SubSystem 500 notes
6 messages in this thread
Just got my SubSystem 500 and an Amiga 2052 2 meg memory board in the mail the
other day. On the SubSystem was a note telling you that even though the A2052
Ram expansion is compatible with the SubSystem, overheating may be a problem.
Funny, nobody said anything about that at the Mail order company, or at Pacific
Peripherals when I called them to inquire about the SubSystem. You should also
be aware that they brought out the pass-thru improperly. They paralleled pin 12
(CONFIG) of the pass-thru to pin 12 of the connector that plugs into the Amiga,
instead of bringing it out of the A2000 boards. What this means is that if you
have a Auto-Config board connected to the pass-thru (such as a C-LTD SCSI
controller), and a board plugged into the SubSystem, when the Amiga is booted,
they will both try to Auto-Config at the same time! Needless to say, the poor
Amy gets very confused at this point and refuses to do anything. One other
thing you should be aware of is the power supply. Its a bench type power supply
with banana jacks on the front. You plug your cable into the banana jacks, and
then a DIN connector plugs into the back of the SubSystem. Not much of a
problem unless your working on the last frame of an animation that took 350
computer hours to create, and your big feet pulls out one of the banana jacks.
So the SubSystem does have a few problems. Yet, it does work. Its quite a shock
for me to see that there is over 3 megs of internal ram available on my trusty
500. Next purchase will be a DMA Hard Disk controller and I will let you know
how it works out.
John Gager 71336,624
John, you ought to consider writing up a review on this puppy and submitting it
to the mags! You seem to have ferretted out some significant problems here.
Rick
I've thought about a review Rick, but I have some more research to do before I
open my big mouth :^). In fact I started writing it about a week ago, but I
want to try the DMA controller board before I finish it up. Also, I want to get
ahold of the A500/A2000 Technical Reference Manual to see how much has changed
on Auto-config since the original 1000 hardware manual was published. But I'm
pretty sure I was correct on my findings.
John Gager
Neat! Well, if you're thinking of sending it in to Amazing, you can just
EasyPlex it to me. I'd be happy to fast-scan it for you, then pass it on to
the editorial offices so you won't have to do anything else (and so the editors
up there will be less tempted to rewrite everything you say <chuckle>).
Rick
John,
I am interested in picking up one of these SubSystem 500 setups for a SCSI Host
and RAM upgrade. Can you tell me where you bought it and how much it cost?
– TOM –
John,
There's certainly no overheating with my Micron 2MB board. Was the 2052 less
expensive? Did it come with some vd0: software? The subsystem I saw
demonstrated at a Santa Clara Commodore/Amiga show had a SCSI hard disk
attached to the pass-through, and seemed to work fine. I'm not using the bus
myself. Let me know how things progress.
Lee