From: mike@struad.uucp (Michael Cianflone)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
Subject: More Emplant info
Date: 16 Nov 92 08:17:46 GMT
Organization: Structured Applications & Designs, Inc. R&D Institute.

Here's some more info about setting up Emplant, that came off his BBS today.

begin included text:

EMPLANT - Walk Through

	So, you just got your EMPLANT and don't know what to do; you looked
through the manual and still can't make heads or tails of things.  Well,
maybe we can clear a few things up here.  Let's start with installing the
hardware and software.

	While talking about the board, I will often refer to the diagram
included with this file; the diagram is an IFF picture that may be viewed
with any standard viewing utility.  Please look it over now; perhaps you
ought to print it out and have it handy while reading this file.  Before
installing the board, you may wish to make a few changes to the board.
Let's start with the jumpers:

	JP1 controls one of the address lines to the ROM SIMM socket; with
the jumper set to the left, this line to the SIMM socket is an address line
from the computer; when set to right, it is a line controlled by one the
interface chips on the board.  This line must be set to the right to be
used with the current ROM dump program (256KDump).

	JP2 is used to optionally provide writing capability to the SIMM
socket.  If the jumper is set to the left, the SIMM line is pulled up to
+5V; if it is set to the right, the line is now a gated write select.  If
you plug in a Mac ROM SIMM board, this jumper must be set to the left, as
Mac ROM SIMMs expect power to be apploed to that line.

	JP3 to JP5 are used to provide power to a 28 pin DIP ROM/SRAM, or
an address line to a 32 pin DIP ROM/SRAM.  JP2 controls the line for the
Auto-Boot socket; JP2 controls the two sockets opposite it; and JP3
controls the two sockets opposite it.  When a jumper is set to the upper
position, power is supplied to the proper pin for 28 pin DIP ROM/SRAMs; use
this postion for 28 pin chips (like the initial 8K SRAM supplied in the
Auto-Boot socket).  When a jumper is set to the lower position, the line is
now an address line needed for 32 pin DIP ROM/SRAMs; do not use the setting
for 28 pin chips as they will not receive power if you do so;  use this
setting for 32 pin chips (e.g., 128K x 8 SRAMs).

	JP6 is used to indicate to a Mac emulation module which audio
output mode the user desires.  When set to the upper position, the
emulation module will try to produce only mono audio; when set to the lower
position, the emulation module will try to produce stereo audio.

	JP7 is used to provide power to SCSI devices that require it.  With
a short block on the jumper, +5V is provided to the SCSI bus; most SCSI
peripherals do not require power, so for these devices, do not have the
block on the jumper.  If in doubt as to whether a SCSI device needs power,
please consult the device's owner's manual or manufacturer.

	RCA is not really a jumper block; it is an input for the audio
digitizer circuit.  So, let's talk about it for a moment.  The upper pin is
ground and the lower pin is the audio input.  The two empty 8 pin DIP
sockets are for an LM741 (U1), and a TLC548 (U2).  When software is
released for the digitzer, additional instructions on the ADC circuit will
be included.

	Now that we know about the jumpers, we can put various chips on the
board.  If you put 28 pin ROM/SRAM chips on the board, be sure and set the
jumpers as described above.  Another concern is where to place the chip in
the socket; diagram 2 shows the proper placement.  Always have the back of
the chip even with the back of the socket.  Remember, the notched end marks
the front of the chip.  If SRAM chips are used, you will want to put a
battery on the board for battery backup-up; a standard, coin-type lithium
battery is used (DL2325 or equivalent).  SRAMs up to 512K x 8 maybe used.
When placing a ROM SIMM onto the board, the chip on the SIMM must face the 
gold edge connector and the jumpers must be set as described above.

	For those who have the serial option, serial devices may be
connected to the board using the 8 pin mini-DIN connectors (shown as serial
port a and b in diagram 1).  For example, to hook up a modem, plug a RS422
to RS232 conversion cable (available at many computer stores) into either
port a or port b on the EMPLANT board; make sure that the "empser.device"
is in the DEVS: directory of the drive on which you are running the Amiga 
Worbench; set the device driver of your terminal program to "empser.device"
(see your terminal program documentation for how to do this) and the unit
to either 0 or 1 depending on whether you have the cable in port a or b
respectively.

	Those with the SCSI option can hook up internal or external SCSI
devices to the board.  The internal SCSI connector is indicated in diagram
1; be sure to note the position of pin one when connecting the SCSI ribbon.
External SCSI devices are connected to 25 pin connector (which also holds
the bracket in place).  Be sure to have the SCSI device driver in the DEVS:
directory. More information will be forthcoming when the SCSI driver is
finshed.

