Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ut-sally!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wsccs!terry
From: terry@wsccs.UUCP (terry)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: CLtd (Was: 2090 SCSI driver needed)
Message-ID: <256@wsccs.UUCP>
Date: 4 Mar 88 05:55:43 GMT
References: <1946@leo.UUCP> <5074@swan.ulowell.edu>
Distribution: comp
Lines: 62
Summary: CLtd support of users

In article <5074@swan.ulowell.edu>, page@swan.ulowell.edu (Bob Page) writes:
> It's available.  The latest rev of the SCSI software is 2.03.  If you
> have 2.01 you can get the new version from the CLtd BBS (send me mail
> if you want the number).  If you have an old version, you have to buy
> a new PAL for your controller before you can use 2.01 and/or 2.03.  If
> you have 2.01 and don't need the SCSI NET stuff, you don't need 2.03,
> but if you have a SCSI net you must get 2.03.

	Post the number, then we can all get busy signals.  Or post the
software to here.

> CLtd's support sucks rocks.  If you have a technical question
> (anything more techincal than "how do I hook it up") they can't answer
> you.  Sure, they'll get one of the technicians to call you.

	And he will tell you how to correctly tie your socks.  I am still
waiting for a call on how I am supposed to open a serial port via the
"standard" interfaces and then hang (san you say "hibernate"?) until I
either get input from the console or the serial port, so as to not have to
poll, thereby taking CPU time.  I am also waiting for a call back on how you
are supposed to have a program boost it's own priority, yet still work with
the 68010, et al, and NOT have to resort to supervisor state.  This will let
me, in combination with the other call, write terminal software that can talk
at a decent clip (anybody written an interrupt driven serial.device?) without
tripping over other processes.  This is apparently what Sonix did to keep
it from losing a beat while doing disk I/O.  Otherwise, I'll just have to grab
the machine... my comm software I'm doing is a port and is over 55,000 lines
of C code, and I'll be damned if I'll rewrite it in 68000 for GOD or anybody.
It works dandy on a Tandy 6000 (also a 7 or so MGHz box, but running 8 users
and Xenix (read system III Unix) and cron and uucp...) at 9600 baud without
losing characters.  Commodore says they can go MIDI speeds and still multi-task
...this may be true, but the driver's passing stuff to me at about 2400 baud
or less, depending on system loading.

	Maybe my disk has a "bad spot"... (didn't the guy know about the
word sector?  Some techinical support)

> I call CLtd to tell them this, and they think I'm from Neptune.

	Why not?  That's probably the only place you can be from and still have
talked to someone who knows something :-(.

> I asked them when they'd produce a DMA interface.  They tell me, "With
> the Fast File System we are 8 to 9 times faster than the current
> version," -- they're not -- and "we'll be AS FAST IF NOT FASTER than
> any DMA controller."

	What about a DMA controller using FFS?  The truth is, they can't
build one either.  I only know of one out there, and it's ...well, sorta
pretending to do DMA.  Can't they even use one of their 26 channels?

> Anyone know of a DMA SCSI manufacturer for the A1000?

	Nope.  I don't think it can be done with developement costs low
enough that I could afford one anyway.


| Terry Lambert           UUCP: ...!decvax!utah-cs!century!terry              |
| @ Century Software       or : ...utah-cs!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wsccs!terry    |
| SLC, Utah                                                                   |
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