[comp.sys.amiga.hardware] A3000 and 2090

ricks@odin..isc-br.com (Rick Schaeffer 99) (07/10/90)

I recently purchased a new Amiga 3000 to upgrade my A2500.  I have a
Syquest cartridge winchester which I connect through an old Commodore
2090 controller (NOT the 2090A).  I run it this way because the 2090
doesn't automount it's drives and I only use the Syquest for backup.  I
expected to be able to place the 2090 into the 3000 and continue to use
the Syquest/2090 combination as before...but apparently the 2090 won't
work in the 3000!  I HAVE put "hddisk" and "hddisk.info" into the
expansion drawer...and Binddrivers succeeds as long as the 2090 isn't
mounted in the 3000.  However...if the 2090 IS mounted, then the system
hangs on BindDrivers.  I have waited as much as 10 minutes to see if
it would time out...but it doesn't.  Is there *anything* I can do 
about this?  I've never been able to get the syquest to work properly
on the 2091 I have in the 2500...and it doesn't work connected to
the external SCSI port on the 3000 either so I'm stuck if I can't get
the 2090 to work!!

--
Rick Schaeffer          UUCP:  uunet!isc-br.isc-br.com!ricks
ISC-Bunker Ramo                ricks@isc-br.isc-br.com
Box TAF-C8              Phone: (509)927-5114
Spokane, WA  99220      Home:  (509)928-3533

jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) (07/13/90)

In article <2886@isc-br.ISC-BR.COM> ricks@odin..isc-br.com (Rick Schaeffer 99) writes:
>I recently purchased a new Amiga 3000 to upgrade my A2500.  I have a
>Syquest cartridge winchester which I connect through an old Commodore
>2090 controller (NOT the 2090A).  I run it this way because the 2090
>doesn't automount it's drives and I only use the Syquest for backup.  I
>expected to be able to place the 2090 into the 3000 and continue to use
>the Syquest/2090 combination as before...but apparently the 2090 won't
>work in the 3000!

	Most current HD controllers don't work (at least DMA controllers)
because of addressability problems.  I suspect the 2090 has the same problem
the 2091 has - the buffers used to do the initial reads to find the first
partition, etc are to fast mem, which on an A3000 it can't reach with DMA.

>I've never been able to get the syquest to work properly
>on the 2091 I have in the 2500...and it doesn't work connected to
>the external SCSI port on the 3000 either so I'm stuck if I can't get
>the 2090 to work!!

	It should work attached to an A2091 (on A2000/a2500) or attached to
an A3000 directly.  I know a number of people who have them and have them
working.  What (exactly) are the symptoms and configuration of the machines?
Also what rev ROMS/boards of the Amiga, Syquest, and A2091?

-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"

visinfo@ethz.UUCP (VISINFO c/o Sascha Schnapka) (07/16/90)

In article <2886@isc-br.ISC-BR.COM> ricks@odin..isc-br.com (Rick Schaeffer 99) writes:
>
>I recently purchased a new Amiga 3000 to upgrade my A2500.  I have a
>Syquest cartridge winchester which I connect through an old Commodore
>2090 controller (NOT the 2090A).  I run it this way because the 2090
>doesn't automount it's drives and I only use the Syquest for backup.  I
>expected to be able to place the 2090 into the 3000 and continue to use
>the Syquest/2090 combination as before...but apparently the 2090 won't
>work in the 3000!  I HAVE put "hddisk" and "hddisk.info" into the
>expansion drawer...and Binddrivers succeeds as long as the 2090 isn't
>mounted in the 3000.  However...if the 2090 IS mounted, then the system
>hangs on BindDrivers.  I have waited as much as 10 minutes to see if
>it would time out...but it doesn't.  Is there *anything* I can do 
>about this?  I've never been able to get the syquest to work properly
>on the 2091 I have in the 2500...and it doesn't work connected to
>the external SCSI port on the 3000 either so I'm stuck if I can't get
>the 2090 to work!!

What version of the A3000 motherboard do you have? Here in Switzerland
CBM distributes 2 versions: Rev 6.3 and Rev 7.3. The Rev 6.3 seems to be
a beta version. It has a wire accross the motherboard soldered to the
FPU and on the Quantum drive there is a label telling you that the
terminator resistors are on the motherboard instead of the hard drive.

