#AMaxIV = YES!
86 messages in this thread
Howdy,
Just got the disk with upgraded AMax IV software, and YAHOO! AMaxIV is up
and running!
Jan
Jan,
Tell us more about the upgrade! Did you have to change any chips on your
AMAXII+ board? Was it just a software upgrade? What Amiga are you running
this on? Details… we want details! <g>
Michael,
The upgrade to the AMaxIV board from the AMaxII+ board consists of
Software and a chip. Right before christmas I got the upgrade. But my
motherboard needed replacement for an as yet unknown reason — it just
would not work with AMaxII+ any longer.
The motherboard came. I installed the chip and the software. AMaxIV
wouldn't work! Turns out their was a problem with the AMaxIV "enabling"
software (my description). Pulled the chip replaced the software, Voila,
AMaxII+ works like a champ!
Today I got the replacement upgrade software. Replaced the chip (which was
good all along) and installed this version of AMaxIV software. Voila (and
dejavu, too) AMaxIV works like a champ!
You want color, I got color! Slower than I'm used to, but 16 color on my
2500.
You want harddisks, I got hard disks. And Syquests!
What I ain't got no longer however is low density floppies. Major bummer!
AMaxIV directly supports hi-density drives, but not lo-density drives.
Guess which one I got? There's a work around, but I couldn't get it to
work with the install disks for System 7, lo-density disks, I special
ordered in the summer.
More as I learn it. This weekends a well deserved getaway in the wine
country, see ya Monday.
Jan
Jan,
Thanks for the report… I'm sure a lot of people will find it very
ineteresting.
Michael,
Just to jump in on this; I upgraded to AMAXIV and have it running on my A4000
in 256 colors. It seems to be fairly bulletproof and it multitasks with almost
everything. Toaster's switcher application seems to give it some problems but
the guys at Readysoft are working on it as we speak. Since I have the HD floppy
in the A4000 I haven't had to deal with the low density disk issue but I agree
that it is short sighted not to support them. I have other macs here in the
office and can xfer the files to the Amax via appletalk more quckly than using
the Readysoft 800k xfer utility.
Most gratifying is the ability to use my Syquests with so much ease. My CD rom
unit isn't as well supported, it's an older NEC SCSI that works well on my
other macs and on the Amiga under the CDROM FS. I guess the mounting init I
have is too old for the new system software (AMAXIV requires System 7.0 and up)
Have been spending much time with Photoshop now that AMAXIV is installed.
Mostly working on stills for video and although it's a slow process, it's
better than nothing until the new Toaster Paint package arrives. Using many of
the other image manipulating packages on the Amiga gets to be a bit frustrating
because none of them to date has all the features of Photoshop. What I would
really like to do is get a mac version of the Fractal designs Painter Software.
I have it on one of my Windows PC's and it's has many features that are easier
to use (and faster) than Photoshop.
Something others here on the thread might want to know about the AMAXIV file
xfer program; The FILE EXTENSIONS ARE CASE SENSITIVE. This is not explained in
the docs. As an example; if you have a TIFF file, you must use ALL CAPS on the
file extension in order to have the translator program work properly.
For the most part, I can say that I am very impressed with the AMAXIV upgrade,
especially for the money ($125 for registered uowners of the AMXII+). When I
choose the "about this macintosh" dialogue, it shows that I have a Quadra, nice
trick considering I am using old mac plus roms.
Frank
Thaks for the report, Frank!
Thanks for the report!
Which SCSI controller are you using with it? Does it work with the
DKB4091, or the Fastlane?
Thanks much,
Erik Flom
Erik,
I'm using the Trumpcard Pro from IVS. So far no problems. The issue of the
CDROM drive and AMXIV is probably related to Apple's System software not
recognizing the NEC mounting init. I say this because the Trumpcard Pro has no
dificulty runnint eh CDROM from AmigaDos with the CDROMFS software. I have also
tried Trantor's mac version of their universal CDROM mounter, but no luck.
