ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) (02/03/91)
Here's some info on the MegaSTe from Gregory (carter@garfield.cs.wisc.edu).
---------------------------
For those of you who are curious about the new and rather hard to
find Mega STe in the US, here are some performance figures:
Quick Index 1.8
---------------
Tos 1.0 Tos 1.4 Tos 1.6
Cpu Memory 165% ---- -----
Reg 205% ---- -----
Divide 204% ---- -----
Shifts 208% 207% -----
Dma 64K Read 5680% ----- -----
Gemdos Files 1583% 1607% -----
Disk RPM 2408 ----- -----
TOS text 121%/536%(Turbo) 386%(Turbo) 342%(Turbo)
string 118%/1911%(Turbo) 1288%(Turbo) 1181%(Turbo)
scroll 181%/195%(Turbo) 140%(Turbo) 110%(Turbo)
GEM Dialog 209%/460%(Turbo) 437%(Turbo) 276%(Turbo)
The MEGA STe is really an awesome machine. Its very fast, Atari has mightily
improved the hard disk controller, I get three times the thruput than
on my old SH204, and the drive itself that came with it is a 157N, a very
nice 50 megabyte hard drive.
Through the VME slot on the back, I popped out the card, and looked inside
too see SIMM's, a nice 90 WATT power supply, and a vacant 68881 socket.
I noticed too, that the, (cannoy confirm have to rip the whole machine
a part which I may do this weekend), but the floppy drive looks like
a 1.4 megabyte drive, sony mechanism. The floppy drive controller
chip is socketed so even though its a WD 1772, it may be easily removed
in the future for a better flopyy controller.
I am a US developer, so I got mine under the wire, ONE LEFT. In fact, there
were only 10 MACHINE shipped to thr US, by developer request. The rest
went to the European and Canadian community. You cannot not NOBODY CAN
get one in the US. If some guy tries to con you, wait till around
April/May, when they should be made available in the US.
The Spectre GCR works very nice with this machine. You get hard disk
performance of something between a IIfx and IIsi. 600-700 kiloBYTES per
second. 33ms access time.
I am very pleased. The retail value of the machine is $1979.99. TOS 2.05's
desktop is REALLY NICE, hell, its even USEFUL. It packs HOT KEYS,
item grouping which is MacLIKE, very MAC LIKE and command key equivalents.
I think much better than NeoDesk. The copy operations are VERY efficient
and quick. You can select your own ICONS for different things on the desktop
color them, hell even color your windows individually. Now the desktop
looks pretty and functional in color!
The Machine has 8Mhz/16Mhz/16Mhz with cache options. YOU should see how SNAPPY
this thing is with TURBO ST installed at 16Mhz cache on. You could now use
an ST for a very good X Terminal(If youcould find the software).
The keyboard feel is very MAClike. The key tops are smaller so you can
type faster and quicker. They are no longer MUSHY. Keyboard is very
nicely laid out as far as physical form is concerned. It can mold itself
to the front of the cpu housing, for a perfect fit or can simply be place
in any position you want. (Its also MUCH better built than the MEGA's old
flimsy keyboard design).
The preliminary documentation for the machine is not complete yet.
Many of the examples in the documentation manual is a bit misleading.
For example, the back of the Mega STe in the documentation is shown
to have two fan ports, and the VME slot is labled wrong.
What is also confusing is that the mono mode indicated in the manual
says two colors are available on the MEGA STe, from a palette of 4096,
at 640x400?! I of course can't test this as I only have the SM124
to work on.
I am very satisfied with the layout of the machine, the reset key is
in an easily accessable location, along with the keyboard port, which
makes positioning the keyboard much more intelligent than on the MEGA
ST machines.
