Megamiga 0.6.4

Megamiga 0.6.4: profiles as files, the A4000 profile, Gayle IDE, faster hard disks and the quick hard disk for one-game WHDLoad images. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.6.4

• Profiles are files in /amiga/profiles, as many as you like: Add New Profile copies the active one under a new name, Rename Profile renames it (typed on the MEGA65 keyboard), Left/Right in the list change the order. Each file (plain text) keeps the CPU, chipset, RAM, boards, Kickstart and hard disks. The core creates A500, A600, A1200 and A4000 at the first start.
• A4000 profile: 68040, AGA, 2 MB Chip RAM, 16 MB Zorro III RAM. The A600 profile now has 2 MB Chip RAM.
• Profile Settings, new layout: choices side by side on one line, a Zorro Boards section (RAM boards, Graphics Card, Network Card on/off per profile), options the CPU cannot use greyed out.
• Gayle IDE: Hard Disk Controller None / Gayle / RIPPLE per profile. Gayle is the A600/A1200's own IDE port with the Kickstart's scsi.device (no lide.rom needed); RIPPLE is the Zorro II board with lide.rom.
• Faster hard disks: the internal SD card at 50 MHz on the 4-bit bus, and the new lide.rom lets the RIPPLE board copy sectors into Fast RAM itself (DMA). SysInfo: 14.8 MB/s (68040, Kickstart 3.2, internal card).
• HDF images without an RDB (UAE hardfiles) work: the drive gets a made-up RDB with one partition over the whole image.
• Quick hard disk hdf: on the main page: one image (a WHDLoad game) as the only drive in place of the profile's disks until Space ejects it or the core restarts.
• Zorro III RAM up to 48 MB (a second 32 MB board).
• Virtual Drive Sound: the internal drive plays the sounds of the disk image drives.
• Floppy images are read and written on the SD card directly; analog Standard VGA shows every hires pixel; 68040 fixes (Linux 6.18 boots to a shell); the 68020 runs the Kickstart from fast memory; a profile with the Graphics Card off offers no RTG modes (new Megamiga.card).

Updating from 0.6.3

• Start with the new megamiga-0.6.4.cfg (or none): a settings file of another version is reset to the defaults at the first start, and the core says so.
• The Kickstart and hard disks chosen per profile in 0.6.3 are not carried over: pick them once more in Profile Settings.
• Copy the new lide.rom to /amiga, and Megamiga.card from the new Megamiga_RTG.adf to LIBS:Picasso96/.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put raw ROMs on the card and pick one per profile (or one as /amiga/kick.rom).
• Hard disks: Gayle needs Kickstart 2.05 or newer (A600/A1200 ROMs); the RIPPLE board needs /amiga/lide.rom from the zip. The included lide.rom is lide.device 40.12 with DMA and a Format fix (source, GPL-2.0).

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• Not tested on hardware: the new Megamiga.card with the Graphics Card switched off, the A4000 profile as created, a Gayle disk with Kickstart 2.05 on the A600 profile.
• A PFS3 or SFS image without an RDB needs that file system installed on the booting system (the made-up RDB carries none).
• The graphics memory delivers about 160 MB/s to HDMI: 24-bit screens up to 1024x768, 32-bit up to 800x600.
• The external card usually stays in SPI mode (the MEGA65 reads it before the core starts); re-insert it while the core runs for 4-bit.
• No freezer cartridge with the 68040. 68040: Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga resets at once (data still in the data cache is lost); some old games and demos do not run on any 68040.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.6.3

Megamiga 0.6.3: RTG native resolution - Picasso96 screens on HDMI in their own resolution. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.6.3

• RTG native resolution: a Picasso96 screen in 640x480, 800x600 or 1024x768 (60 Hz), 1280x720 (60 Hz) or 1920x1080 (30 Hz) goes to HDMI in that resolution, pixel for pixel, instead of being scaled into the menu's HDMI mode. Exactly half of each (320x240, 400x300, 512x384, 640x360, 960x540) is doubled. Other sizes are scaled as before.
• On by default; switch it off in Settings > HDMI > RTG native resolution if your display does not take one of these modes.
• Everything from 0.6.2: freezer cartridges (HRTmon built in, Action Replay III with your own ROM), fast hard disks, both SD card slots, the shared folder SDCard:.

