=========================================================================
 
INFO-ATARI16 Digest         Fri, 11 May 90       Volume 90 : Issue  534
 
Today's Topics:
                      Archive-related questions
             Conflict between Hard Disk Driver and Click
                   Lanier and Quark HDs on the ST?
                           MMU on Atari ST
                     Neodesk incompatibilities...
                       Phantom Typist and IKBD
                              Questions
                    ST hard/soft emulator for IBM
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Date: 9 May 90 18:46:48 GMT
From: chinet!saj@gargoyle.uchicago.edu  (Stephen Jacobs)
Subject: Archive-related questions
Message-ID: <1990May9.184648.21657@chinet.chi.il.us>
 
Two questions:
  At chinet, the introductory postings and the descriptions of files in the
panarthea archive got cancelled about a day after they appeared.  Did this
happen net-wide?  Should it have happened?
 
  There was some talk about 6 months back of re-instituting a mail server at
terminator.  I would be grateful for an update on this (even a 'we decided not
to after all').  It seems that the key sites for Atari ST stuff are panarthea,
terminator and dsrgsun; the overlap isn't anything like total, and two of
them are accessible only by ftp.
 
  This brings up: for a while there, I was able to have things sent to me by
bitftp@pucc.BITNET.  It doesn't work any more.  Information about any parallel
servers, or offers of help untangling bitnet-to-usenet mail would be welcome.
 
                                       Steve J.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 10 May 90 05:11:40 GMT
From:
 zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!wam!dmb@tut.cis.
 ohio-state.edu  (David M. Baggett)
Subject: Conflict between Hard Disk Driver and Click
Message-ID: <1990May10.051140.9289@wam.umd.edu>
 
There seems to be a conflict between Supra's hard disk driver and Digital
Keyclick.  Booting a hard drive with only the Supra driver and click.prg
in the AUTO folder causes click to run without printing an error message,
but also without playing the samples.  (So I am told by a frustrated user.)
 
Can anyone think of a reason why a hard disk driver would interfere
with trap #13 (bios)?  The only way click.prg could be installed but not
play the samples is if
 
        A) Something is blowing away trap #13 or preempting click
        B) Something is messing with the CONTERM variable (specifically,
           clearing the high bit).
 
Anyone have any clues here?  I've fixed the drive light problem; it would
be real nice if I could get this thing working with the Supra driver before
I release it again.
 
Anyone else have any problems getting click.prg or beep.prg to work?
 
Those of you who are running these successfully: could you send me a
quick note describing your system configuration (including TOS version)?
 
Sorry to beta test on you guys, but I guess that's the price you pay for
getting it first...
 
Thanks a lot,
 
Dave Baggett
dmb@wam.umd.edu
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 10 May 90 09:43:09 GMT
From: brianp@ernie.Berkeley.EDU  (Brian Peterson)
Subject: Lanier and Quark HDs on the ST?
Message-ID: <36178@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
 
In article <90129.091923PHB100@psuvm.psu.edu> PHB100@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
->   I recently bought a used Lanier word processor system (for the hard drive)
->and a used Quark QC10 10 MByte hard drive (for appleII/III/macintosh systems).
->I bought these on spec hoping I could hook either one of them up to my ST.
...
 
 
[*** some intervening site confounded my "R"eply, thus, I "F"ollowup... ***]
 
In article <90129.091923PHB100@psuvm.psu.edu> you write:
->The Lanier has "ST506" stamped on the side of the HD mechanism.  I've been tol
->that this is useable with the ST, but that is all I know about it (I don't eve
->know how big it is...:).  The Quark I've not had apart yet (perhaps tonite),
 
Yes, it is useable.  You need more stuff, though.
First, the Atari DMA port is not QUITE standard.  Its format is called
"ACSI" (stands for something or other).  You need to have a board to
convert that to SCSI (small computer standard interface, or so).
SCSI is a standard for the electrical connection between devices,
(such as computers and drives), and for the format of data that goes
thru.  There can be 8 (I think) SCSI devices all hooked together on a bus.
They each have their own number.
Second, you need to have a hard drive controller board.  It is one of
those SCSI devices.  It will have jumpers, dip switches, or whatever
to set the SCSI number.  It takes the SCSI info, and translates it into
ST506 (if it's an ST506 controller, of course).  It tells the ST506 drive
what to do, stuff like moving its heads and stuff, I think.
Some controllers can have two drives connected to them, as part of the
same SCSI device.
Third, you need a power supply for the ACSI->SCSI, the controller, and
the hard drive.  It has I think 12 and 5 volts, ground, and maybe a negative
also.
Fourth, you need a fan, in case all that hardware gets warm.
Fifth, you need some sort of box for all that stuff.
 
