Top picture of the Indivision ECS V4 Amiga scandoubler
I had the opportunity to add a second hand Indivision ECS V4 scandoubler to my collection of Amiga hardware this week.
I am familiar with the Indivision family of scandoublers for the Amiga, the first one I had was the Indivision MK1 AGA for the Amiga 1200 more than 15 years ago. I was very happy with that one.
Currently, I am running an Indivision AGA MK3 in my Amiga 1200 and an Indivision ECS V3 in one of my Denise Amiga clones. Being able to hook up a standard HDMI or VGA screen to another one of my Amiga computers is a real luxury.
I have always thought that not being able to view all Amiga screen modes on a VGA monitor without any expensive hardware was one of the Achilles heels of the Amiga. In my ”must have list” for an Amiga computer, a scandoubler is a necessity and not an optional extra.
That perhaps explains why in my current hardware stash I now have 6, now 7 scandoublers.
Bottom picture of the Indivision ECS V4, it is a bit more busy
The elephant in the room is off course RGB2HDMI. But I think, untill there is a good solution for auto switching between two HDMI ports (scandoubler/P96) and untill there is an affordable/open hardware HDMI graphics card I prefer VGA. Because…
The picture quality from the Indivision is really good. As someone on an Amiga discussion forum described it, ”it looks like an emulator”. And…
If you take the time, and really invest a chunk of time into reading the setup manual, you can even configure them to display an even better image on your specific monitor.
Solas installed in my ReAmiga 1200, it is the blue board to the left of the floppy drive
Solas is an RGB LED controller for the Amiga, it also has some other interesting functions. Solas connects to the Amiga on the clock port and can control two LED strips. Solas has also the ability to control fan speed and measure temps. It is also a clock port multiplier!
While I am not very interested in RGB lightning in computers typically, the killer application for using RGB lights in an Amiga is that the LEDs can react to the sound comming out of the Amiga, so its possible to play a module and see the LED strip react to the module playing. That is very interesting since I enjoy playing modules on the Amiga and all kind of graphical visualizers for module players are awesome.
If you are interested in the Solas board I highly suggest visiting the official Amiga Solas website and ordering one now!
Building the Solas LED controller
I like building hardware myself so I asked if I could get the Solas as a kit, which I could. I also got a second Solas already built, it is a long story why and I wont write it down here to bore anyone. Lets just say, resistors can go bad sometimes and sometimes it can be good to have an oscilloscope in your toolbox (I dont have one).
Here is the Solas in kit form. A nice mix of through hole parts and surface mount components. Also note all the cables for the temp sensors and power cable.
Front side of Solas Amiga RGB LED controller PCB
The square space if for the chip that needs to be programmed. You can also see all through holes for pin headers and clock ports. The manual comes in really handy here in understanding how everything is tied together.
Backside of Solas PCBPrograming the PIC microchip on the Solas
I thought I could program the Solas with my RPI. I have successfully managed to program many projects that uses Xilinx CPLDs with the RPI but was not successful in this case. So I got a cheap Pickit programmer. It is not visible in the image above though but worked fine – setting up the Pickit programmer with the correct software and settings was a nightmare though.
So here is the little PCB finally fully built and installed in the A1200. As it connects to the clock port it is very important that it is fitted correctly on the bottom pins. If you use a cable and mount it wrong way, expect card to break. Why would you mount it on a cable? Say you have an Amiga 1200 tower, it might be better to mount it on a cable so that a Zorro 2 or Mediator backplane can be fitted in the tower. Mounting Solas on a cable is also relevant if you have a clock port in a big box Amiga through a Zorro card.
Next steps, connecting all the cables to Solas and Amiga 1200
Installing and adding cables to Solas in an Amiga 1200
The manual is very good at explaining how you hook up all the cables, it is slightly confusing doing this without consulting the manual. In the image above, there is a small PCB that sits under the upper Kickstart chip and hooks up to the Solas with two wires. That is for activating the other clock ports on the Solas (IIRC).
How to connect sound output into Solas on a ReAmiga 1200?
Pin header for mono sound input to the Solas on the ReAmiga 1200 v1.5
Since I was using a ReAmiga 1200 and not a Commodore made Amiga 1200 there is one difference that needs to be taken care of. On a genuine Commodore Amiga 1200, you can pick up mono sound from the modulator. But the ReAmiga 1200 does not have a RF modulator and is missing the mono output there. On later ReAmiga 1200 (I have v 1.5) there is space for a pin header close to the keyboard MPU chip where you can pick up mono sound (see image above where I have soldered on one pin header to the motherboard). Also note the place above and to the right of the pin header where you have to add a 10uf ceramic capacitor. I have not added the capacitor on the picture above.
