HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: Mike_Noreen@f231.n901.z92.badnet.bad.se (Mike Noreen)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: A4000 + AIBB = ERROR ?
Date: 11 Oct 92 19:44:21 GMT
Reply-To: Mike_Noreen@f231.n901.z92.badnet.bad.se (Mike Noreen)
Organization: ANet Development, Marsta, SWEDEN
OD-Comment-To: Internet_Gateway

> I just saw a report generated by AIBB 4.5 on an A4000

Would this be a AIBB module of an A4000? I've been looking for one, but had 
more or less resigned myself to try to make such a module at the computer fair 
the 30th here in sweden... You wouldn't happen to know where one might get a 
hold of such a module?
Would be real interesting to see how the new AGA-graphics compare speedwise 
with my old ECS ones...

---
From: ssurpeat@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk (Richard T Peat)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Reading AMIGA floppies on a SUN
Date: 14 Oct 92 11:01:40 GMT
Reply-To: ssurpeat@csug.cs.reading.ac.uk
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., University of Reading

In article 24125@en.ecn.purdue.edu, wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Art Warner) writes:
>In article <1992Oct7.111341.15281@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> s2j@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
>>  Do there exist any programs for reading and writing AMIGA floppies on
>>a SUN? (sparcstation w/ 4.1.1)  Please resond by e-mail.  Thanks in advance
>>-Chris B.
>>yqdx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
>
>Me too.
>Thanks.
>-- 
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>William "Art" Warner (317-497-1946)      //\
>ex Amiga Student On-Campus Consultant  \X/--\miga makes it happen!
>wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu             IBM, Apple, Sun, & Next make it expensive!


Me aswell!

Thanks.

Richard Peat
ssurpeat@uk.ac.rdg.susssys1
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: visconti@gecko.cis.ohio-state.edu (Mark Visconti)
Subject: RCS FusionForty with VideoToaster (can't start LightWave)
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept. of Computer and Info. Science
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 23:54:39 GMT



We are having trouble getting Lightwave with the addition of the FusionForty.
With an original installation of the Toaster software (which contained
Lightwave.FP) the Toaster software reported not finding LightWave.  We then
reinstalled the Toaster software and it seems to find LightWave now (possibly
because the integer version is now there) but it hangs when you try to run
LightWave and sometimes says it cannot initialized LightWave.

The FusionForty has run fine for a while, and all the FP things have been
run, any ideas???
 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: copes@cs.curtin.edu.au (Simon Cope)
Subject: Re: Fast Lane vs MegaChip 2000 vs Elias 3000 : some info please
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 04:36:39 GMT

frits@ph.tn.tudelft.nl (Frits Kuijlman) writes:

>I would like to get some info from people who use one of the following boards:
>- Black Knight's The Fast Lane

Chip ram accel+2 meg agnus.

>- DKB's MegAChip 2000

2 meg agnus

>- Microworks' Elias 3000

Never heard of it.

>The MegAChip uses a 8372b Agnus vs the Elias 3000 which uses a 8375 Agnus.
>1. What (if any) are the functional differences between the two chips?

1 pinout is different.  The 8372b is out of the A3000, the 8375 out of the
A500+.  The difference enables the different ram configurations to be done
more easily (ie cheaper).  The MegaCHip uses the 8372b because the other 
chip wasn't out when it was designed, and it doesn't warrant a redesign.

>2. How hard is it to install these boards?
>3. Any known incompatibility problems?

>The Fast Lane uses both 8372a and 8372b chips. They claim it is an chip ram
>accelerator.
>1. Anybody know what speed increases you can get with a plain A2000 and with
>an A2000 with an accelerator board plugged in?

Plain A2000/68000 will give ~ 6Mb sec through chipram, Vs. 1.5 normal.  To get
any real further improvements you will need to use the BKP accelerators as they
have a direct port into the chipram to give them upto 20Mb/sec (claimed) 
whereas any other accel will have to go via the daughter board plugged under
the 68000.

>2. See above.

Plus under agnus and under cpu.

>3. See above.

>I am thinking very hard about the above 3 boards. It doesn't seem likely that
>there will be any AA chip upgrades for the A2000, so I'll have to settle for
>an ECS upgrade.

Or perhaps save your money and wait for DIG/RTG cards.

>Any opinions about the above three boards are welcome. Together with the 
>8373 Super Denise they give a relatively cheap increase in graphics
>capabilities (aside from flicker fixers of course).

