#A2088 – Many Drives
9 messages in this thread
AS far as I know, it's no possible, because while you have A: and B:. would the
third drive be C:? No, that's a hard drive designation.
Does anyone know something more about MS-DOS as to shed some light on the
mystery of the third disk drive? I do know that DISKPARM in the CONFIG.SYS
file can be extended to 99 devices, but I am not sure how.
andre
Andre:
Thanks for the info on a "three drive brideboard". I am pretty sure that
MS-DOS allows an internal 5 1/4" (A:), external 5 1/4" (B:), and external 3
1/2" (C:).
I am less certain, however, whether the BB, A1010, A1020 combo will pass
the right signals to make it work. I believe that the OS does a power on system
test (POST) that checks the hardware to see how many physical drives are
attached. I think that activity is the first little flash of light you see from
the BB drives when the system is powered on. If POST does not recognize the
drive, MS-DOS never will. I can get my system to recognize ONE external drive
(either one) at power up. I have never been able to get TWO external drives to
light briefly at power up. In fact, if the 3 1/2" is in the middle and the 5
1/4" is on the end, neither external drive will light briefly at power-up, and
neither will be recognized by MS-DOS. If the 5 1/4 is in the middle and the 3
1/2 is on the end, then the 5 1/4 will light briefly at power up, and DOS will
recognize it; but the 3 1/2 does nothing.
I know your schedule is pretty hectic, but if you run across an answer
somewhere inside CBM. please let me know. Thanks for any help.
I don't understand. I was very interested in this question myself so I'm
budding in %^>. Can you get either the df0: or a second drive to work with the
BB (i.e. a 3.5" drive)?
Also, on another note, if you have a multisync monitor how does installing
an EGA or VGA board work? Does it just work by default and no extra configuring
needed? Will it work with a flicker-fixer or just through the RGB port?
— Ethan
P.S. This is obviously open to everyone.
Ethan, I use a NEC Multisync II with an A-B switch for Flicker Fixer and VGA.
The FF is of course easy and is the "A" switch. To use the VGA card, I set
"Color off" in the Amiga PC Prefs program and put a "Mode CO80" line in my
autoexec.bat. Then to use the Bridgeboard I run "PCMono", which comes up a
blank screen, and flip the switch to "B". Voila….VGA. Depending on which VGA
Board you might use, you will probably have to put a set-up line or two in the
autoexec.bat for the board in use. In my case (Paradise Pro 16) I insert a
program cunningly named "VGA".
Naturally, none of this is covered in anybody's manual; but if I can get it
running in one day, anybody can.
Connections? Both the FF and the VGA have their own DM style connectors that
pin straight through to the A-B Box. In my case the RGB port sits empty. Rob.
My proposed situation would be with a VGA board and without the
flicker-fixer. Would there be a problem with a pc window in a VGA mode and the
Amiga graphics all coming through the RGB port into a multisync?
— Ethan
Ethan, yes there would be a problem. The Bridgeboard outputting (through a
separate card) a VGA or EGA signal must be directly connected to the monitor.
Only the basic CGA display is compatible with Amiga graphics and runs as a
window on the Amiga screen. Switchable displays – yes, but no VGA/EGA windows
through the RGB port. Rob.
So let me see if I understand this. I have the output from the VGA card
and the output from the RGB port. I hook these into the inputs from an A/B
switch and send the output to a Multisync. I flip the switch to use the other
computer.
— Ethan
Ethan:
My BB works fine with the internal drive alone or with one additional
external drive (whether that drive is a 3 1/2 or 5 1/4"). I assume it would
work fine with a hard drive if I wanted to give it acess to my Amiga HD (which
I do not want). As far as I can tell the system is performing as advertised. I
started this thread only to find out if you could add a third floppy drive and
still get the system to work. So far I would say that is an open question, and
hopefully we will get more information later.
I don't know anything about a VGA or EGA board, so I can't comment.
Perhaps others could jump in on that issue.
Andre,
It'd be D:, or even E:…depends on what's already recognized. At
least that's the way virtual drives come up (using device=driver.sys).
Don