Happy 25th anniversary, APC&TCP!

German Amiga software/magazine/merchandise publisher & dealer "APC & TCP" celebrates it's 25th anniversary in May 2017. APC & TCP started out as a fusion of two german computer clubs / user groups, and went on to become a successful and trustworthy publisher and dealer of Amiga products.

Happy birthday, APC & TCP! Live long, and prosper!

Head over to one of their websites, and show them your appreciation:

http://www.apc-tcp.de
https://amigashop.org

Help! Microbotics / Paravision M1230XA accelerator board repair

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UPDATE 2018-02-17:
Yesss, it works again. Another gem saved. Microbotics' "MBRTest-2" tool from the M1230XA install disk does an excellent job of testing (any) RAM. FastRAM installed on the M1230XA can be tested even without adding it to the system. That way I was able to diagnose the problem, and fix it (see picture below: green wire fixes some broken address- or data line). The board also got some new capacitors.

Thanks to everyone who helped me! :-)

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I have an old Microbotics / Paravision M1230XA accelerator board, and it's not working properly. Can you help me debugging it?

For starters, a few screenshots would help: SetXA utility window / running, Early Startup Menu boards listing, "showconfig" output, SysInfo screen with speed test results (each of course with a working M1230XA installed).

I mostly test my board with Kickstart 3.0 - are you aware of any issues regarding KS3.0 and the M1230XA?
(apart from the fact that RAM has to be added "manually" / software-wise)


Please leave a comment in the comments section below, if you think you can help.

Or contact me via amiga.org

Or via amigaworld.net


If you want to keep track of my efforts debugging/repairing the M1230XA it's maybe best to watch my "Microbotics / Paravision M1230XA accelerator board information" page.


Thanks!

- - -

Situation / Error description:

The Microbotics M1230XA seems to work fine without memory installed.

With memory installed, adding the memory to the system doesnt work.

This is the situation with a Kickstart 3.0 Amiga 1200:
In the picture below you can see the previous settings ("RAM Speed: 100nsec", ...), new settings("setxa ramspeed 70", ...), and the state after adding the board's memory. After "setxa addmem", it takes maybe half a second to activate the memory. During this short timespan the Amiga remains usable - e.g. a mouseclick on the workbench. But once the memory has been added, it looks like any memory access fails. That includes (re)focussing the shell-window, clicking an icon. When keeping the shell window active (no workbench click), keyboard input is still possible, but entering a valid command and hitting <Return> crashes the machine.

Behaviour is almost the same with different RAM SIMMs/speeds/cycles, only the type of system crash differs: sometimes screen graphics corruption, sometimes black screen, sometimes Guru Meditation.

With a Kickstart 3.1 (=autoconfiguring) Amiga 1200 the screen stays black on powerup.

RaspberryPi based SCSI virtual drive

Not strictly Amiga, but this may come in handy for Amiga users, too:
[GIMONS] has built a SCSI virtual drive from a RaspberryPi board, for his vintage x68000 computer. Via a minimal SCSI interface on the RasPi's GPIO connector it can serve as a harddisc, or pretty much any other SCSI device you could imagine (MO, CDROM, Ethernet, ...).

http://hackaday.com/2017/05/01/the-raspberry-pi-becomes-a-scsi-device/

Here's the original post (in japanese):
http://www.geocities.jp/kugimoto0715/rascsi/index.html

Amiga goes HDMI - D520 video to HDMI converter

At Revision 2017 in Saarbruecken (Germany), Thorsten Schubert presents his "D520" device, an external Amiga video to HDMI converter. Amazing! It's alpha/beta stage, and there's no decision regarding distribution yet, but it has some great features: connects to Amiga video port, HDMI output, 3.5mm TRS audio in for Amiga Paula audio, firmware upgradeable (via Amiga video port).  (Video by VisioRetron, in german.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNg9Muscg_w

Here's a forum thread (german) where you can reach the developer of the "D520":

http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1064005

"BlackBOX 1200" Amiga 1200 tower conversion kit from Elbox

Elbox offers a new tower system for Amiga 1200 computers. It's prepared for installation of the Mediator PCI 1200TX, Mediator PCI 1200SX, Mediator PCI 1200LT4, Mediator PCI 1200, Mediator PCI 1200LT2 and G-REX 1200 busboards. It black, made of steel, comes with 350W power supply, PC/Amiga keyboard interface, USB connectors, two cooling fans, and has space for a total of eight internal drives.


http://eu-shop.elbox.com/en_GB/p/BlackBOX-1200/734

Amiga on TV: zdf.info "Die Amiga Story"

German TV station "zdf.info" has broadcast a special edition of Anthony and Nicola Caulfield's Amiga documentary "From Bedrooms To Billions". You can still watch it via their "Mediathek" video archive.

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/zdfinfo-doku/die-amiga-story-100.html

(Note that access might be restricted, and video available for a limited time only.)

RedPill Amiga game creator

RedPill is a new game creator and engine for the Amiga, written in BlitzBasic (AmiBlitz2). It's currently at version 0.5.0, and features smooth scrolling, AGA support, physics (bouncing, friction, ...), collision detection, and many more details.

Here's a demo video showing part of the creation of a platform-type game:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyvvP8Ch-0c

You can reach RedPill on the net via it's facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/redpillgamecreator/