Updating from 0.6.2

• You can keep your settings: rename megamiga-0.6.2.cfg to megamiga-0.6.3.cfg (the menu has the same layout). RTG native resolution is then off; switch it on in Settings > HDMI.
• Or start with the new megamiga-0.6.3.cfg from the zip.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put raw ROMs on the card and pick one per profile (or one as /amiga/kick.rom).
• Hard disks: /amiga/lide.rom from the zip.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• The graphics memory delivers about 160 MB/s to the HDMI picture: 24-bit screens work up to 1024x768, 32-bit screens up to 800x600. Larger 24/32-bit modes (e.g. 1024x768 at 32 bit) give a broken picture; use 16 bit for them.
• The display resyncs at every switch between the Amiga picture and an RTG screen.
• No freezer cartridge with the 68040.
• While a Picasso96 screen is shown, HDMI keeps showing it when you freeze; the cartridge runs (x and Return in HRTmon continue the program).
• The external card usually stays in SPI mode (the MEGA65 reads it before the core starts); re-insert it while the core runs for 4-bit.
• 68040: Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga resets at once, so data still waiting in the data cache is lost. Some old games and demos do not run on any 68040.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.6.2

Megamiga 0.6.2: freezer cartridges - HRTmon built in, and the Action Replay III with your own ROM. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.6.2

• HRTmon 2.38 (Alain Malek, GPL) is built in: choose Cart: HRTmon in a profile's Profile Settings and press CTRL + MEGA + HELP (or Freeze cartridge in the menu) to stop the running program and open the monitor; x and Return continue it. Works with the 68000 and the 68020, Kickstart 1.3 to 3.x.
• Action Replay III (Datel Action Replay Mk III): bring your own 256 KB ROM as /amiga/ar3.rom or load it with AR3 ROM in Profile Settings, then choose Cart: Action Replay 3. 68000 only, Kickstart 1.3 or 2.04; with it plugged in the Zorro II Fast RAM shrinks to 2 MB, as on a real A500.
• Everything from 0.6.1: fast hard disks, both SD card slots, the shared folder SDCard:, profiles that remember their files.

Updating from 0.6.1

• Start with the new megamiga-0.6.2.cfg. Do not rename the old file: the menu got new lines in the middle (the AR3 ROM line and each profile's cartridge choice), so a 0.6.1 file would load with its settings on the wrong lines.
• Pick each profile's Kickstart and hard disks once more in Profile Settings.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put raw ROMs on the card and pick one per profile (or one as /amiga/kick.rom).
• Hard disks: /amiga/lide.rom from the zip.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• No freezer cartridge with the 68040 (the 68040 cannot be frozen after Workbench has turned its caches on; the cartridge choice plugs in nothing there).
• While a Picasso96 screen is shown, HDMI keeps showing it when you freeze; the cartridge runs (x and Return in HRTmon continue the program).
• The Action Replay's breakpoints and trainer are not tested yet.
• Mount SDCard is off at every start and its state is not used from the settings file, but switching it still counts as a menu change, so the menu saves the settings file when it closes.
• A card whose FAT32 failed to mount for a passing reason is tried again only after it is taken out and put back.
• The external card usually stays in SPI mode (the MEGA65 reads it before the core starts); re-insert it while the core runs for 4-bit.
• A very fragmented .hdf file (more than 511 pieces on the card) is served by the control CPU, much more slowly.
• 68040: Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga resets at once, so data still waiting in the data cache is lost. Some old games and demos do not run on any 68040.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.6.1

Megamiga 0.6.1: faster hard disks, both SD card slots at once, a shared folder and profiles that remember their files. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.6.1

