a186@mindlink.UUCP (Harvey Taylor) (10/10/89)
In Msg-ID: <210@grape3.UUCP>, king@cell.mot.COM ie. Steven King writes: | | Two questions this time around: | | 1) I've seen everyone here raving about CrossDOS, and it *does* | seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now, for the | 64,000 Dollar Question: Will it read/write the 1.44 Mbyte 3.5" | format my friend so loves to use on his MS-DOS box? If so, is | CrossDOS fast enough that I can use the 1.44M MS-DOS format for | my own devious purposes on the Amiga? | No, but you can't blame CrossDos for that; you can't use 1.44 Meg drives in AmigaDOS format either. The thing is the 1.44M drive has a 500 Kb/sec read/write speed which the hardware simply doesn't support. [360K/720K drives use 250KB/sec.] Now, if CBM were to redesign the custom chips and increase the clock frequency, it could be done. Do you think Gould will spend the money to switch over to CMOS & 28MHz? <-Harvey "Advertising is 85% confusion & 15% commission." -Fred Allen Harvey Taylor Meta Media Productions uunet!van-bc!rsoft!mindlink!Harvey_Taylor a186@mindlink.UUCP
king@cell.mot.COM (Steven King) (10/10/89)
Two questions this time around: 1) I've seen everyone here raving about CrossDOS, and it *does* seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now, for the 64,000 Dollar Question: Will it read/write the 1.44 Mbyte 3.5" format my friend so loves to use on his MS-DOS box? If so, is CrossDOS fast enough that I can use the 1.44M MS-DOS format for my own devious purposes on the Amiga? 2) This is about multitasking. Recently I installed a public-domain (or shareware, don't remember which) program called ClockDJ. This wonderful beastie includes such delights as fully-functional key macros, a Sun-mouse emulator, screen blanking, mouse pointer blanking, etc., etc. I've been using it with The Works! (Platinum Ed.), primarily with the telecom portion. Sometimes, when I pop back to the workbench while I'm online I give a command (anything in an open CLI window, or using the ClockDJ menu, or [I suspect, haven't tried it] opening a disk icon) and the entire process hangs. Nothing else from the workbench will function, nor will AmigaDOS be the least bit interested if I swap The screen-swap gadget will still get me back to the telecom window, though, where I can do anything I bloody well please. Now for the weird part: If I do any disk-access from the telecom program, whatever I tried to fire up on the workbench will come alive -- FOR AS LONG AS THE DISK ACCESS IS GOING ON. After disk activity ends the workbench process hangs again. For example, I popped to an open CLI (ARP shell, really) window and entered the "info" command. (Yes, my C: volume containing the command was in the drive.) Nothing. Pop back to the telecom program and save the operating parameters. Info got about halfway though, but when the telecom program finished its save then info (and the rest of the workbench) hung again. I can always clear the problem by quitting the telecom program. This never happened before I installed ClockDJ, so I suspect some sort of interaction between it and The Works!. Anyone have any ideas? As an aside, thanks to everyone who filled me in on ARexx. My order's going out soon now! /-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\ | Modern man is vulnerable to any competent | Steve King (312) 991-8056 | | engineer. | ...uunet!motcid!king | | | ...ddsw1!palnet!stevek | \-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/
waggoner@dtg.nsc.com (Mark Waggoner) (10/10/89)
In article <210@grape3.UUCP> king@cell.mot.COM (Steven King) writes: >Two questions this time around: > >1) I've seen everyone here raving about CrossDOS, and it *does* seem like the > greatest thing since sliced bread. Now, for the 64,000 Dollar Question: > Will it read/write the 1.44 Mbyte 3.5" format my friend so loves to use on > his MS-DOS box? If so, is CrossDOS fast enough that I can use the 1.44M > MS-DOS format for my own devious purposes on the Amiga? > No, it will not read or write 1.44M disks. I don't think the hardware is up to the task. A further comment/question about CrossDOS. I have tried the read only version a few times and it seems like it often tells me that the MS-DOS disk I inserted is 'Not a DOS Disk'. Dos-2-Dos recognizes it fine. Anyone else had this kind of problem? -- ,------------------------------------------------------------------. | Mark Waggoner (408) 721-6306 waggoner@dtg.nsc.com | `------------------------------------------------------------------'
sparks@corpane.UUCP (John Sparks) (10/11/89)
In article <210@grape3.UUCP> king@cell.mot.COM (Steven King) writes: > Will it read/write the 1.44 Mbyte 3.5" format my friend so loves to use on > his MS-DOS box? If so, is CrossDOS fast enough that I can use the 1.44M > MS-DOS format for my own devious purposes on the Amiga? > Nope, Crossdos won't work with 1.44 meg floppies. But that's a limitation of the Amiga, in the actual hardware if I am not mistaken. The chip that controls the floppy drives can't handle the 1.44 meg style drives. -- John Sparks | {rutgers|uunet}!ukma!corpane!sparks | D.I.S.K. 24hrs 1200bps ||||||||||||||| sparks@corpane.UUCP | 502/968-5401 thru -5406 Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
33014-18@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu (Eduardo Horvath) (10/16/89)
In article <210@grape3.UUCP> king@cell.mot.COM (Steven King) writes: >Two questions this time around: > [ yum yum! ] > >2) This is about multitasking. Recently I installed a public-domain (or > shareware, don't remember which) program called ClockDJ. ... > Sometimes, when I pop back to the workbench while I'm online I give a > command (anything in an open CLI window, or using the ClockDJ menu, or > [I suspect, haven't tried it] opening a disk icon) and the entire process > hangs. Nothing else from the workbench will function, ... > If I do any disk-access from the telecom program, > whatever I tried to fire up on the workbench will come alive -- FOR AS LONG > AS THE DISK ACCESS IS GOING ON. After disk activity ends the workbench > process hangs again. It looks to me as if you have a process with a priority greater than 1 (WorkBench Priority) that is running continuously (busy-wait). Now when the telecom program does disk access, it blocks (waits) until the disk DMA gets the necessary information for it, and WB is allowed to run. Solutions: 1) Get another telecom program or something. 2) Get something that will allow you to change task priorities, and carefully tune everything that is not part of the operating system down to priority 0 every time you run this. [ much deleted ] > >/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\ >| Modern man is vulnerable to any competent | Steve King (312) 991-8056 | >| engineer. | ...uunet!motcid!king | >| | ...ddsw1!palnet!stevek | >\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/ =============================================================================== x = MEN AT WORK x X X x Try: 33014-18@sjsumcs.SJSU.EDU = x X X X x = This space x X X x Eduardo Horvath = is x = UNDER = CONSTRUCTION ^Doesn't look much like Boing!, does it? = ===============================================================================
bga@odeon.ahse.cdc.com (Bruce Albrecht) (10/21/89)
Another question about CrossDos, etc. Is it possible to hook up a 5-1/4 disk drive and read 1.2 Meg formatted floppies? Is any special hardware needed?