Freeway Triton Lite for ZORRO2 and ZORRO 3 Amigas Review

Рет қаралды 2,502

11 ай бұрын

This week on ‪@10MARC‬ I am reviewing the awesome Freeway Triton Lite USB card for your big box #amiga computer. This should work on most ZORRO enabled machines with at least a 25 Mhz 68030 CPU and at least 8 MB of RAM. Matthias Hampel did a great job on these!
Want more info on the Freeway USB for the Commodore Amiga?
freeway.mattymuc.de/
Want to buy one of these beauties? There are a few choices:
Thorsten Freund is making them, but prefers toss around his contact info. Get in touch with me and I will hook you up with Thorsten.
There is a thread on A1K where they can be requested too:
www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?t...
Want to build your own, or pay someone to build it? here is the interactive BOM:
freeway.mattymuc.de/boms/Freew...
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Пікірлер: 86

@mattymuc 11 ай бұрын

Hi Doug, Thanks for the detailed review! Unfortunately we have not been able to get any of the Zorro USB cards to work in the Checkmate Z2 slot with Vampire. The only combination that works here is a Buddha controller with Freeway CP on the clockport. Unfortunately I don't have a 3000T to test with, but if I ever have one available I should be able to get the card working there as well. One advantage of the big Freeway Triton is that there are firmware updates to download :-) I appreciate any feedback that helps to make the firmware and cards even better! Unfortunately I don't have every combination of Amiga hardware to test and lately there is a lot of new hardware. Because every Freeway card has a Poseidon license bundled with it, I can't publish any Gerber or firmware files at the moment. Otherwise the cards would be copied uncontrollable. At the builders there are also kits available, or you can buy empty PCBs+CPLDs. Kind regards mattymuc

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

That makes sense. I have several issues with the ZORRO 2 interface/Vampire/Checkmate combo. Only the simplest cards seem to work. But that is OK! I think the issue is my ReAmiga 3000 board. It works for the most part, it is less reliable than my original A3000 board was. I understand about the release of the Gerber files for sure. Would you be willing to sell the kits to vendors who would like to stock them?

@GadgetUK164 11 ай бұрын

Very cool! These look amazing!

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I really like mine.

@ChrisEdwardsRestoration 11 ай бұрын

Ok i need one of these now

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Far and away the best USB solution I have seen for the AMIGA. I especially like the fact that it is supposed to have some protection circuits, unlike a competitive product which will fry if you look at it funny.

@HoldandModify 11 ай бұрын

Once again. A product line I had no clue about until Doug makes a video! Thank you ! Also, you can add more lines of .devices to the ICON INFO. Yeah it can slow it’s launch as it scans all those devices but for common ones it can be handy.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Get your wallet out. Time to burn thru more AMIGA cash...

@LeftoverBeefcake 11 ай бұрын

Excellent review as always! Hopefully if these are available around Christmas, I'll ask Santa for a clockport version for the 1200. Just the ability to use USB mass storage devices would be incredible.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I would love to see the vendors pick this up and sell it. I will email the creator and see if he has any issues with them doing that. All of the big vendors send license fees to the creators, so it is a win-win. Open license stuff you can build yourself is great, but it leaves 95% of people totally out of the market, as few of us have the skills to solder on the darn SMD components

@cullmaster7361 11 ай бұрын

Darn it Doug, I’m already running out of transferable Organs for cash 😉 Between you, “Q” and Dr Chris I will be Bankrupt! 🤣🤣🤣 This looks gooood! I too use X-surf100 and RapiRoad on one of my A4K desktops. On other setups I’ve got Elbox Mediators with their over priced NEC PCI 5 Port USB card which can pretty much do the same as this card. Interesting to see if this card is also compatible with PiStorm? Just put together a Checkmate with Mediator on a Re-Amiga A1200 using a Voodoo 3 and Spider 2 and this works great! 👍🏻 This new card though looks and works tonnes better than the RapidRoad. Like others have been through the white light disappear act when I hot plugged a device or 2 in 😞🙄 A lot of great Amiga products coming out… Now where’s that surgeon I use…. 🤗😉

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

This is our plan. We all make like 95% commission on these things, and all of us are filthy rich now and driving boing-ball colored Lamborghinis. Such is the life of a KZfaqr with almost 7000 subs! ;) I get so paranoid about my RapidRoad I shut my machine off before swapping USB devices. I swear it has no filters at all.

