ZZ9000 Compendium

More than a modern Amiga graphics card
Compiled by a ZZ9000 owner and enthusiast

Updated: March 25, 2023 | ZZ9000 is © 2019-2023 MNT Research GmbH


Preface | Specifications | Requirements / Compatibility | Production / Shipping | Installation | Screen Modes
Add-Ons | Apps 'n ARMs | Benchmarks | Features | Support / Troubleshooting | F.A.Q. | Links | Contact


F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q: How do I use the new zzusb.device auto-loaded by the ZZ9000?

For the new way you don’t need any special tools except HDInstTools (recommended) or HDToolBox (has trouble with big disks). Warning! Never switch between apps (e.g. HDInstTools, HDToolBox—even different release versions of HDToolBox, such as OS 3.1.4 vs. OS 3.9) to modify the same device, or you will encounter problems. Each app calculates and establishes device parameters differently!

  1. Insert a USB stick into your ZZ9000's USB port and then turn on your Amiga.
  2. Open an Amiga Shell window and mount the device with the following: MountDOS zzusb.device FAT95 Mount
  3. Go to Icon Information on the HDInstTools icon and enter zzusb.device as the DEVICE in Tool Types (i.e. DEVICE=zzusb.device).
  4. Start HDInstTools. It should discover the USB device as a harddisk. You can then partition it as usual. Make sure to use FFS, or if you want to use another filesystem you will have to mount the partitions manually after boot (using a tool like GiggleDisk / a Mountlist). If you use FFS, keep your partitions below 4 GB. Then, save to disk and reboot. If everything goes well, you should be able to see the partitions and format them.

You can then access the partitions on another computer. Linux has native support for RDB and Amiga OFS/FFS, so you can just mount the partitions like:

mount -t affs /dev/sda1 /mnt

On Windows/Mac, I think you have to use UAE and allow it to use the whole USB stick device as a raw disk.

Q: Why do I get a "Picasso96: Could not create graphics board context for 'Altais' Please check your Picasso96 installation!" error on bootup?

A: The Altais monitor file (temporarily stored in DEVS:Monitors) and the Altais.card file (temporarily stored in LIBS:Picasso96) need to be deleted after the ZZ9000 monitor driver has been created by the ZZ9000 Installer during initial installation. That should fix this error, and prevent the ZZ9000 Installer from failing to install any driver updates.

Q: How do I use ZZ9000 memory on my Amiga, and (more specifically) how is ZZ9000 memory shared between the Amiga and ARM apps?

A: As of firmware/driver release v1.8, 256 MB of AutoConfigTM Fast RAM (from the ZZ9000) is automatically added to your (Zorro III-only) AmigaOS. If you choose to add RAM manually, you can safely add (and use) up to 192 MB of the ZZ9000's RAM to your Amiga's Fast RAM (see "Adding ZZ9000 RAM to your Amiga's Fast RAM" in Apps 'n ARMs). As code contributor _Bnu notes:

"Technically, you can add more than 192 MB, but the scratch area is somewhere around 52 MB in ZZ9k memory, and was designed to hold an amount of arbitrary data that would never be limiting for any reasonable data it might hold (like memory buffered files, frame buffers, etc.). So the first 64 MB are kind of soft-partitioned off to be used internally by the card. Note that while the ZZ9000's RAM is technically faster than the RAM on other Amiga expansions (e.g. BigRamPlus), it is also higher latency since it is DDR rather than SDRAM."

Please see the MNT ZZ9000 ARM SDK for information regarding memory sharing between the Amiga and ARM apps.

Q: Will I be able to create/add my own custom screen mode(s)—e.g. using PicassoModeTNG—tailored to my monitor's specifications in future updates?

A: (answer will be posted when available)

Q: What are the maximum supported mass storage capacities of the microSD card and USB ports?

A: (answer will be posted when available)