Wireless networking in AmigaOS 4.1 with Vonets Wireless Bridge

Posted on June 5, 2025 by erkorh

A Sam440EP with Vonets VAP11G-300 ethernet to WIFI bridge

Finally got my Sam440EP that is running AmigaOS 4.1 online with no ethernet cable, wireless, with a Vonets WIFI bridge, no more ethernet cable!!

Currently, I dont have a permanent place for my Sam440EP on my desk at home. That will change in the future. But for now, whenever I want to use it, I set it up on my desk. Since it is a tiny computer, that is not really a problem as its very portable.

But having to run a long ethernet cable between the SAM440EP and the main ethernet switch is such a hassle.

Its not 1999 anymore and WIFI is great these days! So I went looking for a wireless solution for hooking up my next gen Amiga to the home network.

Finding a solution is a bit tricky though. After having spent a couple of evenings researching the topic I decided to order a supposedly supported card by AmigaOS 4.1, only to have it be cancelled by the seller. Disapointed but also relieved because I did not fully expected the card to work – I Instead opted for an ethernet to WIFI bridge.

Thinking, if that works, I could get a second and hook up my A4000TX to the home WIFI network with one also since there is no WIFI card for Zorro Amigas..

There are a couple of nice solutions for wireless bridges these days and the prices has gone way down since last time I was in the market (2005). The Vonets Wireless Bridge that I got from AliExpress cost around 20 euro.

Setting up the Vonets wireless bridge on the Amiga

Test setup during initial setup of WIFI on the SAM440EP

Setting up the Vonets VAP11G-300 WIFI bridge reminded me why I chose not to go down the network admin/sysadmin route back in my university years. Or it reminded me of how much simple everything these days usually are to set up.

Surprised I was, it did actually come with a real manual (something I did not expect from cheap China stuff)!. However the manual was a bit poor in quality and clarity, I think it was better if it did not come with one.

Anyways, just so that I wont forget how to set it up, here is how to set up the Vonets wireless bridge to be a WIFI bridge for ethernet:

Connect the Vonets wireless bridge to a PC. Connect both USB and ethernet so it gets power and can be found by the computer.
On the Vonets adapter: Green light should come up (that is the ethernet port), blue light should come up (that is WIFI).
Disable wireless on the computer if active. Else you wont be able to log into the bridge. Make sure ethernet is active and not disabled.
Go to Chrome and type in the IP adress as specified on the device to connect to the Vonets bridge.
Disable AP functionality of device and click save (if you dont want to use it as an AP). Device defaults to both an AP and a bridge if not.
Change password of device and save.
Go to main panel and scan for SSIDs.
Chose SSID, type in password and save.
Reboot Vonets device

It wont be possible to setup the device again on the IP number after rebooting the device. If you need to configure it again you need to reset it with the little button on it.

Once rebooted it should now be possible to browse the web on the PC where the Vonets wireless bridge acts as a bridge.

In theory it will work with any device that has an ethernet port. Read on…

Troubleshooting the Vonets VAP11G-300 WIFI bridge

So this is where the fun began (or not if you belong to the ones who do not see sysadmin/network admin tasks as a fun).

At first it did not work at all on my Sam. But it worked fine on my workstation.

I then figured out that if I changed the internet settings in AmigaOS 4.1 in Prefs and saved the new configuration the internet came to life! I thought I had solved it but as soon as I rebooted or restarted AmigaOS 4.1 then network access dissappeard.

I suspected the problem was that I had to configure the Sam to use a static IP, but that was not it either. However I got to familarize myself with subnet masks and ip ranges again, how much fun!

Back of the Sam440EP to illustrate how the Vonets WIFI bridge is set up

Soon I found the problem!

The Vonets adapter takes power from the USB port, the USB port on the Sam is disabled during startup (or delayed) so once Workbench is loaded the network has not fully been initialized. It takes a bit of time for the Vonets adapter to fully start, I suspect it must be running a minimal OS that handles all backend tasks. Which explains why restarting the network works. But until the network in AmigaOS4 is restarted, the network is down.

I decided to run it internally by routing the ethernet cable into the case

I quickly tried to come up with a solution, the solution was to run the adapter from 5v from the internal PSU. And that lead me to wonder if it was possible to place it inside the case too. I could route the ethernet cable through the hole for the VGA port on the Sam backplate.

