rosentha@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU (Yitzchak Rosenthal) (11/29/88)
After waiting for a 1020 fo over a year my dealer finally got his hands on one for me. I ordered the drive the same time I ordered my amiga. The main reason I wanted the drive was to transfer ascii files from IBM floppys to my amiga at a reasonable rate (2400 baud is too slow for me :-) ). The problem is that while I can mount the drive as DF2: (using the mountlist entry that came with 1.3). The PCUtil programs do not work. I took the drive back to my dealer and tried it on a 500 and the PCUtil programs worked fine. I have an A2000 with 1 internal floppy a 2090 and a segate ST251N I think the problem is related to the fact that there is only 1 internal floppy and the PCUtil programs see the 1020 as DF2: but I am not sure. the PCUtil programs produce the following results: 1) in PCCopy no files show up 2) in PCFormat it starts up and I get an error (-4) right away. The 500 had no addons that I know of except for the 1020 and the PCUtil programs showed the drive as df1: I know the problem is not any software I am running because I tried booting straight of the original 1.3 floppys (did not even mount my harddrive). I am considering two possible solutions. 1) buying another internal drive (if the missing df1: is for some strange reason causing the problem and putting one in will fix it). 2) buying Dos2Dos or its equivalent (if its commodore's PCUtil software thats buggy and I have some proof that Dos2Dos it will work) Since both These options are expensive and I am just guessing at what is wrong I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions as to the cause and cure of this problem. Thanks in advance Elazar Rosenthal ( I'm posting this form my brothers account) yrosenth@aecom2
ssd@sugar.uu.net (Scott Denham) (12/02/88)
In article <506@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU>, rosentha@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU (Yitzchak Rosenthal) writes: > The problem is that while I can mount the drive as DF2: (using the mountlist > entry that came with 1.3). The PCUtil programs do not work. > I took the drive back to my dealer and tried it on a 500 and > the PCUtil programs worked fine. > WOW! Sorry for your troubles, but am I ever glad to hear that. You see, I have the same problem - have had for some time - and have yet to find out what the deal is - if it's not just my system, perhaps it can be solved by someone wiser than me out here in netland. > I have an A2000 with 1 internal floppy a 2090 and a segate ST251N > I think the problem is related to the fact that there is only 1 internal > floppy and the PCUtil programs see the 1020 as DF2: but I am not sure. > the PCUtil programs produce the following results: > 1) in PCCopy no files show up > 2) in PCFormat it starts up and I get an error (-4) > right away. > I have a similar configuration - A2000, one internal floppy, but no HD. I DON'T have an A1020 - I have a homebrew 5 1/4 using a Tandon TM-100-2 that I built when I had a 1000. It worked fine on the 1000, and still does. It also works fine as a standard file system (I.E. mounted) device. But I get exactly the same symptoms from the PCUtil programs. > The 500 had no addons that I know of except for the 1020 > and the PCUtil programs showed the drive as df1: > I've not tried my drive on a 500 - in fact since I've had this problem, I've tried it only on my old 1000 (works fine) and another 2000 (same bug). Then I got concerned that I might have a problem in the drive that could damage one of the Amiga chips, so I'm hesitant to hang the drive on anybody elses system. > > I know the problem is not any software I am running because I > tried booting straight of the original 1.3 floppys (did not even mount my > harddrive). > I am considering two possible solutions. > 1) buying another internal drive (if the missing df1: > is for some strange reason causing the problem and > putting one in will fix it). > > 2) buying Dos2Dos or its equivalent (if its commodore's PCUtil > software thats buggy and I have some proof that Dos2Dos it > will work) > > Since both These options are expensive and I am just guessing at what is wrong > I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions as to the cause and > cure of this problem. Well, I'm now willing to guess it's NOT your A1020. Perhaps the missing DF1: has something to do with it, but I can't imagine how. As to buying more software, I'll add one more interesting observation - on the net recently was PCPatch, that dynamically changes PCCopy and PCFormat to work on a 3.5" drive to create half-breed 360K, 40 track 3.5" IBM disks. I've tried this program on other 2000's (newer ones - mine and the other one I tried my drive on were from the first batch of B2000's) and a 500 and it works fine. On my 2000, it fails with the same symptoms mentioned above when run on DF0:, even with the 5 1/4 drive unplugged. Further, a fellow here in Houston has written a program to dump raw IBM tracks using the RAWREAD/RAWWRITE (actually, it's an unfinished sector editor) and it fails, on both my drives, with the same -4 error. So that's 3 different pieces of software that have the same