Now here is the port listing from the DOCS:
Processor: 16Mhz 68000
Math CoProcessor 68881/2(Optional)
Memory 2 or 4 Depending on Model
Graphics 320x200x16
640x200x4
640x400x2
Color 4096 Colors
Interfaces Midi IN/OUT
VME-compatible Eurocard
(Comes filled/Serial Port)
Monitor port (RGB)
Television port
Parallel port
1 Serial Port
2 Modem(RS232C)
Floppy disk port
LAN Interface
ACSI DMA port
(10 Megabits per second)
ROM Cartridge port
(128K)
Mouse/Joystick port
Stereo RCA ports
Sound Generator Pulse Coded Modulated
sound (8bit DA Converter)
3 voices from 30Hz to
above audiable range
Keyboard 95-key intelligent
keyboard using its own
microprocessor.
Power Consumption 95 WATTS MAX.
Physical characteristics Hieght: 3.54; Width 19.29
Depth 11.41
--Gregory
---------------------------------
--
Ed Krimen ...............................................
||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico
||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661
/ | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) (02/03/91)
In article <1991Feb03.062924.15318@ecst.csuchico.edu> ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes: >Here's some info on the MegaSTe from Gregory (carter@garfield.cs.wisc.edu). > >--------------------------- > >The Spectre GCR works very nice with this machine. You get hard disk >performance of something between a IIfx and IIsi. 600-700 kiloBYTES per >second. 33ms access time. I'm just curious, are all ST hard disks this slow ? 33ms. > >I am very pleased. The retail value of the machine is $1979.99. TOS 2.05's This seems to be a lot for a 68000 based machine. > >Now here is the port listing from the DOCS: > >Graphics 320x200x16 > 640x200x4 > 640x400x2 > >Color 4096 Colors What's the story with 640x400x2 ? An amiga can do 640x400x16 AND even 640x400x4096, without any additional hardware. > >--Gregory > >--------------------------------- > >-- > Ed Krimen ............................................... > ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico > ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 > / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0 Matt Crowd.
glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) (02/04/91)
In article <1991Feb4.100645.23401@qut.edu.au> lunnon@qut.edu.au writes: >In article <1991Feb3.121355.5874@marlin.jcu.edu.au>, glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) writes: >> In article <1991Feb03.062924.15318@ecst.csuchico.edu> ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes: >>>Now here is the port listing from the DOCS: >>> >>>Graphics 320x200x16 >>> 640x200x4 >>> 640x400x2 >>> >>>Color 4096 Colors >> >> What's the story with 640x400x2 ? An amiga can do 640x400x16 AND even >> 640x400x4096, without any additional hardware. > >640*400 only in flicker mode (Interlaced) Anyone who uses an Amiga in 640x400 or greater has a de-interlcing card or runs in productivity mode, 640x400x4. Try doing 1280x512x2 on an ST with NO extra hardware, it's not possible, it is on an amiga. >Try to do anything usefull in an unexpanded amiga while displaying a 640x200 >x16 , extra-halfbright pic. More than 2 planes at 640*200 ( which is the >same as amiga 640x400 ) in an 8 MHz 68K system will require cpu cycles to The Amiga's graphics are far superior to the ST for speed and it's a well known fact. >acquire video data. In the more colourful video modes you have to run your >CPU in the intervals. > >This is why amigas have limits on video ram. ST's have no limit on video ram >except the inherent ST memory limits this makes frame animation much easier >on an ST. There may be a physical limit to CHIP ram, but all the serious 8Meg Sound/Animation players use bank switching, it's not a problem at all. > > BOB >>> >>>--Gregory >> >> Matt Crowd. One look at Gem on an IBM turned me off the ST for life. ps. How about multi-tasking on an ST ?? Impossible.
