Fresh Fish 9/FreshFishVol9-CD2.bin/bbs/reviews/accelerators.lha/accelerators/Amiga1200Survey

Internet Message Format | 1994-11-08 | 44.8 KB

Path: news.uh.edu!barrett
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Judd)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: SURVEY: Amiga 1200 accelerators
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Date: 8 Nov 1994 15:42:59 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 1191
Sender: [e-mail] (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <39o6a3$[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Stephen Judd)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Keywords: hardware, accelerator, survey, A1200, commercial
Originator: [e-mail]


Presenting!  Accelerator Quest: One man's heroic struggle in search of
the ideal Amiga accelerator.

by Stephen Judd  [e-mail]

    Some time ago, in a city perhaps not so far far away, my A1200 sat
on my tabletop, unaccelerated and unexpanded.  It is a dark time for the
rebellion, as the galaxy's last great hope is slowly emasculated in Bahamian
legal debate.  Stubborn resistance persists, however: in a bold stroke
against the Evil Empire, I embarked on a massive expansion of my Amiga 1200
in the form of a hard drive, monitor, and accelerator.  There is plenty of
information on hard drive possibilities, and there is an AGA monitor list as
well, but as I searched I discovered that there was no comprehensive
resource that one could turn to for information about Amiga 1200
accelerators.

    This is an attempt to rectify this situation.  I scoured ftp sites
and magazine ads, and then asked for information on various newsgroups; this
text is the result.

Some notes:

This text contains information on the following A1200 accelerator boards:

    Blizzard/Blizzard II
    GVP A1230-II
    Paravision (a.k.a. Microbotics) MBX
    CSA 12-Gauge
    DKB 1240 Cobra/Mongoose
    M-TEC T1230 RTC

The first part contains a thumbnail sketch of each of the boards.  The
second part contains comments I have received from various owners of the
boards.

    If you want to find out more about an individual board, I suggest
that you email one (or more) of the people in the comments section who
actually own and have used one of the boards; I have found them all to be
most helpful.

    The review is North-America centered; i.e., little information on
European prices or availability.  There are several European users in the
comments section who can supply additional information.

    Everyone seems to be very happy with their boards; it's not as if
there are any boards to avoid.

    Some boards disable the PCMCIA slot: be aware.

    Some boards suck a lot of power; you might want to get an external
power supply, like a Bigfoot.  Some boards also heat up; little fans are
available to fix this for a nominal cost.

    Prices are meant to be indicative of the going price, and are not
necessarily the cheapest prices.

    Memory these days is around $179 for 4MB 60ns SIMM and $335 for 8MB
60ns SIMM.

    I did not include AIBB benchmarks because a) the differences are
going to be minor and b) only one person sent me any :)

Some things to consider when examining the boards:
    -Whether or not the unit has an on-board battery backed-up clock,
     something the 1200 lacks.
    -Whether the board allows SCSI and SCSI-II.
    -Whether your PCMCIA slot is going to disappear.
    -How many SIMM slots compared with how much memory you will need.
    -The cost of the board (no, really?).
    -Whether or not the board comes with an MMU.  It is an option on many
     boards, but is used by few Amiga programs.

    The format for listing each board's features is

        Processor Speed/Coprocessor Speed/Memory/SCSI

For example, "50/0/0/Optional" means 50 MHz processor speed, no coprocessor,
no memory, and optional SCSI.  For SCSI, "optional" means that SCSI is not
included with the board, but is available as an add-on.

    Please distribute this list everywhere you can.  I ask only that you
leave the comments section intact.

So, without further ado...


Blizzard/Blizzard II:
====================

    Advanced Systems and Software
    Amiga Support Department
    1329 Skiles
    Dallas, TX 75204  USA
    214-821-7776

    There are three very encouraging reviews in c.s.a.reviews for this
board, but they are all from Europe.  I called AS&S, and talked to a very
pleasant person there.

    68030 MMU 50/0/0/Optional    $525  (Advanced Systems and Software)
          No  40/0/0/Optional    $395

As you can see, they seem costly here in the states.  Perhaps dealers would
have them for less.

European prices:
    68030 MMU 50/50/4/Optional 500 UKP
    68030 no  40/40/4/Optional 400 UKP

Blizzard 1220/4
    68020  No 28/0/4/None       200 UKP

-Clock
-Autoconfigures
-SCSI is a small add-on card; SCSI-II available
-Mixing of different SIMM types is possible
-Two SIMM slots
-"Feature Connector" for future expansion

For more details on this board, see one of the three reviews in the
c.s.a.reviews archives.  [MODERATOR'S NOTE:  See the bottom of this review
for information on obtaining archived reviews.  - Dan]

GVP A1230-II:
============

    Great Valley Products
    657 Clark Avenue
    King of Prussia, PA 19460  USA
    610-354-9495

    Very fast unit, SCSI available.  Requires GVP SIMMS, which are
faster but more expensive.  Positive review in AmigaWorld.

    030   MMU 50/50/4/SCSI        $589   (Creative Computers)
    030   No  40/40/4/Option    $399   (Creative Computers)

-Clock
-Autoconfigures properly
-Requires GVP SIMMS (more expensive but faster)
-SCSI is a plug-in board.  Theoretically other things (like a PC emulator)
 could also be plugged into this board, although as far as I know none exist.
 SCSI is DMA
-Two SIMM slots -- up to 32 Megs of memory.
-Might disable PCMCIA

    I think the main advantage of this unit is that it is all-in-one;
that is, once you buy one you don't have to go SIMM shopping etc.  On the
downside are educated rumors that GVP is trying to get out of the Amiga
business; note that GVP has no ad in the October AmigaWorld.  (On the other
hand, once you've got the accelerator what do you need GVP for?)