I had no time yet to test cards in a Rev 6.3 but in my 7.3 the 2090
works perfectly. (I have connected a SyQuest, too). I also tested the
GVP Impact Hardcard Controller, A Supra 2400ZI Modem and a A2052 memory
expansion. All these cards work perfectl in my A3000. Currently I have
installed the SUPRA, GVP and 2090 card all together.
But when I tested these cards in an early dealer demo A3000 which had
a Rev 6.1 motherboard, none of them worked!
I try to test as soon as possible all these cards in a Rev 6.3.

You can also connect the SyQuest to the A3000 directly. To do this you
should know your mountlist on the A2090 and then enter these values in
the HDToolBox. You have to click to the Gadget 'Advanced Options' and
the you can enter cylinders etc. Then you can click to the FileSystem
options and there you find a gadget which allows you to disable
Automount. In the same window you also have to correct the Mask from
'7FFFFFFE' to '7FFFFFFC'. You can then write a mountlist for your devs
directory. Note that the Mask must be '7FFFFFFC' (the 2090 had 00FFFFFE)
and under 2.0 you must remove the FileSystem entry.

>--
>Rick Schaeffer          UUCP:  uunet!isc-br.isc-br.com!ricks
>ISC-Bunker Ramo                ricks@isc-br.isc-br.com
>Box TAF-C8              Phone: (509)927-5114
>Spokane, WA  99220      Home:  (509)928-3533

/* -------------------------- SG (Simeon Graphics) ---------------------- */
/* Peter Simeon,      UUCP: |       //                             //     */
/*  visinfo@bernina.ethz.ch |      //    Long live the AMIGA!     //      */
/* BIX:  hardwiz            |    \X/                            \X/       */
/* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- */

daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (07/17/90)

In article <2886@isc-br.ISC-BR.COM> ricks@odin..isc-br.com (Rick Schaeffer 99) writes:

>I HAVE put "hddisk" and "hddisk.info" into the
>expansion drawer...and Binddrivers succeeds as long as the 2090 isn't
>mounted in the 3000.  However...if the 2090 IS mounted, then the system
>hangs on BindDrivers.  

The 2090 driver doesn't know how to handle the 32 bit memory in the 3000.
You can probably get the 2090 to work if you run NoFastMem, then run 
Binddrivers.  As long as the partition you're after has a Mask value of
0x00fffffe or something similar, you should be able to turn Fast memory
back on once the 2090 driver is up.

The problem is this.  The 2090 driver, and many other drivers for DMA devices,
will allocate a private memory buffer to use in the case where DMA can't be
done directly, such as in the case of memory above the 24 bit mark, or memory
that's not properly aligned (based on the DMA controller's requirements).
The problem here is that the first Fast memory the driver gets on the 3000 is
above 24 bit, and this wasn't something considered when the driver was written.
Prior to the 3000, all memory above 24 bits had to be added in by AddMem, after
booting and after Binddrivers had run.

>Rick Schaeffer          UUCP:  uunet!isc-br.isc-br.com!ricks

-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
	"I have been given the freedom to do as I see fit" -REM

daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (07/18/90)

In article <5118@ethz.UUCP> visinfo@bernina.ethz.ch.UUCP (VISINFO c/o Peter Simeon) writes:

>I had no time yet to test cards in a Rev 6.3 but in my 7.3 the 2090
>works perfectly. (I have connected a SyQuest, too). I also tested the
>GVP Impact Hardcard Controller, A Supra 2400ZI Modem and a A2052 memory
>expansion. All these cards work perfectl in my A3000. Currently I have
>installed the SUPRA, GVP and 2090 card all together.

The operation of expansion cards is mainly a function of the Buster chip in
the system, not the motherboard.  All motherboards since before the Beta test
systems have had essentially the same expansion bus logic, which amounts 10
F-series (or equivalent) buffer chips, a clock driver, and a hand full of 
resistors.  Just about all of the logic that drives the bus is contained 
within the Buster chip.

>But when I tested these cards in an early dealer demo A3000 which had
>a Rev 6.1 motherboard, none of them worked!

Early dealer demo or developer units shipped with an early Buster with several
known bugs.  All production units shipped with a final Buster revision that
fixed a host of little bugs.  So, in any case, you'll find that expansion board 
functionality will follow Busters, not PCB revisions.

>/* Peter Simeon,      UUCP: |       //                             //     */

-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
	"I have been given the freedom to do as I see fit" -REM