PowerPort Jnr - Hardware review


The PowerPort Jnr was another purchase I made at WOA  as I also bought a 56k modem and didn't wish to strangle it by running the standard serial port..
It is simply a fast serial port for the Amiga. The product was bought from Power Computing ,so if you need one ,you know where to go! Getting home after the show ,I proceeded to install it.
The PowerPort Jnr itself  came in a small box ,opening this revealed the circuit board . The circuit board comes with a printed sheet of instructions, a disk with the relevant files on it and a cable to connect to your Amiga.
 

The instructions are quite easy to follow and even give small diagrams showing how to install the device. I split the Amiga down... really hard doing this bit e.g. disconnect all leads into the Amiga
and removing the Squirrel. Turning my machine upside down allowed me to remove the screws on the base and lift off the top half. Fitting of the port is easy although you have to disconnect the internal drive before you can fit the board. All in all, it took about ten minutes to fit the board . I also connected the cable to the board before installing it, I might add.
Reassembly of the machine is simply the reverse procedure of stripping it down. The Port fits in place of the blank plate at the side of the  mouse port and is held in place by a screw. I had
no problems fitting the board and don't expect anyone who can use a screwdriver without injuring themselves to have any. I should also point out that the shielding on my Amiga was
removed some time ago ,so if you have your shielding still fitted, you might find the procedure taking a bit longer.

Rebooting the machine , you now have to install the relevant files. This ,again, is very easy. There is an installer  provided for this and is totally painless.
That was it ready to go and I rebooted and tried it out! What a difference! Downloading mail with my old 33.6k modem had given download speeds (on a good day) of approx. 2200. The new modem and port gave me Approx. 3300! News downloads of again Approx. 2800 went up to on average 6000. Quite a difference I'm sure you will agree.

The only problem was that the downloads would stop after a couple of minutes ! Now this was a complete disaster. What's the point of a fast serial port if it only works for a couple of minutes ? And this is where buying from a good Amiga company comes in. I learned in the newslists that there were problems with the various revision boards of the A1200. 2B and the 1d4 were the ones commonly mentioned ... These boards had timing  problems which caused the serial  port to lock up.

A phone call followed to Power and  I was told to send the board back. It seems that the newest version of the board can overcome the timing problems and Power sent back a new
board by return of post. I should also mention that there is a hardware mod that can be done to the board to get it working with some boards although I didn't have to worry about this ,
details can be found on the VMC site (the company that makes the Hypercom devices.) New version of the software files are also posted on the site or you can get them from Power.
The new board worked well and I was happy again!

Browsing on the Net is so much faster now even with my setup (030). It makes a huge difference when the delays are simply down to my computer displaying the page rather than
the long delays of downloading it.

One of the few things I have noticed that doesn't seem to like the new port is if I set Miami to the maximum rate of the port (460000). Miami won't connect at that speed. I have Miami set
to 130000 which I have been informed is the optimum setting for a 56k modem. So, no worries on that score.

All in all, though, a very worthy purchase for my Amiga. It will of course pay for itself within a short time in cheaper calls but makes the whole experience of being on the Net better by
speeding up your access time dramatically. Highly recommended!