chris-jh / amiga-n2630 Goto Github PK

Look for the N2630 channel on Discord: https://discord.gg/NU7SPYfNFj

Revision 3.0.1 is the current production release. See the issues tab for known issues.

NOTE: The A2091 hard drive card will not operate correctly when using Kickstart 1.x on a revision 6.2 or newer Amiga 2000* with the N2630 or A2630 CPU cards. You must use Kickstart 2.04 or newer.

Click here to see a list of devices tested with the N2630.

*Includes the Amiga 2000 EATX.

1. Motorola 68030 microprocessor running at 50MHz.
2. Motorola 68882 math coprocessor running up to 50MHz.
3. 4 or 8 megabytes of Zorro 2 Fast RAM.
4. 16 to 256 megabytes of Zorro 3 Fast RAM.
5. IDE port with 40-pin cable and CF card options.

Click here for more information on building the N2630.

This card may be installed in any Amiga 2000 computer. Installation is simply inserting the card into the 86 pin CPU/Coprocessor slot of the Amiga computer. There are no software drivers to install. Kickstart v37.300 and greater is recommended.

IMPORTANT: Before installing, it is necessary to determine if you have an early, non-cost reduced motherboard. If your motherboard is marked "Made In Germany" and "(C) 1986 Commodore" on the left side of the board, you have a non-cost reduced Amiga 2000 board, designated "A2000" in this documentation. An example of a non-cost reduced Amiga 2000 motherboard can be see here. In the event you have an non-cost reduced "A2000" motherboard, you must remove the Motorola 68000 processor from the Amiga 2000 motherboard and place a jumper at J302 of the N2630. All other Amiga 2000 motherboards are designated "B2000" and should leave the Motorola 68000 in place.

NOTE: The revision 3.x.x cards will not work on an original German A2000.

By default, the N2630 starts in 68030 mode. When in 68030 mode, all installed RAM and the IDE device port are active.

When desired, the 68030 may be disabled during a cold or warm start. This results in the Amiga falling back to the 68000 processor. This may be desired when software does not run correctly on the 68030 processor. To start up in 68000 mode, hold down the right mouse button during startup. Select "68000" and the Amiga will reset with the 68000 as the active processor. When in 68000 mode, the IDE port and on-board RAM are inactive. Motorola 68000 mode is not available with A2000 motherboards.

The Motorolla MC68882 (or MC68881) floating point unit may be optionally added to the N2630. The FPU is typically driven at the same clock freuqency as the MC68030 via the X1 oscillator, but may be clocked independently via the X2 oscillator (see Table 3, J202). The PLCC-68 footprint is supported.

The N2630 is envisioned to be a natural evolution of the original A2630 accelerator card. Because it is built on the A2630 concept, it requires those ROMs to function. You will need to burn two 27C256 EPROMs. The ROMs can be found here.

The N2630 uses SDRAM to provide the necessary memory for the Amiga system. SDRAM is the successor to Fast Page Memory found in devices such as the Amiga 3000, A2630 processor card, and other computers of the time. SDRAMs are a cost effective way to supply memory to older systems and are readily available either new or from unused memory modules.

Zorro 2 RAM is the Amiga RAM found in the 24 bit address space of the Motorola 68000 processor. The Zorro 2 RAM on the N2630 is accessed by the 68030 as a 32-bit data bus and supports 16-bit DMA activities of the Zorro 2 bus. Placing a jumper at position J404 will limit the amount of RAM to 4MB in the Zorro 2 space, freeing up 4MB to be supplied by other Zorro 2 devices. This may be useful in the event you have a device that requires it's own RAM for proper function.

The N2630 will always configure the onboard Zorro 2 RAM and cannot be "shut up" in the AUTOCONFIG process. You MUST use the onboard RAM to maximize the performance of the 68030 processor. The N2630 Zorro 2 RAM may be disabled by placing a jumper at J303 for testing purposes only.