The Vonets adapter is placed under the SSD on the left side of the motherboard

The Vonets WIFI bridge was placed under the SSD on the Sam440EP motherboard. There are no components on that side of the motherboard so no chips will get cooked as the Vonets adapter heats up a bit and I was worried that I would introduce more heat to the system.

Browsing the web on an Amiga is currently not a fun experience, lets hope a modern browser (and modern hardware is released!)

Would it work, yes it did. The Morex 557 case that the Sam440 is mounted in has mesh sides so signals from the WIFI bridge passes through the case fine (and also aid in ventilation of the setup).

Summary

All in all I am pleased with the setup and will order a second one for my Amiga 4000TX, and my A1200 is already running WIFI with the PicoWyfy. While I am pleased with the setup, much has happened with the web in 15 years. I remember browsing the web back in 2009 on my Pegasos 2 and having a great experience. But the modern web is built on JS and needs SSL. There is no way this 533Mhz system would keep up even if there was a modern browser. While the main goal was not to browse the web but to enable file transfers between fileserver and the Amiga on the local network, I would not mind browsing the modern web on it.

Some Amiga activities from the week

Posted on May 24, 2025 by erkorh

Donor Amiga 1200

This Amiga 1200 was painted in an unusual color (and paint).

I won an Amiga 1200 on a local auction website. I put in a max bid but surprisingly it got sold for cheaper than I anticipated. I think it was for a couple of reasons. First the case was painted in a weird cement like textured paint, more on that later, secondly it was sold as-is and not working. I have heard of a new Mini-ITX AGA A1200 clone being developed so this broken A1200 will be the donor for that future project (if the chips works).

The value in this computer (for me) lies in its chips. I am mainly interested in Alice, Lisa, the two CIA chips and the Paula. I am also interested in the memory chips as those can be used on various projects. There is some value in the 23-pin video socket also.

I did some math and took a gamble on both winning the Amiga 1200 and on the chips working. As the CIA chips, the paula and Alice has been socketed, that is a clear sign someone has messed inside this A1200 before. Could both be good news or bad news as sockets can be the reason for the computer not working.

Anyways, here is how I calculated the value:

Alice: 100-135 euro
Lisa: 20-35 euro
CIA (2x): 35-80 euro
Paula: 25-35 euro
Memory (4x): 10 euro
23-pin D-SUB: 10-20 euro

Total min: 200 euro
Total max: 315 euro

Note, I am not calculating this on Analogic prices!

Lets hope the chips are working, will test them later in the year as the motherboard has been cleaned and is archived in my Amiga hardware stash now.

And the reason why i dont count any value in the case: it was sadly painted in this horrible “paint” that gave me a terrible itch in my fingers for two hours after touching it for a few minutes. I will probably throw it away in the trash since I suspect the paint is toxic.

Changing memory chips on a GottaGoFaZt3r

Removing memory chips from the GottaGoFaZt3r Zorro 3 Amiga memory card

I built two GottaGoFaZt3r Zorro 3 memory cards late last year, only one card worked. The other refused to work, it still showed up as “working” in my Amiga 4000TX but the memory was nowhere to be seen. I got the recommendation to check for errors in the memory chips one by one. Instead of doing that I got four new chips instead from a reliable source.

I removed the memory chips with a hot air station. Then I cleaned the pads and soldered on the new memory chips.

Soldering new memory chips on the GottaGoFaZt3r Zorro 3 Amiga memory card

And once all chips was replaced the card finally worked 100%.

Both cards are built as 256 MB cards. 256 MB might seem like a lot of fast mem in an Amiga but it is actually very usable. I run a bit more buffers on my partition than a stock HDD setup so that consumes some of the fast mem. But the main usage is off course to have a large RAM disk (as there are already 128 MB on the turbo card).

And here is a pic from sunny Stockholm today!

Amiga 3000 daughter card

And finally all parts for my ReAmiga 3000 build is now soldered with the daughter board being finished. It still needs to be flashed, but that will happen another day!

MouSTer 3D printed shell

I have used a MouSTer USB mouse adapter with a wireless mouse on my Amiga for 3-4 years and I have been very happy with the adapter. Only thing I was not happy with was the heat shrink tubing that was used as the shell. It looked so cheap.

I was surprised to find a 3D printable shell for it online. I ordered one to be printed on JLC (in resin). I got a couple of warnings that the walls was too thin and may not be able to be printed. But all worked out better than I anticipated!

It looks so much better with the 3D printed shell.

