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From: cheeser@dasys1.UUCP (Les Kay)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: C(not so)Ltd.
Message-ID: <1922@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 7-Nov-87 16:57:47 EST
Article-I.D.: dasys1.1922
Posted: Sat Nov  7 16:57:47 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Nov-87 06:44:38 EST
Organization: The Big Electric Cat
Lines: 70

Well, I finally took the plunge and bought more external brain cells for my
Amiga 1000.  I've owned this amiga fro 2.5 years and durring most of that time
it has sat in one closet or another for lack of Vendor interest (I.E.  No
software/hardware availability).  Then I was in a software store and saw a
lot of titles were availble.  Also some nice looking hardware.  So...

First thing I bought was an Alegra ram expansion.  then I upgraded that to
2m from the 512k it had.  Nice.  Very nice.  Suddenly, multi-tasking made
sence.  I'm afraid I have to lump the 512k amiga in the same catagory as the
128k Mac -- absurd.

Now, I own a Mac SE and have ordered a Mac II.  Both these machines are
equiped with hard disks.  My old Apple //e had a hard disk.  Even my old,
old, old Otrona Atache had a hard disk.  So I finally broke down and got one 
for the Amiga.  Well, sort of.  I bought a hard disk controller from an
outfit called CLtd.  Tis a SCSI controller, that, I'd seen advertised as
being compatible with Mac disk drives.  As an Apple Certified Developer, I
can by Apple (Mac) Compatible drives for FAR less than retial, and FAR, FAR
less than Amiga drives.  So I took the plunge.

First a warning.  Adds and reviews not-withstanding, you do not really get
a pass-through bus on the CLtd. SCSI controller.  What you get is a thing
that lets you attach a pass-through buss connector!  this connector is an
extra purchase item.  Now, it is true, they only want $19.95 for it, but
I have been waiting for nearly two weeks for one and as I said, a 512k
Amiga is absurd!

So, what about the claimed compatibility?  Well, I am running my system right
now with an Apple 20SC hard disk drive attached and it formatted to a full
20M (that is what the info program shows -> 20M!  I love it!).  Wow, an
Amiga without agonizingly slow disk access is actually an increadible machine!

Then I ordered a disk drive from a company called CMS that makes HDs for the
Apple // line and the Mac.  The standard format program supplied by CLtd.
would not touch it.  CLtd. also provides a format program called ROMAT which
is for Rodime drives.  Even though the CMS is a Seagate drive (and the
seagate option of the standard program would not touch it), the ROMAT
program formatted it right off.  I then created a mountlist entry for the
drive based on the one used for the Apple 20SC since it had been formatted
identically (the Apple in this case is a Rodime drive....) and invoked the
mount command.  then I tried to do the high level format (the first is a
low level format, the second uses the standard Amiga format program or
the quickformat program CLtd. gives you).  Both Amiga Format and CLtd.'s 
quickformat went:  Barf.  Couldn't recognize the disk as an Amiga disk.

Now, ROMAT talked to it and had no problem, so there had to be a way to get the
system to talk to this media.  Called CLtd.  they had no clue, though they
did say that if all else fails, they could send me an Adaptec controller to
replace the one in the CMS for about $90.00 and then for sure it would
work hokey dokey.  Not beleiving in spending money untill all else fails, I
kept on plugging.  It turns out that the mountlist supplied to work with
CLtd.'s own 20 meg drive (uses differrent flag settings than the Apple drive
I originally used) worked fine with the CMS.  

So, since then I've hooked up streamy tape and the new 10Meg Floppy drives
and a borrowed worm drive and the CLtd. controller would talk to and work with 
them all.  And the controller only cost $180.00!  And I keep hearing from
the folk on the net how expensive and unreliable Amiga hardware is!

Balderdash!  At least Cltd. seems to be making good stuff!  I finally
decided to order another hard disk, and this time I ordered from CLtd.
I like the company.

cheeser  (not associated with Cltd. save as a satisfied customer.)

-- 
===============================================================================
Jonathan Bing, Master (cheeser)			...ihnp4!hoptoad!dasys1!cheeser
"Pereant, iniquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt!"                          also
"Non illegitimus carborundum!"        crash!pnet01!pro-sol!pro-carolina!cheeser