Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!perry
From: perry@madnix.UUCP (Perry Kivolowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AmigaDos VS dhn:
Summary: Overdrive VS Everyone
Keywords: AmigaDos 1.3, DHN:
Message-ID: <473@madnix.UUCP>
Date: 8 Feb 89 17:42:13 GMT
References: <88459@sun.uucp> <471@madnix.UUCP>
Reply-To: perry@madnix.UUCP (Perry Kivolowitz)
Organization: ASDG Incorporated
Lines: 49


Seeing language like ``the ASDG memory board puts low level interrupts
out of the bus'' is pure science fiction. Who told you that? 

Here's the low-down on the Pacific Peripherals Overdrive controller:

Background:

Pacific Peripherals is a marketting company. They sell other peoples
designs. In this case, the product in question was designed by Interactive
Video Systems (IVS) who makes competing products on their own (interesting). 

Pacific Peripherals, having no internal hardware staff asked IVS to look
into problems reported concerning their controller. IVS said: ``problems?
impossible!'' and rendered no help. Pacific Peripherals, wanting to do
the right thing, sent US a board and asked US to investigate reports of
problems.

The Good Part:

Well, investigate we did. Upon cursory inspection of the IVS design we
found that they invert the clock signals as they enter the board. Upon
deeper inspection we found that the inverted clock causes every timing
aspect of the IVS design to be suspect of failing to comply with Zorro
specifications. We found that this board was quite lucky to work with
nothing else in the box as is even displayed timing inconsistencies with
Chip ram. (in short: the controller does everything 180 degrees out of
phase with the rest of the system).

The Epilogue

We reported all of this to Pacific Peripherals who asked us to get in
touch with the designers who have not returned our phone calls yet (as
it has been about two months, I somehow think they won't).

Summary

The problems cited have nothing to do with the ASDG memory board.

Side Note

We tried to do the right thing and keep the tone ``no-fault''. That
didn't seem to work too well did it? ``Low level interrupts.'' Indeed.

-- 
                        Perry Kivolowitz, ASDG Inc.
ARPA: madnix!perry@cs.wisc.edu   {uunet|ncoast}!marque!
UUCP: {harvard|rutgers|ucbvax}!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!perry
CIS:  76004,1765 (what was that about ``giggling teenagers''?)