Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!van-bc!
From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: board<>3000 RETRACTION-NEAT NEWSGROUP
Message-ID: <2148@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca>
Date: 20 Oct 90 00:14:46 GMT
Lines: 76
Return-Path: <lpami!lphillips>
To: van-bc!rnews

In <10229.AA10229@caleb>, jdp@caleb.UUCP (Jim Pritchett) writes:
>In article <2139@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca>
>lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes:
>
>> Nope... It was promoted as having the ability to place multiple PICs in ONE
>> expansion chassis _OR_ to place one PIC on the expansion bus. Look at the
>> earliest expansion docs. External circuitry was always required to properly
>> arbitrate the autoconfig operation.
>
>You seem to forget a very important detail.  I couldn't even get a DOS
>manual for months!  (Nor could many others.)  One new Amiga magazine
>(Amazing Computing if memory serves me correctly) became famous largely
>because they published a list of the DOS commands and how to use them.

Well, I didn't exactly forget that detail, because the reason many of us on the
nets were cautioning users against using multiple SOTS was that the information
was not readily available.  In those days, information about the CLI commands,
expansion specs, and so on, were being hurriedly sent out here as well as on
the commercial networks.  It was a time of learning for everyone.  Some
companies were unscrupulous (or to be a little more charitable,
unknowledgeable) enough to try to tell the new users that they could expect to
do things that were clearly not allowed.

>It was over a year later when I was
>finally able to get a Hardware Manual!  I don't recall ever seeing a word
>in it about multiple SOTS being verboten.

The source for the information about what was allowed on the expansion
connector was the expansion documentation from CBM. CBM probably thought that
anyone serious about building expansion devices would become a developer and
order the document. They were probably also surprised by the speed with which a
demand for expansion devices materialized.

>I'll take your word for the fact that CBM had documented the "rule" earlier
>than I thought, but they did NOT tell the buyers.  Most of us buyers were
>led to believe that we could add several SOTS to our Amiga.

You are definitely right on that point, along with the lack of the rudimentary
information required to use the CLI. It is perhaps unfortunate that the flaming
by some developers was taken as 'sour grapes', rather than as a genuine concern
for the buyers of SOTS boxes. As always, the messenger can negate perfectly
good messages with poor choice of words, or by being perceived to be in a
position of conflict of interest.

>> By the time you got your Amiga, a friend and I had already designed a 2 meg
>> memory expansion, and had it running. It did NOT have a pass-through, for the
>> simple reason that a passthrough was clearly not a legal configuration.
>
>Yes, but you had access to info that the average user (at least in the US)
>could not get for at least a year.  It's possible that the Canadian support
>was better than the US.  You guys always seemed to get the stuff long before
>we (US) did.  (Of course, that worked against you in the case of the German
>2000...)

Interestingly, my machine was purchased through the US developer's program, and
I did not become a Canadian developer until earlier this year. We did indeed
get some things more quickly, but it was always hardware, and not the tech
info. (and yes, I did have it work to my detriment by taking delivery of a very
early German 2000)

>You should know who he was, I remember your presence on the networks in those
>days.  In fact, your were (and are) usually extremely helpful on the networks.
>Many thanks to you.

You're quite welcome, and thank you for saying so.

-larry

--
It is not possible to both understand and appreciate Intel CPUs.
    -D.Wolfskill
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|   //   Larry Phillips                                                 |
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