HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: peteru@hydra.maths.unsw.EDU.AU ()
Subject: Re: Zorro II/III Prototyping card
Organization: University of New South Wales
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 06:54:08 GMT

In article <62825@cup.portal.com>, stb@cup.portal.com (Stan Robert Hodge) writes:
|> Hey,
|> 
|> 	Does anyone know of a company selling ZORRO II/III prototyping cards? 
|> I have several hardware projects to do and do not want to do them on an IBM.
|> Please send address / phone / email address to:
|> 
|> 				Stan Hodge
|> 				stb@cup.portal.com

Would you mind posting a summary of this on the net?

I think a lot of people would like to know.

	+------------------------------------------------------+
	|   Peter Urbanec    s1013734@spectrum.cs.unsw.oz.au   |
	|                      peteru@hydra.maths.unsw.oz.au   |
	|                                                      |
	|   University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia   |
	+------------------------------------------------------+
	|         The only sin is stupidity                    |
	|                                   - Machiavelli      |
	+------------------------------------------------------+
From: mks@cbmvax.commodore.com (Michael Sinz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: A600 HD SCSI or NOT The man speaks :
Date: 30 Jul 92 17:13:00 GMT
Reply-To: mks@cbmvax.commodore.com (Michael Sinz)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

Malarkey@kcbbs.gen.nz (Ron Young) writes:
>The 600 copies ide.device into ram at startup and renames scsi.device,
>redirects flow to the new "scsi.device" I imagine this bit of jiggery
>pokery was done for compatibility reasons. the renamed ide.device works
>just like scsi.device as far as calls to it are concerned.

I love it when people state things "matter of fact" manner and not know
what in the world they are talking about.

The A600 has a scsi.device driver in the *ROM*.  This device is actually
the code that controls the IDE disk controller on the motherboard.  The
reason the name is scsi.device is because there are a number of tools that
know of the scsi.device and how to deal with it.  The reason this works
is because Randell did some really nice code that interprets the SCSI
commands and does the right IDE operations.

The is no ide.device that is copied to RAM and renamed.  It does not do
any redirection of any command flow.

So, please people, if you don't know what is going on in the system,
do not act like you do.  It just confuses those that wish to learn and
frustrates those that know and try to help people understand the truth.

***Flame off		(Sorry about that...  I just had to get it out...)

/----------------------------------------------------------------------\
|      /// Michael Sinz  -  Senior Amiga Systems Engineer              |
|     ///                   Operating System Development Group         |
|    ///   BIX:  msinz      UUNET:  mks@cbmvax.commodore.com           |
|\\\///    Programming is like sex:                                    |
| \XX/     One mistake and you have to support it for life.            |
\----------------------------------------------------------------------/
From: Metin_Savignano@turttwo.tynet.sub.org (Metin Savignano)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Meaning of Task No. in Software Failures/Gurus
Date: 29 Jul 92 23:53:35 GMT
Organization: TurtleSystems II, Stuttgart FRG

In a message dated Mon 27 Jul 92  7:00, Prado@enuxhb.eas.asu.edu (louis A. 
wrote:

 PA> I am trying to determine which program is crashing my Amiga. 
 PA> Sometimes,
 PA> when I leave my A2000 unattended for a few hours, I come back to find
 PA> it has
 PA> crashed.  It may be my screen blanker (Spliner), but I am not sure.

 PA> Is the Task number the last value of the 68000's Program Counter?  If
 PA> so, how
 PA> can I determine the starting and ending address of each
 PA> program/background
 PA> process I am running.

You can use a task monitor, like ARTM (=Amiga Realtime Monitor - that's
what I use), to determine the starting addresses of all tasks.
Unfortunately, this can't be done _after_ the crash... :-)

So what I do in such a situation, is to start all tasks, check the starting
addresses for each task, and... wait for the crash!!

Maybe someone's got a better way?

 

-- DLG Pro v0.992
Metin    //  
       \X/   Internationalize! In eighty ticks around the world...    
   
metin@turttwo.tynet.sub.org  Fido: Metin Savignano at (2:244/24.19) 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: trevore@vast.unsw.edu.au (Trevor Elbourne (Supr. Hell) BE)
Subject: help with IDE drive and A1000
Keywords: IDE
Organization: University of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 15:03:35 GMT

I have recently installed and ICD AdIDE HD + controller + shuffle board
into my A1000. The shuffle board allows me to use the first external drive
as df0: but refuses to recognise the second drive as df1:, the second
drive isn't being recognised and I can't use it! Has anyone else had
similar trouble. If so how can I remedy the problem?

