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From: danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: KickIt Explained (hi K.C.Lee)
Message-ID: <4823@eklektik.UUCP>
Date: 25 Jul 90 15:34:14 GMT
Reply-To: danbabcock@eklektik.UUCP (/dev/ph1)
Organization: Computers, Gerbils, and Games in the Basement, Pgh, PA
Lines: 45

Joe Peck (peck@ral.rpi.edu) wrote:

[I'm not going to re-quote everybody (there ought to be a law...:-)]

>Ah hah!  Well, I have a spirit inboard 1000 with 1.5 meg.  I am relatively
>sure that it uses the same pseudo-autoconfigure hooks that Dave Haynie 
>wrote about.  Is there any chance that I'll ever be able to use 2.0 on 
>it?  (Using kickit that is)  An A3000 is in my distant future, but I 
>would like to use and develop code that is compatible with 2.0 now.

Well, it doesn't have the problem of going away at reset that autoconfig
cards do, so - yes - it would be a great home for Kickstart. I should
mention that KS1.2/1.3 really mishandles this memory. If ExecBase gets
smashed (a fairly common thing) the startup routine fills this memory
with zeros. Also, the memory test is destructive (but that only matters
if you fix the "feature" just mentioned). This is not good. It means that
using a RRD (recoverable RAM disk) is a risky business. Of course, since you
are using a 1000, you can easily modify your Kickstart disk to avoid
all these problems.

There's just one small problem. Commodore does not currently supply a
version of 2.0 that was assembled/compiled for $C00,000 (The one they
distribute to developers is assembled/compiled for $200,000. The one
in the 3000 is assembled/compiled for $F80,000 but they use the MMU
to place it wherever they want physically). Of course, as Albert
(hp4nl!neabbs!ajbrouw) suggested, C= could supply an easy-to-use
utility for relocating Kickstart to any address, but they might not
do that, for the usual reason (laziness). Of course, a patient person
could do it himself, using just the final object code, if he were so
inclined (when the final version comes out, that is; it doesn't make
too much sense when there is a new version every hour).

If you do get access to a machine with memory at $200000, be sure to
contact Dan Zenchelsky (dzenc@gnu.ai.mit.edu); he wrote some really
nice utilities to make life easier (see previous postings, if possible,
for details).

-- Dan Babcock
Voice: (412)-373-1753
Internet: danbabcock@eklektik.pgh.pa.us
People/Link: DANBABCOCK

>                  Thanks for any info,
>                  Joe Peck
>                  peck@ral.rpi.edu