Paravision MBX:
==============

    Paravision (bought Microbotics)
    500 East Arapaho, Suite 104
    Richardson, TX 75024  USA
    [phone]

    Inexpensive unit.  Stable.  Microbotics has a long history of building
solid products.

    030   MMU 50/50/0/No        $299  (AmigaMan)
          MMU 33/33/0/No        $269  Memory World ($249 DeVine)
          MMU 28/28/0/No        $199  MW

Note: Paravision was offering the 33/33/0 direct, shipped, for $219.  I have
no idea if this offer is still valid.

-Board does not autoconfig (supposedly will do so for OS 3.1).  This means
 that some libraries will be stored in CHIP RAM, until the OS is told that
 FAST is available.
-No built-in SCSI; one alternative is to buy the Expansion Systems SCSI+
 expander, around $99.
-Very positive feedback from owners.
-Only one SIMM slot.
-Clock

The main advantage of this unit is value: you get an awful lot for what
you pay for.  I received a very enthusiastic response about this board;
obviously it is a popular unit.  The primary disadvantage is the lack
of autoconfiguration, and the non-expandablity of the unit.

A review is available in the c.s.a.reviews archives.


CSA 12-Gauge:
============

    CSA / Computer Systems Associates
    7564 Trade St.
    San Diego, CA 92121  USA
    [phone]

    030    MMU 50/0/0/SCSI        $499  (Memory World)
    (other configurations available)

-Autoconfigs properly
-No clock
-SCSI is non-DMA, which translates to additional CPU usage when transferring
 data.  Max data transfer rate is around 850K/sec.
-Supports 68030 BURST-Mode for memory access.
-Expandable to 32 megs.
-Can disable the unit for software compatibility
-Possible heating problems; inexpensive fans are available.

    A bit expensive but well built.  This was one of the first 1200
accelerators available, and it is still one of the highest performers.
It is often advertised in conjunction with "optional Networking Controller";
see the comments section for a description of this.


DKB 1240 Cobra:
==============

    DKB
    50240 W. Pontiac Trail
    Wixom, MI 48393  USA
    313-960-8751

    DKB is another company with a long history of quality Amiga products.
This board is relatively new.

    ---         0/0/0/Optional    $189  (Safe Harbor)
    030    MMU 28/0/0/Optional    $189  (Safe Harbor)
    030    No  40/0/0/Optional    $225  (Safe Harbor)
    030    MMU 50/50/0/Optional    $355

-Clock
-SCSI-II expansion supposedly available around X-Mas (around $130)
-Supports up to 128Megs
-One SIMM slot
-Autoconfigs

Note: The 28MHz version is surface mounted.  The 40 and 50 versions might also
be as well.  The 28MHz version is apparently being discontinued.  A bare,
socketed board is also available, so that you can add your own processor etc.
The 50MHz board just starting shipping (Nov. 2 1994).

This board is inexpensive and expandable.  Note that the processor is an 030,
not an 040, as might be assumed from the model number.  Also note that the
above information is tentative and based on descriptions by the dealer; I do
not yet have a board in hand.

This is the board I purchased.  Watch for a review in c.s.a.reviews.  See
some of my initial impressions in the comments below.


M-TEC T1230/28 RTC
==================

    Sorry, I don't seem to have an address. :(

Note  that the number "1230" is the same number used by the
Paravision board as well as the GVP Board.  Caveat Emptor.


030     MMU 28/28/0/SCSI(optional)              $169.95  (Software Hut)
        (Other configurations available -- see comments)

-Clock
-One SIMM socket
-PGA and PLCC coprocessor sockets (different models of coprocessor)
-SCSI-II is available
-Fixable hardware bug on early versions of the board

Note: The processor on this board is surface-mounted.

Looks like another good board at a good price.  This is the least expensive
accelerator available in the US, as far as I can tell.  A major disadvantage
to some is that the processor is surface-mounted.  Apparently a 68LC040 version
is in the works.


Other boards
============

    In the c.s.a.reviews REVIEWS WANTED posting, I note that there are
apparently other accelerators out there.  Unfortunately, I know nothing
about them whatsoever.

    Overall I think the range of boards available complement each other
very well.  You can buy a cheap board and upgrade as your needs and checking
account allow or you can buy a complete setup.  Each board has some strengths
and weaknesses, and chances are you will be extremely satisfied with whatever
board you get.

    All of the accelerators have been coming down in price recently,
so now is a great opportunity for A1200 users to get some more performance
out of their little boxes.

Accelerator Quest: Finis
========================

    I chose the DKB 1240.  Initially I bought the 28MHz version with the
intention of getting a cheap, upgradable accelerator.  I felt that because
of programming the few tools which use the MMU were more important to me than
the extra speed, and I felt the additional expandability was to me worth the
small extra cost of this board compared with others.  Unfortunately, my board
was defective, and I decided to trade it in for the new 50MHz version.  I have
made a few additional comments below.

    I hope this list helps you out in your own Accelerator Quest.

    evetS-

Comments
========

    These are comments made to me by various owners of the accelerators
mentioned above.  They are intended to give a "user's" feel for the boards,
as well as to make the commenters world famous, possibly leading to
unheard-of wealth and movie offers and that sort of thing.

