HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 11:07:14 -0400
From:         "Daniel S. Riley" <dsr@LNS598.TN.CORNELL.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Links in AmigaDOS

Janos Mohacsi infoka <mohacsi@FIX.FSZ.BME.HU> writes:
>        I am interested in AmigaDOS links. I read somewhere that WB2.0 doesn't
>support the links correctly. Does WB2.1 handle it ?
>        What is the difference between the hardlink and softlink? Can I link
>through devices? What does /FORCE switch mean in WB2.1 Makelink?

A hard link acts as another directory pointer to a file somewhere on the
same disk partition.  After you've created a hard link, the hard link and
the original directory entry are approximately equivalent, so if you create
a hard link to a file, and then delete the original file, the hard link
turns into a normal directory entry to that file.  To really get rid of the
file, you must delete all the hard links to the file.

A soft link (also known as a "symbolic link") store the symbolic name of the
file the link points to.  One consequence of this is that soft links can
cross partitions or point to other devices, while hard links cannot.  Another
consequence is that a soft link does not preserve a file--so if I create a
soft link to a file, and then delete the file, the file is gone, and trying
to open the soft link will return an error.  If you create a new file with
the same name as the old file, the soft link will refer to that new file.

WB2.0 and 2.1 understand hard links, for the most part, though there are
still some programs on the WB2.1 distribution that don't handle them
correctly.  Soft links are unsupported, and the way soft links are
implemented is going to change completely before they are supported.

I believe the force switch lets you create a hard link to a directory, which
is normally discouraged because it is so easy to create directory loops (a
bad thing to do).  But I could be wrong...

>        I look for a cheap or a shareware diskoptimizer that can handle
>the WB2.x links. Thanks in advance.

Sorry, don't know of any...
--
Dan Riley                          Internet:   dsr@lns598.tn.cornell.edu
Wilson Lab, Cornell University     HEPNET/SPAN: lns598::dsr (44630::dsr)
	 "Maybe, leastways is the best way of all" -Caterwaul
From: dsr@LNS598.TN.CORNELL.EDU (Daniel S. Riley)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: Re: A4000 compatability
Date: 16 Oct 92 23:37:44 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mts: smtp

"The Large Guy with Buckwheat's Hair." <LANDAS88@SNYPOTVA.bitnet> writes:
>>It seems strange to me that on the one hand you're arguing that Commodore
>>should do more to discourage bad programming practices, and on the other
>>asking for better backwards compatibility with bad programming practices.
>
>   I agree with you on most points, but do you have any idea how bad this
>policy makes Commodore look to the rest of the computing community.

Guess not.  Most of my non-Amiga owning friends have Macs, and are
going through similar hassles with System 7, so they all seem pretty
sympathetic.  (Besides, I have very few games, so almost everything I
normally use works fine under 2.0 and 3.0.)  (granted, switching
between system 7 & 6 is a lot easier than going from 1.3 to 2.0
(unless you have an older A3000), but most Mac owners don't think that
way, in my experience.)

>Commodore has yet to keep it's machines as backwords compatible as
>the IBM PC.  I realize they build a lot more into Harware than IBM does, and
>therefore it is more difficult to keep it compatible.

Well, also, DOS does almost nothing to keep compatibility with.  So
the IBM folks paid instead for hardware incompatibility--program X
requires this graphics adapter that I don't have, and every program
needs a full set of printer drivers, since DOS doesn't provide any
higher level abstractions.  It's only recently that widespread PC
operating systems have become sufficiently sophisticated to have
serious compatibility worries.

>But I still feel it is
>a good practice.  They could even sell this compatiblity as an add on option.
>A fall back 68000 w/ 1.3 card or something like that.

Most non-game developers would get pretty upset if Commodore were
spending resources on still supporting 1.3.  There's way too many
things we need *much* more than we need 1.3 support, if the Amiga
is going to keep moving forward.

>I mean great what
>happens when AmigaDos 4.0 comes out and they decide to discourage bad
>programming even more, and then I have to go buy all new software again.

I doubt this will happen.  Most programmers seem to be getting a clue,
so I expect the vast majority of 2.0 compatible software will work
fine with 3.0 and 4.0.

