whinery@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu (Alan Whinery) (01/29/91)
The following is a sort of e-mail interview with Tom Nery, who put
together the ByNery XT hard disk interface. You may find it interesting
if you have considered taking on the project. Please pay particular
attention to the listed XT controllers that will work. I am trying
it with an OMTI 5510-3, which is giving me mixed results. At this
point, it looks like I will have to re-write the driver or get
an XTGENII. The OMTI was free. I had to try.
Alan
whinery@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu
P.S. More notes on my experience with the construction at
a later date.
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From whinery Thu Jan 24 09:22:28 1991
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Date: Thu, 24 Jan 91 09:22:27 HST
From: whinery (Alan Whinery)
Message-Id: <9101241922.AA18360@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu>
To: 76662.3651@compuserve.com
Subject: The ByNery Hard Disk Interface
Cc: 71350.3005.compuserve.com
Status: R
Hello,
I am writing to thank you for your efforts in designing and implementing the
Amiga-to-XT Hard Drive Interface, which I am now attempting to build
for my own Amiga, with an OMTI 5510-3 HD controller and a Seagate 412
MFM drive.
I have also taken the liberty of making the file available to the
worldwide Internet, which connects 8000 computers at universities,
defense installations and commercial organizations around the world.
As the distributor to Internet, I am beginning to field many questions,
some from people who have built the interface, some from people who are
considering it, etc. I AM championing the shareware agreement as sacred,
and recommending that each of the users pay the $30. I will be sending
it myself, sometime around next payday.
What would be good, if you would be so kind, is a statement of some kind
of continuing rallied support, such as a short message saying that you
are the guy who did it, you're still alive, what kind of good stuff
one gets for the $30 (such as any updates or additional controller
support), how long one can expect to wait once one mails their money,
etc. I think it would increase the popularity of the interface,
broaden its use (like, people would try more controllers), and
possibly increase your cash back.
I care because I don't want homebrewing to be a dead art, the price
of HDs for the Amiga is criminal, and I am sick and tired of using
floppies for everything.
I also have a question about the Demo package. You mention copying a
file called "pcif.device" into devs: on page 14 of the docs. There
is no "pcif.device", I assume you mean ByNeryDemo.device.
There is a file called "handshake.parms" in the zoo which looks as if
perhaps it is to do with telecom, because it contains the Hayesmodem
command string "ATDP".
You can e-mail me at >INTERNET whinery@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu or just choose
reply to message. I am also Compuserve 71350,3005 if you have bad luck
with the Internet Connection.
One last question:
This morning, I got e-mail from a gentlman in Spain, who is also building
the interface, but with an XT-GEN board. Do you know if there's a difference
between the XT-Gen2 and the XT-GEN?
Regards,
Alan Whinery
The PD Amiga Hardware Archivist
The Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii
internet:whinery@hale.ifa.hawaii.edu
CIS 71350,3005
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From 76662.3651@compuserve.com Sat Jan 26 10:21:48 1991
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Date: 26 Jan 91 15:14:03 EST
From: tom nery <76662.3651@CompuServe.COM>
To: <whinery@hale.IFA.Hawaii.Edu>
Subject: Products ByNery response
Message-Id: <"910126201403 76662.3651 EHC19-3"@CompuServe.COM>
Status: R
Hello from Products ByNery,
In response to your questions, yes I am the developer of the
PcIf interface package. It is alive, well and supported. Currently
I have approximately 20 registered users. All of which have
successfully built the interface.
As far as my support policy for registered users, it is fairly
simple:
ALL PROBLEMS THAT PREVENT OPERATION WILL BE FIXED AND
DISTRIBUTED AT NO CHARGE. ENHANCEMENTS WILL BE MADE
AVAILABLE TO REGISTERED USERS FOR $5.00 U.S.
So far one bug fix has been sent to all registered users, this was
about 6 months ago. As a part of the fix, needed to allow the Old
File System to function, I included an enhanced operational speed
at no cost. In addition, due to the inconvenience, I also included
my documentation to utilizing a PC-clone power supply for the Amiga
500.
What you get is a manual, printed circuit board template, the driver
setup, and diagnostic programs. Upon completion, the controller will
provide about a 150Kb/sec transfer rate to up to 2 (two) drives of
any MFM size.
The only controllers working still are the XT-GEN2 and 27X series
from Western Digital. I have heard that someone also has a DTC5150
working, but I don't have the specifics. I know of no one with
an OMTI working (sorry).
You're totally right about the Handshake.parms file. Throw it out
it's just junk baggage ( a result of the way I interface to Compuserve).
You're also correct about the driver name. The reference to pcif.device
should actually read ByNeryDemo.device. Also make sure you type it
exactly as shown. Devices in the amiga are case sensitive.
As far as I know the only potential difference between the XTGEN and
XTGEN2 is that the 2 is newer and designed to operate at 8 Mhz. I
believe this is a requirement for the interface to work, but I'm
not totally sure. Include in the registration kit is a schematic and
instructions for building a wait state generator. If the board is too
slow, wait states could be added to allow it to work.
Lastly, thanks for all the support in maintaining the shareware
concept. It is unfortunate that it couldn't be in the public domain,
but for me to continue improving (adding bad sector mapping soon) the
driver as well as developing other hardware I need to help support the
effort. It's amazing how much it costs to develop and then support
a project like this.
Oh yea, as far as turn around time. Most packages are mailed out
within three working days of receipt. You'll notice I didn't say after
checks clear. So far I haven't gotten burned by mail before I cash and
get clearance on the check. Says pretty good things for the Amiga
community that does register.
Should you have any additional questions send me more mail. I try to
respond within a weeks time (my compuserve login rate).
tom nery :-}