lunnon@qut.edu.au (02/04/91)
In article <1991Feb3.121355.5874@marlin.jcu.edu.au>, glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) writes: > In article <1991Feb03.062924.15318@ecst.csuchico.edu> ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu (Ed Krimen) writes: >>Here's some info on the MegaSTe from Gregory (carter@garfield.cs.wisc.edu). >> >>--------------------------- >> >>The Spectre GCR works very nice with this machine. You get hard disk >>performance of something between a IIfx and IIsi. 600-700 kiloBYTES per >>second. 33ms access time. > > I'm just curious, are all ST hard disks this slow ? 33ms. No It depends whick mech is installed, mine comes in at 300 MB 720 K/s 10 ms using ratehd. This is a supra adapter and a Wren V > >> >>I am very pleased. The retail value of the machine is $1979.99. TOS 2.05's > > This seems to be a lot for a 68000 based machine. How much is a A2000 ?????? > >> >>Now here is the port listing from the DOCS: >> >>Graphics 320x200x16 >> 640x200x4 >> 640x400x2 >> >>Color 4096 Colors > > What's the story with 640x400x2 ? An amiga can do 640x400x16 AND even > 640x400x4096, without any additional hardware. 640*400 only in flicker mode (Interlaced) Try to do anything usefull in an unexpanded amiga while displaying a 640x200 x16 , extra-halfbright pic. More than 2 planes at 640*200 ( which is the same as amiga 640x400 ) in an 8 MHz 68K system will require cpu cycles to acquire video data. In the more colourful video modes you have to run your CPU in the intervals. This is why amigas have limits on video ram. ST's have no limit on video ram except the inherent ST memory limits this makes frame animation much easier on an ST. BOB R.Lunnon@qut.edu.au > >> >>--Gregory >> >>--------------------------------- >> >>-- >> Ed Krimen ............................................... >> ||| Video Production Major, California State University, Chico >> ||| INTERNET: ekrimen@ecst.csuchico.edu FREENET: al661 >> / | \ SysOp, Fuji BBS: 916-894-1261 FIDONET: 1:119/4.0 > > > Matt Crowd.
bill@mwca.UUCP (Bill Sheppard) (02/05/91)
[Various ST-bashing and Amiga gibberish deleted]
>One look at Gem on an IBM turned me off the ST for life.
If you've been turned off of the ST for life than I trust you have more
useful things to do with your time than to read an ST newsgroup. Please
leave.
--
################################################################################
# Bill Sheppard -- bills@microware.com -- {uunet,sun}!mcrware!mwca!bill #
# Microware Systems Corporation --- OS-9: Seven generations beyond __/_!! #
#######Opinions expressed are my own, though you'd be wise to adopt them!#######kurt@ritcsh.csh.rit.edu (Kurt Mosiejczuk) (02/05/91)
In article <1991Feb4.014940.14419@marlin.jcu.edu.au> glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) writes: >Anyone who uses an Amiga in 640x400 or greater has a de-interlcing card >or runs in productivity mode, 640x400x4. (NOTE: mention of additional hardware on AMIGA) > >Try doing 1280x512x2 on an ST with NO extra hardware, it's not possible, >it is on an amiga. Now notice the comparison to an unmodified ST. Boy, how about if I compare an ST with every available upgrade against an Amiga 500... > >>Try to do anything usefull in an unexpanded amiga while displaying a 640x200 >>x16 , extra-halfbright pic. More than 2 planes at 640*200 ( which is the >>same as amiga 640x400 ) in an 8 MHz 68K system will require cpu cycles to > >The Amiga's graphics are far superior to the ST for speed and it's a well >known fact. I didn't know that... > >>acquire video data. In the more colourful video modes you have to run your >>CPU in the intervals. >> >>This is why amigas have limits on video ram. ST's have no limit on video ram >>except the inherent ST memory limits this makes frame animation much easier >>on an ST. > >There may be a physical limit to CHIP ram, but all the serious 8Meg >Sound/Animation players use bank switching, it's not a problem at all. That isn't the point, the ST can do that WITHOUT bank switching... >>> Matt Crowd. > >One look at Gem on an IBM turned me off the ST for life. > >ps. How about multi-tasking on an ST ?? Impossible. Sorry pal, but you lose... How about MiNT or Minix... Oh, why are you on this group anyway, you don't see me over in the ten trillion amiga groups saying how STs are infinitely better than Amigas and that you all are losers for buying them :-)... So GO AWAY... Kurt Mosiejczuk kurt@nick.csh.rit.edu
scale@abode.wciu.edu (Luis Outumuro) (02/05/91)
Hi Matt, You asked "Are all Atari hard drives this so? 33ms?"; no they are not. It is not an Atari hard drive, it is a Seagate ST157N in an Atari computer. Put in a better drive like a Conner or a Quantum and you would instantly see better access and data transfer performance. HD performance on the Atari is affected by both the host adapter and specifications (average access time and data transfer rate) of the particular HD mechanism. Bye..... Luis -- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Luis Mark Outumuro III | "Well... you're damned if you do, Computer Office Products 818/813-1051 | and you're damned if you don't!" Infoline 818/813-1053 | - Bart Simpson, 1990...
