X1000 memory accessibility

AmigaOne X1000 platform specific issues.
xenic
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X1000 memory accessibility

Post by xenic »

I noticed that there seem to be 487MB of system memory that I can't use. If I use the allocmem command from OS4Depot to allocate 1.25 GB of memory or if I copy music files to ram: until 1.25 GB of memory is used, there is 487MB of available memory listed by Workbench, the avail command and memstat (119,135 blocks). However, I can't start any programs or open too many windows on Workbench. I paid for 2GB memory (actually 4GB but I know why the extra 2GB is unavailable) and apparently almost a quarter of that memory is inaccessible.

On my µA1, almost all of the 500MB installed memory not used for the OS (kickstart etc.) is available. The same holds true for my SAM Flex. If 487MB of memory were unavailable on my µA1 it wouldn't even work and if 487MB of memory were not available on my SAM, I would only have about 250MB memory available instead of over 700MB. I have twice as much installed memory on my X1000 as my SAM but only about 50% more memory available.

Whats wrong with X1000 memory and how do I make all of it available for use??
AmigaOne X1000 with 2GB memory - OS4.1 FE
xenic
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by xenic »

I've been waiting for an answer to this for a very long time. When will this issue be addressed? (or even explained)
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ZeroG
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by ZeroG »

My guess is that the memory is missing because you need some adress space to map the pci cards and other hardware into it.
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ssolie
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by ssolie »

Nothing is broken. All the memory is being used one way or another. It is by design.
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xenic
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by xenic »

ZeroG wrote:My guess is that the memory is missing because you need some adress space to map the pci cards and other hardware into it.
I can imagine some memory being reserved for that but not 460MB of memory. It would be nice to see a memory map of the X1000 memory space. I would also like to be able to access the other 2GB of memory space sooner than later since my X1000 actually has 4GB memory.
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danbeaver
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by danbeaver »

xenic wrote:
ZeroG wrote:My guess is that the memory is missing because you need some adress space to map the pci cards and other hardware into it.
I can imagine some memory being reserved for that but not 460MB of memory. It would be nice to see a memory map of the X1000 memory space. I would also like to be able to access the other 2GB of memory space sooner than later since my X1000 actually has 4GB memory.
The ability to access more than 2 GB has been discussed, and the forthcoming ability to access ram beyond 2 GB as well; in the latter case is will be mapped in a block and swapped in & out with a block within the current 2 GB map. See,:

http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/?p=1131
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tonyw
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by tonyw »

Surprisingly, there are many Amiga owners who would also like to be able to access more than 2 GB of memory. If you read the White Paper on the subject (see DanBeaver's link above), you will understand that it's not a simple matter.

Once a solution has been written, debugged, tested with all the possible hardware and software configurations and released to the public, you'll be able to try it out.
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xenic
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by xenic »

danbeaver wrote:The ability to access more than 2 GB has been discussed, and the forthcoming ability to access ram beyond 2 GB as well; in the latter case is will be mapped in a block and swapped in & out with a block within the current 2 GB map. See,:

http://blog.hyperion-entertainment.biz/?p=1131
The information at that link answers most of my concerns about eventual use of my other 2GB of memory but not why so much of my active 2GB of memory is unavailable. The overview at that link says this:
PCI space, the kernel, memory buffers, and other memory areas take up a large chunk of the already limited address space, leaving roughly 2 gigabytes for the applications running on the machine - 2 gigs which also are shared between all of the programs running.
My original question asked why almost a quarter of my 2GB is unavailable to applications ( and ram: ). In my mind 1.5GB is considerably less than the "roughly 2 gigabytes" mentioned in the above quote. However, I'm not going to pursue the issue any further. As a long time classic Amiga user (1986) I got accustomed to the detailed hardware/software information available in the Rom Kernal Manuals and elsewhere.
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by danbeaver »

When you boot with no Startup-Sequence and just then loadwb, how much is free then? I would check, but my X1000 is on a boat somewhere in the Pacific ocean.
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tingo
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Re: X1000 memory accessibility

Post by tingo »

Which graphics card do you have in your machine? If the graphics card has, say, 512MB of RAM which the operating system wants to use, that 512MB has to be mapped somewhere for the operating system to see it.
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