The Fast Lane plus ram+agnus+new denise > A$500 in oz, which is starting to
get into graphics card territory.

>Thanks,
>    Frits
>-- 
>Frits Kuijlman                      frits @ ph.tn.tudelft.nl
>Delft University of Technology               The Netherlands

--
copes@cs.curtin.edu.au
From: lionel@cs.city.ac.uk (Lionel Tun)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Should there be a M of 16bit ram in A3000?
Date: 14 Oct 92 14:20:08 GMT
Organization: City University, London

Sysinfo shows that of the 2M chip ram and 4M fast ram, most is
32 bit but not all - over 1M is listed as 16 bit.

I thought the A3000 was 32 bit throughout? Is this not so then?

--
Lionel Tun   (lionel@cs.city.ac.uk)
Vision Group, City University, London, EC1V 0HB. 071-477 8000 x 3889
From: spence@cbmvax.commodore.com (Spencer Shanson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Is it silly to buy an A3000 now?
Date: 8 Oct 92 14:54:10 GMT
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <1992Oct7.194433.7333@news.iastate.edu> barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett) writes:

[Waffle deleted]

>   I am actively advising people to ignore the A4000, purchase A3000s instead,
>and upgrade them later with third-party video cards as soon as DIG is
>available.

I guess we should all thank our lucky stars that noone takes you seriously then.

>| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
>--------------------------------------------------
>             A4000: JUST SAY NO!!!

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spencer Shanson - Amiga Software Engineer     | email: spence@commodore.COM
                                              | or uunet!cbmvax!spence
All opinions expressed are my own, and do not | Bix: sshanson
(necessarily) represent those of Commodore.   | Have you Wobbled a
                                              | Weeble today?
Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.hardware:17305 comp.sys.amiga.programmer:14569
From: dej@qpoint.ocunix.on.ca (David Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: How does 3.0 do the flickerfixer stuff?
Distribution: world
Date: 15 Oct 92 15:55:57 EST
Organization: Dejital Software

On c.s.a.p and c.s.a.h, I've seen many posts bashing C= about the fact
that the AGA chipset's Double NTSC and Double PAL modes will not work
with most software.  What I've yet to see are detailed facts.

With a little common sense, one can come up with the following:

There are several ways to make a display on the Amiga:

1. Take over machine and bang hardware directly

   This method involves constructing copper lists giving instructions
   as to how to make the display.  In interlace mode, you need two
   copper lists, one for the even lines and one for the odd lines.
   You constantly swap these around for each frame.
   
   I would not expect the DoubleXXX modes to cut in here.

2. Use intuition.library/OpenScreen(), etc.

   Intuition is the easiest way to create a display provided that you
   are willing to abide by its restrictions.  (Most programs can and
   do.)  The display mode is determined by at most a single long word.
   (Parameters such as overscan are secondary and do not affect the
   basic display mode used.)
   
   I would expect Intuition to automatically convert requests for
   certain screen modes to AGA modes.  This promotion would occur
   regardless of whether OpenScreenTagList() or just OpenScreen()
   were used.

3. Use graphics.library.

   This is partway between 2 and 1.  In effect, you still need to make
   copper lists.  However, these lists are constructed by the OS.
   
   With a lot of funky magic, graphics.library may be able to re-work
   copper lists.  Of particular importance is how to generate one AGA
   DoubleXXX copper list when the software is expecting to manipulate
   two interlace "normal" copper lists.  Techniques such as user
   copper lists and double-buffering require that software that uses
   graphics.library primitives be aware of the dual copper lists.

***** THE ABOVE ARE MY OPINIONS.  THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY FACT! *****
***** THIS MESSAGE MAY NOT BE WORTH THE PIXELS ITS PRINTED ON!!! *****

With that out of the way, an explanation from one of the OS engineers
at C= as to how much of the above is accurate would be greatly appreciated
and would go far towards dispelling the BS that seems to be accumulating
around here.

