micha@ecrcvax.UUCP (Micha Meier) (02/19/88)
I've tried to use jlink.com to get virtual drives on the Amiga 3.5 drive, since
I wanted to put some software on one floppy and it was more than 600k.
After installing the program on the 3.5 floppy, I've of course set its write
protection because I don't want to write to it, especially not accidentally
and I want to avoid viruses as well (is an MS-DOS virus able to write
on this virtual drive at all?)
Now almost each time I want to access this virtual drive (e.g. making DIR)
Amiga would tell me 'disk write protected' and if I cancel it, I get
an error on the PC side. Is this behavior sound? When I'm using
a workbench floppy which is write protected, I also get the message but when
I cancel it, everything is ok.
Anyway, when I'm reading this newsgroup, my impression is that nobody is
really using the bridgeboard (or nobody has any problems with it?). Up to
now, I've been actually using only the PC and I do have problems all the time.
Perhaps it is only due to the sparse documentation to the bridgeboard,
I don't know. Does 'paste' always work on the PC? Sometimes I get really
wrong thing pasted. I've tried to use it like L8 on my Sun but, hum, it's
not the same.
Thanks for any hints, as usual.
--Micha
UUCP: {uunet|mcvax}!unido!ecrcvax!michaartw@pnet01.cts.com (Art Weiss) (02/22/88)
I think a lot of the problems stem from the inadeqate documentation that
comes with the Bridgeboard. Some of what is written in that manual is not
exactly clear. They did do a god job on the part that deals with installing a
hard disk. The section on Virtual Disks is very unclear and can easily lead to
misunderstandings. I think that they should have devoted at least 10 pages
just to that. And they didn't mention the fact that the PC can't boot off the
hard disk. As a matter of fact on page 60 it says:
"Format the PC partition of the hard disk using the MS-DOS format command.
If you want to boot from the hard disk, you must specify the /s option...."
Well it turns out that even if you do it that way it still doesn't boot. Now I
don't expect the Amiga side to boot off its partition, but the PC side ought
to. I have talked to some other folks who have BridgeBoards and none of them
seem to be able to get MS_DOS to boot off the hard disk.
So don't feel too bad if you're having some problems. You're not alone. I
think that it's mainly the documentation that's causing the problems, and not
the hardware.
...Artdfisk@hawk.ulowell.edu (David Fisk) (02/22/88)
In article <2571@crash.cts.com> artw@pnet01.cts.com (Art Weiss) writes: > "Format the PC partition of the hard disk using the MS-DOS format command. >If you want to boot from the hard disk, you must specify the /s option...." > >Well it turns out that even if you do it that way it still doesn't boot. Now I >don't expect the Amiga side to boot off its partition, but the PC side ought >to. I have talked to some other folks who have BridgeBoards and none of them >seem to be able to get MS_DOS to boot off the hard disk. > > ...Art Well, I am assuming that you mean you cannot get the BridgeCard to boot of of a PC hard disk, correct? You cannot boot it off of a virtual disk on the amiga side. You should, however, be able to boot the BridgeCard off of a PC hard disk, i've done it (not my BridgeCard though, it's the store I work for's). At first, our's wouldn't boot either. It turned out to be the fact that we had put the Amiga partition first on the disk. You must put the PC partition starting at cylinder 0 if you want to be able to boot off of the disk. (also no floppy in the drive) Does this help any? David Fisk University of Lowell Computer Science Major dfisk@hawk.ulowell.edu
schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein CATS) (02/22/88)
In article <2571@crash.cts.com> artw@pnet01.cts.com (Art Weiss) writes: > > "Format the PC partition of the hard disk using the MS-DOS format command. >If you want to boot from the hard disk, you must specify the /s option...." > >Well it turns out that even if you do it that way it still doesn't boot. Now I >don't expect the Amiga side to boot off its partition, but the PC side ought >to. I have talked to some other folks who have BridgeBoards and none of them >seem to be able to get MS_DOS to boot off the hard disk. > > ...Art Er uh... Seems you didnt talk to enough folks! My bridgeboard boots from a Western Digital HardCard with no problem. I just had this same conversation with a 1000/SideCar freind (Hi Rick!) a few weeks back. He had forgot to make his MS-DOS partition active. So make sure your dos (MS that is) partition is active. If its not - use Fdisk to make it active..... -- Dan Schein uucp: {ihnp4|allegra|burdvax|rutgers}!cbmvax!schein Commodore AMIGA ARPANET: cbmvax!schein@uunet.uu.net 1200 Wilson Drive Bix: dschein Plink: Dan*CATS West Chester PA 19380 phone: (215) 431-9100 ext. 9542 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ All spelling mistakes are a result of my efforts to avoid education :-) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I help Commodore by supporting the AMIGA. Commodore supports me by allowing me to form my own suggestions and comments.
gunther@cbmvax.UUCP (Ed Gunther QA) (02/22/88)
In article <2571@crash.cts.com> artw@pnet01.cts.com (Art Weiss) writes: > > > "Format the PC partition of the hard disk using the MS-DOS format command. > If you want to boot from the hard disk, you must specify the /s option...." > > Well it turns out that even if you do it that way it still doesn't boot. Now I > don't expect the Amiga side to boot off its partition, but the PC side ought > to. I have talked to some other folks who have BridgeBoards and none of them > seem to be able to get MS_DOS to boot off the hard disk. > So don't feel too bad if you're having some problems. You're not alone. I > think that it's mainly the documentation that's causing the problems, and not > the hardware. > > ...Art When using a hard disk/controller on the ibm side of the bus, you can boot the bridgeboard from it. You cannot boot the PC from a virtual device on the Amiga side. Did you make your PC partition active? This is easy to forget when partitioning a disk and you will not be able to boot off the pc hard drive then. As you indicated the instructions for installing an IBM hard disk are fairly detailed. If you still can't get it to work, email me your procedure. If there's sufficient interest, I'll post an even more detailed procedure. -- (((((((((()((((((((())(((((((()))((((((())))(((((()))))((((())))))(((())))))) __ Ed Gunther COMMODORE AMIGA TEST ENGINEERING / /\ "The LAST line of defense, if "THEY" let us!" < == /__\ UUCP ...{allegra,ihnp4,rutgers}!cbmvax!gunther \__ / \ PHONE 215-431-9356 (life or death only please!) "Disclaimer, heck no! NOooo PROBLEM. You have myyyy word on it." (((((((((()((((((((())(((((((()))((((((())))(((((()))))((((())))))(((()))))))
artw@pnet01.cts.com (Art Weiss) (02/24/88)
Thanx for the advice! I'll have to try that as soon as I log off. I didn't
know you had to do that. The instructions really should have mentioned it so
that folks like me would know about it.
...Art