mwjones@lion.waterloo.edu (Morgan Jones) (06/26/88)
[Follow-ups directed to comp.sys.amiga] I took a trip to one of the local Amiga dealers today and found some interesting facts about the 2090 and FFS. I suppose that the title is a bit of a misnomer, I don't know that the problem it with the 2090 specifically, but here is the problem: The hardware is a B2000 with 2090 and 28ms SCSI hard drive. Naturally, the system starts generating errors when the screen is in overscan mode. But, under the FFS, the problem doesn't stop here - the drive also generates errors in hi-res or interlaced with more than 4 colors. The most interesting part of all this is that once the drive hangs because of the errors, all you have to do is use Left-Amiga-N to switch to a normal screen and the drive continues on without any problems. Switch back and the file is loaded. The dealer called several controller manufacturers to see if they knew of this problem. CA said that they'd never heard of the problem but would look into it. SCA and ASDG both (after much digging) admitted that they knew of the problem (I got the impression that they admitted that their controllers suffered the same problem). The dealer is now ordering a controller from C-LTD to see if their controller overcomes the problem. Time will tell (and I hope quickly because I've got the money sitting in my pocket and can't see buying hardware that I know doesn't work). -- Morgan Jones mwjones@lily.waterloo.edu
CRONEJP@UREGINA1.BITNET (Jonathan Crone) (06/27/88)
[Morgan Jones writes] >I suppose that the title is a bit of a misnomer, I don't know that the problem >it with the 2090 specifically, but here is the problem: > >The hardware is a B2000 with 2090 and 28ms SCSI hard drive. Naturally, the >system starts generating errors when the screen is in overscan mode. But, >under the FFS, the problem doesn't stop here - the drive also generates >errors in hi-res or interlaced with more than 4 colors. This is REALLY interesting/.... my local dealer has been installing 2090's in quite a few B2000's an NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE has had any problems of this sort with SFS (Ie, overscan crashes...) no idead aobut this with FFS. > >The most interesting part of all this is that once the drive hangs because >of the errors, all you have to do is use Left-Amiga-N to switch to a normal >screen and the drive continues on without any problems. Switch back and >the file is loaded. Sounds strange to me. > >The dealer called several controller manufacturers to see if they knew of >this problem. CA said that they'd never heard of the problem but would >look into it. SCA and ASDG both (after much digging) admitted that they >knew of the problem (I got the impression that they admitted that their >controllers suffered the same problem). The dealer is now ordering a >controller from C-LTD to see if their controller overcomes the problem. > >Time will tell (and I hope quickly because I've got the money sitting in >my pocket and can't see buying hardware that I know doesn't work). >Morgan Jones mwjones@lily.waterloo.edu Hmmm thats also interesting,,, one of the local BBS'es is running on a Cltd a2000 controller, and he is having no problem.s... JpC -------------------------------------------------------------------- Jonathan P. Crone Vice President, AURA, (Amiga Users of Regina Associated.) (Regina, Sask. Canada ) (eh???) CRONEJP@UREGINA1.BITNET ....rutgers!mimsy!uunet!mcl!cronejp come on now.... does ANYONE give a damn about what i have to say? --------------------------------------------------------------------
papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (06/27/88)
In article <7528@watdragon.waterloo.edu| mwjones@lion.waterloo.edu (Morgan Jones) writes: |[Follow-ups directed to comp.sys.amiga] |I took a trip to one of the local Amiga dealers today and found some interesting |facts about the 2090 and FFS. ^^^^ ^^^ Note, dude, the FFS is NOT even a released product. It is still in beta (actually Omega :-) test. |I suppose that the title is a bit of a misnomer, I don't know that the problem |it with the 2090 specifically, but here is the problem: |The hardware is a B2000 with 2090 and 28ms SCSI hard drive. Naturally, the ^^^^^^^^^ |system starts generating errors when the screen is in overscan mode. ^^^^^^^^ You (or your dealer) have a driver that is is AT LEAST 1 YEAR OLD. Andy Finkel posted the driver on Usenect way back last November, and it can be found on most BBS and public networks. I AM using the A2090 with overscan up to 756x480 with NO PROBLEM. Is that enough overscan? |But, |under the FFS, the problem doesn't stop here - the drive also generates |errors in hi-res or interlaced with more than 4 colors. Which BETA version of FFS? Do you know how many were produced? How did your dealer get hold of an "unreleased" product? If you are a beta tester for CBM the place to post this is BIX, not this forum. But then, do you know what is the meaning of "beta" version as opposed to "released" version? -- Marco Papa 'Doc' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= uucp:...!pollux!papa BIX:papa ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo Schwab [quoting Rick Unland] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) (06/27/88)
In article <7528@watdragon.waterloo.edu> mwjones@lion.waterloo.edu (Morgan Jones) writes: >The hardware is a B2000 with 2090 and 28ms SCSI hard drive. Naturally, the >system starts generating errors when the screen is in overscan mode. But, >under the FFS, the problem doesn't stop here - the drive also generates >errors in hi-res or interlaced with more than 4 colors. This sounds like the problem that was corrected very recently in the driver. The November version of the driver fixed this for st506, the latest version (available on bix and I think other networks as well) fixes it for SCSI as well. The new version is in an ARC file on bix named I believe HD34.4. It may not totally solve the problem, but should reduce it considerably. The real cause for this is the FIFO overflowing on the controller. When the system is in man-color hi-res modes, the processor may not get around to granting the DMA request until the end of the scan line, or even frame in severe overscan. If there's too big a delay, the FIFO overflows (I think it's 64 bytes on the 2090.) Any controller that uses DMA might have this problem. The real trick is to identify that it happened, and restart the transfer without putting up a read/write error. FFS may add to the likely- hood of this due to the fact that it tends to start multi-block reads instead of reading 1 block at a time. This may be compounded on some of the old dealer-demo rev 3.9 motherboards, though I'm not sure (I'm a software person). I believe the Buster chip (main difference between 3.9 and 4.x) is responsible for DMA control. As a temporary bandage (that may or may not work): try adding a " Maxtransfer=512;" to the mountlist for the FFS partitions. This hopefully will stop it from using multi-block reads, and reduce the likely- hood of a r/w error until you get a copy of the new driver. It will cost you in speed, however. >The dealer called several controller manufacturers to see if they knew of >this problem. CA said that they'd never heard of the problem but would >look into it. SCA and ASDG both (after much digging) admitted that they >knew of the problem (I got the impression that they admitted that their >controllers suffered the same problem). The dealer is now ordering a SCA???? As in viruses??? Also, ASDG dropped their HD interface design some time back, it was never finished. DISCLAIMER: I'm not a hardware guy, and I didn't write/work on any of the software involved in this problem, and this is not official by any means. -- Randell Jesup, Commodore Engineering {uunet|rutgers|allegra}!cbmvax!jesup