Comments in square brackets [] are mine.

First a comment of the subject of "How much memory is a lot?", relating to my
earlier comment of "Some things to think about: How many SIMM sockets does the
board have (i.e. what are your memory needs going to be)?".

From: [e-mail] (Adrian Corral)

    Regarding memory usage and whether or not I wish I had 10 megs total,
    well, in the beginning, I thought that I would not need any more than
    6 megs total.  Well, then I started playing around with ray-tracing
    and animation a little - 10 helped out more.  Now, I wish I did have
    more memory.  It all depends on what you do.  For 90% of Amiga stuff,
    the lousy market and serving to the low-end machines has made it
    pretty uncommon for applications and games and stuff to use any more
    than a couple of megs - I hope this is changing - SimCity2000 has
    just been released for AGA only, hard drive recommended, and a
    minimum of 5 megs or ram needed to run when on a hard disk.  This is
    the kind of thing that I like to see - something that makes use of my
    accelerated machine.

    Too long have I put up with crippled versions of games just because the
    majority of people have A500's still and don't want to upgrade.

    10 megs is by far more than enough unless you do any kind of somewhat
    intensive ray-tracing or animation.  Then, you can never have enough
    memory.

    -Adrian


Blizzard / Blizzard II
======================

From: [e-mail] (Tor Rune Skoglund)
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology

Great board. FAST SCSI-II controller available.

      /// Tor Rune Skoglund * [e-mail] * tel/fax [phone]
     /// Address: Linerleveien. 7 B, N-7022 Trondheim, Norway
__  /// -STAY-AWAY-FROM-WTS-ELECTRONICS,ENGLAND- Calvin`s wise words #5 -
\\\/// `Let's see, how many buckets do we have? Dum de doo c/` No cause for
 \/// alarm ... no need to panic ... I just want a few buckets. La la..'

From: [e-mail] (Alan L.M. Buxey)
Organization: Institute Of Studies For Advanced Amiga Usage

:     68030 MMU 50/0/0/Optional    $525
:            ?  40/0/0/Optional    $395

the 40MHz version doesn't have an MMU.

68030 50Mhz, 50Mhz 68882, 4MB RAM        500 UKP.

optional SCSI-II controller is 79 UKP.

a fan kit can be bought for 15 UKP to keep the thing cool... ;)


BTW, you didn't mention the Blizzard A1220 board!!

[That's because it isn't available here in the states :) -S]

68020/28/4MB ram/ optional/none   200 UKP

double clocked 020 makes your amiga 4.2 times faster than vanilla
machine. very efficient, highest rated accelerator in recent amiga
format review.

alan
 --Replies appreciated--|Info:Male21EnglishANLandCATCJBsupporterActiveontheNet
.----Kill The Bill-----.|foralmost3yearsUKcorrespondantforAmigaReportandinfoma
| Alan L.M. Buxey BSc. ||tiongiverformanytopicsKeeperofseveralAmigalistsWWWpag
|[e-mail]||esplannedforuseAmigaAffectionadoNowdoingaPhDhereinUK.
`-I use PGP--Do you??--'|The Amiga - Now There's A Reason For Not Owning A PC.
InterNet Amiga Magazine, "Amiga Report". Do you read it?  Ready to know  more?


From: [e-mail] (Paul Adams)
Organization: University of Salford

Well, I ordered a Blizzard A1230-II 50Mhz full 030 with 8mb in the uk.
   The bare board costs about 300 pounds, but at the moment there
is a slight backlog.  I'm on a four week waiting list.
   I'll certainly let you know how I find it when it arrives.
Although I might have a bit of trouble fitting it.  Some company fitted a
Maxtor 3.5" IDE into my A1200, and it sticks out towards the trapdoor
space, obstructing access to about 3 cms of the edge connector, so unless
i can get some sort of edge connector expansion cable and hide it away
under the motherboard someplace, I might have to move the drive to outside
the computer.

 /+----------------------------------------+\
|        [e-mail]         |
|     Puke Bilewalker of the Rebel Scum      |
 \+----------------------------------------+/

From: "Alan L.M. Buxey" <[e-mail]>

the boards have the following

 - Clock
 - Autoconfigures properly
 - Requires standard 72-pin SIMMS
 - Two SIMM slots -- up to 64 Megs of memory.
 - SCSI is a small add-on Card.
 - There is ALSO a "feature connector" -> interesting add-ons are
   planned such as DSP or MPEG card.


BTW< as added information, Gordon Harwoods, the UK supplier of these boards
reckon that they ship up to 1000 of these cards weekly when the sales are at
max.!! :)

alan
 --Replies appreciated--|Info:Male21EnglishANLandCATCJBsupporterActiveontheNet
.----Kill The Bill-----.|foralmost3yearsUKcorrespondantforAmigaReportandinfoma
| Alan L.M. Buxey BSc. ||tiongiverformanytopicsKeeperofseveralAmigalistsWWWpag
|[e-mail]||esplannedforuseAmigaAffectionadoNowdoingaPhDhereinUK.
`I use PGP2.6--Do you??'|The Amiga-NowThere'sAReasonForNotOwningAPC.WhyDoIHave
InterNet Amiga Magazine,"Amiga Report".DoUreadit?Want2KnowMore?2LiveSoFarAway?