Looks like I will just have to xfer files under Amigados from the CDROM drive
for now. The NEC model drive I have is a bit long in the tooth (CDR-74),
perhaps I will upgrade to a newer model at some point. The main reason for
wanting the direct CDROM interface is so that I can get at a wealth of
postscript fonts that I have in Mac format on the Artroom CD and convert them
for use in Toaster CG and Lightwave. Hopefully I can get by using syquests to
exfer for now.
Frank
Glad to hear of your relative success using the Trumpcard. Sorry to hear
of your CD problems – that's the only thing that _works_ on my Emplant
SCSI! :^)
I've always had fairly good luck with ReadySoft tech support, so I have
little doubt you'll soon get the CD working.
Good Luck,
Erik Flom
Hey Eric, my Quantum, and my CD work on my emplant. Is your Emplant an
early one? If so there is an upgrade to the SCSI Gal chip that you
might need, talk to Joe, he'll fix you up. Oh yeah, my Syquest also
works, the only drive I've had a problem with is my Maxtor wich works
marginally at best even on my GVP (and this is AFTER having it
replaced when my last one died, the Maxtor 7213SR sucks!).
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
I just got the 'Deluxe' upgrade in Mid-December, though the board was a
fairly old one before I sent it in.
I've just had so many problems with the Emplant SCSI on my 4000, that I
can't trust it. I'm eagerly awaiting their new re-written drivers….maybe
that'll help.
Erik Flom
Erik..
I'm using a SeQuest 3105 as my HD for the Emplant with a Toshiba CD-Rom
drive on the tail end using the Emplant SCSI connecter without any
problems.. My beef is with printing, I'm not into making custom cables..
I downloaded the latest upgrade from UU, it keeps looking for version 7 of
the jam.library and the upgrade came with version 6. I might check UU
again tonight and see what I find.. I have to set Term to recall 50 times
to ever get through to them.. He Hee good excuse to have a extra beer
while waiting…
Eddie.Ski
Eddie… The upgrade to v3.7 of the software requires that you already
had 3.5/6 The 3.4 archive had an earlier version of the jam.library.
-Jonathan
// Amiga online via Autopilot
\\// MAC Quadra 900 & 486 emulation via Amiga!
Jonathan…
I had the right version v3.7, I found out I had to delete my old version
first, not overwrite it. All's well now..
One thing that rather strange, when I insert a floppy disk it turns on my
printer and the problem led, a HP-LJ-L4. I have to hit the start button,
this clears the printer and prints out a page with y's….
Eddie.Ski
A 'SeQuest' 3105?!? (Are you implying SeaGate is as bad as SeaQuest? :^)
Seriously though, my problems are mostly with the 400MB Seagate beastie on
my 4000.
What Amiga are you running the Emplant on?
Erik Flom
SeQuest.. See what staying up late to call the UU-BB and a few beers will
do…
The Emplant's running on a 4000/40 using a -SyQuest- 105mg Removable
cartridge drive. This way I can use the drive with the Amiga by switching
cables and cartridges..
I loaded ClarisWorks and found what might be a bug. When I have the
Claris-WP open and I change screens to the Amiga side and then return to
the WP the keyboard dosen't function. I have to go back to the Amiga side
and type a letter or two in a shell, when I change screens back to the
Claris-WP the keybord works..
Eddie.Ski
Thanks for your reports! I'm thinking of upgrading my AMAXII+ to AMAXIV
(and chucking the Emplant :^).
Please keep us informed of how compatible it is.
How well does the multi-tasking work? Does it run QuickTime applications?
Thanks,
Erik Flom
Erik Flom
Erik,
For what it's worth if you want color and have a 68030 machine, you
might prefer Emplant. It's color support is much faster than Amax IV. I
benchmarked Amax IV color video with Speedometer and it was 4-5 times SLOWER
than a Mac II. Emplant, on the other hand, benchmarked equal to or slightly
below a Mac II using old Emplant 2.3 version software (when I had Emplant early
last year.) However, B/W is just as fast as it was with Amax II. Otherwise
Amax IV works quite well. Like Emplant, you need to allocate memory to the Mac
system, and if you haven't a lot of RAM, then the Mac system will be short of
RAM. I have 8 meg fast and 2 meg chip on the 3000T, and when Amax IV is
running after my normal Amiga boot, I was only able to get about 6 meg total in
the Mac. With all my inits, etc., there was less than 2 meg available for
programs under System 7.1. That basically means you will have a real problem
with big programs unless you put more RAM in the machine. If you have at least
12 meg of fast, then it should be OK.
