (11/23/87)
This is to the folks at CA, (George or others). Harv Laser mentioned the new stuff planned for 88 that Dale and others mentioned at the JAUG meeting last Friday. I am curious about the KS 1.21-1.3-1.4 rom upgrades planned for 88. First of all he says it is easy to replace the roms in the A2000. How easy is it. Do you need a chip puller, are the roms easy to get out of the sockets? Second, with upgrades planned for Feb, (ver 1.21 KS and 1.2 WB), Spring, (ver 1.3 KS) and Summber (ver 1.4 KS) is there any reason to get each as they come out? I mean depending on how easy it is for the non-hardware person like me to put the roms in both of my 2000's (yes I have two one at home and one at work now!) this could be a real bother upgrading roms every few months. However if they come out of the sockets real easy, then I guess it is no bother. However given the fact that there appears to be plans for upgrades all the way through 1.4 KS, is there any reason for us 2000 owners to get all 3 upgrades. Or should we wait for the last one of the year, like 1.4. What advantage (if any) would there be for getting each upgrade as they come out---especially if it is a big hassle to put the roms in (I don't want to have to haul both machines to the dealers every few months as 1.21, then 1.3, and finally 1.4 comes out). But if average me, with no chip pullers can find the roms easy to replace, is it still worth the cost/hassle or should I wait till say 1.4 comes out? Just curious, but I hate to waste time and energy (plus hassle if roms are hard to put in myself) upgrading so often. I had hoped I would not have to for awhile---plus I don't think I will have the $ to pay for up to 3 rom upgrades in as little as one year! Any comments the CATS staff could make on what an a2000 or a500 owner should do would be most appreciated. We thank you for all the wonderful support you have been giving us on the NET. MUCH APPRECIATED BY ME!!!!!!!!! Russ Jacobson, Coal Geologist Illinois Geological Survey Rm 203 Nat. Res. Bldg. 615 E. Peabody Drive Champaign, IL 61820 1-217-244-2425 USENET: [ihnp4,pur-ee,convex]!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!uiucuxe!jacobson ARPANET: jacobsonuiucuxe@a.cs.uiuc.edu CSNET: jacobsonuiucuxe@uiuc.csnet
grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) (11/24/87)
In article <45600039@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > > This is to the folks at CA, (George or others). Harv Laser mentioned the > new stuff planned for 88 that Dale and others mentioned at the JAUG > meeting last Friday. I am curious about the KS 1.21-1.3-1.4 rom upgrades > planned for 88. For perspective sake, please note that any of the things reported were at best informed opinions on what should happen in the future, not "official" announcments or releases. > First of all he says it is easy to replace the roms in the A2000. How > easy is it. Do you need a chip puller, are the roms easy to get out of > the sockets? A screwdriver seems to work quite nicely. > > Second, with upgrades planned for Feb, (ver 1.21 KS and 1.2 WB), Spring, > (ver 1.3 KS) and Summber (ver 1.4 KS) is there any reason to get each as > they come out? As I understand it, the general idea is to get out a version with improved HD/A2000 support fairly quickly, while the latter version(s) will include more in the way of enhancements. Other than suggesting that 1.2.1 might not be very interesting to people without hard disks, I think it will be a while before the details of the other releases will be firmed up. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|ihnp4|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)
mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) (11/25/87)
> Second, with upgrades planned for Feb, (ver 1.21 KS and 1.2 WB), Spring, > (ver 1.3 KS) and Summber (ver 1.4 KS) is there any reason to get each as > they come out? Somehow I find it hard to believe these rumors...that seems like a pretty tight timetable for upgrades to the system software. I can believe the 1.3 release for spring, but a 1.4 release for summer seems a bit far-fetched. On the same topic, I was considering buying a Kickstart ROM for my A1000. The two competing units seem to be CMI's Kickstart Eliminator and Michigan Software's Kwikstart. The Kwikstart seems to have an advantage in that you can get back to the normal Kickstart screen by holding down some esoteric key sequence. I have some questions? * If Commodore provides a future upgrade to Kickstart in ROM, will it work directly with either/both of these kits or will I have to go to the manufacturer for an update? * What happens if Commodore starts using the second half of the Kickstart ROM space? The CMI product uses that space to map the Kickstart RAM to. Does that mean the CMI board is in trouble in that case? What about the Kwikstart board? Does it map the Kickstart RAM to the same address space? * Is there any way to provide 512K Kickstart ROM space on the A1000? The comments from the Commodore folk so far have indicated that if the extra Kickstart ROM gets used, it would more than likely be for stuff that would otherwise reside on the Workbench disk, rather than introduce incompatibilities between the 1000 and the 500/2000. Nevertheless, it would be convenient to have the whole thing in ROM on the A1000 too. Michael Portuesi / Carnegie Mellon University ARPA/UUCP: mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu BITNET: rainwalker@drycas "off the rack or custom-fit, it all seems the same" --ABC, "Date Stamp"
manes@xanth.UUCP (Mark Manes) (11/26/87)
