Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!um-math!hyc
From: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: More SLM804 annoyances
Message-ID: <480@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu>
Date: 17 Nov 88 21:06:24 GMT
References: <881114-093413-1227@Xerox>
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Reply-To: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu)
Organization: University of Michigan Math Dept., Ann Arbor
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UUCP-Path: {mailrus,umix}!um-math!hyc

In article <881114-093413-1227@Xerox> "Hugh_Messenger.EuroPARC"@XEROX.COM writes:
>3)	This isn't really a grump, more of a puzzle.  Occasionally in the past I
>have booted my machine with hard disk and laser turned off - I just want to
>copy some floppies or some such simple minded operation.  If I do this, it
>is then impossible to format or copy floppies.  Why so?  How come just
>having something plugged in to the dma port affects floppy formatting, fer
>cryin' out loud?
>
>   -- Hugh

I noticed this on my Mega. The funny thing is, this didn't happen on my 1040.
(At least, I don't remember it happening...) I used to run the system just
fine with my hard drive plugged in but turned off (too noisy, and I suspect
that iot overheated easily...). Now, if I want to access the floppy drive at
all, I have to remember to power up the hard drive as well. (I still keep it
turned off most of the time, 'cause it's still noisy, though the new case has
a fan...) It would seem that some type of signals are getting lost out the
DMA port, and they were probably sufficiently buffered in the 1040 to not be
a problem...
--
  /
 /_ , ,_.                      Howard Chu
/ /(_/(__                University of Michigan
    /           Computing Center          College of LS&A
   '              Unix Project          Information Systems