TerribleFire 328/330 – Kipper 2K Riser [Commodore Amiga CD³²]

Dieser Artikel beschreibt drei Boards für die Amiga CD³² Konsole. Eine davon – Kipper 2K Riser – kann auch unabhängig von den anderen Karten eingesetzt werden. Diese Platine wird an den Erweiterungs-Anschluss auf der Rückseite des CD³² angesteckt. Der Riser ist (war) in unterschiedlichen Varianten erhältlich – meine Version bietet einen PS/2- und einen RGB-Anschluss. Am CD³² kann sonst nur die Tastatur des Amiga 2000 direkt angeschlossen werden. Der 23-polige RGB-Anschluss kann zusammen mit einem passenden Scart-Kabel des Amiga zur Verbindung mit dem Fernseher verwendet werden. Andere Riser – z. B. Hefesto – bieten z. B. einen VGA-Ausgang – der ein 15-kHz-Signal zur Verfügung stellt.
Die andere wichtige Funktion ist, dass ein weiterer Erweiterungsbus-Anschluss zur Verfügung gestellt wird – dieser „zeigt“ in das Innere des CD32. Genau dort ist ein freier Raum, der für das Video-Modul gedacht war.

Arguably the most important expansion that can be connected to the riser is the TerribleFire 328/330. These cards offer the following features:

TF328
– 8MB FastRAM
– IDE Port

TF330
– 68030 CPU overclocked to 50 MHz
– 64 MB FastRAM
– IDE port

My card came bundled with a CF adapter and a pre-installed CF card. If the CD32 is booted without a CD inserted, Workbench loads directly from the CF card. This also opens up the possibility of using WHDLoad—the CD32 already possesses the necessary 2MB of Chip RAM, and with the TF328/330, an additional 8/64MB of Fast RAM becomes available. If a PS/2 keyboard and an Amiga mouse are connected, you have a fully functional WHDLoad system at your disposal. However, if a disc is inserted into the CD32, the system will boot from the disc first rather than from the expansion card. 

Many of the CD games are compatible with the TF328/330, but there are also exceptions. Unfortunately, the jumper located on the board—which is supposed to disable the expansion—does not work. This appears to be a bug in the firmware that has not yet been resolved. In such cases, the only remaining option is to use the WHDLoad version.

Unfortunately, the PS/2 port is not as reliable as hoped. Only a small selection—specifically of older keyboards—is compatible. A CD32-AUX-to-PS/2 adapter or an adapter for USB keyboards (SUM A234/CD32) can provide a solution. However, my experience showed that I encountered absolutely no problems with the very first USB keyboard I connected via a PS/2 adapter.

The alternative to the TF328 is the Wicher CD32—a development from Poland that utilizes an old SIMM72 module for memory.

The downside is that, to the best of my knowledge, the TerribleFire 328 is currently unavailable for purchase, and the Kipper-2K adapter is also extremely difficult to find. The TF330 can currently (as of April 2020) be obtained via the Amibay forum—fortunately, it is also available as a bundle including the riser, CF adapter, and CF card.

In many games that utilize FastRAM, a noticeable improvement in speed is already evident with the TF328. In practice, this translates to a performance increase of 2.5 times compared to a standard Amiga 1200. The reason for this boost is likely the high-speed memory interface on the TF328. With the TF330, this effect becomes even more pronounced. Thanks to the overclocked 68030 CPU and 64 MB of FastRAM, a CD32 equipped with this card achieves nearly half the performance of an Amiga 4000.

Unfortunately, there were several games for the CD32 that were barely playable without an expansion. A few examples are Doom, Guardian, Alien Breed 3D, and Gunship 2000.

I obtained the TF328 as a complete package—including the riser, CF adapter, and CF card—on eBay. I purchased the TF330, also as a complete package, on the Amibay forum.