FLAME ON! In article <45600039@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > >This is to the folks at CA, (George or others). Harv Laser mentioned the >new stuff planned for 88 that Dale and others mentioned at the JAUG >meeting last Friday. I am curious about the KS 1.21-1.3-1.4 rom upgrades >planned for 88. > >First of all he says it is easy to replace the roms in the A2000. How >easy is it. Do you need a chip puller, are the roms easy to get out of >the sockets? Isnt that a silly question??? Of course you should use a chip puller, and yes, so you dont ask Commodore, you should probably wear a grounding strap as well! > >Second, with upgrades planned for Feb, (ver 1.21 KS and 1.2 WB), Spring, >(ver 1.3 KS) and Summber (ver 1.4 KS) is there any reason to get each as >they come out? I mean depending on how easy it is for the non-hardware >person like me to put the roms in both of my 2000's (yes I have two one >at home and one at work now!) this could be a real bother upgrading roms >every few months. However if they come out of the sockets real easy, then >I guess it is no bother. It is for this very reason that the folks at Commodore never give dates! Those dates are RUMORS! Not fact! Planned is another key word. They have not yet even got a good start on 1.3 from what I hear. You should always keep your system software / hardware up to date so the latest copy of blow the aliens works! Think man! > >However given the fact that there appears to be plans for upgrades all >the way through 1.4 KS, is there any reason for us 2000 owners to get all >3 upgrades. Or should we wait for the last one of the year, like 1.4. >What advantage (if any) would there be for getting each upgrade as they >come out---especially if it is a big hassle to put the roms in (I don't >want to have to haul both machines to the dealers every few months as 1.21, >then 1.3, and finally 1.4 comes out). But if average me, with no chip pullers >can find the roms easy to replace, is it still worth the cost/hassle or >should I wait till say 1.4 comes out? Too many upgrades???? Oh my gosh! Please do not worry about it. >Russ Jacobson, Coal Geologist >Illinois Geological Survey >Rm 203 Nat. Res. Bldg. >615 E. Peabody Drive >Champaign, IL 61820 > >1-217-244-2425 >
bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) (11/26/87)
In article <> mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) writes: > * Is there any way to provide 512K Kickstart ROM space on the A1000? Yes. Provided you are talking a ROM kit, it would not be much harder to make it 512K of ROM vs. 256K of ROM. (To do a Kickstart in ROM upgrade already requires a little hardware hacking, doing 512K is not any more involved). If you want to boot a 512K Kickstart disk the hack gets much more involved. On a separate subject, the internal piggyback-the-chip-ram hack would be very interesting to do as a piggyback-the-WCS hack. The chip hack ends up as half-fast memory. WCS is true-fast. Random technical info: Normally the WCS is at $FC0000. With KS in ROM the normal setup is ROM at $FC0000 and the 256K of ram at $F80000. Some people have set this up so V1.2 is in ROM, and V1.1 Kickstart is loaded into the memory. A switch swaps Kickstarts. > * If Commodore provides a future upgrade to Kickstart in ROM, will it >work directly with either/both of these kits or will I have to go to the >manufacturer for an update? Commodore will probably release the ROMs in two forms: A Kickstart disk A 128K * 16 bit ROM, as used in the A500/A2000. This means that you will need to have somebody reprogram the EPROMS in your upgrade kit. This will probably be supported by the manufacturer of your kit. Alternately you could purchase the new Kickstart disk and have your local hardware hacker do the ROM job. (You purchase the disk so you legally own a copy of the new Kickstart) |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, SOH, EOT) {o O} . bryce@hoser.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!hoser!bryce (") U WARNING: hoser's spool directory eats a *lot* of mail. :-(
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (11/30/87)
in article <cVeloXy00XcQQU80-l@andrew.cmu.edu>, mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) says: > In-Reply-To: <45600039@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> > * If Commodore provides a future upgrade to Kickstart in ROM, will it > work directly with either/both of these kits or will I have to go to the > manufacturer for an update? From what I've seen, these kits use 4 x 512K ROMs, while the A2000-style ROM is a single 2Meg ROM. So you'd probably have to get the ROM from them, not Amiga. Or make them yourself if you have an EPROM burner (I'd expect the ROMs they give you are EPROMs, not masked ROMs, so you could erase the old ones and put in the new code with access to the proper hardware). > * What happens if Commodore starts using the second half of the > Kickstart ROM space? The CMI product uses that space to map the Kickstart > RAM to. I expect that's a problem to some degree. If a 512K KickStart ROM came along, you might put the 256K version in ROM, then put most of the extra stuff in that special 256K with a custom boot disk. Kind of like a half KickStart boot disk. > * Is there any way to provide 512K Kickstart ROM space on the A1000? > The comments from the Commodore folk so far have indicated that if the extra > Kickstart ROM gets used, it would more than likely be for stuff that would > otherwise reside on the Workbench disk, rather than introduce > incompatibilities between the 1000 and the 500/2000. Nevertheless, it would > be convenient to have the whole thing in ROM on the A1000 too. 512K of ROM on the A1000 would need some special hardware of some kind. The 4 x 512K EPROMs are just about all that fits in the allocated space, but if the daughterboard is gone anyway, I'm sure that 1 x 4meg or 2 x 2meg ROMs could be put in place. It's already decoded for that, just a matter of hooking everything up properly. Though it's probably going to be awhile before there's a 512K KickStart. > Michael Portuesi / Carnegie Mellon University -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga Usenet: {ihnp4|uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh "The B2000 Guy" PLINK : D-DAVE H BIX : hazy "I can't relax, 'cause I'm a Boinger!"