GVP A1230-II
============

>From [e-mail] Sat Oct 15 17:34 CDT 1994
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

    I have a GVP A1230 turbo+ series II board for my A1200.
    It does autoconfig and does have a clock.

    Here is my configuration.

    68030 MMU/FPU @ 50mhz (Fast!!!)
    8 megs 60ns Fast RAM (up to 32 total for a grand 34 megs total memory
    -2 slots)

    I love it - does get a little warm, but I have an internal fan installed

    It also has a Scsi controller - $80.00 for extension to slot on board.

    -Adrian

[Well, OK, this next one probably isn't an owner ;-) ]

From: [e-mail] (Tor Rune Skoglund)
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology

> GVP A1230:
>
>     Very fast unit, fast SCSI available.  Requires GVP SIMMS, which are
> faster but more expensive.  Positive review in AmigaWorld.

Not "FAST SCSI-II", only SCSI. Don`t think the controller is particularly
fast. GVP SIMMs are more expensive, and I have never seen anything which
should indicate that they add anything but price to the system.

      /// Tor Rune Skoglund * [e-mail] * tel/fax [phone]
     /// Address: Linerleveien. 7 B, N-7022 Trondheim, Norway
__  /// -STAY-AWAY-FROM-WTS-ELECTRONICS,ENGLAND- Calvin`s wise words #5 -
\\\/// `Let's see, how many buckets do we have? Dum de doo c/` No cause for
 \/// alarm ... no need to panic ... I just want a few buckets. La la..'


From: [e-mail] (Carlos Goncalves Carvalho)

I've got the GVP 1230 II, with the 68EC030, no FPU , and 4 Mbytes RAM.

Yes, it's got a clock :-).

:     -Do these boards all come with some way of disabling the accelerator,
:      i.e. using the 68020 again?  Is there even any software which
:      requires this?

It doesn't, but I haven't felt the need for it...

: If you already own a 1200 accelerator I would very much appreciate any
: comments you might be able to give me on the pros and cons of the systems
: below (i.e. MBX is not auto-config, GVP needs GVP SIMMS, overheating, etc.)

My GVP does not overheat...

: Some boards suck a lot of power; you might want to get an external power
: supply, like a Bigfoot.

There is another solution: The initial A500 had more powerful power
supplies, so you can just switch them. (This is true as far as my PAL
A500 is concerned...)

[It's true here in the states as well]

Carlos

--
Carlos G. Carvalho
[e-mail]

From: [e-mail] (Kim F Ong)
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium

I own a GVP A1230 Turbo + II accelerator for my A1200 and I am finding it
working well. It has a built-in clock running on a socketed battery
supply. This bit of design is rather exclusive among A1200 accelerators
as some or most accelerators you find on the market usually have the
battery for the clock soldered in. Bring out the iron when the battery
runs out I guess! ;)

Yes, the card comes with the necessary software that includes autoconfig
for the board. You just need to follow the installation instructions
and it will copy a file to the WBstartup drawer. The disk also includes
a memcheck and sysinfo utility.

As for GVP, I can't very well make any comment here in UK as they only
have distributors here in the country. Butn they have a BBS (215) 337-
5815 (8,N,1) (US, I think?) and a Compuserve account at 72662,51. I am
not sure if these numbers are right. You can try them and tell me perhaps?

Overview:
either 68ec030/40 or 68030/50
Up to 32MB 32bit 60ns Fast RAM
optional 68882 FPU
battery backed RTC
ROM remapping
SCSI2 Fast adaptor optional (not so sure about this, saw this on an ad)
I also heard of plans coming up with a digitiser and FMV module (?),
again not sure.

One niggle I found:
the PGA socket was very tight. It seems that they do not use a standard
socket for the FPU as they did for the CPU on the card. As a result,
the fitting of the FPU was quite difficult as the "socket" was very tight.
I think I actually spoiled my board when I first did it. Currently, the
one inside my A1200 is a replacement kindly provided by my local Amiga
shop! Those fellas were great! (Thanks Silica!)

Will be glad to answer any more queries about my board.

Cheers!

Kim

--
UUU   Kim Fong Ong                              UUU
UUU   University College London (BA Fine Art)   UUU
UUU   E-mail <[e-mail]>                UUU


From: [e-mail]

 These are the results from AIBB 6.1 on my A1200 with the GVP
A1230 series II with a 50 MHz 68030, 50 MHz 68882, 8 megs of
fast RAM, and nothing in the PCMCIA port. I do have the A1291
SCSI controller, but had all drives powered down, then booted
without a startup-sequence, ran SetPatch, then ran AIBB. I
used the A1200-NF as the base, and used the 020 code and math
coprocessor code where applicable. I used the default,
instruction cache & burst, and data cache (no burst)
 I also included the results of DiskSpeed 4.2, but it won't
tell you much. My Quantum 240 is not that fast, so the
transfers are pretty much at the limit that the Quantum will
put out.
 The A1230-II does have a battery backed clock, and I have
never had a problem with overheating or lack of power, but to
be honest the only things I have that would draw power are
an external Power Computing high density drive, and internal
120 meg IDE hard drive, and occasionally a Vidi Amiga 12 video
digitizer. All the 32 bit memory auto-configs, and according
to the manual, it is above the 68EC020's 8 meg address space,
so it will not interfere with the PCMCIA port. There is no
documented method of disabling the card, but I have only found
one program that wouldn't run on an accelerated A1200, but that
was _one_ of those euro-demos.
 The only bad thing about this card is that it uses those
damned GVP SIMMs, but as you can see by the AIBB results, the
memory access is rather speedy.