>p.s. I hope your not getting mad.  I do love Amiga I just like some old
>programs and wish they'd work on updates to the system without 3rd party
>kludges. :)

Mad?  No way.  You've got a reasonable position.  I may not agree with
it, but I can appreciate a little *constructive* disagreement.  Now,
the rest of i-amiga may be getting a little tired of this...

--
Dan Riley                          Internet:   dsr@lns598.tn.cornell.edu
Wilson Lab, Cornell University     HEPNET/SPAN: lns598::dsr (44630::dsr)
	 "Maybe, leastways is the best way of all" -Caterwaul
From: SARGEANT@WHITMAN.BITNET
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: RE: GVP A500 HD
Date: 14 Oct 92 23:12:00 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Envelope-to: I-AMIGA@RUTVM1.BITNET
X-VMS-To: IN%"I-AMIGA@RUTVM1.BITNET"

Date: WED, OCT 14, 1992,  3:30 PM
To  : VAX MAIL (I-AMIGA@RUTVM1.BITNET) / INTERNET
From: JEFF-SARGEANT

Subject:  RE: GVP A500 HD

I don't know if you can mix 'n match ram simms or not.  I had two 1x8 simms
before (16 bit) and am getting one 4x8 simm (32 bit).

I'll let you know when I find something out.

Jeff
SARGEANT@whitman.bitnet
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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Fri, 9 Oct 1992 18:50:53 -0400
From:         CAMACHO@ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU
Subject:      A500 Speedup

Hello all, I came upon two files today that claim to
increase the speed of the A500 through a hardware project.
The first one is called A500 speedup by Leslie Ayling.
The second one is called Amiga Accelerator System by Livio Plos.

Has anyone tried these projects and their A500? And if so what
do you think about them. (Problems, bugs, improvement ...)

Thanks
Carlos
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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Mon, 12 Oct 1992 18:37:00 CST
From:         Lance Tagliapietra <96720919@UCS.UWPLATT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Networking on the Amiga

>Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 15:27:06 -0600
>From: An Incarnation of Deva Winblood <STU529655672@WSC.COLORADO.EDU>
>Subject: Networking on the Amiga
>
>Does anyone have any tech information to compare how Amiga handles
>Networking? How do Amigas compare to Macintosh in this aspect?
>What kind of cards do we have? How do we Amigas handle TCP/IP, DECNet, etc.
>?

Have you ever looked at DNet?  I found it quite capable for point to
point connections between two Amigas.  The docs say it can also be
used for Amiga<->BSD Unix networking.  With SerNet, it allows remote
mounting of filesystems across the network.  Quite useful.

-Lance
 ---------------- Amiga - The Wild Side of Power Computing -----------------
 Lance Tagliapietra                       Internet: 96720919@ucs.uwplatt.edu
 P.O. Box 26                                BitNet: 96720919@uwplatt
 Platteville, WI 53818
From: warda@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: Re: IFF->Postscript ?
Date: 12 Oct 92 16:58:21 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

> Is there any program for tghe amiga that converts a 2-colour IFF-picture into 
> postscript ?
> 
CLAZ on fish disk 87 does this.  

   Bill Bennett                           JANET: warda@uk.ac.oxford.vax    
   CRC Growth Factors Research Group   Internet: warda%vax.oxford.ac.uk  
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Mon, 12 Oct 1992 09:07:05 EDT
From:         "Me)" <JCOX@UTCVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: Some Information I compiled and sent to misinformed people.
              11 Oct 1992 15:29:11 -0600 from <STU521530304@WSC.COLORADO.EDU>

Hello,
   I don't know who sent the info to the list, but it is absolutely
FILLED with MORE disinformation.
   1.  The A1000, A500, A2000 all run at 7.16 Mhz (not 7.65)  SO DOES THE
       A600.  The A600 DOES NOT run at 25 Mhz.
   2.  ALL A3000's (that you can get now) come with at least a 40M hard
       drive.
   3.  SOME A600's come with hard drives as well, and you forgot to mention
       the PCMIA slot they have (which isn't GREAT, but it's something at
       least)

I'm sure there were many more mistakes, but I'm sure these will be corrected
by the list.  I don't mean to be harsh...It's just that if you want to
educate people who are uninformed about the amiga, don't give them the
wrong information.  Either A. they will find out and rub it in your (and our)
face. or B.  They'll go out an buy the 25mhz A600 and a Multisync to go
with it, and see how slow it runs (for a 25 Mhz machine) and be disgusted
by the abhorrently slow speed of the amigas (since he'll assume that all
25 Mhz machines run just as slow....including the A4000 and A3000)
    Most people out there don't think you can even GET a hard drive for an
Amiga, so It's fairly important to set that one straight....