	Once the board is setup to your satisfaction and needs, it may
plugged into your Amiga.  At this point, you may connect external devices
to the board.  Now we are ready to install and run the software.

	If you don't wish to install the software on a hard drive, please
skip straight to the section on running the software.  The software for the
current emulation consists of the following files in the indicated
directory of the release disk:

	C/RsrvMem34	     used to reserve memory under Kickstart 1.3
	C/RsrvMem37	     used to reserve memory under Kickstart 2.x
	C/LowMap	     used to remap memory on A3000/A4000 machines
	DEVS/empser.device   the Amiga serial device for the EMPLANT board
	DEVS/empser.doc	     notes on using empser.device
	LIBS/jam.library     used for file requesters and misc. tidbits
	LIBS/sybil.library   used for disk control, reading and writing
	LIBS/emplant.library used for accessing the EMPLANT hardware
	FONTS/SCAIV.font     used by our software for text output
	FONTS/SCAIV/8	     the font data
	VideoDrivers/AmigaVideo	the video driver for standard Amiga Video
	SYBIL_Files/Calibrate_Utils/Calibrate		calibrate SYBIL for 
Amiga disk copies
	SYBIL_Files/Calibrate_Utils/Calibrate.txt	calibrate SYBIL for 
Amiga disk copies document
	SYBIL_Files/Calibrate_Utils/CalibrateMAC	calibrate SYBIL for
Mac disk copies
	SYBIL_Files/Calibrate_Utils/CalibrateMAC.txt	calibrate SYBIL for
Mac disk copies document
	256KDump	     used to dump the roms off the EMPLANT board
	Converter	     the latest Mac DOS disk conversion program
	PowerOff	     shuts down a running Mac emulation
	EMPLANT		     the Mac II/IIx/IIcx emulation module
	Utils.lha	     a Mac DOS disk file (arc'd with lha)


	To use the software off a harddrive, copy the files listed above in
the c, devs, libs, and fonts directories to C:, DEVS:, LIBS:, and FONTS:
respectively.  To use the Mac emulation, you need to put one of the
reserve memory programs in the startup-sequence; if you run under KS1.3,
put RsrvMem34 in the startup-sequence; if you run under KS2.0, put
RsrvMem37 in the startup-sequence.  It doesn't USUALLY make too much
difference where it goes in the startup-sequence, but generally FIRST is a
pretty good place.  Note to KS1.3 users: RsrvMem34 takes care of the
greater than 512KBytes of chip ram problem on reboot; this means you do not
need the SetPatch r option in your startup-sequence.  This problem does not
effect 2.0 users.

	At this point, you will probably wish to make a directory for all
the other EMPLANT files.  There are no specific requirements for where any
of the remaining files must go; put them where you wish.

	If you have your rom image ready, place it with the other files.
If you need to make one off the EMPLANT board, run the 256KDump program and
copy the file ram:testfile to your EMPLANT directory.  You may rename it as
you wish.

If booting off our floppy, please start reading here:

	You are now ready to run the EMPLANT program.  If the program
doesn't run when you double-click on the icon, you probably forgot a
library or the font; please take care of it.  If the program comes up
saying Hardware Error, please verify that the EMPLANT board is properly
inserted into the Amiga; if it is, please call for help.  The first thing
to do is to set the main block of memory; click on the Memory button on the
screen; a requester window is displayed allowing the user to set the memory
you wish to use.  All memory USUABLE BY THE EMULATION is shown; if memory
is not shown, it is not usable.  Note for A3000/A4000 and various
accelerated systems: if your 32 bit memory doesn't show up, you must exit
the program and run LowMap; this will try to remap the 32 bit memory so
that it is usuable by the emulation.  At this time, do not select memory
from more than one block; only one block is currently used.  If use select
memory from both 32 bit and 16 bit, the 32 bit memory will be used and the
16 bit setting will be ignored.  Do not select ALL the memory from what is
available for a particular block; if you use all the 32 bit memory here,
none will be left for Video page storage or rom image storage. The Memory
selected here is ONLY the Mac's system memory.  If you wish to have
everything in 32 bit ram, a good rule of thumb is to leave 1MByte of 32 bit
ram free.  Click on OK to go to the main screen; click on undo to reset the
memory options to the original values.

