/C=USA/ADMD=TELEMAIL/PRMD=RESTON.SSFP/O=tmis/S=Fabian/G=Theodore/I=P/@gemini.arc.nasa.gov (03/22/90)
in the following article Paul Calamai asks:
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I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M
Date: 21-Mar-1990 00:59am EST
From: FABIAN
Dept: NASA
TO: fabian ( FABIAN THEODORE P@A1@TM0006 )
Subject: [From: <apollo-request@umix.cc.umich.edu>] DOS on an Apollo - is
it any good?
From: phcalamai%water%maytag.uucp@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Paul H. Calamai)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Subject: DOS on an Apollo - is it any good?
A colleague of mine wants to know if Apollos provide good support for DOS
applications, development, etc. Could someone out there please let me know
the ins and outs regarding this possibility ASAP. They have to make a
decision before fiscal year end (money to spend and nowhere to spend it). We
have a small Apollo network (3 DN2500 diskless, 1 DN3500 with disk, 1 DN3000
with disk, etc) and they're thinking of connecting to our ring. We haven't
had any experience whatsoever with DOS emulation or hardware solutions so
please be as specific as possible and I will pass your
comments/recommendations on.
Thanks.
#....Paul Calamai
Dept. of Systems Design Engineering
U. of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ont.
(519) 885-1211 x3182.
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Paul,
you've got to consider a couple of things.. first, the Apollo DPCI Product is
to my knowlege still a 286 based DOS coprocessor.. it's usable, but it's very
awkward in certain circumstances..
eg. it supports only CGA or Mono graphics.. no EGA or VGA.. the window you
get to run in is somewhere on the order of 5 by 7 inches.. it's not a full
Apollo screen.. you can only have one DOS window running per Apollo node...
your "DOS" hard disk is really a 20mb file on your Apollo disk.. so you need
some space.. and it's real slow.. almost like running on an old XT... etc.
etc.
most applications we've tried to run on it have run.. including things like
installing an Ungermann-Bass network card, and using network applications...
there are third party vendors who market similar solutions.. one is Applied
Reasoning Corporation near Boston.. They've got a 386 coprocessor board (PC
Elevator) that duplicates the features and functions of the Apollo DPCI board,
but improves on them as well..
eg. the screen size is increased to the full monitor size.. EGA/VGA support is
added.. etc. etc.
but the performance is not comparible with a standard 386 clone.. the PC
Elevator functions about like a standard standalone 286 would..
Ted Fabian
NASA Lewis Research Center 216-433-6307 / FTS 297-6307
Cleveland, Ohio
tpfabian@nasamail.nasa.gov
tfabian@mars.lerc.nasa.gov
or that ridiculous X.400 address this is sent from
* my opinions are my own