A600: Picasso96 via Indivision ECS!

Hey peepz,

Busy weeks those have been but I was around the usual forums checking around and testing new stuff.

The previous weeks were exciting cause Symplex (Lutz D.) created an pseudo RTG driver that uses Indivision ECS via Picasso96 RTG system for our beloved Amigas!
What started as a joke on 1st of April evolved pretty quickly into something really nice with great potential :)

As we exchange PMs with Symplex on a1k.org, I was testing thoroughly the driver and it's update versions supplying photos and videos along with info to try help him out understand what was going on with my system.

The initial versions didn't work on my system, but after some updates... yesterday the newest driver worked on my System as well \o/

I made a quick video to share with other people over Amibay/EAB and A1K.org which you can check as well bellow

After some requests from Amibay, I thought of trying this driver under my heavy modified ClassicWB 3.1 Full installation. I was certain that the system would be really slow cause ClassicWB is by default more heavy than a stock 3.1 installation due to many patches and Scalos. I had to try though :)

You can check from the video below a test of mine using my own installation to a clone CF.

As I thought, speed isn't that great, but it's not as bad as I'd thought it would be! Really impressive stuff tbh :)

To be able to understand the difference between speeds between this beta driver and my current stable 800x600@8 installation using Ratte's SuperPlus driver you can check the video below

Awesome work Symplex mate. I hope this driver will get more advanced and more quick overtime \o/

A600: Trying 800x600 resolution & setting up ClassicWB 3.1

Hi my fellow Amigans,

Some days ago, I saw with surprise Ratte's post over A.org about a new Beta firmware from Jens for Indivision ECS and his new version of SuperPlus driver that didn't have the alert box!

I immediately downloaded the appropriate files and after flashing my Indivision ECS with the new version 1.10 and copying the SuperPlus driver over my Devs:Monitors/ drawer it was time to test teh beast :)

Well the results were more than outstanding!!!

I just couldn't believe how awesome it is to have an ECS mode filling the entire screen of my LCD Monitor without the need of overscan stuff!!!

Only problem is that the 800x600 mode with 16 colors on ECS system having an ClassicWB 3.9 installation... despite my numerous of optimizations, wasn't so much enjoyfull.
Whatever I have tried, the ECS chipset is really slow comparing to AGA :(

That was time for desperate measures then... Hopefully Bloodwych's new ClassicWB packs versions gave me the morale boost I needed to start installing everything from scratch! LOL

This time I decided NOT only to not use OS3.9 as a base but only 3.1, but ALSO to not install the latest and more heavy ClassicWB 3.1 versions like AdvSp and Adv.
Instead I decided to go with the ClassicWB 3.1 Full version which has the MagicWB look and feel.

Ofc that installation needed a lot of alterations which were done after spending a lot of time with it. Those were the following:

• Reduce the number of colors to 8, based on MagicWB colors on Scalos
• Install fonts and reconfigure Workbench and DOpus based on these fonts.
• Convert some demo Backdrops to 640x512 and 800x600 to 8 color format based on MagicWB palette
• Change ALL the iconset of ClassicWB Full since it's based on SmallMagic iconset made for 640x256 PAL resolutions that seem really streched on Hi-Laced or 800x600 ones. That was ONE HECK of a painful procedure since it was made One-By-One!... not for the faint hearted for sure. :S
• Custom recolored and altered SilverBlue skin by Rebel (check white titlebar) in order to match better with the 3.1 look and the MagicWB colors.
• and finally, a system of mine couldn't be called a system, without some custom Kickstart magic loaded via ACAtune. It contains modules from Kickstart 3.9 along with some other stuff  like HRTMon, and newer SCSI.device 44.2 from Doobrey to be able to support my 16GB CF card and big Work (10GB) partition :)

Here you can see a screenshot from the main Workbench screen once system is booting.

This is the primary partition OS3.1 along with it's contents

This is the  Programs drawer which you can see every single change of icons that I made!

And last but not least, same procedure also in Prefs as well :)

Just for getting a better view, I'm attaching a YouTube video of my A600 booting so you can check the response time and quickness :)

I really love my A600 now... Many stuff to setup yet like Subway, MAS-Player etc... but I'm not in a hurry.

Stay tuned \o/