csbrod@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod ) (02/05/91)
glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) writes: >>> What's the story with 640x400x2 ? An amiga can do 640x400x16 AND even >>> 640x400x4096, without any additional hardware. >> >>640*400 only in flicker mode (Interlaced) >Anyone who uses an Amiga in 640x400 or greater has a de-interlcing card >or runs in productivity mode, 640x400x4. Productivity mode only comes with the A3000 which means a rather hefty price tag for a standard 640x400 resolution. >Try doing 1280x512x2 on an ST with NO extra hardware, it's not possible, >it is on an amiga. Again, this is only possible on an A3000. You're comparing apples and oranges, i.e. Commo's top line product against Atari's new base level product. This is not fair. (And again, 1280x512 is interlaced, isn't it?) >The Amiga's graphics are far superior to the ST for speed and it's a well >known fact. I talked to a Amiga games programmer about the Amiga blitter and he told me a different story. You're right when it comes to raster tricks: Doing this via the Copper chip is much faster than anything comparable on an ST. Comparing the basic resolutions, however, especially the ones that you need for every-day work (like 640x400) it shows that the ST's video design eats up less processor cycles than the A2000's video chips in comparable resolutions. >One look at Gem on an IBM turned me off the ST for life. You don't give up, eh? You're still comparing apples and oranges. GEM on an ST is much faster than on any PC I've seen it running yet, and the GEM desktop is much more functional. (And it really shines if compared to the Workbench.) >ps. How about multi-tasking on an ST ?? Impossible. Nonsense. We've had cooperative multitasking since the ST saw the light of day. I'm sure ATARI will give us something like a MultiFinder soon; I bet we will see such a beastie this year. To summarize: We don't question the Amiga's superiority in its field (Desktop Video, games, animations and the like). When comparing the Amiga and the ST series, please be fair: The MegaSTE is not the A3000's counterpart! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2, Things. Take. Time. D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, West Germany (Piet Hein) csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de ----------------------------------------------------------------------
jdutka@wpi.WPI.EDU (John Dutka) (02/05/91)
In article <1991Feb4.145332.10609@actrix.gen.nz> Roger.Sheppard@bbs.actrix.gen.nz writes: >Do we need this, Please stay in your own group, don't come in here to >pick a fight...Amiga People seem to have a BIG problem living with >there machines, why is this ??? if you don't like your Amiga go bye a PC... Your reply can also be seen as a flame - it's no better than the original posting - PLEASE STOP THIS! It's ruining an otherwise enjoyable newsgroup! -- | husc6!m2c!wpi!jdutka | "Hey, baby - wanna do some HEAT TRANSFER? | | jdutka@wpi.wpi.edu | Heh, heh, heh!" | | John Dutka, Jr. | -Mechanical Engineers On The Prowl |
scale@abode.wciu.edu (Luis Outumuro) (02/06/91)
Hi Matt, This discussion is leaning towards becoming a "flamewar". If you have something constructive to say or add, then fine; otherwise let's drop it. We all know the flaws of our respective machines, let's not rub anyone's nose it. Bye............ Luis -- """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Luis Mark Outumuro III | "Well... you're damned if you do, Computer Office Products 818/813-1051 | and you're damned if you don't!" Infoline 818/813-1053 | - Bart Simpson, 1990...
