…because you will accidentially miss ordering a part in the BOM – As is derigeur whenever order a BOM anyways.
Don’t order the BOM in the night…
Updating AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition to Update 3 on my Sam440ep
There was a new update to AmigaOS 4.1 Final edition released recently, Update 3 for AmigaOS 4.1. I run AmigaOS 4.1 on an old Sam440ep and thought it could be a good idea to run an update updating it from 2 to 3.
Installing AmigaOS 4.1 Update 3
The update is shown in AmiUpdate once you log into the updater.
Once the update is downloaded it goes into an installation dialoge. Both the download and the installation went smooth and quick. I did not bother to do a backup before doing the installation.
After a reboot I was greeted with a new title bar text, it says “Final Edition Update 3” now. There is also an AmigaGuide in sys: that goes through all the changes.
Most changes seems to be technical of nature but I did find the system to feel a bit snappier and quicker in use (or maybe that was just my imagination). I also think I read somewhere that network speed has been improved. As I have the slowest next gen systems, that is good info! Read more about improvements and changes here.
Conclusion
It was nice to see an update for AmigaOS 4 being released, hopefully we will see more updates in the future and also new high end cheap hardware to run it on.
I also wanted to do a quick test of the AmigaOS 4 port of VIM, and here it is in full glory and running great:
BFG9060 black screen on my Amiga 4000D motherboards, how to fix?
I had two summer projects this year that I recently finished. One was an Acill A4000D replica motherboard and the other was a Hese made A4000+ Alice A4000D CR motherboard replica. You could say two brothas from different mothas or something…
Both motherboards worked fine when doing basic test runs, however they both failed to run with a BFG9060. All I got when running them with a BFG9060 060 CPU card was a black screen.
Anyway, as usual building them up was pure pleasure from start to finish. I even enjoyed desoldering the Acill A4000D motherboard from a few passives and pin headers someone else had a false start with. I mean, off course you want a full set of pin headers soldered to your 400+ small parts PCB (not really).
The motherboard was all built up and looking good in shiny red matching a BFG9060 with a mystery (rev. 1) 060 I built last year.
As good as it was looking it failed to run with the BFG9060. It was working fine with the A3630 CPU board I built earlier this year, but not with the 060 card. That reminded me that I had the same problem with my Alice A4000D motherboard a couple of weeks ago.
The Alice A4000D has an 030 CPU on the motherboard so it does not need a CPU card. It was working fine with the on board 030.
I got the suggestion to try a new delay line as that could be the problem the CPU card failed to run. As the A3630 has exactly the same CPU as the one mounted on the motherboard, it is difficult to say if the A3630 was running or not.
If you are in this hobby you have to grow a passion for trying all hardware combinations to find the solution. In this case, the reason for the Amiga 4000 getting a black screen when running a BFG9060 was the PSU as everything seemed to run fine with another PSU than the SFX one I had in the A4000D case.
I changed the SFX PSU that previously was working fine with the EXACT hardware setup I am running here (but different Amiga 4000 motherboard) with a small ITX PSU and suddenly DiagROM worked fine and detected the 060 CPU.
This lead me to believe that maybe the PSU was not pushed too hard as some ATX PSUs fail to run if there is a tiny load on them (or something like that). So I decided to do a final test by adding some cards to my A4000D and try the SFX PSU again.
Unfortunately it did not start with the SFX PSU and 060 card even if I loaded the machine with all Zorro slots filled, including adding an old 3.5″ harddrive.
So next step is to get a new SFX PSU. But at least I know I have to working motherboards!
ReAmiga 3000 post test run follow up
You may have seen my previous post where I did a test run on my ReAmiga 3000 that I finished earlier this year. If not, check out my post about my ReA3000 that I built in April here.
While I did do a test run in DiagROM previously I did not have a daugherboard for it so I just whent through the usual tests (successfully) and called it a day. This time I did a more comprehensive test session where I tested a Amiga 3000 daughterboard, a BFG9060, a GottaGoFaZt3r 256MB Z3 memory card, programmed and replaced the logic chips and also replaced some ICs that I had to use adapters for previously.
Amiga 3000 daughterboard
While my ReAmiga 3000 started up fine in DiagROM it failed to run with a Kickstart rom. I was puzzled about this since it was running fine in DiagROM. No matter what I tried I ended up with a black screen. Problem was solved by adding the daughtercard. Now Kickstart boot screen came up.
