spencer@well.UUCP (Randal Spencer) (11/29/86)
Really, is that true? If you get a hard disk that is DMA it has a DMA chip in
it that is completely seperate from the Amiga DMA circuitry? So that must be
how the PC hard disks can be said to be DMA also. So what does that mean for
the lowly 3.5" floppies? They don't have their own DMA circuitry so do they
DMA only to chip memory and not to fast memory? Is it definate that when
an advertiser says that their hard disk is DMA then they mean that they have
one of those full memory DMA's and are not just using the Amiga DMA to Chip
memory? How does the sidecar do it? or is the side car just going to be slow?
Is the sidecar going to have 2 meg of sockets for Amiga memory and sockets to
bring the IBM memory up to 640K and an 8087 co-processor socket and is it going
to reach the market?
You know, in psychology (my sisters graduate degree) they say that the most
boring way to make conversation is to just keep asking questions. So I thought
I would provide this last piece of information to spice up this letter.
--
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Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)284-4740 ...well!spencer
I N F I N I T Y spencer@USCVAXQ.bitnet
Now working for |||||||||||::::... . . spencer@usc-oberon.arpa
But in no way |||||||||||||||::::.. .. . .
Officially representing ||||||||||||:::::... ..
s o f t w a r e
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-andy@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Andy Finkel) (12/03/86)
In article <2135@well.UUCP> spencer@well.UUCP (Randal Spencer) writes: >Really, is that true? If you get a hard disk that is DMA it has a DMA chip in >it that is completely seperate from the Amiga DMA circuitry? Yes, its true. So that must be >how the PC hard disks can be said to be DMA also. So what does that mean for >the lowly 3.5" floppies? They don't have their own DMA circuitry so do they >DMA only to chip memory and not to fast memory? This is also true. The trackdisk.device (which talks to the floppies) user the blitter. Is it definate that when >an advertiser says that their hard disk is DMA then they mean that they have >one of those full memory DMA's and are not just using the Amiga DMA to Chip >memory? I'd call and ask, personally. Byte-By-Byte's has a DMA chip. How does the sidecar do it? or is the side car just going to be slow? voodoo. >Is the sidecar going to have 2 meg of sockets for Amiga memory and sockets to >bring the IBM memory up to 640K and an 8087 co-processor socket and is it going >to reach the market? The answe to that last question is yes, it is going to reach the market. It is already available in Germany, I'm told. > >You know, in psychology (my sisters graduate degree) they say that the most >boring way to make conversation is to just keep asking questions. So I thought >I would provide this last piece of information to spice up this letter. > >-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)284-4740 ...well!spencer andy finkel -- andy finkel Commodore/Amiga {ihnp4|seismo|allegra}!cbmvax!andy or pyramid!amiga!andy Any expressed opinions are mine; but feel free to share. I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors. "Never make anything simple and efficient when it can be complex and wonderful."
daveh@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (12/03/86)
> > Really, is that true? If you get a hard disk that is DMA it has a DMA chip > .. completely seperate from the Amiga DMA circuitry? So what does that mean for > the lowly 3.5" floppies? They don't have their own DMA circuitry so do they > DMA only to chip memory and not to fast memory? True. If you go down to the lowest levels of 3 1/2" interface software, you're required to supply a 512 byte disk buffer in Chip memory, and of course the normal track buffer is as well in chip memory. The actual decoding of the MFM encoded data is done with the Amiga's blitter, which requires Chip memory. > Is it definate that when > an advertiser says that their hard disk is DMA then they mean that they have > one of those full memory DMA's and are not just using the Amiga DMA to Chip > memory? How does the sidecar do it? or is the side car just going to be slow? > Any external DMAed device will have to be a DMA device in the conventional sense; you can't use the Agnus supplied DMA to talk to external DMA devices; remember, this DMA can only take place over the 512K range of Chip memory, and is driven by the custom chips. An external DMA must be driven by an external DMA controller, though the rest of the system, being quite used to DMAs happening, will oblige that external DMA. The DMA can be to the Chip memory or any fast memory, base on the abilities of the external controller. The SideCar works though shared memory; an area of the Sidecar memory is accessable to both the PC and Amiga sides. > Is the sidecar going to have 2 meg of sockets for Amiga memory and sockets to > bring the IBM memory up to 640K and an 8087 co-processor socket and is it going > to reach the market? Last I saw, the SideCar would accept an internal Amiga side memory