Thanks in advance.
	Trevor



Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: tony@ais.org (Tony Poole)
Subject: Re: A1000 ECS ?
Organization: UMCC
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 23:35:18 GMT


>Yes, you need an ECS Agnus too, which won't work in the A1000.  I don't
>know for sure, but a Rejuvinator would probably allow both the ECS Agnus
>and Paula.  Time to upgrade.

Yes, the Rejuvenator allows the full ECS chip set.

Uh, I still have my old Paula.  I was under the impression that there is no
reason to upgrade.  What would ECS Paula give me, if anything?

Also, I know this has been discussed before, but was there any conclusive
"fix" for block 880 errors on floppy drives while using 2.04?  It's kinda
gettin' annoying now.  I tried nickprefs, and that didn't help a bit.  As I
remember, this was more prevalent on low end machines (ie, not accelerated
systems).


-- 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Poole                       tony@umcc.ais.org * tony@irie.ais.org 
Traverse City, MI USA          tony@cherry1.trv.mi.us * tony@cherry1.UUCP
From: armstrongmw@cgc.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Dead mouse port (not CIA's ?)
Date: 20 Jul 92 15:03:09 PST
Organization: Cooley Godward Castro Huddleson & Tatum, San Francisco, Ca

In article <22424@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM>, johnl@SDFSERV.hac.com (John Lee) writes:
> In article <1992Jul14.151706.49@bra.isnet.inmos.co.uk> tscarpenter@bra.isnet.inmos.co.uk writes:
> [...]
>>   The symptoms are both buttons work but the mouse won't move at all !!!
>>   I have tried the mouse on my friends Amiga and it works,  I have also
>>   swapped the CIA's over and still no joy,  I suspect the +5 volts ? line
>>   has died is there a fuse on the motherboard somewhere.
> 
> Bingo!  There is a picofuse that protects the +5 line to the mouse port.
> This will probably require a trip to the repair shop.
> 

That happened to me also.  A local Amiga repair shop told me that they thought
it was a CIA problem, but another shop told me it was definately the fuse.

So I bought the fuse, replaced it, and all worked fine.

In and out, just that quick.
From: AXIOM@cup.portal.com (Lowell D Kaufman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: New Amiga User - Problems with autobooting from Drive
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 11:30:45 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

I recently bought a used A500 with a trumpcard and seagate external
hard drive.  I've been having problems with auto booting from the hard drive.
I keep getting an error like "Unit 1 is not a  DOS device."
I can get to the drive fine when I use a TrumpBoot disk, but can't
get it to boot on its own.

Is there something wrong with the startup-sequence or something else
I need to look at beyond that?  Any help to this new Amiga user is 
appreciated.
From: TomK@cup.portal.com (Tom R Krotchko)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Re: Amiga 4000
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 20:39:05 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <mcgradyj.711254026@marsh> <24590@sophia.inria.fr>
  <zxmgn01.712006888@mailserv> <62741@cup.portal.com> <62760@cup.portal.com>

I'm not saying the Atari is forcing Commodore to do *anything* 

I'm merely pointing out that serious theats to the Amiga seem to
accomplish nothing.

Serious threats: IBM selling 386SX machines for just over $1000, Dell
selling serious hardware 386DX-33 with all the gooding for $1500,
OS/2 for $50. Color Macs for just over $1000.

These threats managed to produce: The Amiga 600, with optional hard drive

Now, will a Falcon cause the German branch of CBM to insist on a
4000 for image sake? 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: ata@hfsi.uucp (John Ata FSO)
Subject: Re: GVP multi-port card
Organization: /etc/organization
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 17:26:12 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.035416.9720@afterlife.ncsc.mil> bkwilli@afterlife.ncsc.mil (Bryan Williams) writes:
>OK, while you're quoting me the Comp USA catalog with $80 prices.... why not
>look thru the entire computer shopper?
> 
>Here's a suggestion: buy a $7 multi-io card, call up Startech or National Or TI
>and find the distributer nearest you. OR just ask for a sample, straight up. 
>Startech sent me one real quick. Tell em you're working on an embedded system 
>or something :)   FREE.  Ask for a 16550 UART or a 16552 or whatever will 
>do on the typical board. Usually a 16550 is it. They do that so a single-port
>card is cheaper but can be upgraded later.
>
>Pop out the old 16450 UART and pop in the new one. Should cost you less than $30

You're assuming socketed UARTS which is only common on the second port.  I
actually did that so that I could have a 16550 on the Bridgeboard side, but
it wasn't as cheap as you make it out:
Dual serial card	       $50.00
Second option chips+cable	15.00
16550 UART			15.00
---------------------------------------
Total			       $75.00	

I needed to buy the second port option, because the second port was the only one
socketed and I needed 2 other chips and a cable besides the UART. 