Unfortunately, I was less than ecstatic about the slow video in color.
I don't know if this can be overcome because the docs don't really give you any
info on optimizing performance. I normally run an 8 color WB under NTSC hires
lace mode. Perhaps running in 4 color WB mode it might be faster, but I didn't
try it. Emplant's video was definitely faster in 16 color mode. I'm sure Amax
would be faster running on a 68040 or using a 24 bit video board, like Retina
or Picasso.
Thanks for the feedback. I've had an AMAXII+ for several years in my
A3000. I have a GVP 040 in it, and the Amax B& W stuff worked great – just
no QuickTime.
When I got my 4000, I picked up an Emplant. It's really cool, but I still
have as yet ot get it the SCSI interface to work properly, and their Tech
support is little better than trying to get in touch with Joe Bob at the
local garage – not easy, to say the least. (True, their bug fixes are
coming out fast and furious, but in a commercial environment, it's not
proving to be a product I can rely on.)
Either solution still makes for a good, _cheap_, Mac…..
Erik Flom
Erik,
Well, since you have Emplant you can almost tell what Amax IV is like
because they are in many ways similar. I had an Emplant early last year and I'm
sure the software upgrades have been significant since I had mine. Amax IV was
very easy to install and set up. There is a chip replacement, if you have Amax
II Plus, which is easy to do. The software installs with the CBM Installer, so
that part is easy. Like Emplant, there is a small init-like program that must
run in the startup-sequence. The preferences are set through the Amax startup
program similar to Amax II, except that the preferences control interface is
slightly different and there are a number of special options required, such as
video, memory allocation, handling of Amiga/Scsimanager devices, etc.
Amax IV boots up as did Amax II, except now you have 32 bit color
support. Amax IV fools the Mac OS into believeiing it is a Quadra 950.
Quicktime works as does color, but as I said before the color video is slow
compared with Emplant. Swtiching between the Mac and the Amiga is as easy as
Left-Amiga RightMouseButton. Memory mangement, etc. seems to be very much like
Emplant. Amax IV is supposed to be 32-bit clean, but since I have a 3000 there
is really no way for me to tell. The only memory management difference between
Amax and Emplant is that Amax IV requires you to set aside an amount of memory
into an INIT partition which the Mac will use to load inits during bootup. If
you under-allocate the Mac will crash during boot. If you over- allocate any
extra ram will be returned to the Mac's free memory pool. This is also similar
to the allocation of ram for the Mac system. If you under-allocate the system
ram parition, the boot may fail depending on the size of the system partition
in the Mac. If you overallocate, the ram is still available. However, to
multitask and have room for System 7.x and any big Mac program you had better
install at least 12 meg of fast ram in the Amiga.
Hmmmph. Thanks for the detailed report on the AmaxIV. It does sound much
like the Emplant. (The Emplant preferences was recently revamped to cover
most of the video, RAM, and I/O parameters.)
You say the video is _slower_ than the Emplant emulator? (I didn't think
it was possible. :^)
My main complaint about the Emplant is that they promise the world,
then take long time to get it working – though eventually they
_do_…..
I guess I'll just stick with the Emplant. Maybe they'll eventually get
the SCSI bugs out, and then I'll have the benefit of a fully working
SCSI. Until then, I'll have to limp along with the 2091 I've got in
my 4000. (Yechh!)
Erik,
I, too, was surprised by the Amax's video performance. I
called Readysoft and they told me that without a 24 bit video card,
my benchmarks were in line. I was able to improve performance
significantly by changing to a "standard" 640 x 400 non-overscanned
hires laced screen and by increasing the refresh timeout. Benchmark
was about .70 of a Mac II. I believe Emplant benchmarked about equal
to a Mac II. Only drawback is that the timeout causes jerkier
scrolling, but is tolerable. I also was able to install System 7
Pro, which wouldn't work on Amax II, but works fine with IV, although
it is a bit more cumbersome than 7.1 and doesn't really add much
additional functionality unless you are networked and need
Applescript.