@cullmaster7361 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC As we say in the U.K “Squeaky Bum Moment” when using a RapidRoad 😉👍🏻

@byrons8956 10 ай бұрын

I was just thinking about getting a USB card for one of my Amigas after looking at one of my USB CD/DVD/Bluray drives

@ChristopherNelson2k 11 ай бұрын

Very well timed. I've been thinking about finally getting a USB device to float among the zorro buses and this might be the right one!

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

There is a lot to like about this one! Let me know if you want to buy one and i will get you in touch with a seller

@davidwright9166 10 ай бұрын

@@10MARC I’m interested. Is the seller different than the amibay djcook or the matty fellow?

@danielyttervoll1907 4 ай бұрын

this card is AWSOME

@stephenbruce8320 11 ай бұрын

Looks good! I need to acquire a couple of those boards because I want to start connecting my racked Amiga's into my HDMI/USB KVM Switch and get them off a VGA/PS2 Switch. One thing I like about having USB Connectivity is the ability to connect an external Optical Drive which free's up internal space in my big box Amiga's.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

CD ROMS work surprisingly well via USB on the AMIGA. Every one I have tried works right away. Let me know how the USB switch solution works!

@andreaslizart7984 11 ай бұрын

Great review - as always! Glad to have found your channel. Retrocengo would have tested whether the card also runs smoothly with Shadow of the beast :D and if not, then the card is to blame :D

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words!

@pauledwards2817 11 ай бұрын

Shame no DMA but it will be great for slower devices. Great video as always without being in a constant hurry. Dave H. did a great job with Z3 but of course it was not fully implemented when it came out of the chip shop. CBM kind of cheaped out as always, looking back the 4000 really should have gone for PCI slots, which 3rd parties implemented and then we could all have gone to the PC shop to by RTG, firewire, USB and whatever subject to driver. That really would have given the 4000 a boost.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I suppose making it able to use DMA would have required custom ROMS on the board itself. The darn USB speeds are already almost 2x as fast as the onboard IDE so I am not complaining! PCI would have been a challenge as it would have killed backwards compatibility with ZORRO 2 - and I did not really start selling any PC's with PCI slots until 1995 or so... It was available earlier but certainly not common.

@mattymuc 11 ай бұрын

If you want DMA you need a Deneb, but they were too expensive for me 🙂Unfortunately, I don't know how DMA works, so this feature is missing in the Triton. Maybe in the future I will find out how this has to be implemented... Otherwise, everything should work on the Triton that works on the Deneb. But PIO mode is faster on fast CPUs than DMA with of course higher CPU utilization...

@jdryyz 11 ай бұрын

Hey, Booger and Snot are what I use for my drive names too!

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I figure I'll divide it up into four partitions and add mucus and phlegm next.

@jdryyz 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC Ohh you know I had those two other names queued up to go. :D

@davidwright9166 10 ай бұрын

You guys are picking all the best kid’s names.

@cv643d 11 ай бұрын

I would love to pick up a PCB and build it myself

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Sure! Check out the website - if you don't see the PCB itself listed for sale, drop an email to the address in "contact us" on the website. Matthias should help you get the right goodies! Let me know how it works out.

@cv643d 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC Nice, will send an email asap, thank you!

@brettjns 11 ай бұрын

Rapid Road is no longer available and Jens has said in the support forums that it isn't coming back. The parts are not available anymore.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I heard about that. There are obviously other parts that could work for USB on the AMIGA, as these Freeway cards work fine.

@cullmaster7361 11 ай бұрын

There are now Subway recreation USB cards for the A1200 Clockport now available. Alas it doesn’t support USB sound cards at the moment.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

@@cullmaster7361 Oh? Whats the story on the subway recreations?

@cullmaster7361 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC All I know that Alinea Computing in Germany sell them. They are called Subway 2021 USB. I found out about it by looking on the EAB support hardware forum. They don’t use the Posiedon USB stack but something called ANAIIS USB stack instead. Which is downloadable off Aminet.

@stanmoonie6508 10 ай бұрын

Hey Doug I have some questions for you, I installed the MUI software and then installed the Triton software. Well when I restarted the amiga 3000 it stopped booting and gave me this error. ENVARC: PsdStackloader: Unknow commad ENVARC:PsdStackloader failed returncode 10 (i think) When you installed your card did you already have the software installed? I only ask because I noticed the usb lite was on. Any help would be great.