NOTE: Any SDRAM at least 2Mx16 in capacity in the 54-TSOP II footprint may be placed. However, it is not possible to achieve more than 8 megabytes of Zorro 2 RAM capacity.

Zorro 3 RAM is the Amiga RAM found in the 32-bit address space of the Motorola 68030 processor. Both Zorro 2 and Zorro 3 RAM are used together on the N2630 card. Thus, the total memory available to the system will be the sum of the Zorro 2 and Zorro 3 RAM.

Zorro 3 SDRAMs may be installed in different configurations to achieve a specific amount of final RAM (Table 1a). SDRAM must be installed in pairs, or banks, to achieve the needed 32 bit data path. Positions U406 and U407 represent the "low" bank and positions U408 and U409 represent the "high" bank. The banks must be populated as the low bank only or both low and high banks. The high bank will not function without the low bank populated. The SDRAM footprint is 54-TSOP II. The indicated jumpers must be set as shown or your system may not function correctly. When installing both banks, jumpers J400 and J401 must be set as shown in tables 1b and 1c. If only the low bank is populated, these jumpers are not used.

The Zorro 3 memory supports AUTOCONFIG with Kickstart 2.04 and newer and will be auto sized by Amiga OS. When using Kickstart version 1.x, place a jumper at J405 to disable the Zorro 3 AUTOCONFIG. An addmem style program may be used to add the Zorro 3 memory to the Amiga's memory pool. See Table 1d for the N2630 Zorro 3 memory map.

Table 1a. Possible Zorro 3 RAM Combinations for the N2630.

^AThese SDRAM positions are populated by the SDRAM indicated.
^BThis SDRAM positions are not populated.

Table 1b. SDRAM Bank Jumper Setting.

^ANo jumper.
^BJumper placed.

Table 1c. Jumper Configurations When Both Low and High Memory Banks Are Populated.

^AIgnored when J400 is open.
^BNo jumper.
^CJumper placed.

Table 1d. N2630 Zorro 3 Memory Map.

The N2630 includes a buffered, host terminated Gayle compatible AUTOBOOT^[A] IDE port for hard drives and ATAPI^[B] devices. The IDE port supports two devices (master and slave). For instructions on installing a new hard drive on Amiga computers, refer to the Commodore Hard Drive User's Guide. This includes the HDToolBox user guide and other useful information for setting up both IDE and SCSI devices.

The IDE cable header and the compact flash card adapter are on the same IDE port. They may be used simultaneously, but one device must be set to master, the other to slave. The IDE port only supports two devices, so when the CF card slot is in use, only one device may be installed on the IDE cable.

^AAUTOBOOT requires Kickstart v37.300 or greater or compatible scsi.device in Kickstart.
^BATAPI support included in Kickstart 3.1.4+. Older versions of Kickstart may require installation of third party ATAPI drivers.

Table 2. IDE Configuration Jumper Settings

^ANo jumper.
^BJumper placed.

The N2630 card should fully support Amiga Unix (Amix). In order to boot into a Unix environment, you must place a jumper at J304. (Table 3a) Although this feature is fully supported by the ROMs, it has not been tested with the N2630 at this time.

In the following tables, OPEN indicates no jumper. Shorted indicates the presence of a jumper on the pins indicated. All jumpers must be set correctly or you may encounter unexpected behaviors or failure to boot.

Table 3a. Configuration Jumper Settings

^AThe factory configuration for all jumpers is open (no jumper).

Table 3b. System Clock Jumper Settings

^AFPU clock from X1. Factory default.
^BFPU clock from X2.

Revision 4.0.1
Changed jumper footprint to increase ease of assembly.
Added routing to better support possible future enhancements.
Added order number location for JLCPCB.

Revision 3.0.1
Added copper thieving areas to top and bottom layers.

Revision 3.0
Initial production release.

Dave Haynie for sharing the A2630 technical details with the Amiga community.
Matt Harlum for sharing his Gayle IDE code, listening my struggles, and his numerous other contributions to this project.
Everyone who made the Amiga possible.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.