The fit is perfect. I just superglued the two halves together, there are no user servicable parts on the MouSTer so no point in making it possible to open the case again.

I dont remember exactly where I found the files but you should probably be able to find them here if you search for them.

Purple BFG 9060 Amiga 68060 accelerator card

Posted on May 18, 2025 by erkorh

Purple BFG9060 Amiga 060 accelerator card

I just finished building this beautiful purple PCB BFG 9060 accelerator card for the Amiga and thought I would share a picture of it. As it was mostly already finished it just took an hour to solder on the KEL connector, fan header and voltage thing (regulator I think?).

I finally get to use the original spec Motorola 040 CPU heatsink that came from an old 040 C= 3640 CPU card I had 20+ years ago. Just have to get some thermal tape, will also add heatsinks to the CPLDs. This card will not be overclocked as it is fitted with a rev 5 68060.

Updated picture of the BFG9060 with heatsinks added

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone involved in making this project a reality!

Here are some links related to BFG 9060:

PicoWyfy WIFI adapter for the Amiga

Posted on May 16, 2025 by erkorh

PicoWyfy means wifi for the Amiga hooked up to the clock port!

I just got a PicoWyfy and has spent a day playing around with it in my Amiga 1200. I am very happy with this device as it has helped me get my Amiga 1200 online and onto my network at home.

The PicoWyfy is a “wireless network interface controller” and it connects to the clock port on the Amiga (either on the motherboard or on a Zorro card or other clock port solutions). Read more about PicoWyfy here, you will also find instructions on how to get one there.

Wireless networking has been a possibility on the A1200 and A600 for a long time on the PCMCIA port. I got a NetGear MA401 for this purpose years ago, but the though of having an ugly PCMCIA card sticking out of the side of my Amiga 1200 meant I never bothered to install and configure it. I would rather just put all my files I wanted to transfer on a CF card on my PC and put the CF card in a PCMCIA to CF converter making it easy to copy files of off the CF card to the Amiga HDD.

In comparison with PCMCIA solutions the PicoWyfy is placed on the clock port, so it is fully internal. As you can see on the images, the PicoWyfy is based on a Raspberry Pi Pico W.

Installing PicoWyfy in my Amiga 1200

PicoWyfy installed on the Solas that is installed on the A1200 clock port

Installing the PicoWyfy in an A1200 was very simple. If you are reading this, chances are that you already know about the clock port in the Amiga 1200 and what to take care of when mounting hardware here. So no point in going through that. If not, I will eat my hat.

My Amiga 1200 already had a Solas RGB LED Amiga controller inside it that was placed on the clock port. The Solas has a clock port expander integrated into it, so installation was as simple as putting the PicoWyfy on one of the free clock ports on the Solas (and configuring the PicoWyfy for that clock port address). Where to put the actual clock on the Solas is another issue I will have to figure out in the future as the PicoWyfy takes up space for it.

Overview of my Amiga 1200 with PicoWyfy installed

As the A1200 case is plastic, there wont be any signal strenght problems. If you wonder what I have in my (main) Amiga 1200, specs are listed below:

ReAmiga 1200 1.5 motherboard
Indivision AGA MK3
TerribleFire 1260 @ 100Mhz / 128MB
FlashROM
Solas RGB LED controller
LED adapter (so that TF1260 IDE activity is seen on the case LEDs)
Buffered CF interface / 4GB CF
MicroniK 1.76 MB floppy drive
And finally, the latest addition: PicoWyfy

Setting up the software and drivers for PicoWyfy

Picowyfyctl is the program that can control the PicoWyfy on the Amiga

Installation of the PicoWyfy is straight forward. All you have to do is put some files in the right places in the Workbench drawer. Then it is possible to run the program picowyfyctl to scan for wireless networks, connect or disconnect to wireless networks and to view status of the PicoWyfy. There is no GUI here but it is so simple to configure you wont need one.

Running a scan on the PicoWyfy to find wireless networks to connect to

In the picture above I have run a scan to look for wireless networks to connect to in my area. I can see my WIFI network here so thats what I am going to connect to.

Connecting to a wireless network on the Amiga 1200

Here I am connecting PicoWyfy to my home network and as you can see, the connection attempt was successful! I have also removed my WIFI password, if you must know it is “12345679abcd”.

Testing a browser online on the Amiga 1200

Off course I have to test the connection by browsing the information super highway in an ooooooold version of Aweb, if you type something wrong in the URL field it goes to Altavista by default. How nostalgic. As the modern web runs on HTTPS the browsing session was very limited, but I think it is possible to set up HTTPS in some way or another. Possibly would need to investigate this.