@10MARC 10 ай бұрын

Happy to help. I already had MUI installed, and tossed Poseidon on with the card already in the machine. I think I mention that Poseidon really needs a 32K stack size, and the easiest way is to use "stackattack" from Aminet to set default stack sizes to 32K. You can reach me on Twitter, via Email or on Facebook if you want further help

@bryantokarsky1733 4 ай бұрын

Hi Doug! Have you tried any USB Printers - and do they work in WordPerfect, Final Writer, PageSetter or any other similar applications? Also, what benefit does the FlashROM give you (Lite vs. Triton)?

@10MARC 4 ай бұрын

Nope. I don't have any USB printers that work, unfortunately. In theory something that emulates a Laserjet 2 or 3 should work, but modern printers will not. The website for the Triton goes over some of the uses of the Flash ROM, but I honestly could not see any big advantage with it.

@alanhaynes4576 11 ай бұрын

Doug, You missed the icon showing up for the CF card before you plugged in the extra power. Check your video and you will see it pop up almost in the middle of the screen. Great product. Just what we always needed for our Amiga big boxes. Have you tried plugging in a usb stick containing the Flash Floppy files that we would normally plug into the Gotek drive? I would expect it may not work but you never know. As for speed; how will it go on the a2000 with a Vampire V2+? And how about the PiStorm? Once again a great review thanks Doug.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I think it popped up about 1/2 a second after I plugged in the secondary power. I think the FlashFloppy files would show up - that's just FAT32. I heard from the creator that it has some issues with the Vampire, but not sure if that includes a Vampire in an A2000

@alanhaynes4576 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC Hi Doug, I had to check it again and it popped up at the 23minute and 57 seconds mark, which was before you started to say you were going to plug in the extra power. I believe the delay was due to the CF card interface but I still think it happened without the need for the additional power connector. It happened just as you said "Huh, that does not show up." You took your eye off the screen and that is why you missed it. Watch you video again from the 27min and 40secs and don't take your eyes off the screen. Absolutely brilliant device. So is its success due to the actual usb Stack or the hardware or a combination of both?

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Ha! I tricked you onto re-watching my video! More of that sweet, sweet KZfaq cash for me! :)

@alanhaynes4576 10 ай бұрын

@@10MARC I don't mind that, happy to help out, but did you pick up that it popped up before you plugged in the extra cable for power?

@KarlHamilton 7 ай бұрын

Well spotted! Gonna order one of these right now :)

@alanhaynes4576 7 ай бұрын

Doug, great video as usual, How does it work in an Amiga 2000 with an 040 GVP please?

@10MARC 7 ай бұрын

I suspect it will work quite well. The speeds when it runs in ZORRO 2 mode are really good, and an 040 will be just fine

@alanhaynes4576 7 ай бұрын

@@10MARC Only problem is where to find one.

@AmigaCammy 11 ай бұрын

I use a Subway USB card on my A1200 and A600 which is awesome. I have a USB numeric keypad with a hub built into it which works great with the A600. Poseidon is awesome, but have you tried ANAIIS for USB? It's way less system intensive and works great on low-end Amigas, especially with the Thylacine which it was first designed for. My favourite USB peripheral is the rocket launcher, which you can control with the joystick but I wrote my own little GUI for it.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I never understood why the Subway and Deneb cards stopped being produced. Yes, Poseidon is a resource hog for sure! ANAISS has drivers for some of the Freeway cards but I am not 100% sure it works for the Triton Lite yet. I will try it out on another system!

@daishi5571 11 ай бұрын

HOORAY someone found a way to make the A600 worthwhile...lol just kidding we're still searching 😛

@mattymuc 11 ай бұрын

Anaiis may work with the standard Freeway (GBA) or the Freeway CP. The Freeway Pro and the Freeway Triton (Lite) cards are not supported by Anaiis. USB only works on the Amiga thanks to the great software support from Poseidon. Without the Poseidon USB stack the whole Freeway project would not exist.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

@@mattymuc Thanks for that information!

@cullmaster7361 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC The Subway cards have been resurrected into Subway 2021. 👍🏻

@jjock3239 11 ай бұрын

Just what I have been looking for! Tonight, I just ordered a Greaseweasel, but this looks like the perfect solution for me. It would be fantastic, I could get an ethernet card to work, but I would be happy with just the existing capability, A great presentation, and I want them.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I used Ethernet with my Thylacine and it worked just fine, but I never got any of my USB Ethernet to work on my RapidRoad card . It was redundant, as my Rapid Road is connected to my X-Surf 100 Ethernet card, of course, but I still was confused why the drivers would not bind. I will test it with my new card

@jjock3239 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC I am already making steps to acquire the boards, and am excited, even if I only get a USB that allows me to use a 3 button mouse, keyboard, and for file transfer. For an 80 year old the learning curve is a little steep. Quote from Homer (Simpson) "Do you mean the bathroom is way over there?"

