31.Mar.2022
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Chip-Ram expansion for Amiga 500, 2000, Commodore CDTV: RAMesses
Developer Andrew Hutchings reports on his website LinuxJedi about his latest development 'RAMesses': this board upgrades an Amiga 500, 2000 or the Commodore CDTV to 2MB chip RAM without soldering or cutting the motherboard. It is based on the board developed by Matt Harlum, which converts an 8375 Agnus to work in a normal Amiga 500, adding 2MB of chip RAM. However, this required craftsmanship and soldering experience.
So Hutchings decided to design a board that solved this problem. The RAMesses board uses a PLCC connector that plugs into the Amiga's Agnus socket, and an 8375 Agnus that plugs into the bottom of the board. Additionally, there is an adapter that fits under the Gary chip and provides some additional signals. The Gary chip overwrites all motherboard and expansion RAM, so it is easy to install regardless of the motherboard and configuration. This means that no modifications need to be made to the Amiga's motherboard.
Additionally, there is a jumper on the top of the RAMesses board. As the developer writes, some games state that they need 1 MB, but actually mean 512 KB chip and 512 KB Slow RAM. This jumper reconfigures the board to provide Slow RAM. From 2MB Chip RAM this will change to 1MB Chip and 512KB Slow RAM.
It should be noted that the board requires an 8375 2MB Agnus chip. In the first batches there was still the possibility to get the RAMesses together with an 8375, but this is now unlikely. Thus, the chip has to be purchased separately. Likewise, he recommends a PLCC extractor tool for removing the Amiga's Agnus before installing this board, specifically Piergiacomi's PLCC-84 extractor tool .
RAMesses is available in his new 'Retro Supplies' store for about 90 Euros. (dr)
[News message: 31. Mar. 2022, 06:44] [Comments: 0]
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