rwm@atronx.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) (11/27/89)
First some background. I am one of those Avid Amiga users who particularily think that MS-DOS is a very bad attempt at a user shell, and kills what would otherwise be some pretty good hardware (Intel line Machines are not 'THAT' bad ;-) I have, for the sake of running FidoNet Server, have gotten myself a 2088 bridge, and have at work installed/used many of the 2286 boards. I don't go part way, so I'm also writing services programs (Soon a FidoNet Session Handler called Welmat (AUTHOR MCR@Julie ) will have added to it Some direct communication to allow a 'node' on the PC to talk diretly to a 'Node' on the Amiga.). I also have two keyboard plugged into this things so that, with the second monitor (Herc Compatable card on Bridge) two people can use the two systems simultaneously..... In a message From: acm131@eric.ccs.northeastern.edu (Craig Scott Lennox) Dated: 20 Nov 89 22:56:23 GMT >The response I got was that the Bridge-board was far too slow (only >8 MHz) to be a reasonable alternative, and for $1200, plus the cost >of the Amiga, it just wasn't worth it. Is this true? Are they perhaps >just talking about the 8088 Bridge-board, and there are '286 and maybe >even '386 boards out there which will do better? Firstly the 2088 IS an XT, and the 2286 IS an AT. Any of this 'slowing' down that people could be refering to is this neat concept called 'Software emulating hardware'. On the Bridgeboard there is software to 'emulate' a MGA and CGA cards, as well as a HD Controller card. When using the CGA emulation, the AMIGA ends up quite slow (IE: You are using the AMIGA as a window to the PC. The Bridge is still running at full speed, it just will 'seem' slower due to the fact that your Video isn't quite keeping up..) Simple Solution, put a Video Card on it.. (Any of the Cards that work with their equivalents will work here (IE: XT cards for the 2088, and AT cards for the 2286) If you have a HD controller already for your Amiga, the PC can borrow part of this for it's own use. On the PC, you just do your normal Fdisk to create your Partitions, Format to format them. All the interesting things happen on the Amiga side... The program MAKEMB will allow you to specify the heads/cylendars/sectors you wish, and it will make a file that is the virtual partition on the PC. (The Reverse exists, where the Amiga borrows part of the PC's HD, but that is quite slow...) Again, if you don't like the 'speed' of this, go out and buy a HD controller for the Machine, and put a drive into it... In a message From: amercer@thor.wright.edu (Art Mercer) dated 20 Nov 89 14:02:58 GMT >I've looked at PCWindow (what actually starts the MS-DOS side) using NewZap >don't find anything unusual with the library calls. Should be looking in >LIBS: (right?). When you run BindDrivers, the janus.library is loaded from your expansion diretory into Memory, and the startup code is executed (IE: The bridgeboard is reset, and set into Motion) All of the different Services Routines (PCWindow, PCDisk, ATime, etc) all will try to open this library in order to execute the Janus Routines provided. None of these programs can start up completely until this library is loaded. Few things can happen. If when the startup is ran, the Bridge cannot be reset, the library does not stay in memory (The Bridgeboard is in Bad shape). This is why you will not be able to run any of the services if there is any problem with the Bridgeboard... While I am not an expert on this (Bill Koester at Commodore Is!), if there are any further questions you would like to be answered by someone with a 'user' perspective, please send me off a message. :Later -- Opinions expressed in this message are my Own. My Employer does not even know what these networks ARE. Russell McOrmond rwm@atronx fts1!atronx!rwm alzabo!atronx!rwm FidoNet 1:163/109 [(613) 231-7144 ] BBS: (613) 230-2282 Amiga-Fidonet Support 1:1/109