Anyway...Later,
Jason Cox (Gambit

Jason E. Cox                                              (Gambit)

UT Chattanooga Biology Major      Tri-Beta Sigma Chapter President

"When the world is running down, make the best of what's still around"
                                                               Sting
From: dsr@LNS598.TN.CORNELL.EDU (Daniel S. Riley)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: Re: A4000 compatability
Date: 16 Oct 92 18:12:11 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mts: smtp

"The Large Guy with Buckwheat's Hair." <LANDAS88@SNYPOTVA.bitnet> writes:
>>One step Commodore is taking to make bad programming practices harder--there
>>will not be a Hardware Reference Manual for the AA chips, with all the
>>register addresses and such.  Programmers that want to use AA features are
>>thus *strongly* encouraged to use the OS.
>
>The above move is exactly what they should have done when they first released
>the original OS.

There's one obvious historical reason--with the original A1000, people
felt they needed to hit the hardware directly to get reasonable performance.
Since the Amiga was much more of a "games" machine then than it is now, that
seemed reasonable at the time.  With faster processors, faster chips, a more
optimized graphics.library, more serious apps, and more different versions of
the hardware, this original attitude is a lot less reasonable now.

Apple has done a better job of discouraging this kind of hacking, but then
the original Mac and original Amiga had *very* different design goals.
They've converged somewhat over the years, but the different heritages
still show.

>I had another quick question,  Why couldn't Commodore have built in a better
>1.3 fall back mode into 2.0.

If you knew how ugly some of these programs are, you wouldn't wonder...

I'd rather not see them waste a lot of resources supporting broken code.
A *lot* of effort was spent making 2.04 as compatible as it is, and that
delayed the release of 2.04 by at least 6 months and added a lot of ugly
kluges to the OS.  Going for more compatibility would either have delayed
it even more, or increased the cost.  More cost would be a *very* bad
thing, as it would decrease the number of people that upgrade, and delay
the day when authors can consider 2.0 to be the oldest os version worth
writing apps for.

It seems strange to me that on the one hand you're arguing that Commodore
should do more to discourage bad programming practices, and on the other
asking for better backwards compatibility with bad programming practices.
The surest way to discourage bad programming practices now is to make it
clear that broken code will not work on all Amigas, costing the authors $$$
in lost sales.  Supporting broken code would remove that incentive to get
it right.

--
Dan Riley                          Internet:   dsr@lns598.tn.cornell.edu
Wilson Lab, Cornell University     HEPNET/SPAN: lns598::dsr (44630::dsr)
	 "Maybe, leastways is the best way of all" -Caterwaul
From: roman@TIX.TIMEPLEX.COM ((Daniel Roman))
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: Re: NEC 3FGX monitor
Date: 14 Oct 92 18:26:16 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
              "MOOREL%CWU.BITNET@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu" at Oct 14, 92 9:25 am

MOOREL%CWU.BITNET@UBVM.cc.buffalo.edu writes:
> I am using the NEC 4FG monitor, which is similar to the 3 FGx in the
> scanning frequencies. The only thing I cannot currently do is PAL mode.
> You will have to use the de-interlace port since neither monitor will
> scan down to 15.7Khz. (But then again that is why you want to get this
> monitor in the first place.) You should also be able to crank the overscan
> up quite a bit and use the full area of the screen.
>
> I just got mine about 2 weeks ago and really love it! Good luck.
>
>
>    -Lloyd-
>
Lloyd, I've been looking for a new monitor for my 3000 for over a year,
sometimes not so hard :-), but I've been holding off because I have not
found the "perfect" monitor.  With the 4FG (that's a 15 inch right?) are
you saying you can't do PAL mode at all or that you can do PAL mode
using the de-interlacer in the 3000?

I think I may hold off on a monitor a little longer to see what develops
as far as the AA chipset for the 3000 (if anything).  I'm not sure what
would happen to the de-interlacer on the motherboard.

