joe@bryans.scc.com (06/14/89)
I just read in the recent issue of Amazing Computer that there is a new hard drive controller out on the market called A.L.F.! (Amiga Loads Faster) by Prespect Technology Inc in Quebec. They give a FAX number to call, but no voice phone number. I call information, and they have no listing for the company above - their mailing address is a BOX number. The interface is supposed to interface to ANY IBM hard drive (ST-506 ), perform faster execution (compared to what, I don't know), more reliable (and again, compared to what - who knows), and does just about everything. Anyone know more info about this? Joe (joe@bryans.scc.com)
root@jester.UUCP (Michael Haeuptle) (06/16/89)
In article <17595@louie.udel.EDU> joe@bryans.scc.com writes: > >I just read in the recent issue of Amazing Computer that there is a new >hard drive controller out on the market called A.L.F.! (Amiga Loads >Anyone know more info about this? In Germany, there is a Software with this name. It is simply a hardisk-device which can access a ST-506 Drive with an OMTI 5527 (or the RLL version) and a ST11R (Seagte Contoller; but it is lousy slow). To connect the controller to the Amy expansion bus, you have to make an adapter which does the adressing conversions (a german computer magazine developped this cuircuit and a lot of commercial vendors use this adapter...) The alf.device has a max. speed of appr. 350 KB/s with an epson 20 MB MFM drive and runs since one month without trouble beside my Amy.. Hope this helps you.. Michael. -- Michael Haeuptle ..uunet!unido!pfm!nadia!jester!root
mlelstv@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Michael van Elst ) (06/19/89)
joe@bryans.scc.com writes: >I just read in the recent issue of Amazing Computer that there is a new >hard drive controller out on the market called A.L.F.! (Amiga Loads >Faster) by Prespect Technology Inc in Quebec. >The interface is supposed to interface to ANY IBM hard drive (ST-506 ), >perform faster execution (compared to what, I don't know), more reliable >(and again, compared to what - who knows), and does just about everything. A.L.F. is a small interface to an IBM-PC harddisk controller. The software supports the OMTI5520/5527 controllers only (plus some lookalikes from Seagate and Western Digital, although it is slower with those). It is based on an interface published in the german computer magazine c't. Software allows up to 350kbytes/sec on reading and 80kbytes/sec on writing. Maybe the last version (I haven't seen yet) is faster on writing. All transfers are done via polling the controller registers, thereby consuming all CPU at priority 0 (higher priorities aren't affected). I like my own (not much different, but it uses interrupts, leaving some CPU cycles free). Michael van Elst E-mail: UUCP: ...uunet!unido!fauern!immd4!mlelstv
visinfo@ethz.UUCP (VISINFO Moderators) (06/22/89)
In article <17595@louie.udel.EDU> joe@bryans.scc.com writes: > >I just read in the recent issue of Amazing Computer that there is a new >hard drive controller out on the market called A.L.F.! (Amiga Loads >Faster) by Prespect Technology Inc in Quebec. > >Anyone know more info about this? I'm really amazed that you can get A.L.F. even in USA. A.L.F. is an Interface to use PC/XT-Controllers on the Amiga for ST-506 drives. Original this Interface was published in the German ct magazine (4/88). The ct device was not very fast (about 170 KB/s). Oliver Kastel wrote a new device and called it alf.device. The hardware was the same except another I/O address. The first ALF versions were made for the OMTI controllers (5520 MFM - 5527 RLL). You can order different versions of ALF (Software for ct Interface only, Soft- & Hardware or a set which includes a Contoller also). Now there are also other version of ALF which support Seagate or Wester Digital Controllers. The reason for this is that we can't get OMTI controllers anymore here in Europe. ALF harddrive systems are the cheapest solution available. If you build your Interface yourself you get a 32 MB HD system for A2000 for SFr. 800.-- (ALF soft: ca. 100.--, ALF hard: 50.--, Seagate 238R ca. 450.--, OMTI ca. 200.--). But there also a few disadvantedges: - NO DMA: Disables other Tasks while doing I/O Doesn't work correctly with fast Amigas (I tried only on A2620) (There is a Turbo version of ALF, but it works only in SLOW or CHIP memory and it is SLOWER!!! than a 68000 ALF) If your AMIGA crashes while writing you MUST reformat your HD. - No Autoboot yet: May be this will come one day (We tried to modify ALF to autoboot, but it failed because ALF uses a DOS Process instead of an EXEC Task). Performance: Drive Acc Time Diskperf w/ 32K buf Seagate ST 238r 65 ms 238 KB/s Priam V 185 28 ms 374 KB/s (Fastest w/ ALF) Microscience 725 85 ms 174 KB/s If you want a chaep HD for your Amiga and don't want to expand to a '020 or a '030 System the ALF is OK. But don't expect to ALF to be as good as a DMA controller like HF or 2090. Consider buying an SCSI Harddisk system for professional usage. /* -------------------------- SG (Simeon Graphics) ---------------------- */ /* Peter Simeon | // // */ /* UUCP: ...visinfo@bernina | // Long live the AMIGA! // */ /* BIX: hardwiz | \X/ \X/ */ /* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */
wizard@sosaria.UUCP (Chris Brand) (09/01/89)
In message <4726@brains.UUCP> Michael Dinn wrote: > Anyone out there ever heard of Prespect Technics? They sell a >hardware/software combo called the A.L.F. (Amiga Loads Faster). It lets you >use IBM hard drives with any Amiga. They offer a package deal... HD, ALF, and >power supply for $630 US. The HD is a 40 meg with an RLL card; not sure of >the make. Any ideas? Anyone ever order from them? They claim a 460K/s >transfer rate, can anyone verify it? Well...I don't want to bring up the old discussion "my controller is better than yours" again, but... I can only repeat my statement that the best thing you can do is do buy only Commodore products for your Amiga, or at least hardware you are 100% sure (that means you saw with you own eyes) that it works together with everything you've got or you plan to buy (e.g. turbo boards, flixer fixers, genlocks and so on.) It seems that especially harddisk controllers are quite a problem there. With the 2090a (or better the 2100 when it's out) you can be sure that all software works (and if anything doesn't work it's not worth using, because it must be written in such a dirty style that it should be avoided at all costs). The fact is that I've heard of lots and lots of problems with the ALF controller. Try looking into European BBS's and you'll certainly find many messages like "I have the following problem with my Amiga and my ALF controller". -- ---------------------------------------- Chris Brand - wizard@sosaria.ccs.imp.com "Justice is the possession and doing of what one is entitled to" - Platon ----------------------------------------