I went through JDR Electronics, BTW.

Now, you might say that I didn't get the greatest deal on the serial card,
and I won't argue with you, but I did look around and didn't see anything
much cheaper in other catalogs.  I guess I could have brought a single
serial port card and played with the soldering iron, but I chose not to
do this.

>even if you pay for the UART, which should be around $12 or $13 for a 16550.
>I've seen them for that price. The 68C554 is $22 in 1-99 qty's. It is 4 ports,
>that is a reference on distributer pricing. The dist. I talked to didn't
>have a problem with single-unit orders, but there may be a minimum order...
> 
>Hamilton-Avnet has a minimum order, $50 maybe?
> 

My only point is that other companies charge an arm and a leg for serial cards,
GVP isn't alone.
-- 
John G. Ata - Technical Consultant | Internet:     hfsi!ata@UUNET.UU.NET
HFS, Inc.		  VA20     |     UUCP:     uunet.uu.net!hfsi!ata
7900 Westpark Drive	 MS:601	   |    Voice:	(703) 827-6810
McLean, VA  22102	           |      FAX:	(703) 827-3729
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: Hans Ridder <ridder@zso.dec.com>
Subject: Re: A1000 ECS ?
Originator: ridder@zowie.zso.dec.com
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation - DECwest Engineering
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 17:33:46 GMT

In article <21JUL199216040569@uhphys.phys.uh.edu> stich@uhphys.phys.uh.edu (CHRISTIAN STICH) writes:
>In Appendix C on page 299 of the Amiga Hardware reference manual
>(edition) it says:
>    At present there are four possible settings. A value of 20 or 30 
>    indicates that the enhanced HighRes Agnus is present.
>
>         8361 (regular NTSC) or  8370 (fat NTSC) = 10 for NTSC
>         8367 (regular PAL)  or  8371 (fat PAL)  = 00 for PAL
> ->      8368 (hr)           or  8372 (fat-hr)   = 20 for PAL, 30 for NTSC 
>
>Notice that the 8368 follows the 8367 but comes numerically before any
>of the fat Agnus versions.

What 8368?

>This seems to indicate that someone at C= was at least planning a Super
>(non fat) Agnus for the A1000 (or maybe the A2000A ?) which would still
>only address 512 KB of chip mem, but allow the ECS video modes such as
>Productivity and Super-Hires.

How can you draw a conclusion like that?  All you can possibly tell from
the existing chip numbers is that they started numbering the fat Agnuses
at 8370 and went up from there.  Anything beyond that is wild
speculation.

>When I tried to order one through the local dealership, they couldn't
>find an order number in Commodore's parts catalog, though.

No surprise, the chip doesn't exist!  (What some people will do for
entertainment?!?) 

>				Christian    

-hans
-- 
  Hans-Gabriel Ridder				Digital DECwest Engineering
  ridder@rust.zso.dec.com			Bellevue, Washington, USA
  {pacbell,pyramid,uunet}!rust.zso.dec.com!ridder
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: rwesleyag@cc.curtin.edu.au
Subject: A600 PCMCIA & FASTMEM ??
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 06:54:58 GMT

Greetings all,

We have recently got an A600HD and love it (Its so small&cute).
BUT, whats the story with fast mem. From what I can tell the ONLY
way to add true FASTMEM is through the PCMCIA slot, is this so?

The 1 meg expansion slot (where cup cake sits) is tiny, but alot of
interesting Agnus and Gayle signals appear there,
whats the point of these signals being made available at this port 
if their is only enough room for the RTC and 1MByte chip expansion?

If I wanted to produce a FASTMEM expansion where the heck could you put it?
This leads me to my next question, DO COMMODORE HAVE THE ABILITY to
manufacture PCMCIA cards or are we left to the mercy of 3rd party manufacts.
Maybe someone could shed some light on this subject.