I don't know anything about the Quark, You might get a look at the actual
drive mech and see if it also says "ST506", or see what the brand and model
is, and look up the type.  Maybe also there is a SCSI controller in it, too.
 
 
->have to get a host adapter and plug the drive mech into that.  True?  False?
->Maybe?  Being a poor and struggling college student, I would prefer to go with
->the cheapest solution possible.  :)
 
There is a company called Berkeley Micro Systems which makes the converter
board, and also sticks it into a kit with a controller and all the other
stuff.  You supply the actual hard drive, and plug it all together.
I happen to live nearby, and walked my drive over there and came back
with a working hard disk drive package.  They also fixed something
when it went kafooey.
The converter was a hundred something, also the controller.  You might
have power supplies and boxes and fans with the stuff you got.  You
might even have a controller or two for the ST506 drive(s?).
 
I don't really know much about the controllers, but maybe someone else
has sent you a bunch of info, too.  Here's a phone # and address
(possibly current):
Berkeley Microsystems
P.O. Box 20119
Oakland, CA 94620
(415) 465 6956
 
Good luck!
Brian
 
 
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 11 May 90 08:18:41 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!fauern!fauern!csbrod@uunet.uu.net  (Claus Brod )
Subject: MMU on Atari ST
Message-ID: <2726@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
 
rcb@netcom.uucp (Roy Bixler) writes:
 
 
>I'm wondering if there are any possibilities of replacing the MMU on the
>ST with one that gives memory protection.  I'd like to upgrade to Unix
>and not have to buy an expensive new machine.  I realize there are
>people out there interested in this idea, so has anyone had any luck?
 
In practice, you'd have to design your own MMU that does all the standard
MMU stuff (RAM refreshing, shifter controlling et cetera) plus memory
protection. I wouldn't feel very inclined to do chip designing for
ATARI, would you?
 
Moreover, controlling a coprocessor with a 68000 isn't quite as
practical as with an 68020/68030. Some people in the US and in
Germany have announced 68030 boards, and the 68030 has a built-in
MMU. This might solve this problem someday. Anyway, you'd have to
port UNIX to the ST - probably you'd be better off waiting for the
TT/UNIX.
 
Claus Brod
 
------------------------------
 
Date: Fri, 11 May 90  19:32 GMT
From: "Jan Ameij, BA(Oxon)" <AMEIJ%vax.oxford.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>
Subject: Neodesk incompatibilities...
 
Hello chums,
 
We have just got Neodesk 2.05 here (5 months after we ordered it, thanks,
Electric Distribution Ltd!) and we love it with deep and abiding passion.
 
Today however it refused to work (2 bombs trying to do anything from Neodesk,
including quitting) and after a little fiddling I found that it didn't like
copyfix.prg, which came with our HD (ICD adaptor). Well, I now know, having
read the manual, that Neodesk solves that bug itself, but I thought I'd ask...
 
a) Any suggestions as to why the system ran all right yesterday, but died today,
   when as far as we know nothing was changed, and
 
b) If there are any programs notoriously incompatible with Neodesk, which we
   and other Neodesk virgins out there could be warned not to try in advance
   and
 
c) Why Atari don't buy it , blow it into the ROMS and blow the socks off the
   old desktop (Don't worry A.P., I don't really want an answer, this is
   rhetorical)
 
Love and kisses,
 
Jan Ameij and the boys,
 
O.U. Department of Applied Metaphysics *
ameij % uk.ac.oxford.vax @ janet
 
 
* People keep asking me what this is. In short, we are a semi-commercial group,
  finding commercial applications for current metaphysical thinking, developing
  them and selling them to industry through a link company.
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 11 May 90 08:26:28 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!fauern!fauern!csbrod@uunet.uu.net  (Claus Brod )
Subject: Phantom Typist and IKBD
Message-ID: <2727@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
 
RiddCJ@computer-science.birmingham.ac.UK (Chris Ridd) writes:
 
>  This clears GEM, it seems to me (it's quite a good scapegoat for
>general wierdness on the ST though).  The problem *must* be in the
>IKBD - someone mentioned a bug with two keys in the IKBD buffer
>getting repeated (Claus Brod?) - so obviously the 6301 firmware has
>been disassembled.  Are any more bugs visible in it?
 
