User avatar
webman

Posted Tue Jan 08, 2019 10:51 am

I am slowly getting an A1K up and running. Currently it is stock with the 256K memory in the front for 512K. I have noticed I some games complaining of not enough memory (Wings) and was looking at what was available currently.

m68k
8 Meg upgrade using CPU slot. Same person also sells IDE interface that stacks with the memory upgrade

ACA500+
8 Meg ram, compact flash hard drive, accelerator and kickstart rom. Can be flaky on the A1K and is not officially supported. Yet.

Terrible Fire 530 (TF530)
2 Meg ram, IDE, 68030 CPU. Requires kickstart ROM

Wicher 500i
Up to 8 Meg ram (72 Pin Simm), IDE, CPU Accelerator. Hard to find stock.

Am I missing any?

Yes there was:

Vampire 500+
128 Meg ram, Compact flash IDE, accelerator, kickstart rom, AGA upgrade. Uses hardware emulation to replace original amiga chipset and CPU using the original amiga as a keyboard and mouse.


Upcoming:

Rejuvinator
Currently being reverse engineered. Originally allowed for 1-2 meg of chip ram (depending on which upgraded Angus is used), kickstart rom, upgrade to ECS, only for amigas with WCS daughterboard.

ace1k
Adapter to allow upgrade chip ram to 1 or 2 meg. Expected in 2019.
Last edited by webman on Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:05 am, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
nonarkitten

Posted Tue Jan 08, 2019 3:52 pm

Your primary concern will be with having enough Chip memory. No matter what you do, 512KB is the absolute limit for the Amiga 1000. This is why we're all so keen on the Rejuvenator project which allows the use of the 2MB Agnus.

The 8MB upgrade work awesome on my 1000 (even with the Vampire installed). It's nice just having that little extra bit of memory (you cannot have too much memory). I would absolutely recommend this and/or the version with the IDE header included with an IDE-to-CF adapter. Running patched games from WHDload is 1000% better than running them from floppy and having to deal with the myriad of minor incompatibilities the old games had.

As for CPU upgrade, I'm against anything that sticks out of the case, so the Wicher wins that contest for me. I doubt that the 8MB m68k expansion will work with another 68000 + memory expansion.

Personally, I would hold out for something in the 68020-club or better. If you're really up for the challenge, you can always make your own LUCAS board -- I hear it's quite the adventure. That's a completely open source 68020 accelerator for the Amiga 1000.

Edit -- to clarify the 8MB m68k RAM should work with a 68030's expansion memory since the 030 is a true 32-bit processor and should be able to allocate the expansion memory above the 24-bit barrier. This would make the TF530 + m68k the best bang for the buck since you'll have ~10MB of fast RAM which is pretty much enough for ANY Amiga game.

User avatar
EzdineG
Springfield, MO

Posted Tue Jan 08, 2019 11:57 pm

nonarkitten wrote:Edit -- to clarify the 8MB m68k RAM should work with a 68030's expansion memory since the 030 is a true 32-bit processor and should be able to allocate the expansion memory above the 24-bit barrier. This would make the TF530 + m68k the best bang for the buck since you'll have ~10MB of fast RAM which is pretty much enough for ANY Amiga game.
Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be true for the TF530 because It allocates it’s RAM in Zorro II space, right in the way of the MKL and kipper expansions. It also configures it’s own RAM in a way that prevents most memory expansions that SHOULD otherwise work from autoconfiguring.

The still unreleased TF534 should address this problem by putting its RAM in Z3 space, though.

Your best bet is to grab the two MKL expansions. You’ll have a bigger problem running out of RAM than any productive benefit an accelerator with little RAM can bring.

User avatar
nonarkitten

Posted Wed Jan 09, 2019 9:49 am

EzdineG wrote:Unfortunately, this wouldn’t be true for the TF530 because It allocates it’s RAM in Zorro II space, right in the way of the MKL and kipper expansions. It also configures it’s own RAM in a way that prevents most memory expansions that SHOULD otherwise work from autoconfiguring.
That's terrible. Pardon the pun.

User avatar
LASooner

Posted Wed Jan 09, 2019 4:56 pm

I use an ACA 500+ on mine and haven't had any issues with it at all. I use it with an ACA1232 O3O accelerator

User avatar
A10001986
1986

Posted Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:38 am

I have MKL's RAM thingy in my A1k, works beautifully as long as there is no other AutoConfig-Device in the system. Reason being both MKL's board's config-in as well as the expansion port's config-in are hardwired to GND (IIRC).

The IDE addon (RAM+IDE) only makes sense if there is a kickstart ROM adapter in the system as well because you need either a patched 1.3 (increasing to 512k) or >= 2.0 for it to work and autoboot. For the 1.3 version, see this thread.

User avatar
mattsoft

Posted Thu Jan 17, 2019 2:56 pm

What you put in your computer should really be driven by what you are trying to do with your computer.

For example, I have 1 A1000 that I want to keep stock so I can experience life in 1986. So no enhancements.

I have another A1000 that I want to use for OCS/ECS WHDLoad Amiga games. In order to do this, I added the Rejuvenator (1 MB chip + 3.1 KS on ROM), and a Wicher 500i card for the 8MB fast, IDE+CF, and a slightly faster 68k.

What do you want to do with your 1000?

User avatar
webman

Posted Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:47 pm

This is just a list of upgrades available or that will be soon for the A1K. Thought I would make a list when I was looking to upgrade my system.

User avatar
oldbull

Posted Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:39 pm

I'm taking a similar approach to mattsoft.

I kept my A1000. It was upgraded in period to 512k via the front module. The other upgrade was a second floppy drive. That's it.

I also have an A500 (rev 6a with 8372A Agnus) that I rescued from a relative's garage. I just want to play new games. That means I need 1MB chip ram and a means of getting files from the internet to the A500. A Vampire sounds nice, but as I am just barely getting into the Amiga hobby, I am reluctant to spend that much.

Current plan is to get an ACA500+ for the A500 and a CF reader for the Windows machine. Then just swap a CF card between Windows and ACA500+ as needed. As for games that need 2MB chip or a newer 680x0 cpu, those will be run on Amiga Forever emulation.





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