begin 644 Results.lha
[If you would like the AIBB file (it is an AIBB module), please email me
 at [e-mail] and I'll send it to you -- thanks Wicki! :) ]

Organization: Home
From: Ian Judge <[e-mail]>

In article <38m3vq$[e-mail]> you wrote:
: From: [e-mail]

( GVP A1230 II )

: digitizer. All the 32 bit memory auto-configs, and according
: to the manual, it is above the 68EC020's 8 meg address space,
: so it will not interfere with the PCMCIA port. There is no

I have read that all memory expansions > 4Mb will disable the PCMCIA slot.
However the GVP always disables it! I bought mine with 1Mb RAM and the
port was unusable by an Overdrive HD. I have read the manual supplied with
my board and it makes no mention of the above quote. I bought the 50Mhz
version ( with MMU ) but haven't really used its' full potential yet. A bit
tight to get in and out of the expansion slot. I have since added another
4Mb SIMM

ian


CSA 12-Gauge
============

From: [e-mail] (Ricardo Hernandez)
Organization: UPR--Mayaguez Campus-ASEL

|> CSA 12-Gauge:
|>     CSA
|>
|>     030    MMU 50/0/0/SCSI        $499  (Memory World)

   Ok, this is the one I have so I'll talk.  The board is fast and supports
the burst memory access of the 68030 (you'll need 60ns or 70ns memory to do
this).

   Basically all A1200 accelerators heat up quite a bit and this one is
no exception.  CSA sells a 'fan cooler' for another $35 US dollars I think
that uses power from a cable that goes in your internal A1200 disk drive.
I don't have the cooler, but plan to buy it later on.  I installed my
own fan for now ;-)

   The SIMMS are industry standard 72 pin SIMMS and it can be expanded
up to 32 megs of RAM.

   My only gripes with this excellent accelerator is its SCSI controller,
which can support up to about 850k/sec max transfer rate, but moreover it is
NOT-DMA.  This means it steals A LOT of cpu time every time it is doing a
huge data transfer.

   Nevertheless I have managed to do 30 fps animation in tiny 160x100
screen up to 10 fps in a 320x200 screen (ham8 both) using Scala's
disk anim option and their anim32 format reading the animation from
my Bernoulli 150meg removable hard disk.

   If you want more information, let me know... The accelerator has various
jumper settings including one that will 'turn it off' so you can run all
those programs requiring strictly a 68EC020 (the 'normal A1200
configuration).

|> boards have come down in price, and are real workhorses, as well as being
|> the most expandable, but I would be paying for things I probably won't use.

  If you want to do 3D animation, believe me, you'll pay for something
you'll use ;-)  If all you do is word processing, editing, database,
spreadsheets (small), then probably you won't need that much power.

------------------------------------------------------
> Raist--> [e-mail]  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
A1200 with AGA blast processing ;-)
REAL 3D V2.47, Scala MM300 and ImageF/X...  What else? :-)
   ---> Opinions are my own, not of my college campus

From: [e-mail] (David Salbego)
Organization: Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois

I own a CSA 12Gauge 50mhz version and its wonderful.  Runs a bit hot but
have not had any problems.  I keep the trapdoor cover off to let
it air out (very tight squeeze in there anyway).  SCSI-II is nice
(IDE?  hah!) and fast.  Highly recommend.  Only thing missing: on-board
clock.  Must get the clocks that plug directly into motherboard.


From: [e-mail] (Ricardo Hernandez)
Organization: UPR--Mayaguez Campus-ASEL

|>     -Do these boards all come with some way of disabling the accelerator,
|>      i.e. using the 68020 again?  Is there even any software which
|>      requires this?

   THe CSA yes, but requires a jumper to be enabled.  I preferred MUCH MORE
a software switch, like the one they had in the CSA megamidget racer for the
A500.

|> >From: [e-mail] (Ricardo Hernandez)
|> >Subject: Re: Steve's great quest for the 1200 Accelerator
|> >
|> >   Ok, this is the one I have so I'll talk.  The board is fast and supports
|> >the burst memory access of the 68030 (you'll need 60ns or 70ns memory to do
|> >this).
|>
|> What sort of difference does this make?  (AIBB would do the trick ;-)

   Burst mode measured on *REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS* (believe me,
AIBB doesn't measure some things well, because it's not a 'huge code'),
helps increase the speed by about 10% on the average.

|> >   If you want more info, let me know... The accelerator has various
|> >jumper settings including one that will 'turn it off' so you can run
|> >all those programs requiring strictly a 68EC020 (the 'normal A1200
|> >configuration).
|>
|> On the 500 and 2000 this was of course a problem.  Are there really any
|> "68020-only" programs out there?

   Actually, swithcing to 68020 mode (disabling the whole accelerator)
makes the machine more compatible.

   Well... ok... but that still doesn't answer whether you are going
to be raytracing or not ;-)

[At some point I will, I am sure :) ]

|> It is often advertised in conjunction with "optional Networking Controller",
|> but I have no idea what this is.

  This means that CSA wanted to do an inexpensive arcnet networking
solution for all the amigas, and if you had the 12' gauge for the A1200
you could buy that as an option.  So far, as far as I know, they
haven't made it available yet.