To get the Solas to react to sound input I also had to place a 10k resistor inline with the cable connected to the pin header and to the Solas board. After that, everything worked fine!
ReAmiga 1200 with Solas installed
So here you can the full setup. Unfortunately it looks a bit messy with all the cables all over the place. It is possible to clean it up a bit, but for testing purposes this was fine. You can also see where I placed the RGB LED strip. I routed the cable from the Indivision MK3 under the Solas board, made it look much cleaner and works fine.
RGB LED strip is mounted to the underside of the upper Amiga 1200 case
Closeup of where the RGB LED strip is mounted. Even though it is mounted upside down in a solid black case it works fine and you can clearly see the light the LEDs are emitting when they are lit.
SolasControl – Software to control Solas
Use SolasControl to configure the Solas board in the Amiga
Solas comes with a great MUI based program that lets you configure Solas. The way this works is that you configure Solas, then you save your settings to the Flash on the Solas. That means that Solas will work with software that fully takes control of the Amiga.
SolasControl is an easy to use program, in the image above I have configured Solas to show a solid green light when the Amiga 1200 is idle. It looks like this:
Solas configured to show a solid green color when the A1200 is idle
Solas styles and events
As you can see on the image of SolasControl, you can set the level of brightness for the LED and in the highest strength the LEDs are very bright. I usually do not run the LEDs at the highest brightness.
Styles you can chose from in SolasControl
A static color is a bit boring. There are many styles you can chose from, my favorite is a rainbow scroll with a low brightness setting when idle. See the video below to see an example of it where I chosed blue and red as colors for the scroll.
Speed, colors, brightness and size depending on style chosed can be configured to ones preferences.
There are in total five types you can set the Solas to react to, Idle, Floppy access, HDD access, PCMCIA access and Audio. Idle just means when Solas is idle (when the other types are not active). Audio is when there is audio output and floppy/HDD and PCMCIA is when there are activity on these devices.
I like to run Star Trek Viewer for HDD Access, its a nice effect when accessing the HDD. I also as said before run Rainbow Scroll with a low brightness setting when idle. And finally, the pièce de résistance, audio. I like Level Meter (VU) for audio!
RGB LEDs reacting to Amiga sound
Playing a module in HippoPlayer on the A1200 and watching the RGB LEDs react to sound
I want to point out that I usually run a little more fancy Workbench (even on this non GFX board AGA only Amiga 1200 WB 3.1), but in this case I toned it down a lot to clarify images.
In the image above I play a module in HippoPlayer, I have also configured Solas to show Level Meter when sound is playing. And I think it looks fabulous!
This is actually why I think the Solas is so exciting since I wanted a hardware device like this for the Amiga for a long time. I remember looking for similar types of hardware on AliExpress more than 15 years ago that could be added to a 5.25 bracket back when I had an Amiga 1200 tower. But this is so much better since it can be configured on the Amiga!
What about controlling fans and measuring temps with the Solas?
Solas comes with two sensors you can place where you want to. I placed one on my Indivision (as it runs very hot) and the other on Alice as it also runs hot. It is possible to add a cable between TerribleFire 1260 and Solas to measure 060 temps, but I have not had time to do that yet, but thats on the todo list.
The fan control function is very interesting particularly if using the Solas in a big box Amiga with many Zorro cards and hot CPUs. I think this is a nice alternative to CPLDIcy.
Usefulness of more than one clock port?
There are exciting developments in the Amiga hardware world where some users have created clock port based WIFI cards for the Amiga. There are sound cards for the clock port and USB cards. So having more than one clock port can actually be usefull – who knows what type of hardware will be released for it in the future. Having a couple extra feels great for the future.
Solas and big box Amiga computers
It is possible to add a clock port to a big box Amiga with Zorro slots through an old Buddha card, ZORRO-IDE-LAN-CP card and many other cards. That makes it possible to run Solas in an A2000, A3000 or A4000.
Solas ISA carrier
There is also this exciting ISA card that functions as a carrier for the Solas. As you probably already know, ISA slots in an Amiga are totally passive, meant to be used for PC bridgeboards or TBC cards. so the Solas ISA carrier only provides power to the Solas. It has some useful pin headers though.
Solas mounted on the ISA carrier
Mounting the Solas to the ISA carrier board needs a slightly modified Solas card. One also needs to figure out how to connect sound to the Solas. I figured out that I can take it from pin headers on the ZZ9000 graphics card I am running in my Amiga 4000TX.
Keep in mind though if you have maxed out your Amiga expansion slots this sandwich can be difficult to fit as it takes up more height than a regular card.
