flocchini@deneb.ucdavis.edu (0048;0000002402;200;745;53;) (11/26/87)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** There has been some discussion regarding how CSA loads their 32 bit memory into the system. I am currently using a CSA Turbo on the 1000. I have 1MB of 32 bit ram and 6MB of 16 bit ram. The 32 bit ram does not autoconfigure. It is added to the memory pool above the normal space with a command supplied by CSA. As far as I can tell this memory is accessed first when loading programs. I have run the memory speed test that appeared on an early Fish disk and with the 32 bit memory enabled the execution is about 4 times faster. Other programs susch as Tom Rokicki's TeX run approximately 2 times faster with this memory enabled. CSA does not at least at the time I received my system (about a year ago) supply a replacement math library. I just received the Sculpt 3D 68020/68881 version and there is indeed a considerable speed increase with this version. There is mention of 1.3 having a library for 68881. It would be ideal if there was some way to check for the 68881 and then default to the library specific for that chip. As a side note I have been pleased with the support from CSA. Their products coupled with ASDG's memory board has been a relatively trouble free system. For me it has kept me with the 1000. I see the 2000 as having some benefits but with the investment in the 68020 boards etc I see no reason to upgrade. Again this only reflects my own situation and my own needs. It is not meant to rekindle any 1000 , 2000 upgrade wars. Bob Flocchini University of California Davis flocchini @deneb.ucdavis.edu
harald@ccicpg.UUCP ( Harald Milne) (11/28/87)
In article <585@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>, flocchini@deneb.ucdavis.edu (0048;0000002402;200;745;53;) writes: > CSA does not at least at the time I received my system (about a year ago) > supply a replacement math library. Thanks for that answer. > I just received the Sculpt 3D 68020/68881 version and there is indeed a > considerable speed increase with this version. Just what is "considerable". Could you quantify that in terms of X times? My feeling is the 68020 with 32-bit memory just doesn't buy you that much in performace with Sculpt 3D, since it is floating point intensive. (Except of course the speedup of software IEEE emulation!) > There is mention of 1.3 having a library for 68881. It would be ideal if there > was some way to check for the 68881 and then default to the library specific > for that chip. I thought the current version 1.2 checked for the presence of which CPU, and tried a 68881 instruction to see if it was present. Didn't someone from CBM say that a while ago? I was very curious about the mathieedoubbas.library when I got Videoscape 3D. I did a hex/ascii dump and saw a few extra routines that were not mentioned in the RKM manuals. Seems to me it would be very TRIVIAL to simply patch the proper 68881 instruction sequences to accomplish the same task. > As a side note I have been pleased with the support from CSA. Their products > coupled with ASDG's memory board has been a relatively trouble free system. > For me it has kept me with the 1000. I see the 2000 as having some benefits > but with the investment in the 68020 boards etc I see no reason to upgrade. > Again this only reflects my own situation and my own needs. It is not meant > to rekindle any 1000 , 2000 upgrade wars. Relax. War is a state of mind. It is good to hear some info though! Thanks! > Bob Flocchini -- Work: Computer Consoles Inc. (CCI), Advanced Development Group (ADG) Irvine, CA (RISCy business! Home of the CCI POWER 6/32) UUCP: uunet!ccicpg!harald
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (12/01/87)
in article <6313@ccicpg.UUCP>, harald@ccicpg.UUCP ( Harald Milne) says: >> It would be ideal if there was some way to check for the 68881 and then >> default to the library specific for that chip. > I thought the current version 1.2 checked for the presence of which > CPU, and tried a 68881 instruction to see if it was present. Didn't someone > from CBM say that a while ago? Sure is. The OS checks the CPU type, and if there's a 68881 installed, and stores these as flags in ExecBase. I wrote an extremely simple program to display your CPU configuration awhile back; I'll post it here right away. -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga Usenet: {ihnp4|uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh "The B2000 Guy" PLINK : D-DAVE H BIX : hazy "I can't relax, 'cause I'm a Boinger!"