[stuff deleted]

   I just wanted to comment that Memory World is a good place
to buy from.  Nope, before you flame me, I am not affiliated except
in the form of a very happy customer.

   Memory World has treated me quite well and nicely, and they
offer some of the best prices around.  Credit to where credit
is due.

   The CSA guys are very supportive too.

------------------------------------------------------
> Raist--> [e-mail]  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
A1200 with AGA blast processing ;-)
REAL 3D V2.47, Scala MM300 and ImageF/X...  What else? :-)
   ---> Opinions are my own, not of my college campus


From: [e-mail] (Donald J McKay)

>|>      -Do these boards all come with some way of disabling the accelerator,
>|>       i.e. using the 68020 again?  Is there even any software which
>|>       requires this?
>
>   THe CSA yes, but requires a jumper to be enabled.  I preferred MUCH MORE
>a software switch, like the one they had in the CSA megamidget racer for the
>A500.

this is *INCORRECT*.  there is a program available on the net written by CSA
that disables the board entirely for one soft reset.  this enables 12-gauge
owners like me to play those games or run those demos that don't like the
68030.  the only way to do this was disable the ENTIRE board including the
SCSI and Fast RAM.

>
>   The CSA guys are very supportive too.
>

this is true.   :D

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
]  P-Bass                    IBM=Incredibly Bastardized Multitasking    [
]  [e-mail]       Amiga - Look Good, Be Young, Buy One     [
]  A1200  2.6 GIGs                                                      [
]  CSA 12 Gauge 50/50/8                    CSA Beta Tester              [
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Stephen O'connor)
Organization: XNet Public Access Internet, Naperville, IL (708-983-6435)

I am a CSA 12 gauge owner 50/50/32 and here are a few things that I have to
say:
1. The board does not allow the booting of non-Amiga dos disks. No one has
mentioned this but I have a friend who had the GVP 40 board and this was not a
problem for him.
2. The SCSI controller is slow non-DMA and requires up to 100% of the cpu when
doing most of the drive operations. It is so bad that my clock stops!!!. They
should consider redoing the controller and making it scsi2. I had problems with
my board and have had mixed results dealing with csa. Although in the end they
did resolve my problem to my satisfaction.



Paravision (Microbotics) MBX
----------------------------

From: [e-mail]

I have the Paravision M1230XA 50/50.  It was $299 delivered next day.  I bought
it about two weeks ago.  The only thing that I really don't like is that there
is only one SIMM socket.  The docs say that the ram will auto-config with 3.1
or higher  I wasn't going to buy this board because I already has a 4 meg SIMM,
but then I saw that ad for the $219 deal and called.  Since the 50 MHz version
was only $80 more I decided it was a great deal.  After all, just
buying the 68030 and 68882 by themselves would normally cost more than $300.
I saved more than my 4 meg SIMM is worth.  Anyway, RAM doesn't appear to
lose much value.  I could easily get what I paid for the SIMM should I decide
I need a bigger one.


From: [e-mail] (Barry Tigner)

Just a note, Steve (evetS ?) Amigaman is selling the M1230XA @50mhz
withMMU and FPU for $299.00 and they pay for air shipping anywhere.
I just ordered one. The technician told me that it can use the
36 bit SIMMs or the 32bit SIMMs.

Barry

From: [e-mail] (Peter Morawiec)

> All I can tell you is that if you get the MBX, you should not be
> disappointed. My brother's been using one (33/33/4) for a year on
> his A1200 HD without a glitch. He's still using the stock power supply
> (with a HD, Floppy and a printer) and has had no overheating problems
> whatsoever. The price is right and the board is very well designed
> (as most of Microbotic's stuff, IMHO). Just my $0.02...
>
>                            - Peter


From: Lance Kind <[e-mail]>
Organization: Computer Science, Montana State University, Bozeman MT, 59717

    One thing I am debating on is whether
to get a fan to put inside of my A1200 to keep my other 1230 50/50/8MB cooler.
It does get a bit warm, but I don't know if it is getting warm enough to
worry about.  If you here some opinions about this, please post them or
email me.

Lance Kind

==>Lancer---

From: [e-mail] (Graeme Thomas Pow)

Steve,

I just got hold of a wee program on Aminet called SysInfo, and I see that
although all the other libraries are mapped into FAST RAM, the exec and
expansion libraries remain in CHIP.

G.

--
                     Graeme T Pow - [e-mail]
             Department of Computing and Electrical Engineering
      Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, Scotland
 "Never trust a pretty face, at least not before looking for pretty teeth."

[Note that the below was not sent to me, but contains useful information
 relating to the autoconfiguration of the MBX]

Article 64767 of comp.sys.amiga.misc:
From: [e-mail] (James Marsh)
Subject: Re: Help with Microbotics 1230XA and fast ram
Organization: Dept Computer Science, University of Manchester, U.K.

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] writes:
|> I have noticed that on my 1200 with the Microbotics M1230XA, SysInfo
|> shows that a lot of my libraries like intuition and such are in chip ram.
|> Should these not be in fast ram?  I have four megs of fast ram.  Does this
|> have something to to with the SETXA program that mounts the ram?  If so,
|> how do I get around this?  Thanks.
|>
|> [e-mail]
|>
If you are still using SETXA in your WBSTARTUP drawer, then any of the programs loaded in
the startup sequence will load their libraries into chip ram (since there isn't any fast mem
at that point). I would suggest getting the program AutoXA and putting that as the first line
of your startup-sequence, it helps a lot.