expansion board, though its not just filling sockets. The basic configurations are 256K and 512K I think, and the 256K version has the sockets available to add another 256K for a total of 512K. There is an 8087 socket, and the SideCar is already being sold in Canada; don't know how long before its in the US. > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)284-4740 ...well!spencer > I N F I N I T Y spencer@USCVAXQ.bitnet > Now working for |||||||||||::::... . . spencer@usc-oberon.arpa > But in no way |||||||||||||||::::.. .. . . > Officially representing ||||||||||||:::::... .. > s o f t w a r e > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave Haynie {caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh "Laws to supress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit. This is the fine point on which all the legal professions of history have based their job security." -Bene Gesserit Coda These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they may be yours too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
john13@garfield.UUCP (12/09/86)
In article <1048@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) writes: >In article <2135@well.UUCP> spencer@well.UUCP (Randal Spencer) writes: >How does the sidecar do it? or is the side car just going to be slow? >voodoo. >>Is the sidecar going to have 2 meg of sockets for Amiga memory and sockets to >>bring the IBM memory up to 640K and an 8087 co-processor socket and is it going >>to reach the market? >The answe to that last question is yes, it is going to reach the >market. It is already available in Germany, I'm told. >> Well, you have now been informed that it's available here in the Great White North :-). The PC hard-card we stuck in is partitionable, as many Amiga partitions as you want but only one IBM partition (I can see that's going to become another one of *those* words - like "implementation" or "algorithm" :-). Hard drive speed boost we haven't measured yet. It is, of course, mega-fast compared to floppies. There is a spot for a 1 meg Amiga expansion, but any internal IBM type memory can't be accessed by the Amiga. It doesn't pass the bus, but does pass the mouse/joystick ports. Haven't had it apart yet, but the boot-up message makes mention of Phoenix... well, Phoenix something. This would lead me to believe that the internals are PC-10 identical. 256K comes in the Sidecar. The manual does say not to use the Amiga power switch...but someone who shall remain nameless (not me) forgot this twice and didn't blow anything up. It multitasks wonderfully, even has slider gadgets for the IBM window (but you can also make it full-screen and borderless if you want). What I saw was all on the Workbench screen. Everything tried so far (we threw all our graphics demos at it to try to crash it) has worked without a hitch. The manual says "ALL IBM software". If the internals are PC-10ish, well, I've never seen anything not work on the PC-10. The German influence is present. You return to the "menue" and make the drive "aktive". But the manual is professionally printed, unlike many of the "preliminary version" manuals supplied even with some commercial products. That's about all I have time for for now. If I get the time between now and the end of exams, I will post info on any new products I see (let's have some more reviews!). Until then, feel free to e-mail any questions you may have on: DPaint II (this will take a *long* time to review! Is there a "software of the century" award? he says without smiley) Pro Video Character Generator Professional Text Engine Sidecar (of course) These are the latest/best products out this way. Someone please kick me if I forget to follow through with reviews :-). I see an ad for "Pagesetter" in the latest AmigaWorld. Is this a port of a Mac program? There is a *lot* of impressive stuff advertized & reviewed in that AmigaWorld, but their Q & A section could use help. "It's true that you can't have icons for directories created with the CLI..." John Russell UUCP: {akgua,allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4,seismo,utcsri}!garfield!john13 EAN: john13@garfield.mun.cdn CSNET: john13%garfield.mun.cdn@ubc.csnet
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (12/11/86)
> > I see an ad for "Pagesetter" in the latest AmigaWorld. Is this a port of a > Mac program? > > John Russell I've got a copy of PageSetter 1.0, which was just released at the World of Commodore show last week. I don't think it was a MAC port, but an original program. Anyway, the company's name is the Gold Disk, and so far they've no US distributer for it. It appears to be a very promising program. The program is really a pagesetting program, not to be confused with a word processor. What I mean by that is that you may normally use your favorite word processor or text editor to create large bodies of text, then you bring them into the pagesetter and lay them out. The pagesetter does include a small text editor of its own, just in case you want to quickly go between editing and layout. Not a bad text editor, not terribly powerful but it gets the job done. It