Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!hal!nic.MR.NET!xanth!manes
From: manes@xanth.cs.odu.edu (Mark Manes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Enhancer 1.3 package
Summary: Give me a break *FLAME ON*
Keywords: NO ROMS!?
Message-ID: <6531@xanth.cs.odu.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 88 06:32:44 GMT
References: <12839@eecae.UUCP>
Reply-To: manes@cs.odu.edu (Mark Manes)
Organization: Old Dominion University, Norfolk Va.
Lines: 94

In article <12839@eecae.UUCP> conklin@eecae.UUCP (Terry Conklin) writes:
>
>Am I mad? I suppose not. Disappointed, definately.
> 
>My local store FINALLY got their 1.3 Enhancer package (only 10 of the 25 
>ordered) and called us personally so that we got the first of them tonight.
> 
>So I excitedly clear off the monitor and dig into the package to find - 
>NO ROMS!
> 
>I guess the question is - Hey CBM, is this the 1.3 PACKAGE or not? If you're
>a 1000 owner it is. But if your a 2000/500 owner, you're "s@#t out of luck."

Well, first off, if you read the back of the Enhancer Manual it clearly says,
and I quote "This package includes 3 diskettes and a manual".  Did it say it
has ROMS?  No... 

Secondly, the packaging was smart. ALOT of Amiga 500/2000 (and of course 1000
owners) do not have hard disks, and do not have enough memory to make effective
use of RAD: so why include ROMS in every package so that the price of the 
Enhancer software is higher to all?
 
One should not assume the world has a hard disk...

> 
>Ok, so we're off now in search of ROMs. How does one GET ROMs? Will they take
>yet another umpteen days? And a little part of me asks, "Why did we shell out
>$27 for a REVISION of the OS???" The other part replies, "'Cause you shelled
>out $70 for PukeCity-DOgS%$# upgrades...

You shelled out a measly $27 for a very nice upgrade to our operating system.
It costs money to produce the things, and I doubt that Commodore made any 
money on these.

> 
>Also, lets get this autoboot situation down, once and for all.
> 
>A.) You need the Kickstart 1.3 to be able to autoboot from hard disk
>B.) You need the 1.3 Enhancer/OS package (come on, you NEED FFS...)
>C.) You *NEED* a partitioned disk, where DH0: is an OLD-STYLE, "slow format"
>    partition. You dont need much, but enough such that the autoboot 
>    controller can load FFS, so you can get to FFS partitions.
> 
>The above assumes that, like myself, you find it vile and repulsive to have
>a machine that needs a floppy to got to the hard disk. Perhaps the PCs have
>set the standard here. I find it really assinine to have a hard disk that
>you cant boot off of.
 
I admit one of the nicest things is autobbot, but many other upgrades and
fixes were made that we needed.  BTW, you never release part of a operating
system upgrade, think of the problems, of the non-programmer types (hey, 
like your friendly dealer :-) ) who could not handle a complicated 
installation of FFS.

> 
>I think this package lays down for good any rumors that the 1000 support is
>being dropped - hell, with this the 1000 is getting BETTER support!

It has been made clear in recent postings that Commodore is NOT going to 
drop support for the 1000.  I do not think that the Enhancer package was
designed with the 1000 owner in mind, but with idea that MOST people do not
need the ROMS.

> 
>It is noticeably annoying to have to have an OFS partition. I'm a big fan of
>huge, monolithic drives. (One of the MSU machines has 1.5 Gig) I dont like
>splitting it up into "logicals." That's what subdirectories are for.
>(Actually, some MSU machines are a lot bigger than that, but those are those
>nasty pay-for computer services, whereas that is a nice, open Unix box.)

The reason that the OFS must be used has to do with the fact that the FFS is
not in ROM yet.  This is a 1.4 change.

Btw, I hate large subdirectory trees.

> 
>Oh well, more needlessly wasted netbandwidth...
> 

Agreed (sigh..)

>Terry Conklin                              "Caress into oblivion" 
>conklin@egr.msu.edu                              -Celtic Frost
>{msudoc|frith}!conklin                         
>The Club    (517) 372-3131  3/12/2400 (call me here)
>The Club II (313) 334-8877  3/12/2400 Amiga filz & more

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark D. Manes                                          "In Amiga We Trust"  
Programmer of Fortune, have compiler will travel

"C is the Only programming Language that would compile a Ronald Reagan 
 Speech" - the masked programmer
===========================================================================