SCSI stuff works like a champ. I have both a tape drive and
CD-ROM drive and both were easily recognized as scsi manager
devices. On the downside, Amax IV no longer reads and writes 800k
Mac disks. It only reads/writes high density disks unless the 800k
disk is a 720k IBM format. They have an Amiga utility which will
read/write the 800k disk into an Amiga file device, sort of like the
Janus JLINK device. This file device shows up on the Mac desktop as
though it were a true disk, so in that respect you don't lose the
function, but it is now less convenient, especially for loading
software which was distributed on the 800k disks.
Multi-tasking is good. It works well along with the bridgeboard. I
think Amax IV is a good product except for the limitations on video
and the awkwardness of using 800k Mac disks. However, that isn't a
lot different from Emplant, which also didn't read/write 800k disks
unless you had Sybil, which never seemed to work too well for those
that had it.
Thanks for the detailed report on your experiences with the AMAXIV – I
really wish I could justify the cost of the upgrade right now, but I won't
be able to until I get a few more jobs.
I wish that the graphics response was better, but I guess they're doing
the best they can with the 128K ROMS. And as for LoDensity floppies,
that's only a minor inconvenience – most of my images move around on 44 &
88MB cartridges.
I see you mention you run the AMAX alongside a bridgeboard? (Glutton for
punishment, eh? :^)
Later,
Erik Flom
Erik,
I went back and checked my speedometer ratings for the Emplant and
found that I was mistaken about the difference in video benchmarks. Actually,
Amax IV rated better!! However, I still don't like the general sluggishness of
video operation. Windows open very slowly and general overall system
performance seems painfully slow compared to black/white video.
Hi Erik!
I wanted to comment on the Amax vs Emplant issue.
Having almost the same setup as you, A4000, A2091, Emplant, etc.. . .
. I don't think that the Emplant SCSI is going to every be that much
"more" than a 2091 as far as speed goes. From what I've been able to
find out, the Emplant SCSI was never intended or planned on being a
high performance or SCSI-II controller. I'm not sure what you are
hoping to get out of the SCSI device but I think that you'd probably
be better off with something like the FastLane or the new GVP SCSI
card and making the Mac go through the "Amiga side". That would give
you the Mac emulation and the high performance SCSI on the Amiga side
that I assume you're looking for.
Thanks
Matt
The 2091 only does 50K per second on the A4000 so the Empscs.device slaughters
it in speed.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
Ben,
Wow. I haven't used the Emplant SCSI from the Amiga side since 3.1. So I
can't say for sure.
Are these speeds including the Mapboard for the A2091? My transfer went way up
(realatively) when I installed the Mapboard.
Thanks
Matt
The 'least' I was hoping to get out of using the Emplant sCSI instead of
the 2091 controller was to free up a slot in my 4000/Toaster setup. (I'm
down to 0 with toaster, Emplant, & 2091)
I _know_ the Emplant is at least 3-4 times faster than the 2091 in my
setup. (I'm currently running one 80MB, Mac formatted, Quantum drive
off the Emplant SCSI w/o problems – it's only when I try to add the
other drives that I start to get random lockups [_definitely_ not
terminator related! :^)].)
I guess the main reason I'm so frustrated is that my CD-ROM works
just great on the Amiga side when I use the empscsi.device. If only
they would get the rest of the driver working for my 4000……
_IF_ I end up spending the bucks for a SCSI-II controller, I will
definitely go for a DMA SCSI/RAM card………
Thanks,
Erik Flom
I tried using the Emplant empscsi.device with the CD-Rom (3401) drive as
CD0: and it worked, also seemed a lot faster then the 2091. The only
problem there is that I can't run the Mac emulation with that setup. It
causes the SyQuest that I use as a hard drive for the Mac to lockup. I
also tried running the Syquest with a Amiga cartridge using the Emplant
scsi and toolbox couldn't find it. Mountlist maybe??? Didn't need one with
the 2091 or Fastlane. Oh well, something to play with…
Computers kind of remind me of when I messed around in boats, they both
love having $$$$$ dumped into them..
