Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!sri-unix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!burdvax!bpa!cbmvax!grr From: grr@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (George Robbins) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: 68010 W/1.5MEG INTERNAL - WILL IT WORK? Message-ID: <1154@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> Date: Sat, 20-Dec-86 14:49:21 EST Article-I.D.: cbmvax.1154 Posted: Sat Dec 20 14:49:21 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 21-Dec-86 21:03:46 EST References: <877@ulowell.UUCP> Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Lines: 53 In article <877@ulowell.UUCP> jwhitman@ALMSA-1.ARPA (Jerry Whitman) writes: >There is a mail-order outfit in Texas advertising the Amiga a 68010 >CPU, 1080 monitor, clock w/battery,and (the attention getter) 1.5 Meg >of memory *INTERNAL* for $1595. This *sounds* like a goodly deal, >but....I have questions! >a. I have seen past articles discussing the 68010 in the AMIGA and >they left me with these questions: > 1 - Is the 68010 fully upward compatible with the 68000. If not > does it negatively affect existing software products? > 2 - Can/will the existing C/A software (V1.2 OS, Basic, utilites > etc) take advantage of 68010 features? > 3 - Can/will existing commercial software take advantage of 68010 > features? A) The 68010 is not completly compatible with the 68000, but a little help from the trap routines in the OS can smooth things over. Unfortunatly, the added features don't help much in an Amiga - it runs a few percent faster, but that's it. Most of the features that were added to the 68010 were to make it easy to do virtual memory systems with a some kind of mmu. >b. I have been laboring under the impression that the AMIGA could only >see 500K of internal RAM. This appears not to be so, but... > 1 - Can the special function chips (graphics, audio, etc) see and > utilize any of the additional 1Meg of internal memory? > 2 - Can/will existing software (C/A or commercial) use it? If so > how does any software know it is available? (Maybe Autoconfig?) > 3 - Can it be used for RAM:? B) There are various places in the memory map where you can stick RAM and have it automatically detected, or add it to the available memory list later. These places may/will change in future machines and may require internal decoding to work reliably, so we make no big fuss about it. The current generation of custom chips can only access the first 512K of internal RAM. Various paging schemes are conceivable, but without support from AmigaDOS and the graphics libraries would be of limited utility. Most software can use any RAM that the system has been told about. I don't see why it couldn't be used for RAM: although I understand that the current C/A RAM: device wouldn't limit itself to it. >c. Doesn't this modification void the C?A warranty? Unless they have received some kind of special authorization from C/A then these modifications would void the warranty. It would then be up to this Texas company to offer their own warranty. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@seismo.css.GOV Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)