Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: Speed (long), was: Re: A low blow from Apple Message-ID: <13961@smoke.BRL.MIL> Date: 28 Sep 90 20:59:43 GMT References: <15362@yunexus.YorkU.CA> Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD. Lines: 34 In article jh4o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jeffrey T. Hutzelman) writes: >Actually, although there isn't a socket for a math coprocessor chip, I >do know of a floating point CARD for the IIgs that (in)SANE supports. I >don't remember what it's called; it's mentioned in the ORCA/C manual. >Incidentally, ORCA/C can generate code that bypasses (in)SANE and calls >the FP card in question directly. There are at least two such add-on math coprocessors, but the one that ORCA/C supports is Innovative Systems' Floating-Point Engine (FPE). It works very well, but early versions of the TransWarp/GS were incompatible with it. A PAL upgrade for the TWGS along with a TWGS board modification (lifting pin 1 of U22; get AE to do this for you unless you are really good at such things) solves the compatibility problem, or at least it did for mine. Innovative Systems is a small outfit based somewhere in Maryland; ByteWorks sells their FPE card and that is perhaps the easiest way to obtain it. A 3.5" utility disk is included that contains diagnostics, installation tools, etc. plus benchmarks and a little module that AppleSoft BASIC programs can load to obtain FPE power for the programs. On a IIGS, one also installs an INIT file that arranges to intercept SANE tool calls and handle them via the FPE. Any SANE-using application will thus automatically benefit from the FPE. The additional support in ORCA/C (and possibly ORCA/Pascal, I forget) bypasses SANE and directly accesses the registers associated with the slot that the card is installed in. Such code will not work if copied to a IIGS that is missing the FPE or has it in another slot; however, if the application is for one's own personal use this is not an issue. If you have a floating-point intensive application on your IIGS that desperately needs to be sped up, I highly recommend the FPE. It is usable on an 8-bit Apple, too, as noted above, although it takes a fairly high degree of expertise to utilize it from assembly language.