James

From: [e-mail] (Graeme Thomas Pow)

Steve,

Her are the memory usage figures, both with and without using AutoXA:

[Note: these are meant to give an idea of what difference AutoXA makes, and
 what kind of effect the non-autoconfiguring of the board has;
 keep in mind that windows and such take up CHIP mem as well]

WITH AutoXA
  2,013,088 CHIP
  3,750,808 OTHER

WITHOUT AutoXA
  1,650,648 CHIP
  4,194,272 OTHER

I've removed all my resident programs ('ls' dir replacement) and Tools
Manager, so the figures should[n't] be too far off the truth.  Oh, I don't
have an FPU but I do have two hard drives - one 60Mb internal one (with one
partition) and an external PCMCIA Overdrive 420Mb drive (divided into two
partitions).  I think they take up some memory, don't they?

Catchya!

G.

--
                     Graeme T Pow - [e-mail]
             Department of Computing and Electrical Engineering
      Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, Scotland
 "Never trust a pretty face, at least not before looking for pretty teeth."


DKB 1240
========

From: [e-mail] (Mark Langston)

[Yet another Chicago-type :) ]

Organization: /usr/local/lib/organization

Regarding the DKB 1240, I just ordered mine from Safe Harbor.  The rep told
me the 1240 has
    [... pre-release information -- see below]
  Here's the really spiffy thing:  SCSI-2 is an option on this board.  That's
right, we 1200ers can now not only have SCSI, but SCSI-2 as well!  I didn't
ask the price of this option, as I'll be content with just SCSI for a while.

The total cost of the 1240+MMU+882 33Mhz FPU+4 megs, with tax, shipping,
and handling from safe harbor was around $480.00US. (I guesstimated that,
because I also ordered a DataFlyer XDS to surround my precariously bare, and
currently laying-on-its-back, Conner 420... ;).  Anyway,  I sent them a
personal check (I actually WANT the ten-day wait period so I have extra $
in the bank when it clears), so I should have it in two weeks or so, assuming
they can get their hands on it in the 1-2 days they say they can.  I called
DKB the other day, and they said the 1240 was shipping, so I've got my
fingers crossed.

  I'll write a review once I have my greedy little fingers around this new toy.

Later,
Mark

From: Mark Langston <[e-mail]>
Organization: /usr/local/lib/organization

Steve -
  I just wanted to correct a few things that I had originally said about the
DKB 1240, based on what the rep told me at Safe Harbor.  Apparently, their
database was filled with pre-release information.  The correct specs for the
1240 should be:
  40Mhz '030, NO MMU (although it's pin-compatible with MMU-equipped chips),
  NO SCSI on board (apparently DKB yanked this in lieu of supplying an
  optional SCSI-2 port, due out RSN :/ ), on-board clock, FPU socket, and I'm
still unclear as to the number of SIMM sockets it has.  I should have it
Friday, so I'll let you know.  They ARE definitely shipping these puppies now.
The kind lady I talked to, after questioning, realized their product database
was in error, after Joel Corn pointed out the flaws to me, and I to them
(Thanks, Joel!).  Anyway, she said she HAD ONE RUNNING in her 1200, and it
was quite a product.  Oh, and it properly autoconfigs.

Oh, BTW, the name of the DKB 1240 is the Cobra.


Anyway, I'll actually review the sucker once I get it.  *fidget fidget fidget*

take care,
Mark


From: [e-mail] (Chuck Teschke)

I just saw your post about the 1200 accelerators and your comments about the
DKB 1240 not being released yet.

I just wanted you to know that i have had one for quite some time now. it has
the 030 running at 40mhz and i have put in a 882 running at 66mhz and it
works fine. you can put up to a 128mb SIMM on it.  the scsi option is a
nifty little edge connector on the card which i guess they have yet to make
a connector for to actually use a scsi drive with it. They should also have
the code finished soon to make the board accept a 50mhz 030 chip and run at
that speed.  the only problem i had with it was a file they gave me to put
in wbstartup that maps the Kickstart, when it runs you can no longer
warm-reboot the machine. it just crashes. if you don't map the Kickstart it
of course works fine. they are supposed to be sending me a fix for it.

         --------------------------------------------------------
        /        Chuck Teschke - Eagle Computers & Video         \
       /                                                          \
      /                [e-mail]                    \
     /                                                              \
    / "The Ultimate Amiga" Amiga A4001 Tower System, 40mhz Warp/64MB \
   /                                                                  \
  /  Toaster,Picasso II,PAR,TBC IV,A2065 Ethernet,Emplant,Maestro Pro  \
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: [e-mail] (Chuck Teschke)

>       Anyways, I have a few questions for you.  I had the 28MHz board and
>the CPU was surface-mounted.  Is your CPU SM?  Also, how long have you had
>your board?
>       Finally, any general comments on the board (i.e. "I like it." :)?
>
>       -Steve

Thats cool, i'm supposed to be upgrading to the 50mhz also. i don't really
remember, but i would say i'm almost positive that the 030 is surface
mounted.  Uuhhh, lets see.... i think we have had the board for at least 2
months... we had also sent it back when we first got it. it didn't work
right (randomly) we sent it back and they said it works perfect but sent us
a different board and it has worked fine for us.


looking forward to that 50mhz... still not the 40mhz 040 though...