Next steps!
I have not had time to install my second Solas in my A4000TX yet. But expect to see updates on this page once I have. I have my A4000TX mounted in a full tower with a mesh front and plan to run two LED strips on both sides of the front.
Final thoughs
As you can probably tell, I have only positive things to say about Solas. Highly recommended! I also think the Solas board is one of the greatest hardware developments for the Amiga in recent years together with PiStorm and open hardware such as BFG and TF series of cards. Great work everybody 👍
GottaGoFaZt3r 256 MB RAM Zorro 3 card for the Amiga
GottaGoFaZt3r is a memory card for Zorro 3 big box Amiga computers that you can build or buy premade. Find out more information about the GottaGoFaZt3r Amiga memory card here.
Amiga with a Zorro 2 bus supports up to 8 MB memory on the Zorro 2 bus, that memory is shared with other devices on the bus so if you have a graphics card with 2 MB you can only have 6 MB additional fast mem on the Zorro 2 bus. With Zorro 3 that is IIRC increased to 1 GB.
Phase 5 Fastlane vs GottaGoFaZt3r
Before this card was released there was not a huge offering of Zorro 3 memory cards, the most famous was probably the Fastlane from Phase 5, a huge full size Zorro 3 memory card that uses rare 30 pin memory and commanded high prices on the second hand market. The Fastlane has 16 30-pin SIMM sockets and can be expanded to 256 MB, but that would require 16 very rare 16 MB 30-pin SIMM memory. Phase 5 made awesome hardware back in the day but time marches on.
While the Fastlane was also a SCSI card the GottaGoFaZt3r is just a memory card. Where the Fastlane is full size the modern card is a mini half size Zorro 3 card. It is autodetected and just does one thing, adding more memory to your Z3 Amiga.
Whats the point of a 256 MB memory card in an Amiga?
The GottaGoFaZt3r can be built to be a 128 MB card or 256 MB card. Off course I went for the 256 MB option. While this could be seen as just bragging rights to be able to pump up your Amiga with a 256 MB memory card, keep in mind that this is actually usable on an Amiga, even with oldschool applications thanks to being able to use the memory card as a huge RAM disk.
Some comments about building the GottaGoFaZt3r Amiga memory card
Memory and CPLD was sourced from China, other than those parts its a very straight forward BOM. The build is also very simple. While the BOM does not mentions a capacitor at C1 I got the recommendations to add one so thats what I did.
My setup
In total there is 660 MB Fast RAM in my Amiga 4000TX
I installed the GottaGoFaZt3r card in my A4000TX. Currently the memory setup looks like this on my Amiga 4000TX which is alsy my primary Amiga.
GottaGoFaZt3r: 256 MB
BFG9060: 128 MB
ZZ9000: 256 MB
I will add 128 MB fast ram to the motherboard (which will be used as 96 MB by the A4000TX), so in the future I will have 736 MB fast mem in my daily driver. Currently the memory is reported as 660 MB as I have a memory stick that is not really supported by the TX so it only partially works.
I got the opportunity last year during fall to purchase a GBAPII++ mini graphics card with all passives already mounted. Only thing it did not have was the Cirrus Logic chip, memory chp and the CPLD (and some small components). The mini version of the GBAPII++ is the same card functionality wise as the regular one. You can read about the regular GBAPII++ here, you can read about the mini version of the card here.
As I was going to build the regular version of the graphics card in parallell I got lazy when I put together the BOM and assumed that the voltage regulator was the same for both of the cards. I was wrong, the GBAPII++ mini uses another voltage regulator, which explains why I could not program the CPLD and why the voltage regulator was running very hot on the card once I had built it.
Having received another shipment of components from Mouser late last year in December with the correct voltage regulator, I was anxious to find out if I had fried the card or if it was going to work. Happy to tell you the card in the picture is working fine after I swapped the voltage regulator to the correct one!
Whats the point of such a small Amiga graphics card?
I use my other GBAP2++ mini card in my Mini-ITX Amiga Denise but I think I will use this one in another big box Amiga. As you can see the Denise is installed in a very low profile case – The tiny card makes it possible to use a small case. If anyone is wondering what case I am running, it is a Chieftec IX-01B Mini-ITX case but it has the CD/DVD addition stacked on top of it to make room for the graphics card (Chieftec MK-35DV).
This Amiga is based on the Denise Mini-ITX A500+ clone motherboard. It has a TF356 68030 turbo card with 64MB memory, a 4 GB CF card and an Indivision ECS MK3, it also has a GBAP2++ mini graphics card. The video output from the VGA connector is beautifully switched from native ECS to P96 output (and vice versa).
