zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) (05/15/91)
In article <jms.4345@vanth.UUCP> jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) writes: >Well, I decided to Power-Up, and I have a few questions about the 3000 >before it gets here. I know some of these might sound stupid, but the >local dealer doesn't have any 3000 systems on display, and in fact had to >order one for me. If you feel like it's a stupid question, put it on comp.sys.amiga.introduction. >(1) I'm sticking with my 1084S monitor because I can't afford a 1950 and >I really don't care about the new graphics modes anyway. Will the A3000 >support the weight of the 1084S safely? The non-flicker interlaced screens are really nice. You'll want the 1950 if you don't have it. The A3000 case is built solidly. It should be able to handle a heavy monitor. >Is it magnetically safe for >the floppy disk drive, since the 1950 is elevated a few inches but the >1084S won't be? The metal case should solve this problem. >(2) When the final 2.x ROM comes out, will it still allow booting 1.3 >(either from floppy or HD) if I need it? CBM would be making a big mistake if they don't, but I don't see what would stop them. >For that matter, will I get a set >of 1.3 and 2.0 floppies with the system? Yes, and it comes installed on the hard drive, too. >And why are there two sets of ROM >sockets on the motherboard? It takes bigger ROMS. >And a question I don't think I've ever seen >anywhere: Is it possible to plug in a 1.3 ROM to save RAM? Eeek. You don't want to do this. You really want the 2.0 ROM. >(3) Is there a manual for ARexx included, or will I want to buy one? ARexx is described with the rest of the stuff. I haven't looked at that section of the manual, but the rest is pretty good. >(4) Did the improved speech system (announced back when it was 1.4) make >it into 2.0 yet? Are there any improvements to the printer drivers? Yes. It still stinks. Of course, I have spent a lot of time working at Speech Technology Laboratory, and their stuff makes most thing sound bad. >(5) Is there enough memory left with Kickstart in RAM to do a one-pass >one-drive floppy copy? Well, let's see: 2 megs - 0.5 meg = 1.5 meg. Assuming you don't need 880k of contiguous RAM, you should be ok. I just copy the disk to RAM:, then copy it back to a blank floppy. -Dan Dan Zerkle zerkle@iris.eecs.ucdavis.edu (916) 754-0240 Amiga... Because life is too short for boring computers.
jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) (05/16/91)
In article <8974@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) writes: > >If you feel like it's a stupid question, put it on >comp.sys.amiga.introduction. I don't get that one. >>And why are there two sets of ROM >>sockets on the motherboard? > >It takes bigger ROMS. I don't mean two sockets, I mean two sets of sockets. In the picture in the June '90 AmigaWorld, there are *four* ROM sockets. Two have EPROMs in them, two are empty and labeled "alternate ROM sockets." >>And a question I don't think I've ever seen >>anywhere: Is it possible to plug in a 1.3 ROM to save RAM? > >Eeek. You don't want to do this. You really want the 2.0 ROM. I probably should've explained myself better. I didn't mean getting rid of the 2.0 ROM. I meant plugging a 1.3 ROM into one of the empty sockets. After all, even when the final version of 2.0 is in ROM, if I want to load 1.3 it'll still take up my fast RAM. (I am NOT being fearful of 2.0, just cautious!) >>(5) Is there enough memory left with Kickstart in RAM to do a one-pass >>one-drive floppy copy? > >Well, let's see: 2 megs - 0.5 meg = 1.5 meg. Assuming you don't need >880k of contiguous RAM, you should be ok. I just copy the disk to >RAM:, then copy it back to a blank floppy. That's one possibility, but what I was really interested in was Diskcopy. I think that a single-drive Diskcopy (even at least some 1.3's) will copy all 80 tracks into RAM in one pass, then write them all out. Am I wrong? -- * From the disk of: | jms@vanth.uucp | "You know I never knew Jim Shaffer, Jr. | amix.commodore.com!vanth!jms | that it could be so 37 Brook Street | uunet!cbmvax!amix!vanth!jms | strange..." Montgomery, PA 17752 | 72750.2335@compuserve.com | (R.E.M.)