Say, wouldn't it be great of the next iteration of the 4000 had a
motherboard similar in mechanical layout and interface functionality to
the 3000's and that we could upgrade that way.  Same power supply, hard
drives, case, RAM, etc.  Sounds like a good idea to me, marketing types
probably would not think so though.  I'm doomed to ECS I fear.

To wander off topic again, since 3.0 is out and some developers have it
and can talk about it, will it support other vendors graphics boards and
if so could it support something like HAM-E if the drivers were
available (assuming drivers are the way that other video cards and modes
would be added/supported).


--
____________________________________________________________________
Dan Roman           |     ///      Internet:  roman@tix.timeplex.com
Ascom Timeplex Inc. | \\\///                        GEnie:  D.ROMAN1
Woodcliff Lake, NJ  |  \XX/ Only AMIGA!     Homebrew is better brew.
====================================================================
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Sat, 10 Oct 1992 08:04:14 -0400
From:         "(Herbert I Brown)" <hibrown@CS.ALBANY.EDU>
Subject:      Re: A4000

	From: Robert Harnaga <rharnaga@ARISTOTLES.RUTGERS.EDU>


    You see, I am really looking to buy an A3000 with 25Mhz and a HD > 100Mb.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Robert Harnaga       	    - rharnaga@hardees.rutgers.edu		  ///
 Rutgers University Student - Computer Science & Computer Engineering \\\///
 RU Computer Services       - Student Telecommunications Analyst       \\//
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert,

Now is the time to purchase the A3000. CBM has a special promotional
deal through November 30th.

A3000-25/50  +  Scala Multimedia 200         $1499

A3000-25/100 +  Scala Multimedia 200         $1859

Herb


Herb Brown  Math Dept  The Univ at Albany  Albany, NY 12222  (518) 442-4640
Director,                                          hibrown@math.albany.edu
Computer Assisted Instruction in Mathematics       hibrown@csc.albany.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:30:35 EST
From:         GBER000 <GBER@SLUMUS.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: A4000

Ray's Supply in Glens Falls has been a reliable Amiga source for me but
when I last called they had decided to discontinue carrying the Amiga.
So yes, whom can one turn to in northern New York?
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Thu, 8 Oct 1992 09:00:30 GMT
From:         R.Tait@BNR.CO.UK
Subject:      Re: Amigas & Tape Drives

> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >I have ftp'd a few files from the Net onto my Sparc IPX at work.
 Unfortunately,
> >some of these files are over a meg long - compressed. For smaller stuff, I
 have
> >simply put the files onto a PC formatted disk which I had mounted as /pcfs.
> >Since the Amiga can only handle 720k PC disks - I cannot use HD. My problem
 is
> >thus: How do I get _large_ files from my Sparc to my Amiga without resorting
> >to connecting it to the network? (ie Ethernet cards/RS-232 etc).
>
> Use a filesplit utility.  Lha release 1.11 came with one written in C
> including the source.  It is 2 screens long and looks very portable.
> There is a compainion filejoin utility which also includes the source in
> C.
>
> The filesplit program allows you to specify the size of the files the
> archive is to be split into.
>
Where can I get this program?
I need it desperately!

> [...]
> >So in short - any method of getting large (1MB+) files onto my Amiga is
> >*greatly* appreciated (and wanted).
> >
> >---
> >Rick M. Tait   Networking Software Engineer, Bell Northern Research (Europe)
> >NMBase         Internet: rickt@bnr.co.uk | ricktait@bnr.ca | R.Tait@bnr.co.uk
> >OSI TCP/IP     By Horse: Dept GM21, Oakleigh Road South, New Southgate,
 London
> >TLA RTFM       ICBM: 43 31N 89 12W  (No multiple-warheads please...)
>
>
> -Lance
>  ---------------- Amiga - The Wild Side of Power Computing -----------------
>  Lance Tagliapietra                       Internet: 96720919@ucs.uwplatt.edu
>  P.O. Box 26                                BitNet: 96720919@uwplatt
>  Platteville, WI 53818
>

Thanks in advance,

---
Rick M. Tait   Networking Software Engineer, Bell Northern Research (Europe)
NMBase         Internet: rickt@bnr.co.uk | ricktait@bnr.ca | R.Tait@bnr.co.uk
OSI TCP/IP     By Horse: Dept GM21, Oakleigh Road South, New Southgate, London
TLA RTFM       ICBM: 43 31N 89 12W  (No multiple-warheads please...)
From: roman@TIX.TIMEPLEX.COM ((Daniel Roman))
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: Re: NEC 3FGX monitor
Date: 16 Oct 92 20:44:05 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]
              92 3:01 pm

ARGO writes:
>
>     what about the loop montiors? What modes will they support?
>
Nope, Loop monitors have their deficiencies also.