Eddie.Ski
Leave a message with the sales girl, it helps, a lot.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
Erik-
I have _zero_ problems with my Emplant. In fact, it is more stable
than my Quadra 840AV. CD-Rom is not a problem and neither is my
Quantum and Connor drives connected to it. I use SCSI from both MAC
and Amiga sides on the Emplant board without any hitches. I used to
have Amax as well and when it couldn't interface with a SCSI scanner
that required direct SCSI access, I got the Emplant. I also have
software that requires 32bit Quickdraw in ROM and the new AmaxIV
can't do that.
I think you've missed my key point:
I have an Amiga 4000/040. Motherboard timing problems are being blamed for
my problems, with no solution in sight.
Erik Flom
Well-
You and everyone else that has an old A4000. I can safely say that
all A2000's and A3000's don't have any MB timing problems… Just
the old 4000 mother boards. On the other hand, my buddy has never
had a problem with his Emplanted A4000 and he got his at WOCA
Pasadena when they were introduced. Strange. And like I said
earlier, it is a much more stable environment to develop MAC software
on than a real MAC. My 840AV is horrendous!
It does seem like alot of my Mac friends are having problems with system
7.x. Now, they can add PowerPC to the list of things to cause bugs.
Erik Flom
Oddly enough, my Emplant setup is much more stable than my Quadra 840AV…
probably due to the bugs in the hardware enabler and the on-board DSP.
Jonathan,
Glad to hear you are happy with your Emplant. Just to make a slight correction
to your earlier post AMAXIV DOES support 32 bit quickdraw under system 7.0 and
up.
Frank
Frank-
Any system that supports System 7.1 has color Quickdraw, but it is a
software patch… it is _NOT_ in ROM. There are software programs that
REQUIRE that 32bit Quickdraw be in ROM. The AmaxIV stuff won't work with
it.
-Jonathan
// Amiga online via Autopilot
\\// MAC Quadra 900 & 486 emulation via Amiga!
Jonathan,
You mentioned that there are software packages that look to the ROM
for 32 bit quickdraw. Could you list an example or two? Perhaps these
are older programs that I could avoid, or make certain that I have
the proper versions before I attempt to use them. Is there any
documentation from Readysoft that addresses this issue?
Steve:
Does AMaxIV support any 3rd party graphics cards? I have a PicassoII card
that I'd love to use with AMaxIV!
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
On page 4 of their excellent user's guide, ReadySoft says:
. Desirable Extras
. A 24 bit Amiga Graphics card, such as the Retina or Picasso,
. to allow 8, 16, and 24-bit Mac graphics emulation without the AGA
. chipset found in the 4000.
I have a Firecracker, so I'm SOL (8-()
Jan
Mike,
Currently Amax IV comes with appropriate drivers for both Retina and
Picasso (aren't you lucky?) How do you like that Picasso card. I'm thinking
that I may have to break down for the video card to get the best video
performance out of Amax IV.
Docs say that the only caveat is that you don't want to redirect the
display to the video card, that Amax will access the display directly as long
as you have it properly configured on the Amiga side.
I LOVE the picasso card! I've owned (still do as a matter of fact)
both a Firecracker 24 & an IV24, and while these cards are similiar
to the Picasso (as well as the fact that the IV24 also does some
video stuff) they can't touch the Picasso for integration into the
system!
Mike,
I've heard and read a lot of good things about it. I'm sort of glad to
hear a good word from you, because I just put in an order for one today! I got
the 2 meg version. I don't do any video or graphic stuff, but thought it might
make for faster video on the workbench and it's one of the two video boards
which Amax IV has current support for. I had read that the Picasso would
provide for a better and faster workbench emulation than Retina. Hope I'll
like it.
Why chuck the Emplant? Amax IV doesn't seem to offer anything more than the
Emplant does (or less except no SCSI port) under 4.7. How about some
Speedometer ratings on it (not you Eric, Jan Simon)? This way we can see how
fast it is.