mwm@pa.dec.com (Mike (My Watch Has Windows) Meyer) (05/17/91)
In article <jms.4357@vanth.UUCP> jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) writes: >>And why are there two sets of ROM >>sockets on the motherboard? > >It takes bigger ROMS. I don't mean two sockets, I mean two sets of sockets. In the picture in the June '90 AmigaWorld, there are *four* ROM sockets. Two have EPROMs in them, two are empty and labeled "alternate ROM sockets." Preproduction machines had EPROM sockets for testing. Production machines have ROMs, and there aren't even sockets in the EPROM (at least, that's what mine had last night). The space for the EPROMs is waste. There are two 16 bit wide ROMS/EPROMS so you get 32 bit wide ROM on the machine. >>And a question I don't think I've ever seen >>anywhere: Is it possible to plug in a 1.3 ROM to save RAM? > >Eeek. You don't want to do this. You really want the 2.0 ROM. I probably should've explained myself better. I didn't mean getting rid of the 2.0 ROM. I meant plugging a 1.3 ROM into one of the empty sockets. After all, even when the final version of 2.0 is in ROM, if I want to load 1.3 it'll still take up my fast RAM. (I am NOT being fearful of 2.0, just cautious!) You might be able to get 1.3 on EPROM, but why bother? If you're going to run 1.3, you'll need a 1.3 System partition. Just put a kickstart image on that, and run it from there. This is assuming someone comes out with a hack to let you do that (CBM probably won't do it for you). However, I can't see why you'd want to. I gave up on 1.3 months ago - the bugs in it were far more annoying than the incompatabilities in 2.0. Of course, I only had one critical application that had anything worse than cosmetic problems, and that was fixed by a free upgrade. <mike -- Here's a song about absolutely nothing. Mike Meyer It's not about me, not about anyone else, mwm@pa.dec.com Not about love, not about being young. decwrl!mwm Not about anything else, either.
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (05/30/91)
In article <8974@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> zerkle@iris.ucdavis.edu (Dan Zerkle) writes: >In article <jms.4345@vanth.UUCP> jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) writes: >>(2) When the final 2.x ROM comes out, will it still allow booting 1.3 >>(either from floppy or HD) if I need it? >CBM would be making a big mistake if they don't, but I don't see what >would stop them. If you're booting from ROM, obviously there's not 1.3 and 2.0x in the same ROM. However, it's always technically possible to run 1.3 on an A3000, if you must. I doubt you'll want to. Anyway, I do the exact opposite on my A2500 with my SetCPU program: I boot from the 1.3 ROM, and under 1.3 do nothing but load 2.0x from disk. The system reboots, 2.0x is in place, and I take it from there. A version of SetCPU could do just this on the A3000, thought the current SetCPU V1.6 might get confused about an A3000; it's never had to run ROM images on the 3000. >>For that matter, will I get a set >>of 1.3 and 2.0 floppies with the system? >Yes, and it comes installed on the hard drive, too. It does currently. When 2.0x goes into ROM, there's no telling what they'll do with 1.3, but I doubt it'll ship with the A3000. 2.0x in ROM is an indication that its really time to forget about 1.3. >>And why are there two sets of ROM >>sockets on the motherboard? >It takes bigger ROMS. Well, actually, 2.0x will fit in one of those ROMs. In order to have a reasonably fast ROM, the A3000 uses two of them, to give you a 32 bit wide ROM. The two sets were for your choice of ROM or EPROM, since back when we made the A3000, Intel didn't make any EPROMs compatible with the industry standard 256Kx16 ROM. Now they do, so the second set of sockets will probably disappear some day (it's not on the A3000T motherboard, for example). -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.