Category Archives: News

Instructions, News

PiStorm FAQ

Posted on by Peter

Over the last few weeks, we have compiled the most frequently asked questions from our customers about the PiStorm in an FAQ. The list is certainly not yet complete and will therefore continue to be added to.

  • Can the Raspberry Pi 5 be used for the PiStorm?
    • No. The Raspi 5 has been changed in many ways and unfortunately cannot (yet) be used.
  • Can the Raspberry Pi 4 be used for the PiStorm Classic or PiStorm 2k?
    • Yes and no. It usually works, but is not officially supported. In other words: If there are difficulties, you are responsible and there will hardly be anyone who can help.
  • Do you sell CaffeineOS?
    • No. CaffeineOS is free software, based on AmigaOS 3.9 and was created by Pedro Cotter. We offer our customers suitable SD cards with the current version of CaffeineOS for the price of the SD card. CaffeineOS can be downloaded here => https://bit.ly/m/CaffeineOS and installed on a suitable SD card with the WinImager under Windows. The Win32 Disk Imager can be downloaded here => https://win32diskimager.org/.
  • Do you sell AmigaOS?
    • Yes, we are one of the larger European Hyperion Entertainment partners and sell several hundred licenses every year. AmigaOS 3.2 is commercial software and is constantly being developed further from the license fees. AmigaOS 3.3 has been in development for some time now. Please note that AmigaOS 1.2 – AmigaOS 3.1 is to be licensed from Cloanto. From AmigaOS 3.2 Hyperion Entertainment has the rights to the Kickstart and the Workbench. We offer AmigaOS in different bundles for all Classic Amigas from Amiga500 – Amiga4000 and with images for many common accelerator cards.
  • AmigaOS or CaffeineOS?
    • It depends 🙂 In principle, we recommend the use of CaffeineOS. Beautiful desktop, easy to use and very user friendly. But unfortunately nobody can say how long Caffeine will still exist. It has already disappeared overnight several times and only Pedro Cotter maintains “his” distribution.
    • AmigaOS is commercial software and with the Emu68 imager tool it has become very easy to do a very good basic installation with all the tools you need. However, it is also a very classic 80s/90s workbench desktop and many tools have to be installed manually.
  • Can you recommend the LazaruStorm adapter?
    • The LazaruStorm adapter is the only currently existing possibility not to remove the 68k CPU in the Amiga and still use the PiStorm. However, the adapter is a messy hack and it does not always work, as both CPUs (PiStorm and 68k) “fight” for the bus signals. We supply our LazaruStorm adapters with the recommended jumpering (“VPAJP 2-3” and “BRJP” not bridged). We have had the best experiences with the Amiga 500 Rev 6a mainboards. The adapter usually works here. We can *not* recommend the adapter for Amiga 500 Rev5 or earlier. With Rev8a mainboards the adapter usually works. If the PiStorm does not start, simply press “CTRL-Amiga-Amiga” until it starts. Unfortunately, this is the only possible solution if the PiStorm – regardless of the mainboard version – does not start.
  • Does the PiStorm require cooling?
    • Yes and no. PiStorms with Raspberry Pi 3 and 4 do not require cooling. Only the CM4 module on the PiStorm32 CM4 + I/O module requires its own passive or active cooling. We offer the cooling modules from Waveshare. We generally recommend the active cooler module. The fan runs at 8000rpm +/-10% and is not controllable via the CM4 and I/O board. It is so quiet in operation that you can hardly hear it.
  • Does wired Ethernet work?
    • Yes and no. Under Emu68 (standard and recommended) there is no driver for wired Ethernet. Only under Musashi can wired Ethernet be configured. Linux knowledge is required and it is not easy.
  • Do the mouse and keyboard work via USB?
    • Yes and no. Under Emu68 (standard and recommended) there is still no driver for mouse + keyboard via USB. Only under Musashi USB mice and keyboards can be configured. It is not that easy.
  • What are Emu68 and Musashi?
    • Emu68 is a so-called “bare metal” 68k emulator developed by Michal Schulz. The Github can be found here => https://github.com/michalsc/Emu68. Emu68 is the recommended emulator for the PiStorm – even if some drivers are still missing. Michal’s patron page can be found here => https://www.patreon.com/c/michal_schulz/posts. We support the development regularly.
    • Musashi is a 68k emulator based on Linux, which unfortunately has not been developed further for several years. Without Musashi there would probably be no PiStorm and many of the PiStorm docs still contain references to Musashi. Since Musashi is based on Linux, separate drivers are not required for all possible devices (USB, Ethernet etc pp), so that Musashi supports more hardware on and in the Amiga. However, the emulation is much slower and the configuration is much more complicated. We strongly advise against using it
  • Where can I find documentation and help for PiStorm?
  • How do I control the settings of the PiStorm, especially the emulated processor speed and the graphics resolution for the Amiga?
    • For both CaffeineOS and AmigaOS there are corresponding tools to easily change the command line options via a GUI.
  • Does WLAN/WiFi work?
  • How do I create the required SD card with Emu68 myself?
    • For AmigaOS we recommend the Emu68-Imager Tool. This only runs under Windows 10/Windows 11. MacOS is – also in the future – not supported. It can be found here => https://mja65.github.io/Emu68-Imager/. SD cards of any size from any manufacturer can be used.
    • The image for CaffeineOS can be downloaded here => https://bit.ly/m/CaffeineOS and copied to a 64GB card using the Win32 Imager. Attention: The image is so large that in principle only the 64GB SanDisk Extreme will fit. These are available in our store (with and without CaffeineOS at the same price).
  • Does the entire graphics output run via HDMI?
    • No! “Only” the software that supports Picasso96/RTG is currently output via HDMI. Everything else still runs via RGB and still requires 2 connections to the TV/monitor! The team around Claude Schwarz is currently working on a “Framethrower” for the PiStorm, which also redirects the RGB outputs to the HDMI port of the Raspberry. First demos exist but there is no ETA for the hardware extension (yet). Until then we recommend the parallel use of our RGB2HDMI adapters in the Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000, but it also requires 2 HDMI ports with the adapters *or* all outputs must be output to RGB. This can be configured classically on the Workbench. For the Amiga1200 there is a solution from Indivision that works well (Scan Doubler).
  • Does the sound run via HDMI?
    • No! As with the RGB2HDMI adapters, the sound output from the Paula chip is not “redirected” to the Denise chip and there is no emulation here. As before, small external speakers must therefore be connected to the RCA outputs.

