mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu.UUCP (02/26/87)
Keywords:
Some things to be added to the "applications checklist" for Amiga
software:
* Does the program guru the machine in normal use? Does the
program guru the machine under under extreme circumstances
(such as memory full, disk full, other type of exception
condition)
* Does the program allocate memory for itself in a sensible
manner (i.e. in blocks at a time and not all free memory in
the machine)
* Does the program use Intuition in a "standard" manner? i.e.
left button for selecting/grabbing/dragging, right button for
menus/global control, use of scroll bars, follows style
outlines in the intuition manual for layout of menus and
requesters, etc.
Secondly, I have the wackiest problem with my amiga regarding the
kickstart disk. If I place the kickstart disk in the drive BEFORE the
Amiga makes its test-tone sounds and places the kickstart picture on
the screen, all is well. If I wait until the kickstart picture
appears before inserting the disk, however, it refuses to accept the
disk as a Kickstart disk. Is it possible my drive is out of alignment
and needs to be fixed? BTW, my amiga is turned on its side next to my
desk, if the orientation of the machine has any effect on disk drive
performance.
--M
--
Mike Portuesi / Carnegie Mellon University Computer Science Department
ARPA: mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu
UUCP: {harvard | seismo | ucbvax | decwrl}!spice.cs.cmu.edu!mjp
BITNET: s314mp1u@cmccvb (but only if you must)
"Amiga hackers do it graphically, with lots of sound effects"billk@crash.UUCP (02/27/87)
mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Mike Portuesi) wrote about problems with getting his
drive to read Kickstart when he put it in after the picture comes up and asks
for the disk. He then mentions that his Amiga is "turned on its side" next to
his desk.
I have a friend... (really?)... ahem! I have a friend who tried tipping his
Amiga sideways to save DESK (not disk!) space and began having trouble with
the internal drive. His was far worse: the disk would read fine, but whenever
it wrote, it would trash the disk. When he cald me up and told me about this,
I told him to put his Amiga back down on the desk normally. The problem
disappeared (or so we thought, because it began to seem to be writing
correctly again) but not entirely. It seems that his drive became
mis-adjusted from having it tipped sideways. When righted it was still ever
so slightly out of alignment that it would slowly, slowly trash all the disks
that it wrote to.
My advice would be to NOT "turn your Amiga on its side"!!!
My question, however, is this: What are these, cheap drives? The 3.5" drives
used in portable computers can be tipped and turned every which way without
any problems. I had thought my froend's drive to be a fluke but now I doubt
it... How come we got cheap drives???? :-(
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Kelly {sdcsvax, akgua, hplabs!hp-sdd}!crash!pnet01!billk
Passenger to flight attendant: What kind of plane is this?
Flight attendant to passenger: A DC10, sir.
Passenger : A DEE CEE ONE ZERO?
Flight attendant : Uh... yes, sir.
Passenger : What's that in decimal?
Ha ha, that was supposed to be a joke...!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~page@ulowell.UUCP (02/28/87)
billk@pnet01.CTS.COM (Bill Kelly) wrote in article <847@crash.CTS.COM>: >I have a friend who tried tipping his Amiga sideways to save DESK >(not disk!) space I don't see how this can save desk space. How big is his monitor? >My advice would be to NOT "turn your Amiga on its side"!!! I think what you meant was not turn your disk drive on its side. I can assure you the position of the disk drive (h vs v) should not matter. The Amiga next to me has its drive sideways, and has for a long time, with no problems. I seem to remember an Amiga engineer a while back (about 18 months) say it won't hurt the drive; C-A does it all the time too. You should check other things. First is disk quality. Second is proximity to the monitor degaussing circuits and other electromagnetic fields - tipping the *amiga* up could bring it too close to these circuits. Other suggestions: air flow (heat problems, dirt), direct sunlight, etc. How could the keyboard fit if you tipped the Amiga on its side? :-) ..Bob -- Bob Page, U of Lowell CS Dept. ulowell!page, page@ulowell.CSNET