problem. I considered DOS-2-DOS but figured chances are they use the same trackdisk function and therefore would probably get the same error. What is it??? I'm stumped - evidence suggests it's either something odd about the ROM's in the older B2000's or some sort of timing glitch on the 4.2 motherboard. Up until now I figured since I was using a homebuilt drive, I hadn't a chance in hell of convincing anybody it wasn't my drive. (Or even convincing myself for that matter). Interstingly, I got the same -4 error on the 1000 when I first built the drive and tracked it to the fact that I had missed a connection to the INDEX line - it appears that in AmigaDos mode it doesn't care about the index, but in IBM mode it does. Of course I've looked at that particular signal several times since and it all seems to be in order now - in fact the interface I'm using is a second-generation one I did after I got tired of the wires coming loose on my first breadboarded one. So, in short, I haven't added a whit to solving your problem, but at least now we both know we are not alone! Perhaps if there are others out there suffering from the same malady we could get together and come up witha an alternate use for these 5 1/4" drives (doorstops? fishing weights?) I'll make a note of your address and keep you posted if I learn anything new - please do the same for me! Scott Denham Houston, TX > > Thanks in advance > Elazar Rosenthal > ( I'm posting this form my brothers account) > > yrosenth@aecom2
jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) (12/03/88)
In article <3043@sugar.uu.net> ssd@sugar.uu.net (Scott Denham) writes: >In article <506@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU>, rosentha@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU (Yitzchak Rosenthal) writes: >> I have an A2000 with 1 internal floppy a 2090 and a segate ST251N >> I think the problem is related to the fact that there is only 1 internal >> floppy and the PCUtil programs see the 1020 as DF2: but I am not sure. >> the PCUtil programs produce the following results: >> 1) in PCCopy no files show up >> 2) in PCFormat it starts up and I get an error (-4) >> right away. >> >I have a similar configuration - A2000, one internal floppy, but no HD. >I DON'T have an A1020 - I have a homebrew 5 1/4 using a Tandon TM-100-2 >that I built when I had a 1000. It worked fine on the 1000, and still >does. It also works fine as a standard file system (I.E. mounted) device. >But I get exactly the same symptoms from the PCUtil programs. You people have hit a bug in trackdisk that was discovered recently. Trackdisks' test of whether a RAWREAD/RAWWRITE command is valid is broken, and is dependant on what's in a random section of memory. The memory happens to be set to ok values IF you have 2 floppies (almost all the time). On a 1-floppy system it's usually bad, and causes a rejection of the RAW READ/WRITE command. >> I am considering two possible solutions. >> 1) buying another internal drive (if the missing df1: >> is for some strange reason causing the problem and >> putting one in will fix it). That will, in fact, probably fix it. >> 2) buying Dos2Dos or its equivalent (if its commodore's PCUtil >> software thats buggy and I have some proof that Dos2Dos it >> will work) Make SURE you verify Dos2Dos works on your config. They may go directly to the hardware, in which case they're ok. >Further, >a fellow here in Houston has written a program to dump raw IBM tracks >using the RAWREAD/RAWWRITE (actually, it's an unfinished sector editor) >and it fails, on both my drives, with the same -4 error. So that's 3 >different pieces of software that have the same problem. I considered >DOS-2-DOS but figured chances are they use the same trackdisk function >and therefore would probably get the same error. See above. They may use the hardware directly, you could call and ask. This bug will be fixed in 1.4 (it's in the ROM). -- You've heard of CATS? Well, I'm a member of DOGS: Developers Of Great Software. Randell Jesup, Commodore Engineering {uunet|rutgers|allegra}!cbmvax!jesup
lee@sed170.HAC.COM (John Lee ) (12/03/88)
In article <506@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU> rosentha@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU (Yitzchak Rosenthal) writes: >The problem is that while I can mount the drive as DF2: (using the mountlist >entry that came with 1.3). The PCUtil programs do not work. >I took the drive back to my dealer and tried it on a 500 and >the PCUtil programs worked fine. [...] Make sure you don't mount the A1020 using the Mount command. Doing this will make it unavailable for the PCUtil programs and they won't see it. I hope this is the problem. If not, it sounds like the A1020 isn't sending it's identification code correctly. > Thanks in advance You're welcome. > Elazar Rosenthal > ( I'm posting this form my brothers account) > > yrosenth@aecom2 ============================================================================== Let's see...68020 card, virtual memory, hard disk, Ethernet, UNIX, Viking monitor...my Sun Microsystems Amiga 2000 is all set! :-) John Lee ARPAnet: jhlee@hac2arpa.hac.com The preceding opinions are those of the user and not of this machine.
dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) (12/04/88)
In article <5418@cbmvax.UUCP> jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) writes: [ Description of problem with PCcopy, etc. on A2000 with 1 3.5", external A1020 deleted ] > You people have hit a bug in trackdisk that was discovered recently. >Trackdisks' test of whether a RAWREAD/RAWWRITE command is valid is broken, >and is dependant on what's in a random section of memory. The memory happens >to be set to ok values IF you have 2 floppies (almost all the time). On >a 1-floppy system it's usually bad, and causes a rejection of the RAW >READ/WRITE command. > This bug will be fixed in 1.4 (it's in the ROM). >Randell Jesup, Commodore Engineering {uunet|rutgers|allegra}!cbmvax!jesup I may be showing my ignorance of OS structure here, but is there any possibility of an interrim fix using a Setfunction type patch, similar to the way the Setalert bug was handled? Failing that, could there be a patch that would force the particular memory location in question to a valid value? With 1.3 finally showing up after (it seems like) nearly a year, I'm not too thrilled about being told "It'll be fixed in 1.4" ! -- Dave Hanna, Daltech MicroSystems | "Do or do not -- There is no try" P.O. Box 584, Bedford, TX 76095 | - Yoda (214) 358-4534 (817) 540-1524 | UUCP: ...!killer!gtmvax!dave |
kent@swrinde.swri.edu (Kent D. Polk) (12/06/88)
In article <263@sed170.HAC.COM> lee@sed170.UUCP (John Lee (ird)) writes: > >Make sure you don't mount the A1020 using the Mount command. Doing this >will make it unavailable for the PCUtil programs and they won't see it. >I hope this is the problem. If not, it sounds like the A1020 isn't sending >it's identification code correctly. > > John Lee ARPAnet: jhlee@hac2arpa.hac.com If you use the recently posted PCPATCH program, you CAN mount the A1020 under AmigaDos AND use the PCUtil programs. I do all the time: 1> mount DF2: (verify its existence) ... 2) Insert PC diskette in the A1020. 3) run PcC3.5 or PcF3.5 (PCPATCH programs), select DF2: in the pcpatch window. 4> When finished with the PCUtil, replace the PC diskette with the AmigaDos diskette, select "CANCEL", and you are back to having an AmigaDos mounted DF2:. Don't know why, but selecting "CANCEL" gets you back to your AmigaDos disk quicker than selecting the exit gadget. It appears that the exit gadget does a diskchange before exiting & it takes PCCopy a while to handle a diskchange with an AmigaDos disk in the drive (read: LONG TIME :-) ). Also, make sure you put the AmigaDos disk back in before "CANCELLING" or you don't get your AmigaDos disk made available (you have to put the PC disk back in, run pcpatch prog, put AmigaDos disk back in, select "CANCEL" ... Phew!). Thanks to the creator of PCPATCH, I can actually have online utilities now! ======================================================================== Kent Polk - Southwest Research Institute |>Insert Standard< {cs.utexas.edu, gatech!petro, sun!texsun}!swrinde!kent|> Disclaimer < ========================================================================
jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) (12/09/88)
In article <167@dms3b1.UUCP> dave@dms3b1.UUCP (Dave Hanna) writes: >In article <5418@cbmvax.UUCP> jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup) writes: >[ Description of problem with PCcopy, etc. on A2000 with 1 3.5", external >A1020 deleted ] >> You people have hit a bug in trackdisk that was discovered recently. By recently I meant since 1.3 was released. >> This bug will be fixed in 1.4 (it's in the ROM). > >I may be showing my ignorance of OS structure here, but is there any >possibility of an interrim fix using a Setfunction type patch, similar to >the way the Setalert bug was handled? Failing that, could there be a >patch that would force the particular memory location in question to a >valid value? Not really, it's hidden inside an internal subroutine of the trackdisk, though I'll look at it in case there's an easy workaround we can add to setpatch or some such. Hitting the memory location could make things worse by killing some other process or data structure. >With 1.3 finally showing up after (it seems like) nearly a year, I'm >not too thrilled about being told "It'll be fixed in 1.4" ! 1.3 was a workbench release. 1.3 kickstart has NO bug fixes, the only change is that you can autoboot off HD's. Otherwise it IS 1.2 kickstart. All rom bugs are hopefully going to be fixed in 1.4. -- You've heard of CATS? Well, I'm a member of DOGS: Developers Of Great Software. Randell Jesup, Commodore Engineering {uunet|rutgers|allegra}!cbmvax!jesup