Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!bagate!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.introduction Subject: Re: random A3000 questions Message-ID: <22036@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 30 May 91 07:27:49 GMT References: <8974@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 43 In article <8974@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) writes: >In article jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) writes: >>(2) When the final 2.x ROM comes out, will it still allow booting 1.3 >>(either from floppy or HD) if I need it? >CBM would be making a big mistake if they don't, but I don't see what >would stop them. If you're booting from ROM, obviously there's not 1.3 and 2.0x in the same ROM. However, it's always technically possible to run 1.3 on an A3000, if you must. I doubt you'll want to. Anyway, I do the exact opposite on my A2500 with my SetCPU program: I boot from the 1.3 ROM, and under 1.3 do nothing but load 2.0x from disk. The system reboots, 2.0x is in place, and I take it from there. A version of SetCPU could do just this on the A3000, thought the current SetCPU V1.6 might get confused about an A3000; it's never had to run ROM images on the 3000. >>For that matter, will I get a set >>of 1.3 and 2.0 floppies with the system? >Yes, and it comes installed on the hard drive, too. It does currently. When 2.0x goes into ROM, there's no telling what they'll do with 1.3, but I doubt it'll ship with the A3000. 2.0x in ROM is an indication that its really time to forget about 1.3. >>And why are there two sets of ROM >>sockets on the motherboard? >It takes bigger ROMS. Well, actually, 2.0x will fit in one of those ROMs. In order to have a reasonably fast ROM, the A3000 uses two of them, to give you a 32 bit wide ROM. The two sets were for your choice of ROM or EPROM, since back when we made the A3000, Intel didn't make any EPROMs compatible with the industry standard 256Kx16 ROM. Now they do, so the second set of sockets will probably disappear some day (it's not on the A3000T motherboard, for example). -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.