kentd@FtCollins.NCR.com (Kent.Dalton) (02/06/91)
>> >>The Spectre GCR works very nice with this machine. You get hard disk >>performance of something between a IIfx and IIsi. 600-700 kiloBYTES per >second. 33ms access time. > >I'm just curious, are all ST hard disks this slow ? 33ms. No. Hard drive access time has nothing to do with what computer it's interfaced to. Throughput does, however, and that is what the author was talking about. >> >>I am very pleased. The retail value of the machine is $1979.99. TOS 2.05's > >This seems to be a lot for a 68000 based machine. Please remember that is retail price. It'll probably go for substantially less when it's available for sale here (U.S.). I won't speculate any further since they aren't generally available. >> >>Now here is the port listing from the DOCS: >> >>Graphics 320x200x16 >> 640x200x4 >> 640x400x2 >> >>Color 4096 Colors >What's the story with 640x400x2 ? Duh. That means that in this mode the machine can display 640 dots horizontally and 400 vertically with a choice of 2 different colors :^) :^) >An amiga can do 640x400x16 AND even >640x400x4096, without any additional hardware. Funny, I don't seem to remember the poster saying the amiga couldn't do that or that the STe could? It's not relevant, and could potentially start a flame-war... Heck it's not even news, the amiga has been able to display that resolution since 1986-7 and the ST series has been doing 640x400 in monochrome for ages. IMHO, Both machines' stock graphics need updating to be considered "state of the art" -- /**************************************************************************/ /* Kent Dalton * EMail: Kent.Dalton@FtCollins.NCR.COM */ /* NCR Microelectronics * CIS: 72320,3306 */ /* 2001 Danfield Ct. MS470A * */ /* Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 * (303) 223-5100 X-319 */ /**************************************************************************/ Fortune: Teamwork is essential -- it allows you to blame someone else.
glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) (02/07/91)
In article <1991Feb5.123429.1716@informatik.uni-erlangen.de> csbrod@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Claus Brod ) writes: >glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) writes: > >>>> What's the story with 640x400x2 ? An amiga can do 640x400x16 AND even >>>> 640x400x4096, without any additional hardware. >>> >>>640*400 only in flicker mode (Interlaced) > >>Anyone who uses an Amiga in 640x400 or greater has a de-interlcing card >>or runs in productivity mode, 640x400x4. > >Productivity mode only comes with the A3000 which means a rather hefty >price tag for a standard 640x400 resolution. You are wrong. I have an Amiga 2000 running productivity mode, it is possible on a 500/2000/2500 amiga as well, all it requires is the new Denise chip which costs $30, and Workbench 2.0. > >>Try doing 1280x512x2 on an ST with NO extra hardware, it's not possible, >>it is on an amiga. > >Again, this is only possible on an A3000. You're comparing apples and >oranges, i.e. Commo's top line product against Atari's new base level >product. This is not fair. (And again, 1280x512 is interlaced, isn't >it?) You are wrong again. It is interlaced, but this display can be used on about the cheapest monitor you can find. By the way, we can do 1280x256x4, WITHOUT flicker. >>The Amiga's graphics are far superior to the ST for speed and it's a well >>known fact. > >I talked to a Amiga games programmer about the Amiga blitter and he told >me a different story. You're right when it comes to raster tricks: >Doing this via the Copper chip is much faster than anything comparable >on an ST. Comparing the basic resolutions, however, especially the >ones that you need for every-day work (like 640x400) it shows that >the ST's video design eats up less processor cycles than the A2000's >video chips in comparable resolutions. > Rubbish. The only graphical operation that is faster (very very marginally) on the ST is polygon filling as the blitter is not suited to it. The blitter can draw thousands of lines per frame and move pixels/data much faster than an ST. The Amiga does not take any processor cycles to do 640*400 with a flicker fixer, only using productivity in 4 colours takes chip bus time, but does not slow down fast mem access. You can always switch to 2 colour prod. (same as ST) and have no bus contention again. The Amiga video design is far superior to the ST, due to the dual access ram which allows parallel processing in different ram areas (gee I wonder why the Cray uses dual ram porting....?). I think your Amiga games programmer mustn't have even read the hardware manual yet. (BTW, I know it backwards) >>One look at Gem on an IBM turned me off the ST for life. > >You don't give up, eh? You're still comparing apples and oranges. >GEM on an ST is much faster than on any PC I've seen it running yet, >and the GEM desktop is much more functional. (And it really shines >if compared to the Workbench.) > Have you seen Workbench 2.0? GEM is total shit compared to 1.3, and compared to 2.0 well it isn't even in the running. GEM looks like it was written by some back yard lamer with Dr Dobbs guide to Operating systems as his only reference. >>ps. How about multi-tasking on an ST ?? Impossible. > >Nonsense. We've had cooperative multitasking since the ST saw the light >of day. I'm sure ATARI will give us something like a MultiFinder soon; >I bet we will see such a beastie this year. > Yeah well Multifinder sucks too, so if you eventually get something like it and can stop using PD hacks then you'll still be behind. So when is the ST getting virtual memory? >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Claus Brod, Am Felsenkeller 2, Things. Take. Time. >D-8772 Marktheidenfeld, West Germany (Piet Hein) >csbrod@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de >---------------------------------------------------------------------- matt crowd.
adamd@rhi.hi.is (Adam David) (02/07/91)
In <1991Feb4.014940.14419@marlin.jcu.edu.au> glmwc@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Matt Crowd) writes: >One look at Gem on an IBM turned me off the ST for life. One look at the dashboard in a Volkswagen put me off Porsche for life. :-) >ps. How about multi-tasking on an ST ?? Impossible. Please rephrase this. for instance, How about multi-tasking on an ST ?? Go for it. Alright, I know that TOS and GEM aren't inherently multitasking, but there are several multi-tasking OS available for the ST (including Minix). MiNT will run TOS programs on a multi-tasking basis. Any inadequacy in the ST design (whether in hardware or software) can be remedied. -- Adam David. adamd@rhi.hi.is
carter@cat27.cs.wisc.edu (Gregory Carter) (02/08/91)
Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM writes: >What's the story with 640x400x2 ? Duh. That means that in this mode the machine can display 640 dots horizontally and 400 vertically with a choice of 2 different colors :^) :^) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I should have rephrased it. On the TT it is possible to change these colors besides the BLACK and WHITE on the STe. I was just curious if it was possible if I could have any other colors in this mode, besides my MONO. That would be nice. --Gregory
buggs@cup.portal.com (William Edward JuneJr) (02/09/91)
Sounds like a nice machine, all except the graphics. The graphics are DEFINATELY seriously lacking! Guess you have to wait to buy an expen$ive card for the VME slot, eh? THEN you can buy the appropiate expen$ive monitor, too!
