wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (05/09/86)
Hi; I have the 1020 5.25 inch disk drive for the Amiga and enjoy quite thoroghly using it with "transformer". So far, there has been no IBM text-mode program that I have been unable to get to work with transformer. I've used the following with success: WordStar v3.3 Lotus 1-2-3 v1a (with the key disk check no-op'ed out) GW-BASIC (I think it was v 2.5). Eposn equity III "vdisk" ram disk emulator (actually for msdos 3.1) etc... I've been using IBM DOS version 2.1 for the operating sytem for transformer. All-in-all, very impressive job, you guys at Amiga. I was quite surprised that the screen I/O rate and disk access is at pretty reasonable speed. (Seems to be about 50% of an xt.) The math department is where transformer shows that is interpreting p-code; seems to be about 1/6 the speed of a real xt. ~~~ Now for the real question. I can get DSDD 5.25 inch disks for $0.39 each from a place in Columbus, OH. Eventhough the 1020 drive holds less data, it'd still be handy to use for DF2:. The rub is that there is something different in the 1020's connection. Intuition flatly refuses to acknowledge that it exists. Although, Intution won't boot unless the AC power to the 1020 is on. O.K., I just got my copy of the ROM Kernel manual, and it makes no mention of a difference in the electrical interface between the 3.5 and 5.25 inch disks. Well guys, how it is done? Can I patch Intuition to recognize it? Reason I ask is that I'm thinking about writng an IBM to intution file translator. Obviously this will be a formidable task, since the intuition and IBM storage formats are very different (especially if you take the 3.5 inch disk into accout!) I'm not sure who were connected to on the net. I think we can be reached if you can figure out how to get to "allegra". Bill Mayhew Electrical Engineer Divison of Basic Medical Sciences Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine Rootstown, OH 44272 USA (216) 325-2511 ext 323 (wtm@neocom)