Also the 20MB cards available in this format, can code be run directly
from the slot (seeing only 2 Meg or 4 Meg of address lines are made avail),
how clever is the amiga based device, is it just a big RAM drive?

If code is not capable of being executed from the slot and its acting
like a HDisk is it possible to remove and insert PCMCIA cards live? 
The standard supports a card detect CD could this and the CIS
(card info structure) be used to detect and handle card changes?

Any info on the above would be appreciated.

Adam.

********************************
                               *
Digital Machine Concepts (DMC) *
                               *
RWESLEYAG@CC.CURTIN.EDU.AU     *
********************************
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: urjlew@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Rostyk Lewyckyj)
Subject: Re: @$#^@$%# 2.04!
Summary: Blame C=
Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 06:00:25 GMT

Since DOS 2.04 has been officially released, it is certainly desirable
to have as many applications, both major and minor, as possible,
support and exploit its features. However because there are so many
systems which are stuck with older releases of DOS, because 2.04
is not available to them, it is counterproductive to AMIGAs image
to have the software require 2.04 to even run. Current owners of
systems that want to but cannot upgrade become frustrated and feel
let down by C= and the program vendors. Prospective machine buyers
seeing the situation will be wary of buying a system where
they may not be able to upgrade to the next version of the DOS and
applications revision.
I place the blame squarely on bad system design and bungled
system support by C=. The bad design is in choosing to put such
a large portion of the system in ROM, so that upgrading to the
next revision of the operating system requires hardware modification
in the form of swapping ROMS. This makes upgrades unnecessarily  
difficult and in some cases practically infeasible. For example
upgrading an A1000 to DOS 2.04. Since obtaining and installing
new ROMS is so much more difficult than distributing program
corrections on disk or via a network, problem corrections are
less likely. Yes the ROM code can be bypasses by loading patches
(?? name) from setpatch disks. But this makes booting a two step
process. I consider the Kickstart - DOS, KS - WB, system partitioning
to be a design misfeature. The WB is not even properly named since
it includes the CLI and other non WORKBENCH pieces.
The bungled support is in not having the DOS upgrades available
for shipping at the time of the official release of the new version
of DOS. It is ridiculous that DOS 2.05 is shipping in some new
machines and yet DOS 2.04 is not readily available.
(I have an A3000 purchased in Aug 1990. I have not heard a peep
from C= about a ROM upgrade, although it is my understanding that
it was a part the purchase package. I don't even know if the A3000
ROM upgrades exist. Last I checked with a dealer, in April, they
were not yet out)
Compare the situation to the (BOO   HISS  we love to hate them)
IBM/MSDOS PCs and clones. At which DOS upgrades did the users need
to swap BIOS ROMS??? Can DOS 5.0 be run on an original IBM PC?
-----------------------------------------------
  Reply-To:  Rostyslaw Jarema Lewyckyj
             urjlew@uncmvs.acs.unc.edu    (ARPA,SURA,NSF etc. internet)
          or urjlew@unc.bitnet
          or urjlew@ecsvax.UUCP 
       tel.  (919)-962-6501

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: st901745@pip.cc.brandeis.edu (Alastair M. Bor)
Subject: SupraFax v.32.bis
Reply-To: st901745@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 22:06:11 GMT

           
Jason Logan wrote about his troubles with his SupraFax modem. Although
he is clearly not a satisfied customer, I am a semi-satisfied customer and
here is my story.

I abought a SupraFAX v.32bis and brought it home to find that the LEDs were
missing. The modem, however, worked fine. I then tried the FAX feature to
find out that I had the old ROM and that the Group II fax emulation was
not working properly. I took the modem back to the store where I purchased
it and it was replaced for a new one with the new roms. Now everything
works fine. I would not say that the quality control of the Supra modem
is top notch, but I must say that my modem works fine, (ie: connects to
all places I call... I can send and receive faxes w/o any problems both
domestically and internationally, etc.).

-Alastair M. Bor
st901745@pip.cc.brandeis.edu
From: ewilts@galaxy.gov.bc.ca (Ed Wilts)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: @$#^@$%# 2.04!
Date: 24 Jul 92 08:25:42 -0700
Organization: BC Systems Corporation

In article <1992Jul24.022407.26450@Armstrong.EDU>, prall968@Armstrong.EDU writes:
>  Well when I go around and try to ftp some GOOD software all I see is:
> KS 2.0 required...
> 
>  I am a bit poor here and donb't have the scads of money lots of others do
> NOR care to hack my poor machine to oblivion JUST to add 2.0 ROMS
> and why should I when 1.3 works JUUUUUST fine for me.

