SCOTT%TUFTS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (10/11/88)
[ Purina Line Eater Foo, er uh Food] Hello all, First, a request. This is my first attempt to post to comp.sys.amiga*, and since I am on a BITNET node I must post through Amiga-Relay@UDEL.EDU. Thus I'm not certain whether this will go to comp.sys.amiga, comp.sys.amiga.tech, both, or neither. So, if this ends up in the wrong place, my apologies, and please just throw E-Mail bombs at me if you feel the need to flame me rather than adding to the large volume of comp.sys.amiga postings. Also, should I break some rule of nettiquete, please do the same. (of course, should anyone choose to *politely* point out mistakes to a novice, I won't complain :-) In an article, eric@hector.uucp (Eric Lavitsky) writes: >In article <482@morgoth.UUCP> steve@morgoth.UUCP (Steven G. Hall) writes: >>Hi all... >>Just a quick question about hard disks for the 2000, specifically the GVP >>hardcards. I just got my 2000 and now I am looking at getting a 40 meg hard >>disk for the sucker. After reading a few magazine acticles, the GVP seems to >>be a logical choice (sockets for autoboot...very important, *fast*...~19ms, >>only uses one slot if it's in the right-most position)t At least one other >>... >>Does anyone have one of these and if so, how do you like it? I will not be >>using it for the IBM side (got a 40 meg ST251 for that), so that should not >>be an issue. Also, does anyone have any clue as to what the 1.3 autoboot >>ROMs are gonna cost? And will the upgrade to 1.3 be the same $$$ as from >>1.1 to 1.2...around $10? > > I do not have it myself, but I have recommended it to folks who are quite > pleased with it. I know something about the design, having been involved > with hashing out the issues of high preformance hard disk controllers on > the Amiga in the past. [stuff about the design of the GVP deleted] > Now, the actual speed you get out of the GVP controller will depend largely > on the drive you use with it (especially under 1.3). The drive of choice > for the GVP folks is the Quantum 80 Meg 3.5" drive. The good reason for this > is that the Quantum drive has it's own 64K track cache on-board, which can > yield high preformance (the claim is around 12ms real throughput at times). > The folks I recommended it to bought Conner CP3100's (100 Meg, 3.5", 25ms) > and are very happy with them. I believe GVP will sell you their controller > with the Conners already mounted for you. > > Folks around here are selling 1.3 ROMs for ~$35 (I believe that's the list > price). I don't know what you'll have to do to get the GVP ROMs. 1.2 listed > for $15, but I'm sure 1.3 will cost a little more since it involves more > disks and more printed material than 1.2 had. I just purchased the GVP Impact A-2000/80HC Hardcard w/ a Quantum ProDrive 80 Meg, 19ms (unbuffered) access time, etc. I'm very pleased with it. The response is terrific, and it *seems* to be faster than the RA82's and 3380's I work with on our VAXen and eye-bee-emm. And, it's got a SCSI controller, so it can control six (possibly seven) more SCSI devices. The hardware installation was simple, remove Ami's cover, remove the metal shield at the back of the card slot, slip the card in the first slot, connect the cable for the drive lamp, and the hardest part, replacing Ami's cover and finding those d*mn screws :-) The catch (there's always a catch): Supplied with my hardcard was the manual and installation disk for their older SCSI/RAM controller (which is reported to be to same controller), supposedly this paticular configuration is so new they haven't completed a manual and installation disk for this combination. It still worked okay, and they provided a very easy installation script, which could be invoked from an icon (w/ xicon). The script was simple, and automatically created a boot floppy (BTW, they provided an icon for "HDPreferences", a script which runs Preferences, then saves system-configuration to the Boot Floppy. This solves the Preferences problem discussed earlier nicely and easily). A novice user would have *NO* trouble running this installation. The Installation Disk had two big problems: 1) The script and mountlist were simply wrong for the Quantum ProDrive (not surprising, since it wasn't for it). The mountlist specified 4 Surfaces, 16 Sectors/Track, and (I think) ~1244 cylinders. The drive was not documented in the manual, so I had to call my vendor for the proper values. It's really 6 Surfaces, 32 Sectors/Track, and 853 Cylinders. A novice would certainly be lost at this point. 2) A few boots after installing the Hardcard, I was greeted -- "Something wonderful has happened", etc. Yes, twas the SCA virus. Since the only other (non-blank) disks to enter my system were the Originals for Workbench, Extras, Benchmark M2, ARexx, and F/A-18, and I had no trace of the beast before, I'm 90% certain the culprit was the GVP Installation Disk. Further, the "install" command supplied by GVP didn't kill the bugger. I killed it w/ the original Workbench install, and haven't seen hide-nor-hair of it since. I'd advice extra-care with disks from GVP against viruses. If they didn't supply me with the virus, my apologies. All I know about 1.3 Autoboot ROM's is that they-ve promised them when 1.3 comes out. Cost to me: $1300 at a local store (The Memory Location, I do agree with earlier postings, they're very good and have been most helpful. No hard-sells either). But, I'm satisfied anyway. I bought this combination for its shear *SPEED*. It also will allow me to add additional drives when I run out of room on this one. That covers it, I've run out of my long-wind :-) Of course, I'm not associated with GVP, Quantum, Memory Location, or the Pope (:-), except as a satisfied customer. /* Scott R. Corzine USnail: Computer Services * Scott R. Corzine * Mabell: (617) 381-3089 (w) Tufts University Administration Building * (617) 776-0474 (h) 169 Holland Street * Bitnet: SCOTT@TUFTS Somerville, MA 02144 * Internet: SCOTT%TUFTS.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu (untested) * Usenet: ...!psuvax1!tufts.bitnet!scott (untested) */ #include <std/quote> /* "Nobody expects The IBM Inquisition!! Our main weapons are Surprise, Fear, * and an almost fanatical devotion to (the) Profit..." */ #include <std/disclaimer> /* Any opinions or information given above are strictly the result of my * tortured mind, and not related to the opinions, etc. of Tufts University, * which would probably be surprised to discover that I have opinions. */
murakami@m.cs.uiuc.edu (10/12/88)
I have a GVP hardcard with a Conner 3100 (100 Mbyte) drive -- thanks to Eric. It has worked flawlessly for a couple of months. Installation is straightforward -- GVP provides scripts adequate for the smaller drives. For larger drives (> 20 Mbyte), you have to enter in the appropriate drive geometry in the mountlist, reformat, reload, reboot, etc. Now that 1.3 is available, make sure that you format using the fast file system I did not see the SCA virus when using the GVP installation disk. The folks at GVP are very responsive and helpful. I definitely recommend dealing with them and their products. -Gary