I am using a Matze A3000DB, more info on it here. This is just like a regular Amiga 3000 daughterboard but it also has I2C functionality so you can monitor temps. More info about I2C here, the added functionality is based on that project. So to be honest, I have not really fully understood I2C, perhaps I will do a deep dive in the future. I have an CPLDICY card I built last year and its neat to see temps. I am thinking this could be interesting to monitor if running a tight A3000 case with bad cooling.
Another note, this is a version of the Matze A3000DB with some added functions by kavanoz & CDH, see more here about this specific version of the daughterboard.
A GottaGoFaZt3r 256MB Z3 memory card was inserted and it was detected by DiagROM.
ReAmiga3000 + BFG9060 test, success?
Recently I built an A4000D that failed to run with a CPU card. That motivated me to test my older builds with a CPU card to make sure they work properly with a faster CPU. The only issue I had was to figure out how to jumper the motherboard, then it was smooth sailings.
DiagROM identified the 060 and also the fast ram. Now I need to do a 6 hour fish render and stability will be tested (something to do for the future).
74FCT646 chip replacement
If you look at the BOM for the ReAmiga 3000 you can see that Chucky recommends replacing the 74F646S with 74FCT646. Currently 74FCT646 can only be found in SOIC-24 from Mouser and Digikey and not in DIP so you need a SOIC-24 to DIP adapter to use them. While the adapter worked fine I just felt it would look better to run DIP chips instead. I had an UTsource order going for my A2386SX order in the pipeline so I added eleven 74FCT646 chips to that order from UTsource. Why 11 when the A3000 only needs 9? Well two of them is going to my A2386SX boards.
The 74F646S chips actually runs hot, especially when there is 9 of them, that is something I noticed when using them from my donor machine. So it was a nobrainer to replace them with cooler running chips.
As I put in sockets for all the 74FCT646 chip adapters I am thinking of removing the sockets in the future and solder the chips directly to the motherboard for an even cleaner look. The ground plane in an A3000 is brutal though, not sure I wanna wrestle with this board desoldering stuff again. Desoldering the KEL 200 pin CPU slot was a nightmare.
Programmed and replaced logic chips
There are four logic chips on the Amiga 3000. About 15 years ago I had the oppportunity to buy a broken Amiga 3000 cheap because it had a broken display output. Turned out it was because one of the logic chips was broken, so it was an easy fix to just replace one of the chips with a new one.
So to future proof this ReAmiga 3000 build I replaced the logic chips I got from the donor A3000 with modern alternatives and got the JEDEC files to program them with from here.
Next step
I hope I can find a case for this build, they are difficult to come by but occasionally you can find one. Actually wish I had one now as I would like to set it up to a running system!
C’est la vie…
Motorola MC68040RC25 CPU (02E42K)
I got this Motorola 68040 25MHz CPU recently for a great price. It was too cheap not to buy. Interestingly, it is a later generation of the chip, manufactured in 1995 (or later). The 68040 is famous for being a hot chip. I remember that too well from running one in my Amiga 4000D I had back in 1998. But these later generations are made with a smaller manufacturer process, 0.65 micron vs 0.8 micron, so it should run cooler than the CPU on that crazy hot running Commodore 3640 CPU card I had.
I have not decided what to do with the 68040 CPU yet, for example, I have an old Apollo 1260 sans CPU that I could convert back to an 1240 and sell for 1999 euro on Amibay. While that is tempting, I think I would want to run this one in one of my big box Amigas instead as I am curious if it is overclockable and how hot it runs. I am also curious if the performance from the 040 CPU would be satisfying.
One irritating thing is that it has this silly flat and round aluminium heatsink glued on to it. Tried to remove it but it is bonded to it and wont move a micron. I was thinking of prying it off with a chisel and sledgehammer but got the idea to use fishing line or dental floss instead. No matter what option I take this pathetic heatsink will be removed one way or another and be replaced with a bad-ass P1 cooler with a Noctua fan. Maybe I have to spend a week grinding it off with my trusty Dremel from 1997 (hope not).