Here is another closeup of the card running fine in my Denise Amiga clone.
The final Amiga hardware project of the year for me is this nice mini hardware kit for the Amiga 1200, the OpenA1200RTC. A real time clock that you can hook up to an Amiga that has a clock port. Find out more about the OpenA1200RTC here. The real time clock makes the Amiga 1200 keep track of time.
Building the OpenA1200RTC
This was a very simple 20 minute build containing only 13 parts. The only moderately difficult to find part is probably the RTC chip which can be found on Ebay or AliExpress.
What is the clock port in an Amiga?
The Amiga 1200 has a port fameously dubbed the ”clock port”. The clock port is a 2 mm double row 22 pin header close to the CPU slot. It was rarely used for its intended purpose, to host a real time clock, since hardware engineers figured out how to hook up sound cards, serial ports and other things to it.
There are some Zorro cards that also has clock ports. That means it is possible to run clock port hardware on a big box Amiga that can carry Zorro cards.
So what do you use an RTC for anyways on an Amiga?
The main purpose of having an RTC such as the OpenA1200RTC is for the Amiga to not lose time when it is powered off. Having your computer keep track on time is not only usable for having a clock on the desktop. If the computer keeps track of time, that means all files will have timestamps whjen they where created or last edited. While it is possible to sync date and time with a server over the internet it could be handy to have an internal RTC on an Amiga that is not hooked up to the internet a majority of time. Also, it could be nice to finally use the clock port for its intended application once.
BFG9060 with rev 1 68060 under testing in my A4000TX
I built a BFG9060 060 turbo card last year that I could clock at 100Mhz, this is the second BFG9060 I have built and it is in a cool red PCB color. Thanks to the Xilinx programmer I got I could finally program the CPLDs on it but did not have time testing it fully. Now that I have tested it I can finally confirm that it is working 100%.
Actually, I just ran Quake for an hour with it mounted in my primary Amiga, my A4000TX daily driver, and the card performed just fine. Once I have it permanently installed in one of my big box Amigas I will do a proper 24h POVRay fish render test. But as it is now, I am happy with how it performed!
Mystery 68060 CPU
I got this 68060 chip from Vesalia years ago (probably 12+ years ago), and for a really good price too. It was a deal too good to pass on even though I did not know what to do with it. Well I am happy that I kept it but for all these years I wondered three things:
Did it work?
What kind of 060 was it?
Is it a fake? Why did it have these strange markings and not the typical Motorola markings?
The answer to those questions are:
Yes the 68060 works fine! And it does not get that hot either (though I have a heatsink/fan on it).
It is a rev 1 68060.
It is not a fake 060 – It came from a Phase 5 turbo card – Phase 5 used to add this text to the 060s on the turbo cards.
While the CPU works, it is a little bit of a bummer that it is a rev 1 as that revision has bugs. But there are work arounds for that so it does not really matter. Unfortunately, as its rev 1, that means no 100Mhz overclock. But to be honest with you, I am glad just having another full (MMU/FPU) 060 on a big box Amiga turbo card.
68060 low profile 5v cooler
I was afraid that the CPU I had was going to run too hot so I went into my stash of heatsinks to look for a suitable cooler for it. I found this thin 5v laptop cooler that I must have kept in my stash for more than 15 years. I got it from an old Acer Celeron laptop I found in the trash at a job I had and I was glad I finally found a use for it.
It is a thin radial fan that sits on an aluminium bottom plate that acts as a heatsink. I have not found modern alternatives in this size for a good price so I guess they have become rare these days.
I used thermal adhesive tape (also called ”frag tape” BITD) to secure the heatsink to the CPU. Believe me, this thermal double sided adhesive tape has insane stickiness, there is no chance of the heatsink falling of the CPU if mounted vertically.
I can confirm, according to tests done with my finger, that the CPU does not run hot at all with the heatsink/fan on it. I am starting to wonder that maybe it was overkill, but if I end up using it in an A3000D case it might come in handy as that case has poor cooling performance.
Today I got a fully built replica A4091 Zorro 3 SCSI card delivered. The A4091 was a SCSI 2 controller for the Zorro 3 slot, it was made by Commodore. This is a reverse enginered version that you can find prebuilt on the internet or build yourself. Find out more about the original C= 4091 card here and the new replica A4091 SCSI card here.
I watched the presentation of this card on an Amiwest stream a couple of years ago so its exciting to have the real card in my hands.
