Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!uunet!tnc!m0154
From: m0154@tnc.UUCP (GUY GARNETT)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: 68010 Chip in A1000?
Message-ID: <758@tnc.UUCP>
Date: 20 Mar 91 14:33:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: tnc.758
References: <21879@know.pws.bull.com>
Reply-To: m0154@tnc.UUCP (GUY GARNETT)
Organization: The Next Challenge, Fairfax, Va.
Lines: 44


Ken Kopin writes:
[About installing a 68010 in an A1000; the following also probably
applies to other 68000-based Amigas: A500 and A2000 as well]

I have run my A1000 for most of its life with a 68010 installed in it.
I originally installed the 68010 for the modest performance
improvement.  The 010 has improved microcode for some instructions
(particularly integer multiply and divide),  when I originally
installed the think, I measured a performance increase of 0 to 10%
(depending on the application).  Not normally worth the trouble and
expense, but I already had the 68010, and I was going to open the
machine anyway.

There is sometimes a compatibility problem with the 010; it is much
less of a problem now than it was in 1986 when I installed the thing. 
There is a program, SuperDeciGel, which will trap and fix some of the
errors; the remaining problems are with some copy-protected games
(RoadWars and Popoulous are ones I have had problems with).  As a good
rule of thumb, any program which will work in an A2500 will run on a
68010 equipped machine (in addition, some which won't work on a 2500
will still run on the 010, but don't count on it).

Despite the compatibility annoyance, I have kept the 68010 in my A1000
for a different reason: Memory and Hard Disk expansions work more
reliably with the 68010 that they did with the 68000.  The 010 that I
have is the MC68010LC10 (rated to 10Mhz clock, and in the ceramic case
with the metal "lid").  The thing seems to reject noise from the
expansion bus much better than the stock 68000.  The difference is
significant: with the 68000, my Amiga will not even run one expansion
board (a 2Mb RAM card) reliably for more than an hour or so.  With the
68010, I leave the thing running without problems for weeks at a time.
When testing hardware for a friend, I have sucessfully brought the
machine up with two things on the bus (a Xetec hard-drive interface
with 4Mb of RAM in it, and my own PP&S 2Mb ram card).

Wildstar

PS: Back when I did the original modification, I wrote up a detailed
procedure (complete with IFF pictures) and included the original
DeciGel program in an archive.  You may be able to find this on a BBS
or archive site somewhere (as far as I know, it never made it to the
Fish disks, but it was called MC68010.ARC, and was collected on the
National Capitol Amiga User Group's "Best of Amiga" collection).