         --------------------------------------------------------
        /        Chuck Teschke - Eagle Computers & Video         \
       /                                                          \
      /                [e-mail]                    \
     /                                                              \
    / "The Ultimate Amiga" Amiga A4001 Tower System, 40mhz Warp/64MB \
   /                                                                  \
  /  Toaster,Picasso II,PAR,TBC IV,A2065 Ethernet,Emplant,Maestro Pro  \
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: ME!  [e-mail]

Just a few quick notes on the board.  My board had a problem in that it
would work fine for three minutes or so and then start crashing.  Eventually
the computer wasn't even able to make it to the early startup menu.

The CPU was a 20MHz CPU running at 28MHz :(

Since my processor was surface-mounted I asked DKB if they offered any
sort of trade-in upgrade deal, and they said No.

The board does not disable the PCMCIA slot.  There is no way to disable
the accelerator [yet?].  The board comes with software to map ROM into RAM.

One test I ran on the board (+4M of memory) was using FastJPEG to display
some JPEGs.  There was a 4x speed increase over my unexpanded 1200.



M-TEC T1230 RTC
===============

From: dunnke@o233-09 (Kristopher E Dunn)
Organization: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

The latest Amiga World has an M-TEC (Germany) board as follows:

M-TEC T1230/28 RTC

030        MMU 28/28/0/SCSI(optional)            $169.95  (Software Hut)

The co-processor is a 68882 and there is only one SIMM socket which holds
up to 8 megs of 32-bit RAM. The SCSI module will also support SCSI-2.

Memory World appears to have the same board for the same price. I assume
that it has the '030 but that is not explicitly advertised. The Mem World ad
also mentions a built in clock.

I have ordered one from Software Hut and plan to do a review once I get it up
and running. It looks like a really good alternative for those of us on a
budget.

--Kris

From: [e-mail] (Peter van Campen)

I'll never forget 16 Oct 94 when Kristopher E Dunn wrote to ALL:

 KED> The latest Amiga World has an M-TEC (Germany) board as follows:

[See above]

 KED> --Kris

There is a hardware-bug in the MTEC board, try running CED, POV or
Poom on it to see it fail.
It has to do with longword access to odd addresses when the
2 least significant bits are both 1, only in Fast RAM.
Someone wrote a letter to MTEC about this and he's still waiting
for an answer.
There were some mails about it in alt.sys.amiga.demos, I own one.


From: Oliver Waldegg <[e-mail]>

I can tell you a lot more about the Mtec board. There are both PGA and
PLCC coprocessor sockets. There is in fact a battery backed up clock on
the board. (RTC means real time clock) I'm happy with my Mtec board, but
I have a few complaints: It doesn't fit perfectly in the 'trap door', and
you have to use a bit violence to close the cover when the board is
installed. It is not really a problem, though. But the most important
thing: There might be a bug on the board. Longword writes to odd
addresses doesn't work properly. This problem is now solved, if you get
a bad accelerator, you can get a chip from either Mtec or from your
dealer. I have got this new chip and it works great.

    /Oliver
    email: [e-mail]


From: Oliver Waldegg <[e-mail]>

> I have a few more questions:
>
>     - Is SCSI available now?  Cost relative to board?

Yes, there is a Fast SCSI-II board available in Sweden now. It is SEK 1195:00
and the accelerator is 2295:00 (Without RAM and FPU). I think it is a very
good price compared to other accelerators. ( $1 = SEK 7:50 )

>     - I assume there isn't any problem with upgrading the board to 50MHz?

Well, the CPU is surface mounted and is clocked from the internal 28 MHz
system clock. I don't think it is possible to upgrade. But there will soon
be a 42 MHz accelerator board, a 56 MHz board and, don't faint now :-), a
68LC040 board. The only thing I KNOW about is the 42 MHz version, because
MTec told me they will send me one. The rest is what my swedish Amiga
dealer told me. (Don't even know if they are MTec products)

>     - Any AIBB benchmarks? :)

Yes, soon :-)

    /Oliver
    email: [e-mail]

From: Oliver Waldegg <[e-mail]>

According to [e-mail]:

> > Well, the CPU is surface mounted and is clocked from the internal 28 MHz
>
> Hmmm, that seems bad to me.

Yes, to me too. Don't know if it's a big problem though, the accelerator
board is VERY cheap compared to other accelerators in Sweden.

>
> > system clock. I don't think it is possible to upgrade. But there will soon
> > be a 42 MHz accelerator board, a 56 MHz board and, don't faint now :-), a
>
> Those numbers seem strange; I guess they are overclocking the chips?

They are not very strange, it is multiples of the internal system clock. I
guess the 42 MHz version will be a lot faster than a 40 MHz accelerator. My
Mtec 28 MHz board contains a 20 MHz version of 68030, and that's not good.
They should have chosen at least a 25 MHz 030 instead, but I guess the price
would have been higher. I guess the 42 MHz version will contain a 40 MHz
030 and the 56 MHz version a 50 MHz 030.  I hope there will be no heat
problems.

> > 68LC040 board. The only thing I KNOW about is the 42 MHz version, because
>  ^^^^^^^^
>
> But that seems good to me!  I've been wondering for a while why nobody made
> an 040 accelerator for the 1200.  Heck, even the 500 has one.

But it is an LC, ie. a 68040 without the FPU part.

    /Oliver
    email: [e-mail]

=== end of Comments ===

- Stephen Judd
  [e-mail]

---

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