Advantages of SCSI in an Amiga
The advantage of using a SCSI harddrive and a A4091 in a Zorro 3 Amiga is that it will have faster transfer speeds than IDE. SCSI is also less heavy on the system as the card has its own brain to process file transfers taking up less CPU time than IDE. This is good as Amiga is limited in CPU power (at least with a real CPU).
Zorro 3 only!
This card only works on the Zorro 3 slot. That is good news since it means better performance than a Zorro 2 card/slot. But it also means it will only work on the A4000(T) and the A3000(T). The Amiga 3000 already has SCSI on the motherboard, but if that does not work well, this card could be the solution.
Hardware setup
This card will probably end up in my A4000TX or in my A4000D. The A4000T already has SCSI2 and is basically the A4091 card implemented on the motherboard (well, the main chip is the same). As my main systems already got 060s, graphics cards and plenty of memory this is a welcome addition in squeezing out the last performance before I go into the world of PiStorms.
I will run a ZuluSCSI card on mine as I have banished mechanical harddrives from all my computers. The ZuluSCSI can emulate multiple harddrives (and CDs) stored as files on an SD card.
Purple Amiga A4091 SCSI 2 card
And I actually lied a little when I said that it was exciting to finally have the card in my hands as I already built a purple A4091 SCSI 2 card last year.
Here are some new Amiga PCBs for some new projects I got this week:
GottaGoFaZt3r memory card (will do the 256 MB version and probably a second card).
PiStorm16 x 2
Prometheus clone
MpegIt for the Prelude Amiga sound card
Prelude sound card PCB (not in the picture)
I also have two Amiga graphics cards in my todo list:
GBAPII++ graphics card
Mini GBAPII++ graphics card
And lets not forget the ReAmiga 3000 PCB I got late this week too! I have had a broken Amiga 3000D motherboard in my stash for years so finally I will be able to shake some life into it again!
So lets just say a massive BOM will be ordered soon!
The ZZ9000AX Amiga sound card for the ZZ9000 graphics card
There is a sound card for the ZZ9000 Amiga graphics card called the ZZ9000AX. It is a small soundcard that is attached directly to the graphics card.
I had some problems with the ZZ9000AX
Keep in mind that I am running the card on an unofficial Amiga motherboard so that might be the case (A4000TX) and not the fault of the soundcard.
I got one of the soundcards last year but had massive problems getting it running well. The ZZ9000AX seemed to be picking up noise off the buss and many times had a disturbingly loud background buzz that never stopped. Paula sound is passed through the ZZ9000AX and when Paula output was passed through the ZZ9000AX it just sounded horrible. Sometimes distorted, sometimes just totally wrong, so far from the regular crystal clear Amiga sound output I was used to.
I was sent a replacement card from MNT but it did not fix the problems, just introduced different sounding problems. I am not blaming MNT for these problems – as I was running it in my A4000TX which is a non standard Amiga model (with no public schematics), there might be some kind of difference between an A4000D CR and an A4000TX that introduces these problems into the audio output. Without schematics it is not possible to go further investigating the problem. I am going to test my card on my other Zorro machines in the future to find out if it is the fault of the A4000TX or not (will update this text). But the card was sadly unusable for me in my A4000TX.
Finding a solution
ZZ9000AX with external to internal cable
Playing around with the card I noticed that if I removed the three wire cable that connected Paula audio output into the ZZ9000AX (you can see it attached to the card above) the card was beautifully silent, no bus noise, no irritating static and no weird noises. Playing MP3s worked fine. So I got an idea to remove the three cable wire and route the output from the ZZ9000AX into the Paula input header so the output of the soundcard was mixed into the sound jack of the A4000TX.
Cable in detail, it is just a simple cable, nothing special to be honest
I created this little cable just to prove if it could work. I will make a nicer looking cable in the future. The A4000D and the A4000TX (that is based on the A4000D CR) has a audio in input on the motherboard, likely for CD-ROM input or for AV purposes.
It is connected to line in on the A4000TX motherboard so it gets mixed into the output for the sound socket.
You can see the cable connected to the audio input header on the image above. It is a messy setup, but the system is in a state of work in progress at the moment.
The cable is just a nasty quick hack, I will do something better here in the future
Here is the backside of the A4000TX and how I route the cables to the internal audio input. No doubt I will create a more neat solution in the future, but for now this will do.
Does the fix work?
Yes it does, I have configured AmigaAMP to use the MHI drivers for MP3 playback. Both MHI and AHI works fine. There is no bus noise and no ringing noises in the background. The sound output is dead silent when Paula is not creating sound or an MP3 is not playing, just as I expect it to be. And best of all, playing modules in an module player sounds crystal clear. Playing MP3s on my Amiga sounds just as they do on my PC now!