If you have any further questions, please send an e-mail to info@retrobuddys.com.

Instructions, News, Unkategorisiert

CaffeineOS SD card

Posted on by Peter

How do I create my own SD card for CaffeineOS?

First of all, you need the latest image of CaffeineOS. Simply request access to his Google Drive via the page of “CaptLeChuck” / Pedro Cotter => https://bit.ly/m/CaffeineOS. The images can be downloaded there as a torrent and as a ZIP file.

Then use the WinImager under Windows to upload to the SD card => https://win32diskimager.org/

WiFi is now super stable under CaffeineOS and even SMB share access works. The configuration is explained in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKYbILbx1p8 (English)

The recommended SD cards are the SanDiskUltra 32GB for images up to 9275 and the SanDiskExtreme 64GB for 64GB images. Both can be ordered from our store with the latest CaffeineOS. Other SD cards – whether 32GB or 64GB – may be too *small* for the image. This is because every SD card manufacturer “interprets” 32GB or 64GB differently.

Of course we do not “sell” CaffeineOS. CaffeineOS is free software, so the SD cards in the store with and without CaffeineOS have the same price. Only if the SD card is ordered together with a PiStorm is it slightly cheaper.

News, Unkategorisiert

Shipping flat rate

Posted on by Peter

Increase in the flat-rate shipping fee

Dear customers,

Unfortunately, due to increased costs at DHL, we have to increase our domestic shipping costs slightly. From the current €4.99 to €5.50. As a bulk buyer, we now pay €6.10 per parcel (up to 2 kg). If things get a little heavier, we are prepared to pay €6.50. Alarming but unfortunately true – and this with an annual shipping volume of around 3000 parcels.

Everything remains the same for our European customers. Even if the €14.99 does not cover the costs, we will continue to pay a similar amount as for domestic German parcels.

News

New Amiga products

Posted on by Peter

In the next few weeks you will find a few new products in our store. On the one hand, these are additions from the existing portfolio, on the other hand, they are completely new projects.

You can look forward to the following products:

  • 4/8 MB FastRam for Amiga 500 (aka GottaGoFast)
  • Simple IDE for Amiga 500
  • PiStorm for Amiga 500/2000
  • Awesome 68k CPU Re-Locator
  • Amiga 500 Rev.3+5 Kickstart EEProm Adapter

In addition, we will offer all projects as “PCB Only” and “Kit”. We’ve had a few requests from the community for complete craft kits, especially in the last few weeks.

News

Workbench 3.2.2 Clean Install

Posted on by Peter
06
Mar

A few days ago Hyperion released the now 2nd update of Amiga OS 3.2 (here). Time to describe once how to make a fresh installation on a CF card with WinUAE.

I won’t go into the hardware because there’s really nothing to do. However, you need a Compact Flash card with a capacity of 4 GB, a CF-IDE adapter (see store) and of course a Compact Flash reader for your computer. This guide also assumes that you are using Windows, although it should be possible to perform pretty much the same procedure with FS-UAE on Linux or Mac.