• Faster hard disks: the FPGA reads and writes the hard disk sectors itself, straight between the IDE board and the SD card, on the card's native 4-bit SD bus at 25 MHz (SPI at 25 MHz where the card is in SPI mode). Before, the menu's control CPU copied every sector. SysInfo: about 4.8 MB/s on the 4-bit bus and 2.8 MB/s with SPI (0.6.0: 0.1-0.25 MB/s).
• Both SD card slots at once: SD0 = the internal card (bottom tray), SD1 = the external card (back slot). Disk images, hard disks and Kickstarts can be on either card. In the file browser, <..> at the top of a card leads to the list of the cards (F1/F3 are gone). The main menu's bottom line shows the mode of both cards.
• Shared folder SDCard:: /amiga of the external card as an Amiga volume, read and write, switched on with Mount SDCard in the main menu. The handler MegamigaFS is on the new Megamiga_Share.adf.
• Profiles remember their files: the Kickstart, HDF 0 and HDF 1 picked in Profile Settings are stored per profile, with their card, in the settings file. The automatic names (a500.rom, a1200.hdf, a1200-1.hdf, ...) are gone; kick.rom is optional (the Kickstart of a profile without one). Space on a mounted HDF line ejects the disk and the profile forgets it.
• SD card partitions in the browser: Amiga partitions (MBR type 7F) are listed below their card; the part2.hdf link files still work. A card for Amiga disks only needs no FAT32: all four entries can be 7F partitions.

Updating from 0.6.0

• Start with the new megamiga-0.6.1.cfg. Do not rename the old file: the menu got new lines in the middle, so a 0.6.0 file would load with its settings on the wrong lines.
• Pick each profile's Kickstart and hard disks once in Profile Settings; a500.rom, a1200.hdf etc. are no longer loaded by their names.
• For SDCard:, install the handler from Megamiga_Share.adf (see README.txt).

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put raw ROMs on the card and pick one per profile (or one as /amiga/kick.rom).
• Hard disks: /amiga/lide.rom from the zip.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• Mount SDCard is off at every start and its state is not used from the settings file, but switching it still counts as a menu change, so the menu saves the settings file when it closes.
• A card whose FAT32 failed to mount for a passing reason is tried again only after it is taken out and put back.
• The external card usually stays in SPI mode (the MEGA65 reads it before the core starts); re-insert it while the core runs for 4-bit.
• A very fragmented .hdf file (more than 511 pieces on the card) is served by the control CPU, much more slowly.
• No freezer cartridges (Action Replay, HRTmon) in this release.
• 68040: Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga resets at once, so data still waiting in the data cache is lost. Some old games and demos do not run on any 68040.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.6.0

Megamiga 0.6.0: a 68040 with MMU, FPU and caches at 42 MHz, selectable in every machine profile next to the 68000 and the 68020. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.6.0

• 68040 (Profile Settings > CPU: 68040): the pipelined AP68040 core with the 68040's MMU, FPU subset and 4 KB instruction and data caches, on its own 42 MHz clock. Zorro II and III Fast RAM are read and written 32 bits and whole cache lines at a time, and Fast RAM runs in copyback mode under 68040.library. SysInfo with Zorro III Fast RAM: about 25,800 Dhrystones, 1.4x an A4000/040 at 25 MHz.
• AmigaOS needs 68040.library, as on a real A4000/040 (tested: Commodore's 37.30 from the Workbench 3.1 Install disk).
• The graphics card driver is Megamiga.card now (it was MiSTer.card): monitor DEVS:Monitors/Megamiga, screen modes named Megamiga:. It finds the card as an autoconfig board, which the 68040's MMU requires. The 68020 profiles use the same driver.
• Zorro III RAM and the graphics card work with the 68020 and the 68040.
• README: how to make HDToolBox open lide.device by default.

Updating from 0.5.2

• Rename megamiga-0.5.2.cfg to megamiga-0.6.0.cfg to keep your settings; the layout is the same (the "CPU: 68040" lines replaced empty lines).
• Graphics card: delete DEVS:Monitors/MiSTer, DEVS:Monitors/MiSTer.info and LIBS:Picasso96/MiSTer.card, then copy Megamiga.card, the Megamiga monitor and Picasso96Settings from the new Megamiga_RTG.adf. Programs set to a MiSTer: screen mode need the new mode chosen once.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put a raw ROM on the card as /amiga/kick.rom, or one per profile (a500.rom, a600.rom, a1200.rom).
• Hard disks: /amiga/lide.rom from the zip.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• 68040: Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga resets at once, so data still waiting in the data cache is lost (the OS writes it back before its own reboots). Code in Chip RAM is never cached. Some old games and demos do not run on any 68040, as on a real A4000/040.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Credits for the 68040

• Adam Polkosnik wrote AP68040, the original 68040 core with MMU, FPU and caches.
• Renee Cousins (nonarkitten) started its six-stage pipelined version.
• Paul Honig (ranzbak) completed the pipelined core and brought it up in MinimigAGA_TC64.