	Now click on Video Display.  A window showing the currently
selected video driver will be displayed.  If no driver is selected, nothing
is displayed in the information section.  To change Video Drivers, click on
Load New Driver; a file requester is brought up and you may select the
video driver from anywhere accessable.  When a driver has been selected (by
clicking on the driver and selecting Load, or by double-clicking on the
driver), the information about the driver is displayed; these include, the
name, version, video modes available, and the amount of memory they need to
allocate to run (if any is needed). Please note that the total memory used
by the emulation is 256K for the ROM image + total memory needed by the
video driver + size of the system memory selected by the user + 64K for the
fake NuBus slot the video occupies + the size of the EMPLANT program + the
size of the video driver + approximately 36K.  The memory gadget on the
right side determines where any needed Video storage will come from (if
neccessary); please do not select Chip Ram; it is not checked for and will
not work (besides, chip ram is too valuable on the Amiga to waste as page
storage).  Click on OK to exit with the current settings; click on undo to
restore the initial settings.

	Now click on Floppy Drives; all available drives are shown.
Internal drive 0 MUST be set to one of the drives available.  Internal
drive 1 may be set to any other drive not selected for drive 0, or may be
disabled by making sure none of the available drives are selected under
drive 1.  Click on OK to exit, or undo to reset to the previous settings.
Please note that currently, ALL drives are held while the emulation runs;
this will change in the near future to allow non-selected drives to be used
by the Amiga side.  Selected drives will automatically sense the type of
disk inserted under the emulation.

	Mass Storage is temporarily disabled until a bug-fix is done.
Please be patient; harddrive support is high priority for us.

	Clicking on ROM Image brings up a window where the ROM image may be
selected or created (the creation option is not enabled at this time,
please run 256KDump instead).  Click on Select ROM Image to bring up a file
requester; you may then select the rom image from anywhere.  Note: if you
are changing ROM images, or selecting a ROM image for the first time, you
must save the configuration, exit the program (by clicking on the close
window gadget at the top, left corner), and restart the EMPLANT program.
This will be fixed in the near future.

	The Printer Support and Serial Support are not currently used; the
emulation tries to use the appropriate port on the EMPLANT board at the
moment.  this will change in the future to allow serial/printing to be
redirected to the appropriate Amiga function.  Don't bother selecting
either of these gadgets at present.

	Devices is temporarily disabled for the same reason as Mass
Storage.  See above.

	Click on Task Control to set the priority of the emulation and the
video refresh rate.  Do not set the Task In Front priority too high; too
high a setting will prevent Amiga system tasks from being run. A setting of
zero usually results in the emulation getting approximately 40% of the CPU
time, and a setting of negative one results in the emulation getting
approximately 30% of the CPU time.  The video refresh rate can be set by
clicking on the gadget in the upper left; the value is in Frames Per Second
(fps); this is how many times the display is updated per second.  30 fps
gives a smoother refresh, but steals a significant amount of CPU time under
16 color mode.  A value of 20 or 15 fps is probably more suitable,
especially if you are running something like a word processor or the like.
Click on OK or Undo to reset to the previous settings.

	Clicking on Hardware Info will show information concerning the
EMPLANT board.  Please note that initial releases of the EMPLANT program do
not show the ROM SIMM or DIP sockets quite right all the time.  This is
fixed in newer versions.

	NuBus Control is currently disabled until we have other fake (or
real NuBus) drivers (or cards) other than the video.

	Click on Configuration allows you to save or load the current
configuration.  Please note that the configuration that is loaded when the
program is run is S:MACII.config.  You may save out configurations under
other names, but you will then have to reload them using the load option.

	Finally, the big moment.  Click on Start Emulator.  If you have set
up everything, and have all the files in place, a window will pop up saying
"Initializing Emulation ... Please Wait".  You should only have to wait
about five to ten second before you get the Mac boot screen.  Unless you
have run the Mac before, changed video modes in the control panel, and shut
down, the Mac will boot in black and white as the default mode.  Please
note that all Mac prefernces set by the control panels are saved on shut
down to the current directory in a file called "PRAM.Config".

	If you get the window and then it goes back to the main screen, the
emulator has quit due to some error in initializing;  the main one being a
lack of memory, or a missing file.  If this happens, please recheck the
memory, rom image, and video display options.

	If you still have problems, please call the office, or leave a
message on the BBS.  Please describe  the problem, your program settings,
and your Amiga system (memory, processor, OS version, etc.).

					Thanks,
						Joe

Office: 602-680-9004
Fax:	602-680-9006
BBS:	602-453-9767
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations