Organization: Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 19:49:33 EST
From: <LEEK@QUCDN.QueensU.CA>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: WB 2.1 impressions/comments

I finally got time to sit with my Amiga to install workbench 2.1 onto
my hard drive.  I would have to say the software looks professional.
The individual manuals are pretty well organized.  (Like the kitty
cat example for showing the different shading algorithms for printer
grey scale.)

I like the Install program with its slick interface.  There is a
slight oversight (?) in the install script.  The program allows
the user to install 2.1 into a drawer (at least for Advanced user.)
I like the idea of doing so (vs a partition) so that I don't have a
big cluster of directories on the root level.  Now that's fine to
have such an option, but it would be nice to also provide a sample
startup-sequence that sits on the root level to set things up -
making all the assigns to the Amiga DOS directories under that
drawer FIRST.  To demonstrate my point, I have listed my setup below.
I put AmigaDOS under drawer WB-2.1 and have to set up a S directory
for the following script.  (Does 2.1 explicitly looked for
S/startup-sequency instead of S:startup-sequence ? )

    WB-2.1/C/SetPatch QUIET
    :Utilities/DOS/Movesys WB-2.1 >NIL:        ;Do all the assigns
    Assign Envarc: WB-2.1/prefs/env-archive    ;Movesys was pre-2.04
    If exists S:Startup-Sequence
      Execute S:Startup-Sequence
    EndIf

My other problem seems to be with HDToolBox.  I am running a non-C=
HD controller (ALF2 SCSI controller).  Since the "User Guide
Amiga Hard Drive" doesn't mention HDToolBox is only to be used with
C= controllers, I would assume that it is also for generic HD's that
supports RDB and SCSI direct.  Now nowhere in the manual mention how
to do anything (eg. ToolTypes or command line options) to allow for
generic HD's.  I used HDtoolbox ALF.device to get it to work.
I also got hold of the postings on the ToolType.  To a non-net user,
he/she might have problem with that.

There are a few small "problems" I found with HDToolBox.  First of
all it doesn't have usual ? template for CLI commands.  HDToolbox also
couldn't find my other HDs other than device 0. I am kind of surprised
because a lot of PD utils simply go out using SCSI_Direct commands to
poll each SCSI ID in turns to tell you what's on the SCSI bus.  This
might be ALF2's problem (?).  What should I do to set up stuff on my
other HD's ?  Currently I change the drive ID's to get around the
problem.  It would be nice to have HDToolBox to poll the SCSI bus
to allow users to operate on the different drives or at the very
least provide an option to do so.  (The SCSI_MAX_ADDRESS=6 doesn't
help here)   Why do I want to use HDToolBox ?  I want/have to delete
the file system to use with 2.1.

The other problem have to do with "Verify Data on Drive" option.  I've
encountered a major disk crash last year around this time.  I
borrowed my friend's copy of HDToolBox (from 2.04) hoping to remap
the bad sectors.  I had about 200+ bad sector.  The version I had
(2.22) is the same as the 2.1 distribution.  In stead of scaning the
disk for all the bad sectors and allow the user to add/delete entries
when it's done, it show 1 sector at a time and have to ask for user
confirmation before adding it and continuing with the verify operation.
This is a pain if you have > 5 sectors or a large HD because you can't
be bother to sit through the lengthly process.

I found 2.1 distribution is pretty well done in general.  It is certainly
worth the $$$ for the upgrade.  Good job guys and gals !!  I do hope
someone look at the above comments or problems at some point.

K. C. Lee
Elec. Eng. Grad. Student
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc