Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cbmvax!drysdale
From: drysdale@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Drysdale)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: How PC compatable is a PC-XT Bridgeboard ?
Keywords: Bridgeboard
Message-ID: <21363@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 8 May 91 03:27:22 GMT
References: <1991May7.145054.2740@hemel.bull.co.uk>
Reply-To: drysdale@cbmvax.commodore.com (Scott Drysdale)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 70

In article <1991May7.145054.2740@hemel.bull.co.uk> igreenaw@hemel.bull.co.uk (ian greenaway) writes:
>I currently own an Amiga 500 with extra bits and pieces, and an old IBM PC-XT
>type clone.  As i would like to expand my Amiga system, it seems a good idea
>to sell both the PC and A500 and get an A2000 with PC bridgeboard.
>
>I am not worried about speed (I know the XT Bridgeboard is slow) as the PC
>isn't used very often anyway.  What I need to know is how compatable it is to
>the real thing. 
>
>I would also be interested in knowing the specification of the Bridgeboard, if
>anyone out there has it, and also info about what s/w comes with it (if any).
>
>I also understand that by using a PC hard drive controller and MFM type drive,
>that you can set up partitions for the amiga and pc.  If you had two hard 
>drives, could you have one for amiga and the other for the pc ?   Can you 
>copy files from the amiga to the pc ?  How about from the Bridgeboard's 5 1/4"
>drive to the amiga's 3 1/2" drive and vice versa - can it be done easily ?
>
>Can the amiga access the 5 1/4" drive ?  Can the pc use the amiga's mouse ?
>How about the serial & parallel ports ?
>

the xt bridgeboard (A2088) contains:
	- 4.77mhz 8088
	- 512k of ram
	- CGA emulation on the amiga screen
	- MDA emulation on the amiga screen
	- pc keyboard emulation
	- mouse drivers for using the amiga mouse (note: no hardware-level
	  mouse compatibility - you have to use the supplied driver)
	- parallel port emulation through the amiga's parallel port
	- ability for the pc to boot from a "partition" (actually a large
	  file) on an amiga hard drive
	- ability for the amiga to access a partition on a pc hard drive
	  (the amiga cannot boot from the pc hard drive, as the amiga must
	  start the pc up.  you'd need a small boot floppy to kick things
	  off)
	- utilities for ms-dos which allow reading and writing files from/to
	  amiga disks
	- low density floppy interface, able to handle two floppy drives
	  (360K 5.25" or 720K 3.5").  one or both floppies can be attached
	  to an internal drive connector, or you can have one internal
	  drive and one external (A1010 or compatible 3.5", or the A1020
	  (at least i think that's the external amiga 5.25" drive)).

i'm not sure what floppy drive is shipping (if any) with 2088's.  i think
you get a 5.25" 360K which is intended to be mounted internally to a 2000,
but i've also heard that the marketing guys are unbundling the floppy from
the package.  check with your dealer on this point.

as to compatibility, there are no major problems.  the parallel port emulation
cannot be used for protection dongles - it's not real-time enough for that.
the only loss is the ability to use a COM2: serial port, since IRQ3 is used
by the janus software and there's broken COM2: emulation hardware on the
bridgeboard.

in a 2000, you can have either three XT slots and three amiga slots, or
two XT slots and four amiga slots, depending on which of the two bridge
slots you install the 2088 in.

>Ian Greenaway  alias igreenaw@hemel.bull.co.uk

  --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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