Ben Lott, Leigh's Computers (P.S. I'll post Emplant ratings (Speedometer) if
anyone's interested)
AmaxIV is running at 6.8 on my 33MHz 030 2000-based system.
//
-Karl \X/ Amiga and Autopilot: The *only* way to fly!
6.8 in what? video? CPU? Graphics? Math? My Emplant on an A4000 my CPU is 14.8,
Video (with Merlin board) is 2.28, Math 70.40, Bench avg 43.7, FPU avg 7.19 and
by the way that video is in 256 color mode.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
What Merlin configuration do you have? How does 2.28 stack up to
equivalent Macs?
Paul
2.28 is 2.28 times the speed of a MacII, BTW I've just installed a 3.1
CPU board in my 4000 the video went up to 2.35. That's with the
Merlin Board for late commers.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
A MacII, plain vanilla I assume, is pretty old. What does, say, a Quadra
700 rate?
Paul
That I don't know anyone out there know?
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
Oh I forgot to mention my Merlin is the 4 meg unit, and those results are from
the 256 color direct video driver 640 X 480.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
6.8 (actually it was more like 6.3, now that I look again) was the
overall performance rating. But since you're using a 4000 the rate
won't compare very well.
-Karl Speaking from the Rubble.
6.8 (actually it was more like 6.3, now that I look again) was the overall
performance rating. But since you're using a 4000 the rate won't compare
very well.
-Karl Speaking from the Rubble.
—————————–REPLY———————
Hi Karl,
I have uploaded a screen capture of my Emplant Mac Emulation that is
running on an A4000 040. I used the program Speedometer and My overall
performance was rated at 20.944.
The Screen capture shows all the test windows. I uploaded it to the
Emplant area in the amigavender area.
<- James Scott ->
Automated with AutoPilot!!!! Version 1.6
Good thinking! Thanks for the upload.
Ah, thanks, that should be interesting. Now if we can only get the
similar numbers from AMAX on a A4000. . .
-Karl Speaking from the Rubble.
I say 'chuck the Emplant' because I'm so fed up with their promises which
take forever to pan out.
I've got a 4000/040, and I have as yet to get the empscsi.device to work
correctly with my drives. (Last time I tried, it locked up during a disk
ReOrg and corrupted an entire 88MB partition.) As such, the SCSI option
ain't doin' me much good.
ReadySoft has always put out a fairly stable product. (They actually seem
to check for bugs _before_ releasing a version! Novel concept, eh? :^)
For that reason, I was considering coughing up the $110 for the upgrade –
otherwise, I'll probably just try to sell the AMAXII+ for $200…..
Thanks,
Erik Flom
Eric,
(Here I am again. 🙂 )
>I've got a 4000/040, and I have as yet to get the empscsi.device to
work correctly with my drives.
Ahh, but Eric the AMAX has no problems with an "amaxscsi.device"
because it does NOT have a scsi controller. To switch to AMAXIV you and I
with our "SCSI-less" 4000s would need to buy the AMAXIV and a $500 scsiII
controller! You could just get a DBK4091 (I am thinking about doing that.)
and forget about the empsci.device and use Emplant's scsi port for MAC
devices only (I've had NO problems on the MAC side.) Unless AMAXIV proves
to a better performer on the MAC side I can see no benifits in switching.
You do have a valid point about the lack of SCSI on the AMAXII+ card.
However, since I've been waiting months to get the Emplant SCSI option to
work, I feel the same way about the Emplant board – it 'lacks' a viable
SCSI option.
If I throw more money into the 4000, I will be buying a combo SCSI-II and
RAM board. The Emplant SCSI speed will probably be inadequate for some
future uses. (Since I've got a Toaster, I need both in one board.)
Have you considered the GVP 4000-8 board? Supposed to be a SCSI-I
controller w/ room for 8MB RAM? It only costs around $155. I don't have
any info on the board, but I'm getting more interested.
4000-8? I don't want anything but 32bit memory in my 4000. Does
the 4000-8 provide 32 or 16 bit ram expansion.