also imports TextCraft, Scribble, or plain ASCII files. Another subsection of the main pagesetter is the graphics editor. All of the graphics used in this version are monochrome, and that't all that this version handles. It can read in either 320x200 or 640x200 IFF files created with any IFF compatible editor or other such program. The graphics editor allows you to cut and past, draw simple boxes or circles, and change brushes. As in DPAINT, you can make anything a brush. All brushes can be scaled or fipped in X or Y, though there's no rotation available. You can add in text of any Amiga font. Several grey scales are available for area filling; these are achieved via dithering like on a Mac or in a newspaper. Anything you edit here can be saved as an IFF file or imported to the main pagesetter via a clipboard. When copying to the clipboard, you've got the option of maintaining 1:1 aspect ratio or going to 5:4; when pasting from the clipboard you can get 1:1 or 4:5 aspect ratios. In the main pagesetter you start everything off by adding a page. The page can be set up in nearly any size, and you can request any number of columns to be set up. This doesn't force you into columns by any means, but it does create guides for these columns. You place text on the screen by creating a box. This is done simply by clicking on the box icon, then clicking the upper-right lower-left (or any other rectangle). Now you click on the pencil icon, and click in this box. The text from the text editor will fill as much of the box as possible. For a graphic, you click the paintbrush icon and then the box. For graphics, there's a fine control that lets you accurately position any boxed graphic within its box. If text doesn't all fit in the box, an indicator shows in the lower right. You can create another box, click on your first box, click on the "link" icon, and then on the second box. All text not fitting in the first will immediately spill over into the second. There are icons available to follow linked boxes in either direction, and to break links between boxes (which essentially give you two separate text files instead of one larger one). Any box can be edited; simply select a box by clicking on it, then select the edit icon. If its a text box, all of the associated linked text will show up in the text editor, which is immediately called up. If its a graphic box, the graphics editor is called up and this graphic will be available in the clipboard. There are also facilities for clearing boxes of their data, and for erasing boxes completely (this only kills data if the box is the last in a linked list). One of the nicest features of this system is the box preferences menu. This allows the total look of boxes to be changed on an individual basis. This tayloring includes modification of the text font, justification, between letter, word, and line spacing, and the box outline. It also allows for a box to be backfilled with a dithered shading. You can also choose if a box is to be transparent or opaque. Transparent boxes can be overlayed to any degree to allow text and graphic mixes or other similar things. Styles within individual fonts are changed via the text editor, using "\N" notation, where \b gives boldface, \i italics, etc. Other supported styles are underlined and boxed text. Overall, this is a nice program. It has the feel of a CAD program, with all of the graphic manipulations, zooming, etc. that you typically do with it. This version will support any printer available through a perferences selected printer driver. They are planning an extended version of this designed to drive a postscript printer. It'll be supplied with a set of postscript fonts for the Amiga display. The release disk (colored yellow, after the company's name) is supplied with 1.1 Workbench software. I immediately transferred it a 1.2 disk (no CP here) with no problem at all. At home I have an MPS-1000 printer, and the 1.1 system, either MPS 1000 driver or printer.device, had a few troubles. Essentially, this program progressively turns sections of each page into RastPorts, which it then sends to the printer via Amiga system functions. Several RastPorts must be dumped per page. With my printer, the reset between RastPorts causes a blank line to appear several times along the page. This still happens under 1.2, I'm looking into exactly why right now. The Gold Disk people out at WOC used a laser printer, I believe a Queme, which emulates an Epson dot matrix printer. They had no troubles whatsoever. I've also tried this on an HP LaserJet, but the LaserJet didn't have enough memory for even one RastPort dump; it wouldn't have worked with any Amiga graphics dump. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave Haynie {caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh "Laws to supress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit. This is the fine point on which all the legal professions of history have based their job security." -Bene Gesserit Coda These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they may be yours too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~