nsw@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Neil Weinstock) (08/02/89)
I just got off the phone with Pacific Peripherals, talking about the autobooting daughterboard for the Overdrive. In particular, I was curious when the $&*%(@ they were going to have the FFS autoboot EPROMS ready. Seems that the daughterboards they are shipping now *have* the FFS EPROMS; the holdup is in the software, and the guy doing the software is off doing God-knows what. Anyway, what it all means is that the daughterboard they are presently shipping ($25, by the way) will give you autoboot to old file system partition. When the new software is ready, you will be able to autoboot directly to FFS with no hardware change (so you don't have to open up the machine again.) I ordered mine. Apparently things are set up so that if there's a non-bootable disk in the drive, then you can force hard disk boot by holding down one of the mouse buttons. This sounds kind of stupid, but I could probably live with it. Just thought I'd let y'all know, I know there are (were?) a lot of Overdrive owners out there. /.- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ...\ / Neil Weinstock | att!cord!nsw | "One man's garbage is another \ \ AT&T Bell Labs | nsw@cord.att.com | man's prune danish." - Harv Laser / \.- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . .../
jwright@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (Jim Wright) (08/02/89)
In article <2309@cbnewsm.ATT.COM> nsw@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Neil Weinstock) writes: | Seems that the daughterboards they are shipping now *have* the FFS EPROMS; | When the new software is ready, you will be able to autoboot directly to FFS | with no hardware change (so you don't have to open up the machine again.) I got the upgrade about two weeks ago, and the info they sent with it indicates that to get FFS autoboot, you'll need new EPROMS. One way or another someone isn't getting the straight story. Now with autoboot and the NoClick posted to the net a couple of weeks ago (works with a 2000!), I don't ever have to stuff in a floppy unless *I* want to. -- Jim Wright jwright@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu
nsw@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Neil Weinstock) (08/04/89)
In article <1286@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu> jwright@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu.UUCP (Jim Wright) writes: >In article <2309@cbnewsm.ATT.COM> nsw@cbnewsm.ATT.COM (Neil Weinstock) writes: >| Seems that the daughterboards they are shipping now *have* the FFS EPROMS; >| When the new software is ready, you will be able to autoboot directly to FFS >| with no hardware change (so you don't have to open up the machine again.) > >I got the upgrade about two weeks ago, and the info they sent with it >indicates that to get FFS autoboot, you'll need new EPROMS. One way or >another someone isn't getting the straight story. What the guy at Pacific Peripherals told me was unambiguous, and I re-asked the question a couple of times to make sure. Two possibilities: 1) the new EPROMS have only gone in in the last two weeks (not too far fetched; I've been checking with them fairly regularly) or 2) Someone's wrong. The guy I spoke to, who is the technical person there, has always seemed to know what he's talking about, so I'm inclined to believe him. >Now with autoboot and the NoClick posted to the net a couple of weeks ago >(works with a 2000!), I don't ever have to stuff in a floppy unless *I* want >to. I have found noclick to be inconsistent on my B2000. Sometimes it works like a charm; other times it has no effect. Hmmm.... /.- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ...\ / Neil Weinstock | att!cord!nsw | "One man's garbage is another \ \ AT&T Bell Labs | nsw@cord.att.com | man's prune danish." - Harv Laser / \.- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . ... .- -- .. --. .- .-. ..- .-.. . .../