"Hugh_Messenger.EuroPARC"@XEROX.COM (11/14/88)
John, I might as well add a few grievances of my own to the ongoing SLM804 knocking session. 1) The Alt-Help screen dump. If the SLM804 is not on-line and warmed up (ie. if the back door is open), the screen dump will just wedge. It doesn't come back when the printer does come on line, the only fix is a reboot. This is a monumental pain in the ass. Why oh why can't there be just one little line of code that checks printer status and gives the user some useful, informative feedback if the printer is off line? This is the kind of behaviour that drives me up the wall and makes me want to junk the whole @$%*! system and go buy a Mac. OK, I'm joking, but you take my point? 2) The last-page syndrome. If you double click on a document and select the print option, it prints fine except that the last page does not get printed - instead, it lurks about ready to leap out and attach itself to the front of the next document you print. This wouldn't be so bad, only as there is no FF at the end of the errant last page (which is presumably the problem), the second document gets run straight onto the end of it, thereby screwing up any page oriented formatting. Sounds trivial, but another in a long line of 'minor' annoyances with this printer. (Having siad this, it occurs to me that there may be a configurable option one can set via the control panel. If there is, I'll humbly retract this particular gripe). 3) This isn't really a grump, more of a puzzle. Occasionally in the past I have booted my machine with hard disk and laser turned off - I just want to copy some floppies or some such simple minded operation. If I do this, it is then impossible to format or copy floppies. Why so? How come just having something plugged in to the dma port affects floppy formatting, fer cryin' out loud? -- Hugh
hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) (11/18/88)
In article <881114-093413-1227@Xerox> "Hugh_Messenger.EuroPARC"@XEROX.COM writes: >3) This isn't really a grump, more of a puzzle. Occasionally in the past I >have booted my machine with hard disk and laser turned off - I just want to >copy some floppies or some such simple minded operation. If I do this, it >is then impossible to format or copy floppies. Why so? How come just >having something plugged in to the dma port affects floppy formatting, fer >cryin' out loud? > > -- Hugh I noticed this on my Mega. The funny thing is, this didn't happen on my 1040. (At least, I don't remember it happening...) I used to run the system just fine with my hard drive plugged in but turned off (too noisy, and I suspect that iot overheated easily...). Now, if I want to access the floppy drive at all, I have to remember to power up the hard drive as well. (I still keep it turned off most of the time, 'cause it's still noisy, though the new case has a fan...) It would seem that some type of signals are getting lost out the DMA port, and they were probably sufficiently buffered in the 1040 to not be a problem... -- / /_ , ,_. Howard Chu / /(_/(__ University of Michigan / Computing Center College of LS&A ' Unix Project Information Systems
apratt@atari.UUCP (Allan Pratt) (11/19/88)
In article <881114-093413-1227@Xerox> "Hugh_Messenger.EuroPARC"@XEROX.COM writes: > 2) The last-page syndrome. If you double click on a document and select > the print option, it prints fine except that the last page does not get > printed [...] The control panel for the Diablo driver has a "Form Feed" button which turns grey if there's data "lurking" in the buffer. Click this button to get the last page. You forget that the driver can't tell what the "last page" is, and the Desktop, as you notice, doesn't send a formfeed after the file it prints. > 3) This isn't really a grump, more of a puzzle. Occasionally in the past I > have booted my machine with hard disk and laser turned off [...] This is a known problem. You should never have an SLM804 connected to your system but not turned on. If you don't want it, disconnect it from the chain of DMA devices before turning on your ST. ============================================ Opinions expressed above do not necessarily -- Allan Pratt, Atari Corp. reflect those of Atari Corp. or anyone else. ...ames!atari!apratt
bms@bdt.UUCP (Vance Chin) (11/22/88)
(Howard Chu) writes: >Hugh writes: >>3) This isn't really a grump, more of a puzzle. Occasionally in the past I >>have booted my machine with hard disk and laser turned off - I just want to >>copy some floppies or some such simple minded operation. If I do this, it >>is then impossible to format or copy floppies. Why so? ..... >> -- Hugh > >I noticed this on my Mega. The funny thing is, this didn't happen on my 1040. >(At least, I don't remember it happening...) I used to run the system just >fine with my hard drive plugged in but turned off (too noisy, and I suspect >that iot overheated easily...). Now, if I want to access the floppy drive at >all, I have to remember to power up the hard drive as well. (I still keep it >turned off most of the time, 'cause it's still noisy, though the new case has >a fan...) It would seem that some type of signals are getting lost out the >DMA port, and they were probably sufficiently buffered in the 1040 to not be >a problem... Howard you were almost right in your last comment about this problem. The problem is not in the buffering because there is NO buffering at all. This is true for all of the ST's. The DMA chip is used to drive both the floppy drive controller and the DMA port connector in the back. So if one were to ground any of the signals on the DMA port the floppy drives would also cease to work. When you have the power turned off on the Hard drive it leaves the buffer chips unpowered. This can create a load on the signals coming from the ST. There is no easy way to get around the problem, unless you what to disconnect the Hard drive. You could add a switch to dissable the host adapter, we did this on our new host adapter. If there is some interest I can look into finding out how to do this on the SH204. By the way you might be interested in why the DMA cable is so short. Since the DMA port has no buffers this also means it has no termination. Without termination there is crosstalk between the signals in the DMA cable. The crosstalk is caused by stray capacitance between wires in the cable. With longer cables the capacitance increases to an unacceptable level. Hope this helps..... Vance Chin @ Berkeley Microsystems UUCP: {uunet,ucbvax}!unisoft!bdt!bms Mail(new address): PO Box 20119, Oakland, CA 94620 Phone: (415) 547-2191
c60a-2bn@web-2g.berkeley.edu (Lawrence Chiu) (11/23/88)
Vance, are there any updates available to current owners of the BMS software? Lawrence Y. Chiu; University of California, Berkeley.