danbeaver wrote:I am adding this post on my OS 4.1 A4000T via Indivision's new X-Surf 100 NIC I got this past week. The 1 page manual is not explicit, and rather than Cerf for an answer, I just did trial and error to get it working in Z3 mode in my Mediator based A4000T. 1) Install the nifty card (it actually has a finger hole at the back to help pull it out if needed). 2) Set the Mediator SWAP jumper to closed, and 3) Remove "minor" cards like your BigRam+ or ZorRAM (because there is not enough autoconfig space for both of them). Without a Mediator one probably doesn't have to worry. The same issue of Z3 autoconfig space arises when trying to use 2 ZorRAM or BigRam+ with a Radeon 256MB 92X0; it won't work.
I suspect that setting to run in Z2 mode would drop it down out of the 32-bit range into 16-bit, but then one loses the full speed advantage of the board. To be honest (see previous posts) I found that I never use the RAM swap pages that my BigRam+ offered. I only run one or two large programs at a time, and extra effort is needed (NetSurf, OWB, and Poseidon USB) to force the use of the SWAP partition. It looks nice (along with the RAM added by the Radeon 9200) under OS3.9, but I never use nearly any of it. If one really needs that much RAM, an NG Amiga (like an X1000) with 2 GB of RAM, is the way to go.
Speed wise the NIC card feels fast; faster than my RTL8029, but can't "feel" a difference between the card's ASIX device and the one hanging off my Deneb USB port. My cable ISP Max's at 30 Mb/s and my switches are gigabit over 300 Mb/s power line to the modem, so the rate limiting factor beyond my intranet is the actual throughput I get from my ISP. I guess the testosterone thing to do is get some comparison benchmarks, but someone will do that along the way and I'll just take a nap with the munchkins. I ought to play with it in OS 3.9, but I rarely work there these days (between OS 4.1 on my T and X1000).
I also received my preordered X-surf 100 this week and I can use A4000 + Mediator + Radeon 9250 256MB + ZorRAM 256MB + X-surf 100. The only card I had to unplug for X-surf 100 was Elbox FastATA VI.
When I look showconfig of OS3.9. I see how much address space Zorro cards consume:
8510 100 DCE Cyberstorm PPC 128k
2206 161 ELBOX A4000 ZORRO III/II PCI
512meg
2206 33 ELBOX Mediator PCI 4000 MK II
16meg
3643 32 ZorRAM 256MB
256meg
4626 100 X-surf 100
64meg
2206 67 FastATA VI
16meg
Not sure what PCI cards cosume, but I have Radeon 256MB 9250, Terratec Solo-1 and Terratec 512i in PCI slots and ZorRAM 256MB. Swap jumper is closed always anyway since nothing has ever worked without it.
The trick seems to be to install ZorRAM 256MB physically before X-surf 100 to get the big part of the lower address space for it. Installing X-surf 100 physically before ZorRAM 256MB always caused reset loop in power up.
Would changing from Radeon 256MB to 128MB free enough address space so I could use FastATA IV too?
What driver are you using for X-surf 100 + OS 4.1 Classic? I heard there is going to be a driver for it, but no idea who will provide it.
A4000cr Rev D+CSPPC 233/66MHz 060+16MB 50ns+128MB 60ns+Plextor SCSI-3 CDRW+Adaptec SCSI to SATA adapter+OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 90GB+Mediator 4000 MK II+Radeon 9250 256MB +RTL8029+Terratec TTSOLO1-SL VER1.2+ZorRAM 256MB+DF0:-DF3:+Catweasel MK2 Anniversary+Indivision AGA MK II+OS3.9 & OS 4.1. RTL8139D & Terratec TT801-QD for OS3.9 only