From: fheitkamp@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
Subject: Re: Golden Gate 486!!
Date: 21 Nov 92 09:35:07 EST
Organization:  Wright State University 

In article <vcruz.6@tid.es>, vcruz@tid.es (Vicente Cruz) writes:
> In article <1992Nov19.064937.5698@desire.wright.edu> fheitkamp@desire.wright.edu writes:
>>       I have considered the 386sx BB also.  But I too have another BB to
>>       sell (A2286).  I've suggested this before:  Commodore should give
>>       a 'power up' program for older BB owners.  I think Vortex has a
>>       trade up program.  Does anyone have any experience with the Vortex
>>       386/486? that they can share?  I would be especially interested in
>>       folks who have used Windows,  Turbo C++ 3.0, or other demanding
>>       MS-DOS programs on it and have used the A2286 as well.
>>
> 
> I have a 386 GoldenGate installed in my A2000. I had a lot of problems with
> the hardware installation: the board didn't fit well in the slot and the
> socket that has to be inserted under the 68000 was very lousy. This made the
> system very unreliable. Once I have managed to plug everything firmly, the
> system works well.

	Is mounting a socket under the 68000 true of all GoldenGates?  What
	if you have an accelerator card that disables the 68000?
> 
> I am almost satisfied with the board. It nicely uses a partition of the Amiga
> harddrive (Seagate ST-157N-1 + GVP Series II controller). It accesses without
> problems df0:, PAR: (as LPT1 or LPT2), SER: (as COM1 or COM2, limited to 
> 9600bps) and the Amiga Mouse. The graphic emulation is slow but usable.

	Have you run Nortons SI on the system?  On a A2286 equiped with a
	sepparate HD and controller, I get a disk speed of 6.1, which is
	quite acceptable.
> 
> I have added 2M to the board. It can be used by the PC side as expanded 
> memory or by the Amiga side as autoconfig fast ram (not at the same time, of
> course). I love this feature.
> 
	Yes, this sounds nice.  How does in work?  Do you have to reboot or
	something to switch the ram?

> The Norton Computing Index is 21.5 and the Disk Index is 1.4 in my setup. I
> suppose you can get better performance with an accelerated machine.
>
	Oh, you answered my question. 1.4 is too slow IMHO.
 
> I use to run the integrated environment of the Microsoft C 6.0 compiler. With
> SmartDrive installed, I don't notice any difference with a real 386 PC.
> I tried Windows 3.0 (I couldn't install 3.1 because I don't have an HD 
> floppy). It seemed to run ok but I don't use it anymore because of the 
> flicker of the screen.
> 
	Does the MicroSoft C compiler specifically require extended memory
	and DPMI operation.  This is the problem with the A2286, DPMI does
	not work.

> The bad news is that there are problems with the expansion boards. I 
> installed an internal PC modem and it losted characters at 1200bps!. I have
> heard complaints of another user who had problems when a VGA card and an HD
> floppy were installed at the same time.

	I'm not sure about this on the A2286.  I tried a serial port card
	and was not able to get it to work reliably.  I never narrowed it
	down to the A2286 though.

> Last week I went to a computer show and talked with a person who was 
> demonstrating the 486 board. I told him about these problems and he confirmed
> that there are some bugs in the board but they are solved in the new 486.
> 
	Well, this sounds interesting.  What about the software?  I really
	like the Janus software idea.  I also tried the ATCopy program, which
	is a great idea.  I haven't bought the full version (shareware).

	Has anyone tried the Ambasador program from Consultron?

> I don't have any experience with the Commodore BBs so I can be of no help
> but if you have any question on the Vortex 386 BB you can ask me.
> 
	The Janus software allows some useful things to be done with the 
	Commodore BBs.  Opening PC windows on Amiga Screens (no 16 color
	though :-( ), transfering files back and forth between Amiga-PC,
	cutting and pasting text between Amiga and PC windows.  Using an
	MS-DOS partition as an Amiga disk (never tried this.  Anyone?), 
	and using the parallel port on the Amiga side for the BB.

>>> Yours Sincerely,
>>> Kelvin
>>> e-mail: abs0@coos.dartmouth.edu
> 
> Best regards,
> Vicente Cruz
> vcruz@tid.es
Fred Heitkamp,  ** Not an organization.  My opinions only **