Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mit-eddie!killer!chasm
From: chasm@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Charles Marslett)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: MINIX on V30 Epson?
Summary: Adjust the Amdek monitor
Keywords: It crashes...
Message-ID: <5464@killer.DALLAS.TX.US>
Date: 10 Sep 88 13:16:25 GMT
References: <1415@kodak.UUCP>
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection, Dallas, Texas
Lines: 35

In article <1415@kodak.UUCP>, hysell@kodak.UUCP (john hysell) writes:
> I have a friend with this problem.
> I am posting for him as he cannot access USENET directly yet...
> He bought version 1.2, and tried to run it on his Epson Equity (says
> it is based on the V30 CPU chip).  After the boot disk runs, he inserts
> the root disk, hits ENTER and is rewarded with a system crash.

I have had trouble at work with running IBM DOS 4.0 on a V20 based machine
-- it seems to think it is running on an AT rather than an 8088 based box,
probably because of the fact that most of the real mode instructions of
the 286 are implemented in the NEC chips (or is that all of them?).  If that
is the real problem, a 186 or 188 based machine should have the same problem.

> He took the same set of disks, and loads it onto a vanilla IBM XT, and
> can boot normally; however output to his Amdek monitor goes crazy.
> I haven't observed this, but begin to wonder if he got damaged disks...

This one is easy -- the Amdek amber monitors I have seen all seem to have
a screen display area that is somewhere from 77 to 79 1/2 columns wide and
if you adjust it "right" there seems to be a lot of software that simply
does not write the horizontal timing registers right for the Amdek monitor
to sync up (my employer, STB, makes a board that does 132 column monochrome
on most monitors and it cannot be made to operate properly on these monitors
-- though they look much better than the others at STB as far as I am
concerned).  Anyway, the fix is to adjust the horizontal size and/or
position just a little, and the screen will probably snap back into sync.

> Question: Has anyone run MINIX on V30 ger?

No, but I will give it a stab on a V20 (should be the same?).


Charles Marslett
STB Systems, Inc.    <-- apply all standard disclaimers
chasm@killer.dallas.tx.us