Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Non-DMA means they don't have the opportunity to build the DMA logic
    incorrectly, as Commodore did with the A2090.  It also means that doing
    disk I/O eats a lot of CPU, which could be a problem in a multi-tasking
    system with lots of memory, since you would like to do other things
    while disk I/O is in progress.
    
    Syquest compatble means you can use removable media with it.
        John Sauter

Re: .0

>    Non- DMA - What benefit is this?

There are pluses and minuses.  What they are saying is that the CPU must
move the data from the disk controller rather than the disk controller
accessing the memory itself without tying up the CPU.  (DMA stands for
Direct Memory Access.)

On the minus side: it will probably be slightly slower than a DMA controller,
and disk I/O cannot overlap computation.

On the plus side: its easier to design a non-DMA controller, and so there's
a greater chance the controller works (Commodore itself designed and sold
three disk controllers and only got DMA to work under all the obscure
conditions on the third try!).  Non-DMA controllers stress the system
less, and so are more likely to work with marginal or poorly designed
memory cards and CPU accelerators.


>    Syquest compatible - What the **** does this mean?

Syquest is a manufacturer of removable media hard disks.  Unlike floppies,
the Amiga doesn't notice automatically if you eject a hard disk.  However,
some disk controller manufactures put code in their disk controller driver
software to ask the Syquest if a new disk cartage has been inserted.

If a disk controller is not "syquest compatible," you must remember to
manually type a diskchange command after inserting a new disk cartage
in the drive.  Alternatively, I believe their are some utility programs
(which might be public domain) that can watch the disk drive for you
and automatically perform the diskchange.

    Well, I got the 500 version over the weekend. Needed extra power for th
    Rz24. Switched on, it recognized my drive, and prep'd etc it all for
    me. Autoboot ok!
    
    
    Big question is the company sell memory boards to go on this. They
    haven't got any in the UK. I'm thinking it will be cheaper and quicker
    to get these in the states. Could someone either dig out the prices and
    a supplier or get the phone number for me? Many thanks.
    
    
    The board is a Dataflyer, the company is :
    
    Expansion Systems
    44862 Osgood Rd
    Fremont
    California
    USA 94539.
    
    cheers,
    
    Greg

�    Well, I got the 500 version over the weekend. Needed extra power for th
�    Rz24. Switched on, it recognized my drive, and prep'd etc it all for

    Could you elaborate on the "extra power" part? Doesn't the unit for the
    500 come with it's own "brick" or does it normally take power from the
    A500 bus (yuk!)?
    
�    to get these in the states. Could someone either dig out the prices and
�    a supplier or get the phone number for me? Many thanks.

    From the ad in June's AC, the phone number is (415)656-2890; FAX number
    is (415)656-3152.

    Pete

    OK extra power..
    
    The dataflyer has a lead as it tries to take power from the Amiga's
    bus. This span my drive up ok, but failed to format it properly, giving
    me random errors. I used an old Sharp power unit to power it
    seperately. They have a hole in the back of the chassis to pass the
    cable through. The shop was 'offerring' to sell me on for 50 UK pounds!
    
    One other thing, my first on had the extra 25 pins SCSI connector and
    the LED connector horizontal so I couldn't plug either in!
    
    
    Greg

	I just recently received a dataflyer for my a500 a week ago. I ordered
it from Briwall in Kutztown,PA. and had it deliverd to my home in NH for just
$158.00. This is the cheapest I've seen it advertised.
        It was a little bit bulkier than I expected(probably for better heat
dissipation since there is no fan inside the unit) but installation was very
easy and so was the formatting. You will, however need an external power source
for it to run efficiently, but overall I would say it's a fairly cheap
alternative for anybody wanting to add a hard drive to their system.
        As far as additional memory, if you have an a500 with even 1meg of ram
and you plan on partitioning the drive to more than one section you will need
more. This is a problem I ran into when I went to run "Elvira". So I called up
Expansion systems for some price quotes on the memory boards. For a 2meg board 
which is all I really need for now it would run me $210.00 and thats with a
special offer. I thought this might be a little steep so I'm going to seek some
alternative avenues, but for now I repartioned my drive for one section and
everything I have seems to run fine, including "Elvira". These boards are
fairly new so maybe when they get distributed to mail order companies they'll
be a little cheaper. 

Moe
    
    

Let us know if you get memory any cheaper, I'm in the same boat as you
but haven;t any cash!


Greg

    Ok, shot in the dark question here.
    
    My friend has a 2000 with a dataflyer controller.  Recently a friend
    tried to format it, and he (in a panic) aborted it.  Wrong thing to do.
    
    So, two things:  Can someone please upload a copy of their dataflyer
    format/install program to EOT, and also does anyone know if the ROM on
    the dataflyer must be updated to work on WB 2.04?
    
    He currently has ROM version 1.1.
    
    Thanks very much in advance,
    Mike
    
    P.S.  Yes, we've tried contacting the company, and they give us the run
          around about "we're very busy...maybe three to six weeks"

    As always I object to putting any questionable (read copyright)
    software on the net. It is sad to see a vendor take the attitude
    that is being displayed here. All the poster was requesting was that
    they send a disk to them, that could go us mail for .75 . I've had
    pals sent overnight express at no cost by the vendor of my controller.
    Maybe someone in the area(wherever that is) could drop by and help out.
    The Data flyer came on strong due to it's price, but I haven't seen a
    lot about it lately.
    								bill

    I didn't even think it would be copyrighted.  Wow.  Well, I'll keep
    plugging away until I reach a tech who is not "in a meeting, at lunch,
    gone home, taking a vacation day, etc."
    
    Mike

    Mike,
    
    Everytime I rang Dataflyer from the UK they were very helpful! Try
    pretending your English, or find a local supplier who may help!
    
    I'll try and remember to post the name of the guy I spoke to tomorrow
    as it's 21:50 over here and I'm off home!
    
    Greg