It wasn't me mentioning a IKBD buffer bug. There has been a series
of articles on the IKBD in the German "ST-Computer" by someone who
really disassembled the IKBD ROM stuff. Maybe I'll ask him to come
to our rescue. Have there been any comment from ATARI to this
question? I can't believe nobody at ATARI ever experienced it.
 
I remember someone posted a msg and supposing that the bug was
probably due to sync problems between the IKBD and the TOS keyboard
interrupt routines; this might be a solution. Dave Small or some
other Spectre programmer: Does Spectre use internal TOS routines,
i.e. does it call BIOS or XBIOS routines or does it use the TOS
IKBD routines or does it talk to the IKBD directly? If we knew,
we could perhaps settle the question whether it's a low-level TOS bug
or a IKBD bug.
 
Claus Brod
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 11 May 90 08:36:59 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!fauern!fauern!csbrod@uunet.uu.net  (Claus Brod )
Subject: Questions
Message-ID: <2728@medusa.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
 
S61304@PRIME-A.POLY-SOUTH-WEST.AC.UK ("Simon Chappell") writes:
>2. Can you call line-a routines from within C? (Sozobon in particular)
 
I don't own Sozobon C, but yes, you can call LINE-A from C. No prob.
But remember: ATARI won't support LINE-A for the new TT resolutions
officially. The first TT developper machines, however, have LINE_A
for all of their resolutions, but you can't rely on it in the future.
Unfortunately, one sometimes needs the negative LINE-A variable, and
I hope ATARI will support them in the future.
 
>3. Can you tap into interupts and have a C routine called x times per second
>   via a system interupt? In the Abacus internals (3rd ed) there was something
>   about a list of routine addresses that could be supplied to the VBL
 interupt,
Yes you can have C interrupt routines. But remember: VBL interrupt routines
have to be kept fast, so you should do it in assembler. However, nobody
prevents you from placing a pointer to one of your C routines into the
VBL queue. Remember to first find out the number of VBL tasks already
installed (look at $454) and to locate the VBL queue (look at $456).
Don't assume that the VBL queue resides at $4ce! Remember that GEM
overwrites the first VBL task pointer in the queue during AES start-up,
so if you're writing an AUTO folder program that installs a VBL routine,
start looking for a free entry from the second entry onwards.
.
>   allow the start of a multi-tasking system.
 
 
Well, you'll need something more than just a bunch of VBL tasks to have
multi-tasking. Besides, you can have non-preemptive multi-tasking using
the AES event manager.
 
Claus Brod
 
------------------------------
 
Date: 10 May 90 13:06:23 GMT
From: unhd!psc90!pyr579@uunet.uu.net  (Technoid)
Subject: ST hard/soft emulator for IBM
Message-ID: <1331@psc90.UUCP>
 
Hello out there in net land,
 
    I was recently reading ST-Informer and came across an article about a
board and software for the IBM which is a full blown ST, and allows you
to turn your IBM into and ST. Unfortunately it was a very vague article and
I would like to get more info. Firstly are there any requirements on the IBM
end, for example EGA or better graphics display? Who makes this mysterious
little device, I think it said in the article but I forgot the name, and when
will it actually be ready. Any info at all would be great, I'm very interested
in this as I used to own an ST and enjoyed it very much.
 
 
 ____________________________________________________________________________
/                                                                            \
| Is this my life or is it just and incredible, high-speed, simulation?      |
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
  pyr579@psc90.UUCP     Stephan R. Cleaves CCS
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
 
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End of INFO-ATARI16 Digest V90 Issue #534
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