Conference hydra::amiga_v1

1425.0. "amiga magic sac status & Wedge 500" by BAGELS::BRANNON (Dave Brannon) Wed May 18 1988 00:24

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Path: decwrl!ucbvax!pasteur!ames!lll-lcc!well!dsmall
Subject: Re: How 'Bout HyperCard!
Posted: 15 May 88 19:02:28 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
 
(The discussion centers around Hypercard & a little Magic Sac'isms.)
 
  I spent a few months very recently hacking Magic Sac into the Amiga
and have some news -- well, you *did* say you were looking for Magic Sac
news, right?  Anywho.
First, it has to run in flickermode, otherwise you can't see enough of the
screen to do much good. A flicker fixer would be important. Second, the Amiga
apparently can read the outer 32 tracks of Mac disks -- not the inner 48,
however. Third, there's a big problem in the memory mapping that I can't
overcome, and that's why I'm putting the project on hold.
 
On the Mac, RAM memory starts at location 0 and extends upwards for
however much memory you have. The memory manager is designed around this --
it compacts the heap, and so forth, during program operation. On the
Amy 500, you've got 512K in low memory, which is fine, then a 11 megabyte
"hole" in the memory map, then another (optional) 512K. I can't get the
Mac OS to work with this for several reasons.
   Hence, the largest "emulated Mac" I can bring is up at a 256K Mac --
not real useful. 512K is sort of a starting point anymore for Mac software.
Hypercard assumes 1 meg.
 
   Anywho, over the last two weeks I've reached the conclusion that it's
just not worth doing; the resulting product wouldn't be powerful enough.
This honestly doesn't have anything to do with Apple, the Lawsuit, or
anything else.
 
   The reason the Magic Sac for the Amiga is so late is that two seperate
consultant groups failed to make it work, over a two year period. The last
person to try it more or less gave up in March '88; I see he showed up at
the BADGE meeting, broke his non disclosure agreement, and gave several
completely wrong reasons for why it was being dropped. 
 
During those two years, I was much too busy on the Atari end of things to
do work on the Amiga end. After giving up on outsiders doing it (in about
February), I got a 500 and hard disk, and hacked it together. It took
roughly the same time as the ST version -- about 3 months -- to bring up.
 
  Anyway, I don't know what to do about the memory map problem. Perhaps
a smaller "hole" in RAM can be tolerated in the auto-configure memory machines,
if their mapping is moved down as closely as possible to the 512K chip ram.
It is also possible that the new 1-meg chipset will help; I'd hate to see
a Magic Sac dependent on a retrofit, though. Add to this the flicker mode,
and the disk drive <> Mac format directly, and it's just not practical for
me right now.
 
   I know of a foreign-developed 128K ROM 
Mac emulator for the A-1000 that runs with both Kickstart and the 512K
"regular" RAM; that looks interesting. It runs Multifinder, so it's
pretty compatible, and Hypercard is right over the horizon with a 1 meg
chip set. Since I don't see any source for 128K ROMs in the US that's legit,
I don't think I could market it.
 
   Sorry for the lengthy note, but I've owed this newgroup some news for
a long time.
 
 -- Dave Small
(formerly, Data Pacific)

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Path: decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!van-bc!daami
Subject: now available for 500
Posted: 16 May 88 09:28:43 GMT
Organization: 
 
>From: rsilvers@hawk.ulowell.edu (Robert Silvers)
 
>     Does anyone know if the Wedge is availiable for the Amiga 500?  I
>am looking for a cheap 40 Meg hard disk.  Also, if it is out, about how 
>much is it and where can I get one.
>					Thanks,
>					      --Rob.
 
For those of you that have heard enough about the WEDGE or are offended by
commercial type messages please "N" now. Applogies to Randall Jesup.
 
The WEDGE 500 is now shipping. It is 159.00 US and can be purchased from
RSI at the address below. Shipping and handling are extra. I can't seem to
get mail IN or OUT so please send me your mail address and I will send you
all the relivant info. Painless?
 
--
      
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Allen     (604) 270-0064      The MIND LINK BBS - (604) 533-2312
               9651 Alexandra Rd.        8 Lines running Xenix
RSI    //      Richmond, B.C.
      //       Canada V6X 1C6      "thou shalt not offend the
  \\ //    or; dave@daami.UUCP      Net gods"
   \X/          ^^^                       - something to remember
---------------------------------------------------------------------

		What's Magic Sac, Wedge 500?
Iv.

    The Wedge (Wedge 500 is just the A500 version) is a simple bus to bus
    convertor (and software) which gives you a single PC slot into which
    you can plug a PC hard disk controller and drive a PC compatible
    hard drive OR you can plug in a PC hardcard (controller and drive
    on the same card. The drives are usable via AmigaDOS.
    In addition to the wedge you must supply the controller, power supply,
    and drive.
    
    It looks like this:
    
    -------+
    Amiga  |   |
           |   | <--wedge
    bus  --  ==|
           |   |
    -------+ --#-----#---
                     ^ PC slot
    
    It is bare (exposed) circuitry but seems to work very well.
    
    				Alan T.
    
    P.S. No I don't have one, I just pay very close attention to any
    mention of it. ;^)
    

    re: .1
    
    Magic Sac is a Macintosh emulator for the Atari ST.  It uses the
    64K ROMs that are being discarded as the Mac folks are upgrading
    to 128K ROMs.  So it runs most of the old Mac software, and has
    problems with the newer stuff that require the 128K ROMs.
    
    It runs on the ST 640x400 monochrome monitor, and is claimed to
    be faster than a real Mac.
    
    -dave