DIP to PLCC Amiga chip adapters
I have had these DIP to PLCC adapter kits in my stash for quite a while, today I finally gave in and built them. They are usefull if you want to use PLCC Amiga CIA chips instead of DIP CIA chips and for using an PLCC Motorola 68000 CPU instead of a more common DIP 68000.
Commodore Amiga 8520 CIA PLCC to DIP adapter
Amiga 600, 1200 and 4000 uses PLCC 8520 CIA chips, these chips can be used on Amiga 500, 2000 and Amiga 3000 (I guess on the A1000 too) with a DIP to PLCC adapter. In my experience it is actually cheaper to get a real DIP 8520 instead of using an adapter and a PLCC CIA for Amiga computers that can use them as they are a bit more expensive on the market. But if you are like me and have a stash of 100 PLCC CIA chips then you gotta do what you gotta do (obvious joke).
Motorola 68000 PLCC to DIP adapter
PLCC 68000 CPU is not that common but it is used in the Amiga 600 (and IIRC in the Atari ST). You can run one in an Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 with a DIP to PLCC adapter. Why would you want to run a PLCC 68k CPU instead of the DIP Motorola 68000 CPU? No idea, but it looks cool.
Build tips for PLCC to DIP adapters
- Do the pinstrip first by soldering two legs on each side only and making sure the pinstrip is straight, you can also fit the pinstrips in a socket. Then solder down all the legs.
- Cut off the upper pins that will sit under the PLCC socket with a sharp cutting tool. Cut them off as close to the PCB as possible.
- Then solder the PLCC socket, use flux to make sure solder does not short legs outs.
Good luck!
Two is always better than one (unfortunately not for my wallet)
The show must go on!
In this hobby you are never really finished with anything, there is always a new project hiding behind the corner, and thats just the way I like it 😂
A4000+ Alice motherboard
This is an A4000+ Alice PCB, it is an Amiga 4000D CR replica motherboard and it was created by the talented Hese who has made some awesome Amiga clones and hardware available to the community. If you are interested in buying an Alice A4000+ PCB, check out this thread on AmiBay (not sure you can still get one though but maybe one shows up second hand).
This was supposed to be my summer project of 2025 and I could not resist to share it on my blog even though it is not 100% finished yet. It took me about 2-2.5 months to reach this state as I was in no hurry during the summer to finish it. It is almost finished, just missing the DB slots, battery holder, two sockets and an electrolytic capacitor. Oh and all the custom chips off course, but I have a full A4000 chipset sans Buster and Ramsey…
A full socket Amiga 4000D motherboard build
The reason I did a full socket built was that I was thinking it could come in handy if I would need to test custom chips in the future. One of my A4000TX motherboards was built with sockets, but I did a bad job, cutting out the center sections from the sockets before soldering them. So I want to convert the A4000TX to soldered custom chips and have this one as my primary testing station (or primary A4000D motherboard, nothing is static in this hobby).
The other reason I did a full socket build was that there are quite a few projects around where users are looking into cloning the custom chips. Most of these solutions are using a PLCC plug that mounts in a PLCC socket, so if everything goes as it should go, perhaps we can have full custom Amiga chip clones in the near future! Woops, better sell your stash of Buster 11 while you still can get 150+ euro for them!
On schedule and rocking + two more weeks!!!!
The A4000CR is an interesting motherboard as it is slightly different than previous revisions of the A4000D motherboard. There is a 030 on the PCB and the chip memory is already soldered to the PCB, thus it only has four memory slots in comparison with previous revisions of the motherboard that had 5. So if it comes without a 030 CPU board and with one less SIMM socket, there is some money to be saved, thus CR.
Once this project is fully finished, I then have a beautiful red Acill A4000D motherboard to build, perhaps my next summer project?
Can’t wait to fire up this beautiful blue Amiga 4000D motherboard in a month or two and give it a test run.
A2386SX – Amiga PC bridgeboard replica
This is an amazing replica of the Commodore A2386SX PC bridgeboard, you can find out more about the project here. There is also a discussion forum about the card on the German A1K forum (just use auto translate in your browser if you dont speak German).
Background
The A2386SX was the best PC bridgeboard Commodore made for the Amiga, it was based on a 386 CPU, could be expanded to 8 MB and enabled you to transform an Amiga in a multi CPU system that could run tasks in parallell on both CPUs, one in Amiga Workbench and the other in MS-DOS on the bridgeboard – at the same time. You could for example hop in to MS-DOS and run your programs and then multitask back to Workbench while programs where running in both environments.