Name a monitor, I'll shoot it down, I've looked at so many and they
either don't support overscan without black borders (most fall into this
category) or they don't support the most popular video modes (I don't
expect a monitor to support the desk top publishing intended modes).

Now the AA chipset gets thrown into the fray which may make the search
for the perfect monitor even worse.

--
____________________________________________________________________
Dan Roman           |     ///      Internet:  roman@tix.timeplex.com
Ascom Timeplex Inc. | \\\///                        GEnie:  D.ROMAN1
Woodcliff Lake, NJ  |  \XX/ Only AMIGA!     Homebrew is better brew.
====================================================================
From: LANDAS88@SNYPOTVA.BITNET (The Large Guy with Buckwheat's Hair.)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: Re: 1.3 Switch
Date: 14 Oct 92 18:57:00 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Organization: Potsdam College of the STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (SUNY)
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Date sent: 14-OCT-1992

>Hi guys,
>
>
>        I've heard about some disks that emulate the 2.0 ROM. So, it's nice,
>but I have bought the 2.0 already. I would like to know if there are any disks
   t
>   hat emulate 1.3.
>        If anybody knows anything about it, E-mail me.
>
>
>                                        Thanks.
>
>
>
>/**************************************************************************
>
>  /***********************************************         ///
>   *        Jose' Roberto Landell Fehse          *        ///
>   ***********************************************    \\\///
>   * fehse@inf.ufrgs.br || fehse@vortex.ufrgs.br *     \\//
>   ***********************************************/     \/Amiga User
>
>  "Build a system that even a fool can use,
>        and only a fool will want to use it"
>
>***************************************************************************/


I blieve what you are refering to is a Kickstart disk.  This disk copies the
normal working contesnts of a ROM into memory and refers to them there.  Before
Commodore wanted to burn 2.0 into ROM where it would be more permanent.  They
shipped 2.0 on disk only.  I believe that using setcpu on a MMU based machine
that you could get 2.0 in evil pirated form.  This could also be possible for
you to get a Kickstart version of 1.3. In fact they might have shipped this
with the first 3000s out.  I'm not sure on that but I believe it was.
Anyone else know????????

-Nyle

p.s. I don't condone piracy. :) Commodore needs all the money it can get.

________________________________________________________________________________
|    Nyle F. Landas      |     LANDAS88@SNYPOTVA        |   SPOTVB::LANDAS88   |
|______________________________________________________________________________|
|  C= Amiga  For creative power.                                               |
|                                          CCC                                 |
|                                        CC     CCC    AMIGA                   |
|     Potsdam, N.Y.                      CC                                    |
|                                        CC     CCC    AMIGA                   |
|                                          CCC                                 |
|______________________________________________________________________________|
From: CAMACHO@ECSUC.CTSTATEU.EDU
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Subject: European news
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:19:58 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"i-amiga@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu"

I just finished reading Amiga Format, and I thought I would post some
tid-bits from this magazine. The Disc Company is branching into
DTP with The Publisher, and The Publisher Colorpro. They seem to be
low cost, full featured programs.
They also report massive price cuts in the A3000 by CBM. I'm wondering
if this is to re-position the A3000 in Europe only, or will they
also reduce the A3000 in America.
As mentioned also in the American magazines, Digital Creations is
working on a SUPER Paint program for the Amiga. Amiga Format also
reports that GVP will cut prices on their products. Once again, I
wonder if this will affect us in the states. Well, that's about it.
I'm sure our European friends can send some more possible Amiga news from
over the 'big pond.'

p.s. After finishing Amiga Format I had a sense of some REALLY good
entertainment titles that will be making their way to the Amiga
market. I feel that it's sad to see that just about ALL of the good titles
are coming from Europe. Why? Is it that Europeans are more found of
games, or do they have more whiz kid programmers?? There seems to
be alot of more development teams in Europe.

Carlos

p.s.s. has anyone seen the Amigaworld ad for Aladin 4D? WOW! It seems
to be 'THE' 3-D program.