--
 David Jones, 6730 Tooney Drive, Orleans, Ontario K1C 6R4 CANADA
       email: dej@qpoint.ocunix.on.ca    Fido: 1:163/109.8
 AMIGA: Advanced Multimedia with Interactive Graphics and Audio
From: Boinger@myamy.hacktic.nl (Paul Kolenbrander)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Avoid the Amiga 4000
Date: 15 Oct 92 23:45:22 MET
Reply-To: boinger@myamy.hacktic.nl (Paul Kolenbrander)
Distribution: world
Organization: System Information 2.0 Development
X-NewsSoftware: GRn 1.16e (7/4/92) by Mike Schwartz & Michael B. Smith

In article <1bg0avINN6p4@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au> jpotter@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Jonathan Potter) writes:
> In article <n0ba0t@ofa123.fidonet.org> Aric.Caley@ofa123.fidonet.org writes:
> >> at 15Khz no matter what.  The "Promotion" feature of the OS only works for
> >> a tiny few, well-written Amiga programs, and no games.  This means that a
> >
> >And who's fault is that?  NOT COMMODORE'S!  Its the fault of the programers
> >who didnt properly write their programs.  Complain to them, not commodore!
> 
> That's not strictly true. Promotion will only be applied to screens that
> open using the 2.0+ functions using tag lists. Anything written before
> 2.0 will not be promoted, but this does not mean it was not well written
> software.

Not entirely true Jonathan. I've seen GCCHost3.6b (FidoNet point prog) as
well as the PP&S FrameGrabber software open on DblPAL screens. And that
FG software is from '89. I think GCCHost is from '90. I don't think either
was programmed in 2.0 style. In fact I'm sure it's not as I ran 1.3 when
I got 'em.

> Lack of a display enhancer is the only major flaw I can find in the
> 4000.

Hmm. after some time with the machine, I think the Dbl modes will do
for most applications... 

CYa, Paul

-- 
Paul Kolenbrander  \ InterNet: boinger@myamy.hacktic.nl
Turfveldenstraat 37 \ Fido: 2:284/114.3 Paul Kolenbrander
NL-5632 XH EINDHOVEN | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Voice: +31-40-415752 | Timezone:GMT+1 | Fax: +31-40-426446
From: Roger_Nordin@atb.bbs.bad.se (Roger Nordin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: New Amiga(s) Expansi
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 92 05:58:22 +0000
Reply-To: Roger_Nordin@atb.bbs.bad.se (Roger Nordin)
Distribution: world
Organization: ANet Test Bench, Karlstad, Sweden 
OD-Comment-To: Internet_Gateway

> Yeah, would have been nice to have an expansion port like the A500.  But 
this> machine is obviously going to be bought by people who can't afford an
> expandable machine - and thus they probably can't afford expansions.
> 
> Look how popular the C64 was (is), with no expansion ability.

Sorry, that's not correct. The C64 had (and have, I presume :))...

1) A cartridge port which is essentially the same as the 86-pin edge connecter
   on the A500, with the complete bus. It will connect 2Mb RAM drives, 8MHz
   65816 accelerators, whatever.

2) A socketed CPU (unless C= has taken this away recently) which some devices
   do take advantage of, like disk-turbos etc.

All in all, the C64 was quite comparable to the A500 regarding expansion 
capabilities (although it did of course not have any autoconfig stuff, but it 
was far away from an A600!).

Just a sidenote -- now back to the Amiga! :)

                        _       .    __
    Roger Nordin     _ //      /!Net /est Bench
 2:203/602.0@fidonet \X/  Internet: Roger_Nordin@bad.se

--- 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: jgrimm@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com (Jeffrey Grimmett 9999)
Subject: Re: A4000 Hardware questions
Organization: NCR (Torrey Pines Development Center)
Disclaimer: This posting does not neccessarily reflect the opinions of NCR.
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 92 19:26:43 GMT

In article <35683@cbmvax.commodore.com> grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) writes:
>> 
>> I assume the A4000 still uses the 8520's.  Are there any plans to fold
>> the functionaliy of these into a CMOS ASIC design?
>
>We've considered this from time to time and may do it in the future,
>but the problem is that these are the kind of IC's that Commodore
>can make very cheaply in the in-house IC fab and conversion of olde
>custom NMOS chips to ASIC's isn't neccessarily as straightforward
>as you would expect.

I wouldn't recommend doing it until something is done about Human Error,
ie folks blowing CIA's sky-high when plugging modems/printers into live
circuits.  I know of and work on several systems which do NOT have this
problem, so I know it's possible.  So, puh-LEEZE take care of that little
problem first, and I will be forever grateful!