But browsing the web wont be my main activity on the A1200 other than browsing Aminet – Having access to Aminet directly from the Amiga 1200 is such a luxury!

Adding lines to user-startup to connect to a wireless network on startup

I should mention that I use Roadshow as the TCP/IP stack. It is a great modern TCP/IP stack for the Amiga. Once everything was working I wanted my A1200 to connect to the wireless network automatically at startup. To do that it was as simple as adding the line: “picowyfyctl connect ssid key quiet” before the TCP/IP stack was called in s:user-startup.

Trying out the program AmiSpeedTest to find out how fast the network is

So lets test how quick the card is on my system. There is a piece of software on Aminet called AmiSpeedTest you can use for this. Here is the URL.

So here is the test done. To be honest here I dont have a clue how good or bad these results are. Downloading stuff from Aminet is fast though so I am happy. Will test some transfers between my workstation and A1200 in the future also.

Average download speed was 4509 kb/s and average upload speed was 4259 kb/s

Roadie, a GUI for the TCP/IP stack Roadshow

Before I close off I also want to quickly introduce Roadie, it is a GUI for Roadshow you can find on Aminet. It has come in handy when testing the PicoWyfy and I think this one will go into the default toolbox on all my Amigas. Find Roadie on Aminet.

And here we are after a reboot of the Amiga 1200. There is no sign of it but my A1200 is connected to my wireless network at home!

Conclusion

I am very happy with the PicoWyfy, its a great addition to my A1200 and to be honest I would like to equip all my Amiga computers in the fleet with one or a card with similar functionality. Great work everyone involved in this project! Highly recommended!

Typically I like to use wired network, but as the years has passed I think wireless networking is perfectly fine. Even for non mobile computers.

I dont run WIFI on my main desktop workstation, but for everything else, why not, one less ugly Cat 6 cable to pull out everytime one wants to hook up something to the internet.

The reason for wanting to connect an Amiga to the internet or a LAN is primary just to move files to the Amiga. But I have some future plans of having all files centralized on a main server and then sync that share with my Amigas. That way I have multiple backups of my Data folder on all my Amigas while I have a central location that I primary update.

Indivision ECS V4 Amiga scandoubler

Posted on March 23, 2025 by erkorh

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 RGB LED controller board for Amiga

Posted on March 6, 2025 by erkorh

Solas installed in my ReAmiga 1200, it is the blue board to the left of the floppy drive

I have recently been playing around with the highly sought after Solas. The 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 difference here is that the RGB lights can react to the sound the Amiga is putting out. When playing a module you can see the LED strip jumping to the beat of the music. How nice!

I enjoy playing modules on the Amiga and all kind of graphical visualizers for module players are all kinds of awesome. The more the better – I have been thinking of hooking up external VU meters for many years but to have them integrated into the Amiga is much better!

Before we contionue – If you are interested in the Solas board I highly suggest visiting the official Amiga Solas website and ordering one now! These days, good things come in small batches in the world of Amiga and if you dont hop on the train before it has left the station, sometimes it never comes back.

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.

Programing 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 trying to figure it out yourself so in this case the manual is a must read (lol). 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!

So here you can the full setup. Unfortunately it looks a bit messy with the Indivision, CF adapter and 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 ended up super gluing the LED strip to the case because the sticky backside was not sticky enough. 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.

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.

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 (we are all Amiga snobs left in this hobby right?) this sandwich of the carrier card and the Solas can be difficult to fit as it takes up more height than a regular card – And even more height with the cables connected to it!

Next steps!

I have not had time to install my second Solas in my A4000TX yet since I have not figured out how to hook up a clock port to it, but I am working on it. Expect to see updates on this page later this year. 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 involved with it 👍

GottaGoFaZt3r 256 MB Zorro 3 memory card

Posted on January 18, 2025 by erkorh

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.

Another Mini version of GBAPII++ built and tested

Posted on January 6, 2025 by erkorh

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.

OpenA1200RTC – Amiga real time clock built

Posted on December 30, 2024 by erkorh

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 Amiga 060 turbo card in PCB color red fully built and tested

Posted on December 18, 2024 by erkorh

BFG9060 with rev 1 68060 under testing in my A4000TX

I built a BFG9060 060 turbo card last year that I could clock to 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 20 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.