Step 1 – Download tools
First of all, you need to download a set of software.

WinUAE – Amiga emulator
This tutorial uses the WinUAE Amiga emulator which can be found at https://www.winuae.net. We have used the version 4.10.1.

Kickstart/Workbench
You need a copy of the Kickstart ROM and the Amiga OS 3.2 CD (available here in the Store). To do so, please download Update 1 (Amiga OS 3.2.1) and Update 2 (Amiga OS 3.2.2) from Hyperion. As a Retrobuddy customer you have received a direct link from us. Please unzip the update 2 to use the latest Kickstart ROM Kickstart 3.2.2 47.111.

PFS3 file system support
We recommend using the PFS3 file system and you need to download the handler for it from http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio. This is not strictly necessary, but it is faster than the standard AFFS and supports larger partitions.

Win32 Disk Imager
You should use Win32DiskImager to make regular copies of CF card images or download different ones from our website as a Retrobuddys.com customer. You can find the disk imager here: https://win32diskimager.org/ 

Step 2 – Prepare CF card
To use the Compact Flash card in an Amiga, you must remove all previous file system information from it. To do this, start diskpart as admin in the command prompt.

First list your hard disks by typing “list disk”. This should give you a result something like this:

Next select your compact flash card, in my case it is disk 2: “select disk 2”.

Be very, very sure that you choose the right plate. You will destroy everything on it otherwise.

If you want to be absolutely sure that you have selected the correct disk, you can run the Detail Disk function to check. When you are 100% sure, run “Clean”. This deletes the file system information from the disk and makes it ready for use in the Amiga. Exit diskpart.

 

 

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Adding the Compact Flash card
The next step is to add the compact flash card. For this reason, you must run WinUAE as administrator, otherwise it will not work.

Click on the “Add Hard Drive” button.
Select the Compact Flash card as the hard disk (it may be called something completely different on your computer)
Switch from UEA to IDE (Auto)
Make sure that Read/Write is enabled.
Click on the “Add hard drive” button.

Step 3 – Configure the virtual Amiga in WinUAE
Start WinUAE as administrator. This is very important (right click on the icon “Run as administrator”) => Now we need to configure the system. Please try to rebuild your “real” Amiga 1:1.

Start the virtual machine!

Step 4 – Partitioning the Compact Flash card
Now we need to partition and format the Compact Flash card for use in an Amiga.

This is how it should look when you start your virtual Amiga
Open the installation disk and the HDTools drawer.
Start HDToolbox, you should see Interface SCSI, Address 0, LUN 0, Status Unknown
This is how HDToolbox should look like when you start it with CF card installed
Click on “Change drive type” -> “Define new” -> “Read configuration” -> “Continue” to configure the CF drive (ignore the read values, the Amiga does not really understand 4 GB drive)
Click OK and go back to the list of disks in the system.
Click on “Partition Drive”.
Set up a small(er) system partition, about 250 MB. Change the name to DH0.
Set up the rest of the CF card as a partition and name it DH1.
Example of CF card partitioning
Optional: Use the file system pfs3
Activate the advanced options and then click “Add/Update”.
Click Add New File System
Enter the filename f:pfs3aio (NOT pfs3_aio-handler as claimed in the video, this is no longer correct) and click OK
Change DosType to 0x50465303 and do not forget to press Enter in the field
Click OK and OK to return to your partitions
Select DH0 and click “Change” to switch to the new file system
Select “Custom File System” or “PFS/03” (depending on your Workbench version, I think)
Make sure that identifier is 0x50465303 (otherwise change it)
Change MaxTransfer to 0x1fe00 (and press Enter)

News

Welcome Retro Buddys!

Posted on by Peter

Welcome to Retro Buddys!

After some development time we finally went live today. The team behind the buddies has already considered the last year whether and to what extent it would be useful. can turn an “old” hobby into a business. Our aim is to be a contact point for the retro computing community around the “old” Commodore computers and to support the HW Mod community with words and deeds.

Many people are like me, they made their first steps 30+ years ago with the first Commodore computers – no matter if VIC-20, C64 or Amiga. I myself can still. remember very well how I worked with. my soldering iron have destroyed one or the other computer. However, I also learned an enormous amount while “scrapping”. Parallel to the HW mods I also learned to program the computers – especially C64 and Amiga 500. The 64 of course only in assembler and the Amiga to. Start with C and later 100% assembler.

Also, I am self taught to the demo and cracking scene and I still find it amazing today how many of “my” demo’s and hack’s still exist.

If you have any questions, need help or support, just ping us at info at Retrobuddys dot com. We are happy to help!