jparker@watvlsi.waterloo.edu (James Parker) (07/15/88)
I have been told that the ST runs as much as 30% slower than 'normal' when used with the Atari monochrome monitor. I assume this means compared to running the same software using the color monitor. Does anyone know if this is true, and if it is, why ? Secondly, I have also heard reports of 68020/68881 boards available for the ST ( ie. a series of articles in the German magazine c't ) and at the same time, I have been told by several people that at present TOS does not handle the 68020 instruction set ( TOS uses instructions for system calls that are now legal 68020 instructions, etc). So, does this mean that those people using 68020's are running different operating systems...? Any who can enlighten me on these matters would be greatly appreciated. James
fst@mcgp1.UUCP (Skip Tavakkolian) (07/19/88)
In article <3960@watvlsi.waterloo.edu>, jparker@watvlsi.waterloo.edu (James Parker) writes: > Secondly, I have also heard reports of 68020/68881 boards available for > the ST ( ie. a series of articles in the German magazine c't ) and at the > same time, I have been told by several people that at present TOS does > not handle the 68020 instruction set ( TOS uses instructions for system > calls that are now legal 68020 instructions, etc). > So, does this mean that those people using 68020's are running different > operating systems...? > ... > James One of our German customers has IDRIS OS (our product) running on this 68020 board. As he tells me, that you also need the new/patched TOS ROMS which the manufacturer also supplies. He sent us the schematics for this board and our hardware engineer says it is pretty straight forward. They also sell a memory card for this 020 card. NOTE : the fact that our customer has IDRIS running on the 020 card, does not mean that we officially support it. We would officially support this card after testing it (we do not have one yet). Sincerely -- Fariborz ``Skip'' Tavakkolian UUCP ...!uw-beaver!tikal!mcgp1!fst
hase@netmbx.UUCP (Hartmut Semken) (07/21/88)
In article <3960@watvlsi.waterloo.edu> jparker@watvlsi.waterloo.edu (James Parker) writes: >I have been told that the ST runs as much as 30% slower than 'normal' when >used with the Atari monochrome monitor. >I assume this means compared to running the same software using the color >monitor. >Does anyone know if this is true, and if it is, why ? Hmm, ja. It's true: the VBLANK interrupt comes with 71 Hz instead of 60 HZ (or 50 Hz here in Germany..) That could slow him down a bit (but not 30%!). I see no speedup with the color monitor (subjective), but I do my work on mono and play on color :-) > >Secondly, I have also heard reports of 68020/68881 boards available for >the ST ( ie. a series of articles in the German magazine c't ) and at the >same time, I have been told by several people that at present TOS does >not handle the 68020 instruction set ( TOS uses instructions for system Ja. Tos runs into trouble with the stack format, with Line-F (the floating point instructions) and so on. >calls that are now legal 68020 instructions, etc). >So, does this mean that those people using 68020's are running different >operating systems...? If you really want to *use* the 881 (and 020), You'll need RTOS/PEARL or the like. We use RTOS for realtime applications (train controlling, controlling a [simulated] nuclear power plant) and I like the speed of the 020. The c't also published a patch and a modified TOS to run with the PAK68. The Line-F's are converted to (not used) Line-A's. 90% of all software runs under this TOS; the 10% *You* like will probably never run (Murphy :-)... I had a PAK68 and the modified TOS installed in my home ST. The speed was not soooo impressive ('cause the 020 can only run with 8 MHz in the ST). Another, cheaper modification will do almost the same: replace the 68000 with a socket. Put a board with a 12 MHz type, a new set of ROMs (not patched but faster; -OE used instead of -CE) and a little, fast adress decoder (fast DTACK on ROM access) into the socket. A very friend of mine is working on the little details about it. For now, it works *sometimes*. The fallback to 8 MHz on VPA (I/O access) seems to cause the trouble... summary: the $500+ "patch" with a 020/881(or 882 :-) and new ROM set is very useful with the german RTOS-UH (RealTime Operating System der Universitaet Hannover); it is not worth the money+trouble (hacking the hardware, new case, compatibility, still not impressive fast) for TOS. hase -- Hartmut Semken, Lupsteiner Weg 67, 1000 Berlin 37 hase@netmbx.UUCP High on a rocky promontory sat an Electric Monk on a bored horse. (D. Adams)