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Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Fri, 2 Oct 1992 13:10:51 +1000
From:         "(David Johnson,
              CSIRO Div. Wool Tech.)" <DJOHNSON@GEEL.DWT.CSIRO.AU>
Subject:      Re: ATOnce

> Hi

g'day

> A friend of mine has agreed to sell his 2000 for a bargain (he's in need
> of cash for a 4000).  He's also asked me if I was interested in the AtOnce
> AT-emulator which is still sticking in his old and trusty 500.
> Before I say yes, I would like some answers to the following questions :
>
> 1. Is it possible to mount an AtOnce on the motherboard of a 200 (I believe
>    that's how it is done in a 500) ?

It depends: there are 2 versions of the ATonce. I've had both of them. The
first was an ~8Mhz emulator which would only go in an A500. There is an
adapter available to fit it into a 2000 (but as I recall, it wasn't very
cheap). This adapter goes into one of the A2000 slots.

The other version (ATonce-Plus) is a 16MHz version with a coprocessor
socket and 512k of local RAM. This one will plug straight into an A500 or an
A2000. This is the one that I use now, and it's great.

I've got an A1000 with a Phoenix motherboard, and found that the ATonce-Plus
_wouldn't_ fit straight away (because the position of the 68000 connector
has moved, presumably to make it fit into an A2000 as well). I had to make
up an adapter to effectively shift the motherboard 68000 socket about one
inch diagonally. Something like this could _probably_ be used to fit the
original ATonce into an A2000.

> 2. Can you control an amiga harddisk (scsi-driver; 105Mb) from the ATOnce
>    card, or do you need a separate controller (or worse, a new harddrive) ?

yes, any amiga hard drive should work.

> 3. Does ATOnce support the regular Amiga printer drivers ?

no. The ATonce prints directly to the parallel port. The MSD*S software you
use will need to know about the type of printer you are using. This maintains
maximum compatibility.

> 4. Is it possible to emulate a soundblaster card for the ATOnce, using the
>    existing Amiga sound chips ?

no. Beeps are all you get.

> 5. (and most important) Is this still the best IBM-emulator on the market (in
> its price range) or are there other boards which don't cost that much, but do
> a better job ?  (price and specifications, if possible, please !)

It's the best I've come across. Especially the 16MHz version. The ONLY down
side it that all hires graphics are in mono only. I hope that colour emulation
is released soon!

> Well, that was the lot...

no trouble!

> Wim

dave   +----------------------+------------------------------------------------+
+------+                      |  CSIRO Division of Wool Technology             |
| David Johnson               |  PO Box 21, Belmont, Australia, 3216           |
| djohnson@geel.dwt.csiro.au  |  +61 52 472-651 (voice)   +61 52 472-657 (fax) |
+-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------+
     Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.        - Diogenes
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