Obviously 1.3 doesn't work JUUUUUST fine for you when you can't run the
software you want.

> So then why is all this stuff now out for 2.0.. Whatever happened to downward
> compatibility?

2.0 offers many more features than 1.3 does.  Software developers for most
platforms aim for upward compatibility, not downward compatibility.  After all,
newer releases typically add features, not remove them. 

> Gene Prall  prall968@pirates.armstrong.edu
> 2.04 Bah Humbug....

I am quite satisifed with 2.04.  It offers me the features and stability that
earlier releases didn't.  I've owned an Amiga since 1985 (I'm on my 3rd system
now), and the improvements in the OS are quite significant.  It just keeps
getting better and better...

-- 

Ed Wilts, BC Systems Corp., 4000 Seymour Place, Victoria, B.C., Canada, V8X 4S8
EWilts@Galaxy.Gov.BC.CA   |   Ed.Wilts@BCSystems.Gov.BC.CA   |   (604) 389-3430
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: A600 HD ?
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 19:54:43 GMT

In <1992Jul27.151612.10608@odin.diku.dk> thomas@diku.dk (Thomas Nikolajsen) writes:
>I am a bit puzzled: the A600 HD seems to be a 30MB SCSI drive,
>which contradicts the discussion in this group (IDE 8bit).

The A600 has a 16bit IDE drive.

>I looked at my cousins new A600 and HDToolBox says that it is a SCSI drive,
>the 'read drive information' gadget is active, and it responds.
>For my A590 whith the orignal drive HDToolBox (same version) says that it is
>a 20MB XT-type drive (IDE 8bit), and the 'read drive information' gadget is
>ghosted.

That is because the hd driver of the A600 emulates a couple of SCSI commands
and appears as a working SCSI device to HDToolBox. This was probably easier
and more elegant than adding support for it in HDToolBox.

>The price seems to be expandability. What is this PCMIA port capable of?
>Can i put more than one (credit) card in the slot? where is Zorro II/III.

No Zorro.. (the A500 hadn't a Zorro slot either). You will find more
peripherals for the PCMCIA slot. Currently I know of RAM cards, FlashROM
cards and modems (but a modem would need a driver).

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
Organization: Ege University - Computing Center
Date: Monday, 27 Jul 1992 10:43:15 TUR
From: Cem Turgay <PROHVK38@TREARN.BITNET>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: HELP: WB windows freeze until disket change !
Distribution: world

Hello,

I've troubled with A500 (rev 6)
If I use the CLI, there is no problem within the overall system.
But when I try to open several drawers on workbench, the mouse and
keyboard locked and the screen frozen until I changed the disket
in driver. I do not need to change disket but at least push/pull the
driver button once. The screen and inputs works after this but
until next click. This happened after every 1-3 opening of the drawers.

Also, this happened both when the system boot from DF0 or DH0
Nor drive, neither hard disk has no any h/w problem.
But A500's Gary and CIA chips changed 2 weeks ago.

I'm shocked by this incredible and strange problem !
Now the workbench and windows cannot be used ! What must I do ?
Does anyone know any solution for this problem ?

Please help me quickly as soon as possible.

Cem Turgay
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: mcgradyj@marsh.cs.curtin.edu.au (James McGrady)
Subject: GVP G_Force Boards
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 05:41:52 GMT

Hi All

Can someone tell me if the GVP G-force accelerator/HD series allow access
to the HD in 68000 mode. I've heard it said that this is not possible on some
models. Is this true across the board ???

Thanks

Jim
From: jheath@CERIS.Purdue.EDU (Jim Heath)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: GVP G_Force Boards vs. A3000
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:01:59 GMT
Organization: Center for Environmental and Regulatory Information Systems, Purdue University


I am curious.  Is the 3000 completely 32 bit, or are the chip ram
and specialty chips 16 bit?  I'm pretty sure I have read that the
speciality (sp?) chips (Denise, Agnus, etc.) are 16 bit, so
wouldn't that mean that the chip ram has to be 16 bit too?

Also, are the A3000 slots 32 bit?  If so, is this helpful?
-- 
"Land of song, said the warrior bard,           Jim Heath
Though all the world betrays thee.
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, (The Minstrel Boy)
One faithful harp will praise thee."         (Thomas Moore)