Megamiga 0.5.2

Megamiga 0.5.2: hard disks on SD card partitions, bigger than the 4 GB that FAT32 allows for an .hdf file. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.5.2

• A hard disk can be a partition of the SD card (type 7F, up to 128 GB per disk) instead of an .hdf file. A one-line link file (part2.hdf, part3.hdf, part4.hdf in the zip) stands for the partition: rename it to a profile's disk name (a1200.hdf, a1200-1.hdf, ...) or pick it in the menu like an HDF. Master and slave can be different partitions. Partition and format the disk on the Amiga with HDToolBox. Only partitions of type 7F are ever used; the FAT32 partition and other types are refused.
• Zero a new partition first (dd if=/dev/zero ...): many SD cards read never-written blocks as FF bytes, and the Amiga then reports such a partition as "No disk present".
• The menu's control CPU has 4 KB more program memory; nothing changes in use.
• README: how to install AmigaOS 3.2 without a CD drive (the CD copied into an HDF named AmigaOS3.2CD, as its own readme allows).

Updating from 0.5.1

• Rename megamiga-0.5.1.cfg to megamiga-0.5.2.cfg to keep your settings; the layout is the same.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put a raw ROM on the card as /amiga/kick.rom, or one per profile (a500.rom, a600.rom, a1200.rom).
• Hard disks: /amiga/lide.rom from the zip. Partitions bigger than 4 GB need a file system that handles them (FFS of Kickstart 3.1.4/3.2, PFS3 or SFS).

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• A full (non-QUICK) format of a big partition is slow (every block is written and verified one SD block at a time): use QUICK.
• The serial port on PMOD (new in 0.4.2) is still untested on hardware.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.5.1

Megamiga 0.5.1 is a bug-fix release: AmigaVision boots. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

Fixed in 0.5.1

• AmigaVision hung with a black screen while booting (since 0.4.0). The graphics card answered with MiSTer's RTG ID, so AmigaVision took the MEGA65 for a MiSTer, mounted MiSTer's shared folder and waited forever for MiSTer-only hardware. The card now reports its own ID. Tested with the AmigaVision build for TheA500 Mini (two HDFs: the system as master, Saves as slave) in the A1200 profile.
• MiSTer's own MiSTer.card does not work with Megamiga's graphics card (different board memory); use the one from Megamiga_RTG.adf, which is unchanged since 0.5.0.

Updating from 0.5.0

• Rename megamiga-0.5.0.cfg to megamiga-0.5.1.cfg to keep your settings; the layout is the same.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put a raw ROM on the card as /amiga/kick.rom, or one per profile (a500.rom, a600.rom, a1200.rom).
• Graphics card: Kickstart 3.x, Workbench 3.x, Picasso96 2.0, a 68020 profile, and the HDMI output.
• Network: a TCP/IP stack (e.g. Roadshow) and a 100 Mbit/s switch port.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• MiSTer's shared folder (MiSTer: in AmigaVision) is not available; AmigaVision uses a RAM folder instead.
• The serial port on PMOD (new in 0.4.2) is still untested on hardware.
• Lines and pictures on the graphics card are still drawn by the 68020; the mouse pointer blinks briefly while the window under it scrolls.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.5.0

Megamiga 0.5.0 adds a network card: the Amiga goes online through the MEGA65's Ethernet port. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.5.0

• Network card (100 Mbit/s): a Zorro II board on the MEGA65's Ethernet port with its own SANA-II driver, megamiga-eth.device, for Roadshow, AmiTCP, Miami and the like. Each MEGA65 gets its own station address, taken from the FPGA's device ID. Tested with Roadshow 1.15 in the A1200 profile: ping and an 8 MB HTTP download.
• ethtest: checks the card without a TCP/IP stack. It shows the station address, the link and the counters, and ethtest <router address> sends an ARP probe and shows the reply.
• Megamiga_Net.adf: the driver, ethtest and Roadshow configuration templates (DHCP by default).

