pirelli@elma.epfl.ch (03/15/89)
I'm having some problems with my AT bridgeboard. The description of my
configuration follows, but here I go with the problem itself.
I'm using jlink to have a virtual drive using the expansion Ram I have
on the Amiga side. To create it, I use :
jlink d: ram:at /c1800
which should create a virtual drive named d:, having a capacity of 1800 K and
physically located on the Amiga ram drive.
Well, it does create a virtual drive. Moreover, this drive does not occupy
1800 K when it is empty, because it grows when I add files onto it. This is
very nice. But (of course, there is a "but"), the "drive" does NOT shrink when
a file is deleted from it...
Even more, MSDOS considers this drive as having a capacity of 32720 K !!
Since I use d: to put object files my C compiler creates, d: grows,
grows... until I get a requester (on the Amiga side) complaining that Volume
Ram: is full, which is quite understandable, since even 3 Mbytes can be eaten
up...
So, the result is that I must delete drive d: after some hours of
programming, recreate it and recopy all the include and library files for the
compiler, even though I never have more than 1.3 Megabytes used on d:
Of course, I use the device = jdisk.sys (or something like that) in my
config.sys. I don't remember if the right device is jdisk.sys, but I know I'm
using the right one, because jlink wouldn't do anything if I weren't.
I think that one could live with such limitations, but it IS annoying and
does not help for the professionnal look of our beloved machine (NO, I'm not
thinking of the AT...)
One more complaint : from time to time, the AT side of the machine thinks
that the CTRL or ALT key is being constantly pushed down, preventing the use of
the keyboard for typing text (since CTRL-ed or ALT-ed keys are used, in my
editor, to enter commands). Sometimes, closing the PC window and running
PCwindow again puts things back in order, sometimes it doesn't...I discovered
that one of these two keys was pushed down, while I couldn't use the keyboard,
because the editor displays on the bottom of the screen a help line indicating
the meaning of the function keys and, if you press ALT, this line changes to
indicate the meaning of the ALT-ed function keys. About CTRL, I noticed that
the cursor moved to the beginning of a line when I pressed 'a' or to the end
when I pressed 'e' and it does correspond to the meaning of CTRL-a and CTRL-e,
respectively...
Here is my configuration :
- HARDWARE :
a B2000, with A2058 (2 Meg installed), a 45 Meg Supradrive with a partition
for the PC side and of course the A2286.
- SOFTWARE
when the AT is booting,
Janus writes : Janus Handler Version 2.63,
Janus Library Version 33.1
The copyright notice of the AT :
Commodore A2286 BIOS Rev 3.5 380 682-01
380 683-01
The PCinstall disk I got is dated (on the label) 29. November 1988
I'd like to know if I can correct these problems myself (I guess not) or, if
new software exists, can I get it from Commodore Switzerland ? (if not, from
whom ?).
Please note that my posting is NOT a flame against the BridgeBoard !
I am almost happy with it, because, apart from these two problems, it works
fine. If they could be corrected, that would be great.
One more question : is there a version of the auto-boot emulation software
(for the PC side) that works when the file corresponding to the bootable c:
hard disk is located on a FFS partition (on the Amiga side, of course) ?
That would be nice, too. Since I can't mount my partitions with the Amigados
mount command (I have to use Supramount), I cannot try the 'Mask' trick in
the mountlist and the read/writes on c: are quite slow. I know that the MSDOS
file system must be emulated and that it is nice to be able to use an Amiga
hard disk to boot the pc, but it IS slow...
Thanks a lot for reading. Any answer would be greatly appreciated. Please
respond by E-mail or to the net if you think it is of general interest.
John
PIRELLI@EPFL.ELMA.CH or PIRELLI%EPFL.ELMA.CH@CLSEPF51.BITNET
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void where prohibited; int where not declared (taken from Info-Ada)