jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) (01/18/90)
Thanks to the educational discount, I'm ordering one of the Amigas
with the XT Bridgeboard. I'd be greatly appreciative if someone who
owns such a system could answer some questions for me. Such as:
a) Can it access the 3.5 drives in IBM 720k mode?
b) Any problems running software packages such as Turbo-C
(I run mostly unprotected business and language packages.)
c) Any comments from experience to warn/advise me about the system?
Email replies will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
--
John M. Adams --*-- Professional Student on the six-year plan!
Internet: jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu -or- vladimir@maple.circa.ufl.edu
"Houston, we have a negative on that orbit trajectory." Calvin & Hobbsamercer@thor.wright.edu (Art Mercer) (01/19/90)
From article <21815@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU>, by jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams): >> Thanks to the educational discount, I'm ordering one of the Amigas >> [omitted..] >> a) Can it access the 3.5 drives in IBM 720k mode? Sure Can & if you have an Amiga external drive just plug it into the connector on the Xt Bridgecard. Be sure to use proper FORMAT switches. >> b) Any problems running software packages such as Turbo-C >> (I run mostly unprotected business and language packages.) Nope, in fact Turbo-C was the first thing I tried. BTW: PC-SAS also runs (slowly, but runs!). We've used both the XT & AT Bridge Boards with our 3Com LAN with no problems. >> c) Any comments from experience to warn/advise me about the system? Only that at 4.77mHz it is a tad slow. >> Email replies will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! >> -- >> John M. Adams --*-- Professional Student on the six-year plan! >> Internet: jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu -or- vladimir@maple.circa.ufl.edu >> "Houston, we have a negative on that orbit trajectory." Calvin & Hobbs Art Mercer Associate Director, Academic Computing Resources 040T Library Annex Wright State University Col Glenn HWY, Dayton, OH 45435 Phone: (513)-873-4038 BITNET: amercer@wsu.bitnet or Above... ---
gutierre@nsipo.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Gutierrez) (01/19/90)
jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) writes: >Thanks to the educational discount, I'm ordering one of the Amigas >with the XT Bridgeboard. I'd be greatly appreciative if someone who >owns such a system could answer some questions for me. Such as: >a) Can it access the 3.5 drives in IBM 720k mode? >b) Any problems running software packages such as Turbo-C > (I run mostly unprotected business and language packages.) >c) Any comments from experience to warn/advise me about the system? I am also considering a purchase of the bridgeboard. One important question is can it use an Intel 386/PC accelerator board. I think I remember somebody saying it did not like the Intel board, but the Sota 386 (maybe 286) board worked fine. >Email replies will be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Same here. Thanks in advance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Robert Gutierrez -- NSI Network Ops Center <gutierrez@nsipo.arc.nasa.gov>| |--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | '1997.....United States becomes 47th prefecture of Japan' | | ("Psychic Predictions", Tom Toles/The Buffalo News) [Editorial Cartoon] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
mgh1@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (matthew.g.hetman) (01/21/90)
In article <40862@ames.arc.nasa.gov>, gutierre@nsipo.arc.nasa.gov (Robert Gutierrez) writes: > jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) writes: > I am also considering a purchase of the bridgeboard. One important > question is can it use an Intel 386/PC accelerator board. I think I > remember somebody saying it did not like the Intel board, but the > Sota 386 (maybe 286) board worked fine. > Yes, you can add the SOTA 386sx board and no the Intel 386/PC will not work. It works only in certain Tandy machines as well as the real IBM XT. It requires you to strip your memory down to 256k and I tried that by removing the soldered chips but the board failed to work and messed up my GVP HD. The SOTA worked very nicely and made the XT Bridgeboard really fly. I have sinced upgraded to the AT Bridgeboard but my old bench marks showed the SOTA 386 XT version to be quicker. ________ ______ Matthew G. Hetman ( / / / / / / / ____ AT&T Bell Labs / / / _ / / /---/ / ____ _ __ (201) 386-7259 / / (___/-\__/ /____ / (___()__/____///__/-\__/ /_ attbl!ho5cad!mgh
ose12@kunivv1.sci.kun.nl (ose cursus ) (01/23/90)
Sorry for the late reply (just back from holiday). jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) writes: >a) Can it access the 3.5 drives in IBM 720k mode? Only if the drive is external! Internal drives can NOT be accessed from bridgeboard side as standard IBM drives! (But I think this question was already answered). >c) Any comments from experience to warn/advise me about the system? 4,77 MHz is really slow. There is an alternative bridgeboard (X-Pert Turbo-PC bridgeboard), which uses a NEC V20 processor (minor incompa- tibilities) with 8 MHz and is about 80 % faster than the normal A2088. A small problem of this board is that the clock runs faster too, so you need a program (XTIME, delivered with the package) to correct the timing. This board is about 100$ more expensive than the A2088. Apart from that, the screen emulation by the Amiga (MDA and CGA) is extremely slow. You could buy a graphics card, but this will cost you an extra (multisync)-monitor if you still want to use the PC and Amiga-side at the same time (no more Amiga-multitasking from the PC-side). Comments and questions are welcome, Freddy Aries University of Nijmegen (KUN) The Netherlands.
micja@atletix.liu.se (Michael Jansson) (01/24/90)
In article <783@kunivv1.sci.kun.nl> ose12@kunivv1.sci.kun.nl (ose cursus ) writes: >jma@beach.cis.ufl.edu (John 'Vlad' Adams) writes: > >>a) Can it access the 3.5 drives in IBM 720k mode? > Only if the drive is external! Internal drives can NOT be > accessed from bridgeboard side as standard IBM drives! > (But I think this question was already answered) Hm, I thought that you could. The bridge has one external and one internal connector for drives, with no restriction that it has to be a 3.5'' or a 5.25'' drive. The internal drive is a 5.25, but I think that one could replace it with a 3.5 drive. I am *NOT* absolutely sure about this so please forgive me if I am wrong. _ _ //\ \\ //__\ \X/ \miga is fun! Michael Jansson -- |\ /| /// # Michael Jansson | \ / | /// # Internet: mij@IDA.LIU.SE | \ / | \\\ /// # UUCP: uunet!liuida!mij | \/ | \\X// # BITNET: mij@SELIUIDA - Plan as you should live for ever, but live as you should die tomorrow.