AMIGA 1200: 68882 FPU Card and Restoration Part 2

[@LightSoundGate]

Hey Tim. The factor 1.72 on the beachball test in AIBB solely came from the performance benefits of the 4 MB FastRAM, because the FPU wasn't activated at the time you performed the test. On the right side in AIBB there are these buttons where you can switch between different benchmarking profiles. The CPU can be switched between 68000 and 68020. The FPU can be switched between SW emulated FPU, CoProcessor FPU operations (like your 68882) and 68040 native internal FPU operations. In your benchmark run in the video the floating point operations were emulated by software. Try turning it to "CP Math" and run the benchmark again. I am sure "Beachball" will be much faster.

[@TimsRetroCorner]

Ok thanks for that - I clearly didn't notice! I'll do some updated benchmarks soon.

[@DavePoo2]

A 540Mb hard drive would have been massive for the era that this was from, is it possible that's not the original HDD?

[@TimsRetroCorner]

I'm sure the original would only have been 20 or 40MB, if one was factory fitted (I think UK A1200s were 20MB), although there were dealer-installed systems too Did the factory installed systems come with a A1200HD badge? I have a feeling they did. This A1200 is a rev 1A board, so I'd guess it came without a hard drive initially. But yeah, 540MB was massive for the time, and probably pretty expensive, especially in the 2.5" form factor.

[@DavePoo2]

@@TimsRetroCorner the original packaging for the A1200 has tick boxes for up to 200mb hdd

[@TimsRetroCorner]

(checks box...) none of them are ticked, not even "No HDD"

[@jameshenry8015]

I have a US model 1200 with an original 85 MB Maxtor that is dated May 13, 1992. It's nearly dead so I use an IDE CF card adapter in it now. It has a DKB 1202 8 MB with 68882 board in the trapdoor that really wakes it up. I use it for games as the 4000 with the '060 can be a bit persnickety with some games.

[@amanvasamantino5368]

Nice video

[@TimsRetroCorner]

Thanks

[@billymania11]

Nice Tim. It would be cool to show the Amiga running some actual software. We know it was an advanced machine for it's time but nobody every shows it doing anything.

[@TimsRetroCorner]

Yep, agreed. I'm thinking about things to do on it that'll show off the FPU. Trouble is, a lot of 'productivity' software isn't interesting to look at, and my skills at 'gaming' would make anyone cringe, lol

[@Daveyk021]

@@TimsRetroCorner Same here; I loved working on these things and collecting these things, but don't know what to do with them once they are working - lol.

[@rfxtuber]

Great video Tim! I am currently getting out all my old Amigas, A500s and A500+ (Has a purple boot screen!) and my A1200 with a blizzard IV 1230 Playing about with goteks and trying to restore the floppy drives (they are all dead!) and all my SCSI stuff with a quantum HD that seems to have died.. but after all these years ive forgotten so much about Amiga, software setup, do's and donts, ect.. but nobody seems to have done setup videos on original Amiga a1200 HD setups, formatting and configuration with an IDE drive and so on with the best WB install ect (That doesn't go into upgrading the roms ect and the latest and greatest OS for Amiga.. I'm looking for everything stock from that time period before all the OS revisions came about ect... Fancy doing one tim? lol

[@TimsRetroCorner]

Subject to finding an actual working period correct hard drive (and it might be an A600 - but what works for one should work for the other)...

[@rfxtuber]

@@TimsRetroCorner Indeed.. but what about software, file system issues, larger IDE HDs like 80gb (Plenty of them laying about from old laptops ect) and re-using them with A1200s stock. with 3.0 roms.. Much confusion reigns over the old file systems vs PFS for newer Amiga OS and roms!!! Im lost with it all!!! :(

[@Daveyk021]

Where did you purchase the compact card with the licensed Workbench card on it?

[@TimsRetroCorner]

It came from a licensed reseller on eBay (based in Ireland - electronics_value_shop)

[@Daveyk021]

@@TimsRetroCorner Your video was 5 months ago. When I went to get it, no longer available, but Amigados 3.2, on CD, with a presetup CF Card/Adapter, and new ROMS is what is available now.

[@TimsRetroCorner]

It is still available. As of 2 minutes ago, the seller has 6 available in his store "New Workbench System 3.1 on 4GB CF Card + Adapter Amiga 600 1200 Hard Drive #588"

[@Daveyk021]

@@TimsRetroCorner Thank you. Did I make an error ordering 3.2 from Germany (I think it is)? Also, if you have the CF card, is it still a good idea to order a set of disks? Is 3.2, or 3.1 better for an Amiga 500? I also understand, being a REV5, I need a rom adapter PCB for any new rom.

[@Daveyk021]

@@TimsRetroCorner Sorry, I am getting my videos mixed up. This one concerns the 1200 (have one of those too to eventually get to, but thought I would start with the 500 first).

[@joelawford5107]

Nice video Tim, about time you cleaned your balls! Does IPA sting?

[@TimsRetroCorner]

ROFL, depends where you put it!

[@DavePoo2]

Don't use acetone!