-- 
*******************************************************************************
Jeff Grimmett [SuperBitMap BBS]        | fido!1:202/1401.0 [619-460-7290]
NCR -- Torrey Pines Development Center | jgrimm@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com
==========    "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."   =============
*******************************************************************************
From: Aric.Caley@ofa123.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Avoid the Amiga 4000
X-Sender: newtout 0.02 Oct  1 1992
Date: 15 Oct 92  10:15:00

> Organization: Information Technology Division, The
> University of Adelaide, AUSTRALIA
> From: jpotter@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Jonathan Potter)
> Message-ID: 1bg0avINN6p4@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
>
> In article <n0ba0t@ofa123.fidonet.org> Aric.Caley@ofa123.fidonet.org
> writes:
> >And who's fault is that?  NOT COMMODORE'S!  Its the fault of the
> programers
> >who didnt properly write their programs.  Complain to them, not
> commodore!
>
> That's not strictly true. Promotion will only be applied to screens that
> open using the 2.0+ functions using tag lists. Anything written before
> 2.0 will not be promoted, but this does not mean it was not well written
> software.

I believe somebody from Commodore posted that 1.3 style programs would get
promoted; and that in fact the only programs that wouldn't get promoted are
the ones that USE 2.0 and *specificaly* open an NTSC or PAL mode (and most
of these programs probably have some good reason for doing this).  Of course
games that trash the operating system wont get promoted.  Big deal.

> Lack of a display enhancer is the only major flaw I can find in the
> 4000.

I find the lack of a display enhancer a *good* thing - it means they are
finaly designing the new chips to correctly support better graphics, instead
of tacking on a "hack" to fix a major shortcomming.

I think the engineers did a good thing with the A4000.  Except for that IDE
thing.


--- Maximus 2.00
From: jmpor@dynam.adsp.sub.org (Jean-Marc Porchet)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: A4000 graphics
Date: 14 Oct 92 16:47:00 GMT
Reply-To: cbmehq!cbmswi!dynam!jmpor@cbmvax.commodore.com
Organization: Merging Technologies (IV-24 designers)
X-Newsreader: Arn V1.00 beta rel2

In article <35747@cbmvax.commodore.com>, Paul Lassa writes:

> >Fact: All old screenmodes will be shown with scanlines/flicker because the
> >the A4000 has no flickerfixer.
> >
> >1. Will old type flickerfixers work for these modes?
> 
> The Commodore A2320 Display Enhancer works the same on the A4000 for
> the old display modes as the equivalent Amber circuitry in the A3000
> does.  However, as has been mentioned before, some of the new AA display
> modes require a higher bandwidth than the A2320 can handle.  In this
> case the bypass switch on the Display Enhancer is used to pass through
> the AA video without de-interlacing.

With an IV-24 in a A4000 (Not the cheaper de-interlacer), you get the PAL and
NSTC screen deinterlaced, but in 12 bits. all non-video modes are bypassed by
the board and thus are available with the 24 bits palette, so you never go
back to 15 KHz.

PS : The IV-24 need a 3.8 or older eprom to run correctly in genlock mode.



--

PS : forgive my bad English, I'm still trying to learn it
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jean-Marc "JUMP" Porchet                             Phone : (41) 22-754-1733

EMAIL :   ...{uunet,rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmswi!dynam!jmpor
	       or try   mcsun!cbmswi!dynam!jmpor		 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Simple things should be simple & complex things should be possible' Alan Kay
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Is it silly to buy a
Date: 13 Oct 92 21:00:33 GMT
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <OA92-910-103_14f3d7e5@piraya.bad.se> Thomas_Agatz@pitstop.bbs.bad.se (Thomas Agatz) writes:

> RN> system in my eyes. The A4000 is more focused on graphics, especially
> RN> video work, and seems to sacrifice other areas of the system design.
> RN> One area that particluary annoys at least me is the 2Mb CHIP RAM
> RN> limit. 

>I had an interview with Commodore last week, 

No you didn't.  Commodore is a company, it doesn't talk.  Perhaps you spoke
with an ill-informed Commodore representative, or perhaps someone with an
A4000 not associated with Commodore.  In either case, the answer is wrong,
the A4000 can't be expanded to 8MB of Chip RAM, easily or otherwise.

-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Cool Advanced High-End Systems You Can't See Yet)
 "The Crew That Never Rests"  {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh   BIX: hazy
              "I got a pocket full of kryptonite" -Spin Doctors
From: gs@teetot.acusd.edu (Greg Simon)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Can I swap A1000 peripherial connectors?
Date: 14 Oct 92 05:47:51 GMT

**SORRY IF THIS IS POSTED TWICE**
Would simply desoldering and swapping the parallel/serial connector
solve the problem?  Or do I have have to re-wire some pins?

Please reply email, thank you!!!!

