#3000 & 2.04 ROMs
20 messages in this thread
I have a 3000 with a rev 6.1 motherboard. I bought the 2.04 ROMs over
Christmas and found out that I need the ROM tower in order to install them.
I had my dealer order them but they seem to be unable to get them. Has anyone
been able to get the tower?
I'm not very happy about having to purchase the ROMs in the first place as I
was told that Commodore would provide them to those of use who purchased the
early machines. Of course this turned out not to be the case. Now it appears
that I spent money on the ROMs and won't be able to use them…
Eric
Eric,
Personally, I think you're better off without the roms. I wouldn't have
them in my machine. The OS runs faster when in ram, upgrading OSes (on
the 3000) is much easier without roms. The _only_ advantange to roms is
that you'll get 512k of fast ram back. Ram's relatively cheap, so I don't
consider that an advantage.
-sja
Steve,
Let me disagree with you on this one.
You can put the ROM into the system and *still* copy kickstart to ram with
setcpu or the cpu command. So no loss there. You *must* have the 2.04
ROM in your A3000 if you want to use a 68040 board.
So, you have the advantages of being able to get 512k extra if you want
it, and when you don't want it. You have the advantage of being able to
put an accelerator in the system and you lose zero capability.
Well you do lose 1.3 🙂
-mark=
Drivin' on Otto Pilot
Mark,
From what you've said, I still see absolutely no advantage (to me) of having
the rom in my machine.
Steve,
But is it absolutely neccessary to have 2.04 ROM to use a 68040 board.
I have a 3000 and am thinking of getting a PP&S 040 board since their
prices are so low right now. I really don't want to put in ROMs, but if I
must to use the board well then thats what I would do.
Mark,
Yep — in that case you're pretty much "stuck" putting in the roms.
I got the PP&S board — then had a change of heart and returned it the next day
(nothing to do with the rom situation).
There are 3 reasons I want to install the ROMs. 1. I bought them. 2. I would
like to have the 512K back 4. I think the version of 2.04 that I bought with
the ROMs refuses to run on the version of KS
that I have.
Eric
"…There are 3 reasons I want to install the ROMs…"
Eric,
Er, ah, 1., 2., 4. ?
Count much?
<grin>
Chris
He must be a programmer – counting in binary. 🙂
Steve,
With the PP boards going for around $500 maybe you should consider
another change of hearts. Putting an 040 in my 3000 was one of the best
things I've done for it.
-Richard
There's more going on than just the price of the board.
Mark:
In the A3000s with the 'softboot' ROMs rather than the 2.04 ROMs the
kickstart is read in from the HD, and then that area of memory is
protected by using the MMU. The MMU in the 68040 is radically different
than the one in the 68030, so they won't work with 040s. For that reason
you must have the 2.04 (or 2.05?) ROMs installed in the 3000 to use an 040
card. Personally I wish that Commodore would make a new version of the
softboot ROMs that could detect, and use the MMU of either the 030 or 040,
as I much prefer having kickstart loaded from HD rather than in ROM. I
realise that this is a personal preference, and chances are there wouldn't
be enough interest for C= to invest the effort to make new 'softboot'ROMS
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike,
I don't much want to put ROMs in my 3000 either. Since I have 18meg of
mem. the 512K KS uses is nothing. Since I have seen KickStarts come and
go from the original 1.0 to 2.0, I'm not quite ready to trust C= and
commit to one KS. Actually, I'm reconsidering the 040 board, now I have
my eye on a Sony Trinitron at their outlet store, and I have a Beta deck
that needs to be repaired.
Mike,
Have you tried SET040.LHA by Nick Wilson. I believe it's in the Libs
here somewhere.
-Richard
Richard:
I didn't know it was here in the libs! Well, I've downloaded it, and tried
it, but I prefer the method I've been using to load KS as Set040 loads the
KS into CHIP ram of which I only have 2 megs, whereas the other method
I've been using (which I can't really talk about due to nondisclosure
agreements) loads it into FAST ram.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Steve: Then how can an A3000 owner upgrade to 2.1 or 3.0 without
Kickstart ROM? Is Kickstart distributed on disk in the "soft" version
of the upgrades? The 2.1 upgrade comes in two versions: one w/Rom &
one w/o. Could I just buy the one w/o Rom and use it in my A3000?
–I'll probably wait for 3.0….
That is a combination marketing/developer issue you'll have to ask CATS about.
I'm running 2.1 without the Kickstart ROMs on my 3000. Haven't noticed any
problems yet…
So I guess the WB2.1 uses 2.04 Kickstart?
— Dave
yep… 2.0 kickstart.