Updating from 0.4.2

• Rename megamiga-0.4.2.cfg to megamiga-0.5.0.cfg to keep your settings; the layout is the same.
• For the network: copy Devs/Networks/megamiga-eth.device from Megamiga_Net.adf to DEVS:Networks/. For Roadshow, also copy Roadshow/MegamigaEth to DEVS:NetInterfaces/.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put a raw ROM on the card as /amiga/kick.rom, or one per profile (a500.rom, a600.rom, a1200.rom).
• Network: a TCP/IP stack (e.g. Roadshow) and a 100 Mbit/s switch port. ethtest needs Kickstart 2.04 or newer.
• Graphics card: Kickstart 3.x, Workbench 3.x, Picasso96 2.0, a 68020 profile, and the HDMI output.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• The network card is not yet tested with the 68000, Kickstart 1.3 or stacks other than Roadshow; 10 Mbit/s links and half-duplex hubs are not supported.
• The serial port on PMOD (new in 0.4.2) is still untested on hardware.
• Lines and pictures on the graphics card are still drawn by the 68020; the mouse pointer blinks briefly while the window under it scrolls.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.4.2

Megamiga 0.4.2 speeds up text and scrolling on the graphics card and adds an untested serial port on PMOD. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.4.2

• Text in the blitter: Picasso96 hands text to the FPGA instead of drawing it with the 68020.
• Plane masks: the AmigaOS console draws with a plane mask on 256-colour screens, which 0.4.1 left to the 68020. The blitter now handles masked fills, copies and text, so scrolling in a Shell is much faster, in 8 bit above all.
• Read-ahead: when the 68020 reads the graphics card's memory itself, it gets 32 bytes per memory access.
• Serial port on PMOD1 (new, NOT tested on hardware): Paula's UART with /CTS and /RTS on the MEGA65's PMOD1 header, in the MegaST pin layout (lo: CTS in, TXD out, RXD in, RTS out; hi: MIDI OUT, MIDI IN). 3.3 V TTL: use a PmodUSBUART or a MAX3232 module, never real RS-232 levels. Switch it on in Settings > Ports > Serial port on PMOD; off by default (headers unpowered, pins inputs). If you have a PMOD serial module, please report whether it works (terminal, null-modem, MIDI).

Updating from 0.4.1

• Copy the new Libs/Picasso96/MiSTer.card from Megamiga_RTG.adf over the old one in LIBS:Picasso96/ and reboot. The old driver still works, but without the new speed-ups.
• The menu grew by one entry, so older settings files are not used: copy megamiga-0.4.2.cfg to /amiga and set your options again once.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only in this package (R4/R5 can build from source).
• Kickstart not included: put a raw ROM on the card as /amiga/kick.rom, or one per profile (a500.rom, a600.rom, a1200.rom).
• Graphics card: Kickstart 3.x, Workbench 3.x, Picasso96 2.0, a 68020 profile, and the HDMI output.

Installation, the serial pinout and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• Lines and pictures are still drawn by the 68020; the mouse pointer blinks briefly while the window under it scrolls.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.

Megamiga 0.4.1 - RTG blitter

Megamiga 0.4.1 gives the graphics card a blitter. It is a fork of AExp by sy2002, not an official AExp release.

New in 0.4.1

• Blitter: rectangle fills and copies (moving and resizing windows, scrolling, clearing) are done by the FPGA instead of the 68020. That is much faster, especially in 16 and 32-bit modes.
• Faster drawing in general: the 68020's writes to the graphics card reach the memory in bursts, and the scaler stops copying the Amiga picture while the graphics card is shown.

Updating from 0.4.0

• Copy the new Libs/Picasso96/MiSTer.card from Megamiga_RTG.adf over the old one in LIBS:Picasso96/ and reboot. The old driver still works with this core, but does not use the blitter.
• Rename your megamiga-0.4.0.cfg (or megamiga-0.3.1.cfg) to megamiga-0.4.1.cfg to keep your settings; the layout is the same.

Requirements

• MEGA65 R6 only.
• Kickstart not included: put a raw ROM on the card as /amiga/kick.rom, or one per profile (a500.rom, a600.rom, a1200.rom).
• Graphics card: Kickstart 3.x, Workbench 3.x, Picasso96 2.0, a 68020 profile, and the HDMI output.

Installation and setup are described in README.txt inside the zip.

Known gaps

• Text, lines and pictures are still drawn by the 68020.
• No NTSC, no 31 kHz AGA screen modes; HDMI flicker-free has no effect.