be@arium.stgt.sub.org (Bernd Ebach) (02/10/91)
In article <1991Feb8.080417.8298@daffy.cs.wisc.edu> carter@cat27.cs.wisc.edu (Gregory Carter) writes: (Sender was: news@daffy.cs.wisc.edu) > Sender: uucp@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM > writes: > > >What's the story with 640x400x2 ? ^ > > Duh. That means that in this mode the machine can display 640 dots > horizontally and 400 vertically with a choice of 2 different colors :^) :^) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Well should mean 'two bitplanes' what gives a choise of 4 colours. TschauTschau Bernd -- --------------------------------------------------------------- be@arium.stgt.sub.org | be@aragon.gtc.de | ud01@kauni2.bitnet ( X.400: ud01@ibm3090.rz.uni-karlsruhe.dbp.de ) ---------------------------------------------------------------
carter@cat23.cs.wisc.edu (Gregory Carter) (04/01/91)
The Mega STE Revision B motherboard: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | BACK VELCRO LITHIUM BAT | | | | 8530 FDC(UNDERNEATH HDC) | | POWER SUPPLY | | BIG SQUARE CHIP??? HARD DISK | | <-- VME CAGE ENTRANCE--> CONTROLLER | | VME SUPPORT CHIPS UNIT SELECTOR | | | | 68000 MMU?? 4 | | SIMM | | ACIA's 68881 MODULES | | GLUE?? (UNDER HARD DISK)| | | | | | 2 EPROMS/TOS | | FLOPPY DISK | |SERIES OF UNKNOWN CHIPS FRONT 8 DIP SWITCH BANK | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, this is preliminary, but its the best I could do, I have an early machine, amazingly NO JUMPERS anywhere, the board is very clean. Everything is pretty much socketed like in most early machines. There were quite a few chips I didn't understand, I didn't for example see the 68901. It must have been on the board somewhere, the MB is huge, though! I thought it was hilarious that I own the only ATARI machine with BUILT in VELCRO! The 10 Year Lithium battery is held in place by a big piece of velcro where the scsi would be on the TT. I didn't think I had a 68881, but I do. WHY, and if it will ever be of any use, who knows. I think Atari could have saved themselves some money though by dumping the blitter and math coprocessor. It really is stupid on a 16MHz M68000. The FDC is socketed underneath the Hard Disk Controller, and the drive I have is an EPSON drive, very quite, nice. I couldn't tell if it was an 1.4 meg drive or not, I forgot the serial number. I bet it isn't though. Lots of conspicuous large SQUARE chips on the board, many I do not know anything about. I suspect some were VME support chips. Others..WHO KNOWS. Ripping the machine open is not too hard...amazing, the hard disk is attached sort of half hazard. It SITS ontop of the SIMMS! You have to be careful NOT to squish your SIMMS or BREAK them off when you set the DRIVE BACK IN THE CASE. ONE screw on the bottom of the machine detaches the hard disk. The ribbon cable is quite long, so that you can pull the drive out and detach it. You have a double power cable extender that you must detach from the MB power supply. YOU CANNOT detach the cable from the drive, we tried no go. Even more bizarre, the top of the case is GLUED to the hard disk!!! I suppose if you want to add a 60/80 megabyte drive, it will have to be RE-GLUED!!! But it would be possible to change the drive no el problemo. Interesting, the power supply on my machine was rated at 70Watts PS case, though my docs say 90W??. When you pop the top of the case, the floppy drive is attached to the top of the case via three screws that are mounted through the drive to 4 posts on the top cover. Very easy to change the drive. Well, here is some software I wrote, I got the basic information from joe gaudreau@SUN who was kind enough to give me the information to make this possible. It switches the MEGA STE into 16Mhz during bootup so boottime is noticeably shorter. 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P!"@$* 0H""@$$ @$ > ,(! "D @i M !L@@$ +@ " &$ , # ( . !A "L @ ! ( h M X &$ *P ! $ 0 ! 90 ;!0 $ g M H 0* $ 1#I<5%520D]?f M0UQ!0TE#4RY34D-<4SA43S$V+D, <V%V95]S=&%C:P!M86EN %1U<F)O7V5Ne %9V%G90!#d c end Enjoy--Gregory
bgr@uncle-bens.rice.edu (Robert G. Rhode) (04/01/91)
In article <1991Mar31.181651.9813@daffy.cs.wisc.edu>, carter@cat23.cs.wisc.edu (Gregory Carter) writes: > > I didn't think I had a 68881, but I do. WHY, and if it will ever be of > any use, who knows. I think Atari could have saved themselves some money > though by dumping the blitter and math coprocessor. It really is stupid > on a 16MHz M68000. > I disagree. The software floating point routines even at 16 MHz could easily take 5 or 10 times as long as the 68881, and you will find that any computer that is halfway serious about graphics has a blitter or graphics engine that does BitBLT.