Greg Simon, Electical Engineering, University of San Diego,
gs@teetot.acusd.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: 22black@sol.cs.wmich.edu (The Bewildered One)
Subject: Re: Avoid the Amiga 4000
Organization: Western Michigan Univ. Comp. Sci. Dept.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 06:46:42 GMT

mlelstv@spcklp.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst) writes:

>In <1bg0avINN6p4@huon.itd.adelaide.edu.au> jpotter@sirius.ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Jonathan Potter) writes:
>>That's not strictly true. Promotion will only be applied to screens that
>>open using the 2.0+ functions using tag lists. Anything written before
>>2.0 will not be promoted, but this does not mean it was not well written
>>software.

>That's wrong. Especially programs using old 1.3 calls have no chance to
>AVOID promotion when opening a screen.

By what i have been told.  The program atntsc11.lha will intercept the calls
for an interlaced screen and give it instead a Dbl mode.  And they found
hardly any programs that could avoid it.

Martin


Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: klein@seq.uncwil.edu (Tony Klein)
Subject: Help! My DeskJet won't print!
Organization: Univ. of North Carolina @ Wilmington
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 00:07:41 GMT

This is not really an Amiga hardware problem per se, but my DeskJet did quit
printing while I was using my Amiga (and printing out my homework) :[]

BTW this is an original HP DeskJet, I just replace the print cartridge a
month or so ago - so that should not be the problem.  I was just printing
out some dBASE stuff that I was doing on my bridgboard when I noticed that
blank pages were coming out.  Somewhere along the line, the print became
"streaked" and then quit altogether.  It still sounds normal when printing,
but I did notice some sort of spring on the back of the print head assembly
with some kind of ball joint that looks like it should fit in a socket
someplace; I have never really looked at the internals very closely, but as
the printhead moves it looks like it should be serving some purpose(?).
Maybe some unfortunate soul has had the same problem, am I missing something
really simple?  I have had many years of good service from it without a hitch,
maybe the built-in trojan horse finally kicked in and it is time to upgrade to
a HP 500C ;)

Any suggestions, or maybe a more appropriate newsgroup would be welcomed.

                                           Thanks,
                                             Tony
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------//
| _   /|                Toni Tony Tone has done it again !                 //|
|-\'o.O'------------------------------------------------------------------//-| 
| =(___)=       klein@seq.uncwil.edu   or   kleina@vxc.uncwil.edu     \\ //  |
+----U-----------------------------------------------------------------\X/---+

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
From: barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett)
Subject: Re: Avoid the Amiga 4000
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 05:02:03 GMT

In article <35767@cbmvax.commodore.com> mks@cbmvax.commodore.com (Michael Sinz) writes:
>Yes, please remember what all of you (net-people) have asked for.  Also
>remember what the Amiga market needs and asks for.  The biggest need was
>for more colour in *video* modes.  More resolution with more colour too.
>Non-video modes (non-interlaced 640x480) with more colour.  Well, we have
>given you this.  You get more colour, more colours, and more resolution
>in the A4000 and AGA chipset.  You can now do photo-realistic displays
>with the 24-bit colour resolution of the chips and the HAM-8 mode which
>can mathematically give you all 16,777,216 colours if you had the pixels.
>(Realisticly, you don't have that many pixels and good pictures display
>just fine in the simpler to render 262,144 colour mapping type which is
>what marketing calls 256,000 colours since we told them 256K colours.)

   Yes, straight from the Commodore Line.  The problem is that the increase
in resolution is a lie.  From the A3000 to the A4000 (actually, from any Amiga
with a display enhancer to the A4000) the non-interlaced resolution did not
increase at all, but actually decreased.  The magnitude of the decrease in
non-interlaced resolution is not the point; the point is that the resolution
did not increase at all, when it badly needed to.  In a market with Macintosh
Quadras with resolutions beyond 1024x768 non-interlaced in standard hardware,
and $2000 486 systems from IBM (of all companies) also with resolutions of
1024x768 non-interlaced in standard hardware, 676x480 is no longer adequate.

>/----------------------------------------------------------------------\
>|      /// Michael Sinz  -  Senior Amiga Systems Engineer              |
>|     ///                   Operating System Development Group         |
>|    ///   BIX:  msinz      UUNET:  mks@cbmvax.commodore.com           |
>|\\\///                                                                |
>| \XX/     "I think not." said Ren'e Descartes, then he vanished.      |
>\----------------------------------------------------------------------/

---
| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
--------------------------------------------------
      Slick Willie Clinton: JUST SAY NO!!!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware