Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga.hardware:6678 comp.sys.amiga.misc:1181
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!drysdale
From: drysdale@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Drysdale)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: BridgeBoard questions
Keywords: AT bridgeboard, educational discount
Message-ID: <19315@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 26 Feb 91 19:26:20 GMT
References: <9440@hub.ucsb.edu>
Reply-To: drysdale@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Drysdale)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 80

In article <9440@hub.ucsb.edu> psycho@cs.ucsb.edu (Scot Kellan Forbes) writes:
>In light of the educational discount price on the 2286 AT bridgeboard
>and the removal of the restriction requiring a CPU purchase, I've had
>renewed interest in buying one of these.  Before I do however, I'd
>like to get some questions answered/facts verified.  For a starving
>student, even $479 is a large sum to be spending on something that
>ultimately will not serve its purpose.
>
>1) First of all, do I have my discount price correct: $479 for the AT
>bridgeboard, at least until April 1.  What version of the Janus
>software is included, or is this a separate purchase?  What else is
>included besides the 1 Meg and the drive?

you'll get janus 2.0 software, msdos 3.3, manuals and drive cable :)

>2) I've heard mention of the fact that accelerater boards do not work
>with the board.  If this is true, could someone tell me why?  Is it
>related to the Amiga's CPU speed?  I'd like to get a 386 accelerator
>in the future.  I'm thinking specifically of the 386SX board from
>Microway.  I'd probably be running some Windows software on the IBM
>side and an 8Mhz AT is simply too slow (the 20Mhz AT with 2 Meg I use
>at work is too slow).  I have Commodore's 68020 board, will the two
>run simultaneously? (Guru Haynie?)

nobody's had much luck with 386 accelerator boards and the bridgeboard.
i'm not sure why (we don't have any here to play with).  there's no
problem running the bridgeboard in a fast amiga.

>3) Has anyone successfully used a syquest drive with both the IBM and
>Amiga sides?  Can a single cartridge be formatted with a partition for
>each?  I'd settle for separately formatted cartridges as long as it
>works for both.

there are a couple of ways you could do this.  first, you could get a
SCSI controller for the pc side and physically move the drive between
pc and amiga, and format a cartridge on the pc using the normal ibm
tools and then read it on the amiga using crossdos.  the other way
is to use the drive only on the amiga side and create a "fake ms-dos"
partition (which you can boot the pc off of) on the cartridge.  the
"fake ms-dos" parition stuff basically creates a large amiga file
which is manipulated by the bridgeboard.  there are no tools at the
present time to directly read these "partitions" from the amiga (you
have to read them from the pc side and transfer the files to amiga
disks using the aread/awrite utilities).

>4) Which of the amiga ports (including mouse) can be used from the IBM
>side?  I have that info somewhere, but asking is easier than trying to
>find it in this room.

you can use the amiga's mouse with ms-dos and windows 286 applications.
there is currently no support for windows 3.0 mouse emulation.
you can have stuff written to LPT1: go out the amiga's parallel port.
serial port (com2:) emulation hardware is in there, but it doesn't work
well enough so it's not supported.

>5) Will the board work with the 3000?  If not, is it expected to work
>with the 3500 (I'm patiently waiting...personally looks don't bother
>me, you're supposed to look at the monitor anyway, not the CPU case :)

it will work on the 3000, but you'll only have 2 useable slots after
installing the bridgeboard.  under 2.0 on a 68030 or higher you must
also disable data caching, since the bridgeboard is essentially a chunk
of shared memory.

>Thanx in advance for any and all information.  I'm particularly
>interested in info about accelerating the board (hacks are perfectly
>acceptable).  Please Email, I'm having a hard time catching up in this
>group...
>
>Scot Forbes
>psycho@cs.ucsb.edu

  --Scotty
-- 
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Scott Drysdale           Software Engineer
Commodore Amiga Inc.     UUCP {allegra|burdvax|rutgers|ihnp4}!cbmvax!drysdale
		         PHONE - yes.
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