@mattymuc 11 ай бұрын

I only use USB Ethernet now, which works perfectly if you can find a supported chipset. The Triton also supports the USB audio devices that work on the Deneb.

@jjock3239 11 ай бұрын

@@mattymuc Sounds good. I am working at the purchase of a Triton now. It isn't important that I have internet on the Amiga, but it would be nice.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

@@jjock3239 Once you start using SMB file transfers on the Amiga to mount a shared folder from a Windows computer, it's hard to go back!

@rjd324 11 ай бұрын

Doug, does tab completion not work on your shell? Or did you just forget?

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

I almost never use it. It's just habit, really to type everything out. I don't even use the tokenized commands when I code in BASIC on the Commodore 64, but type out the entire words! Silly me

@jjock3239 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARC I had Basic 4.0 on my 64, and have forgotten everything I knew. Did you ever play with Comal?

@davidwright9166 10 ай бұрын

I have a checkmate system with a 500 board and pistorm. How do i know how to insert zorro cards correctly? Front, back, up , down might not be the same thing here with that slot.

@10MARC 10 ай бұрын

The ZORRO slot is on the opposite side of the computer than an Amiga 3000 or 4000, so card go in "chip side down" instead of "chip side up" - the best way is to try a card that is full length, and you will see it only goes on one way so you can still mount the card on the back panel. It is really not very well explained in the manual, honestly .

@davidwright9166 10 ай бұрын

@@10MARC thanks

@danielktdoranie 11 ай бұрын

I’d get a 3D printed bracket and run headers to that empty 3.5” slot you have empty on the front of your A3000 Or put a GoTek there (probably more useful?)

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Yes, I actually have plans for a card reader to go into the empty slot. I have a few black ones, but I am sure I can find a beige one.

@retrotechtive 11 ай бұрын

Hi Doug, sorry if I missed a link, but where are the files available for the actual blank PCB itself? I always appreciate those interactive BOM lists and this one is no exception - but I'd love to make a few of these, yet can't find the gerbers etc to make the PCB. EDIT: I've contacted the creator of the board, to see what they say about the PCB availability, in case there are no direct links.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Not sure, honestly. I assume that info is on the website. I will also reach out the Thorsten who made my board. I would assume the answer will be "PCBWay..."

@retrotechtive 11 ай бұрын

@@10MARCThanks. I did take a look on PCBWay, but couldn't find anything that matched. Also did a quick GitHub search, no luck there either :(

@mattymuc 11 ай бұрын

The interactive BOMs are a support for all those users who solder their kits together. Because of the bundled software license (Poseidon/Luciferin) there are currently no Gerber/Firmware files available for download.

@retrotechtive 11 ай бұрын

@@mattymuc Ah okay, well in that case, I shall chat about how to get a board with you via email :)

@davidwright9166 9 ай бұрын

Installed today in my a500-pistorm checkmate system. Web page for downloads doesn’t have much info like Doug has shown us. Seems to connect , plug and unplug sounds activate on install and removal but no icon and no info shown diropus. Mui issue?

@davidwright9166 9 ай бұрын

Now I can get icons on desktop but no files show . Formatted fat32 in windows.

@10MARC 9 ай бұрын

The card is put into ZORRO II mode manually? Or are you having it auto change?FAT32 drivers are loaded? Does Triton show the device as connected?

@davidwright9166 9 ай бұрын

i just put a jumper on to force zorro 2. all i can see is an icon inside that says system volume information, no files shown. They show on the windows side. Even transferred a few to windows but not back. Triton shows freewaytritonusb.device online @@10MARC

@romaneberle 8 ай бұрын

i see. nice. :-)

@10MARC 8 ай бұрын

It is a surprisingly good product.

@marioaquiles5024 11 ай бұрын

Hello Doug, could you give me the address where to write for information and price of this project? I would like to have the approximate price, to know if it is within my reach, thank you.

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Absolutely. I don't want to post Thorstens email right here, but reach out to me at Douglas (at) dctechaz (dot) com and I will give you the info

@Lucretia9000 11 ай бұрын

What is "Dynamic computing??" And if it's 10 minute, why is it 40 mins? 😁

@10MARC 11 ай бұрын

Dynamic Computing is my actual business. It is the "Sponsor" of 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast in a way. Tax purposes, ya know... Back in 2018 it really was 10 minutes, but there is just too much to say, and it turned into a conversational channel! I keep the name as kind of a fun joke.