This is a beautiful replica of the A2386SX PC bridgeboard by Commodore.
I got my PCB late in Q1 after contemplating if it was even possible for me to build this card at all. Building it was not the problem. The main problem was finding all the parts and programming some of the chips. But I quickly came to realization that it was actually possible to locate almost all the parts if I pulled the trigger at the right moment since some of the rare parts this build required was disappearing fast on Ebay.
My main goal of running the card is to have access to multi channel module players such as Cubic Player and to be able to play PC modules in MS-DOS with a Sound Blaster 16. I would also like to dive into some old MS-DOS applications I used to use 30 years ago and play some old DOS game or two. But the main attraction is PC music without having to get a separate PC just for that.
Some notes on parts and building the A2386SX project
There are some very rare parts required for the A2386SX bridgeboard. The rarest chips are the two socketed PLCC84 Commodore chips and the PC chipset in the middle of the card.
The Commodore chips (MOS 5718 and the chip besides it) can be taken from 2088 and 2286 Bridgeboards (they are the same), they might pop up on eBay, but consider that a miracle if they show up. I got my chips from a cheap 2088 that I bought second hand last year. Did not know what to do with that card at the time, but it was too cheap to pass up on and I am glad that I got it now.
The PC chipset should in theory be easy to find online, but so far, I have only been able to locate one of the chips. The other chip needs to be ordered in bulk from a specialist in rare chips and is costly. I thought it was possible to find an old motherboard and desolder them from there, if you find a motherboard that has them – consider that a miracle!
Then we have other obscure chips such as the floppy controller, programmable chips (that needs a special vintage programmer or someone with better skills than me in understanding how to program them with a modern device) – not really a problem to find them.
ZIP Memory can be found from obscure part specialists (remember you need two types of memory). The CPU is available on eBay, but if you want the faster 486 that is compatible with the card, good luck, as said, miracles can happen!
A difficult to find item is the capacitor networks, you can cheat and use adaptors instead. I wonder if those are needed if you wont use a floppy drive with it though.
Bracket was sourced from another enthusiast who ordered a batch. 646 was taken from my donor A3000.
Full socket build
I did a full socket build, thinking it would make it easy to error check or replace chips. And if by miracle I would build a second card I will be able to test the chips before building it.
486 CPU instead of 386 CPU
So while this is a 386 bridgeboard it uses a 486. I did some research earlier this year when I built my card, unfortunately I have forgotten the exact details, but it is possible to use a special 486 CPU on the board as they are the same physical size. I think what is most important is that the voltage level is the same as the 386 that it is supposed to use and you need to fiidle with the BIOS.
This mod works on the original Commodore A2386SX card also. This is a nobrainer for me since I grew up on 486 PCs.
Failed test run and successful test run!
So after having received more than 10+ packages containing parts for this build from around the world and a the main passives from Mouser I decided to finally build it up. How exciting!
I was really looking forwards doing the first test run after I got the programmed chips back from a friend in the hobby who could program them. But disaster happened – Bummer – The first test run failed – the card refused to run!
Most of my projects I build usually run fine on the first go, if there are any errors it is usually a bad solder joint on a surface mounted component, a dirty board or something that is missing.
In this case I knew I would never figure it out myself, especially after visually inspecting it 10 times, So I sent it off to another friend in the hobby to get it checked.
Turned out that I had used the wrong memory (I had used the memory from my donor Amiga 3000) and there was some small difference between the type of ZIP mem I used and the one that worked with the card. There was also an error in the BOM that has since been updated where bussed resistor nets where specified instead of isolated (or was it vice versa).
Once I received the card with the correct memory and resistors I did another test run and could confirm the card to be fully running!
Next steps
I probably did not realise how much work it would be to set this card up so thats why I will do it after summer. But the plan is to get MS-DOS 6.22 up and running with Windows 3.1. I will run an ISA graphics card and an ISA sound card and will also try to run the HDD off a partition on the Amiga HDD. But as it stands now the A2386SX is fully working and ready to take its place in the big box Amiga that will be its home in the future.
Would also love to build a second card, hopefully there will be an up to date model with chips replaced with CPLDs in the future!