CompuServe Thread

Brian, I think that in order to be able to use the HD drive with HD format you need at least KickStart 2.04 (= v37.175). As you have an A3000, I suspect you might still have a pre-37 KickStart on it (i.e. v36.x), in that case you should try to get your hands on a new KS… BTW… 4) Yes, you can! No, you don't have to do anything special. // Chris coming in from Germany \X/ on AutoPilot 1.071……….

Brian, >>how do I tell it to format to high density?<< You shouldn't have to. If you insert a HiD floppy the system should format it as a HiD disk. Since installing the drive, other than the test I did to see if it would work, I don't think I've ever bothered to format an Amiga floppy disk… everything is either on my hard drive, a tape back up, or gets written to HiDensity MSDOS or MAC disks! Who uses Amiga floppy disks? <ducking> Look in your Devs:Dosdrivers drawer. You should have a driver (and icon) for PC0 which is the dos driver for crossdos. If it's not there, look on your utilities or extras disk. I believe that these have to be installed manually when you do the upgrade to 2.1. I'm not certain though, as I still use 2.04 and the commercial version of CrosDos (v5). >>Any comments on why you went with Emplant rather than upgrading your AMAX?<< Lots. I've been a ReadySoft customer for years… going from A-Max to A-Max II to A-Max II+… I waited patiently for each upgrade. I waited even as the announced release dates came and went. I waited for new features. I waited for online support. While they always answered their phones and eventually addressed any problems I had, it was time consuming and frustrating, often requiring me to write or call several times. Faxes went unanswered. The all of a sudden some company announced that they would have a new Emulator on the market that would not only do MAC in the Amiga, but do it in color. And that their product would multitask. And their product would run emulations other than DOS. Utilities Unlimited seemed to be promising everything under the sun, and more. I couldn't wait to see what they came out with becasue it sounded so implausible. Then they went and did it. The first boards shipped with the usual amount of bugs in the software that can be expected in a new product of this type… but more importantly, users like Jonathan Blackwell started reporting that the Emplant actually worked. And maybe even _more_ importantly, he reported getting software updates on what seems like a weekly basis, directly from UU's BBS. Jim Drew was determined to get this thing right, and do right by his customers. Jim appeared out of nowhere and started personally assisting people in the online community here on CIS, (and elsewhere, which I could live without <g>). That did it. With a product as complex and powerful as this, I wanted the support I deserved when I needed it. I don't know how long ReadySoft was working on support for color, but it sure seemed to me like the possibility of rael competition is what made them finally concede and put their act in to high gear for A-Max IV. It was too late for me… I had already decided that if a company like UU was going to support both the Amiga and their users the way they were, I wanted to be using their products. >>And what do you thin[k] of Emplant?<< I'm astounded by the technology and impressed with both the functionality and support provided by UU… I've only just installed Emplant and I can say that I am incredibly impressed. This board is designed to address the needs of using an Amiga in a world that speaks everything _but_ Amiga. It's felxibility will keep my Amiga useful far longer than any other Amiga specific peripheral I might own. – Michael

You have to have the HiD floppy as DF0… (There is a patch to use it as DF1, but I'd suggest moving the drive to DF0 anyway.) As to your third question, I've never had any trouble reading and writing low density diskettes with my HiD drive. (PC's have this problem, not Amiga's) Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot! Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.