I've heard that the "new" DKB4091 now comes with a daughter board
that allows RAM expansion. If that's the case I'd be interested. I
have every faith in DKB's engineering. And if something goes wrong
they are right here for me to yell at. 😉 If I got a fastlane and
something went wrong I'd have to learn German. 😉
The 4000-8 is just a seriesII board with a new rom. 16bit memory
only. Nice controller but probably not what you want.
I just 'assumed' that the 4008 has 32bit memory, but I expect it
lacks DMA. Oooh. ooh. If the DKB board had some kind of memory
option, it would go to the top of my list. (Yours is the first
official rumour I've heard about them adding a RAM expansion.) I
agree with your trepidations about the German based Fastlane
product….support might be available, but only 9A-5P German time!
:^) (I see Mark Sterling has answered the question about 16-32 bit
RAM. Alas, it did seem too cheap to be true…)
Actually for those who have the bucks the Excaliber by RCS I hear is
excellent and provides FASTER memory access than the direct mother
boards simms (80% faster or more) and also gives you the option of
bumping up the cpu to a 35 MHZ '040 without using a zorro slot! Ram
expansion maxes out at 128 megs. The only downside is that it cost
serious $$$$. Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free
ads)
I'd check your gal revisions, report them to the sales person to pass along to
Joe or Jim you might need them replaced. BTW from what I've heard AMAXIV did
ship with at least one bug.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
I should be up to date on the GAL chips, as I just upgraded to SCSI about
1.5 months ago.
And I never meant to imply that ReadySoft was perfect. My experiences with
them have been less frustrating than UU, but that might be because they
don't promise as much as UU does.
Erik Flom
True it's easier and less headaches not to shoot for the sky ;-}.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
Ben,
I did speedometer ratings on Amax IV and it benchmarks just
about the same as Emplant. The only difference I noted to Erik was
on the video benchmark in 16 color mode. As I remembered from when I
had an Emplant the video benchmarked slightly below 1.0 (1.0 = Mac
II), whereas the Amax IV on a 3000T with ECS chipset and no video
board benchmarked at 0.650 using a refresh timeout similar to that I
used on the Emplant. The video is a little jerky during the
benchmark test. However, the b/w benchmark was 1.87 (1.0 = Mac II).
I believe these are in the Emplant's ballpark, if I remember
correctly.
Other benchmarks put the Amax IV on my 3000T at just about the same as
Emplant was on my 3000.
Steven-
The last several updates of the Emplant software have improved video speed
drastically.
-Jonathan
// Amiga online via Autopilot
\\// MAC Quadra 900 & 486 emulation via Amiga!
Johathan,
I took a look at the speedometer ratings for the Emplant when I had it,
and I was quite mistaken about video performance, it was even worse than Amax
IV on the benchmark. However, the other benchmarks are quite similar. Amax IV
is slower on some, faster on others, but the differences are marginal at best
either way. The only significant difference is in the video performance. All
in all I would say that performance wise either emulator is suitable.
I did, however, discover one minor problem with tape drive support. I
never used a tape drive with the Emplant, so I have no knowledge about how it
works with other scsi devices. However, Amax IV doesn't work with the tape
drive I use on the Amiga. However, Amax II worked just fine with the drive.
Apparently, if I had a Mac scsi tape drive with appropriate drivers, I would
have no problem, but Amax IV simply doesn't see the tape drive unless I
identify it as a scsi manager device. Unfortunately, although Retrospect sees
the tape drive, it won't work with it. It would work, I think, if I could use
the retro.scsi extension, but retro.scsi won't work on a Quadra, which is what
Amax IV fakes Mac into thinking it is!!
My video speeds have increased 40% between early 2.x versions and the
current 3.7 according to Speedometer.
Like many other people with Amax's… I needed color -now- and I needed
it in ROM… and I need to access SCSI hardware natively. Plus, I needed
a cheaper solution and one which promised other emulations.
-Jonathan
// Amiga online via Autopilot
\\// MAC Quadra 900 & 486 emulation via Amiga!
Jonathan,
I was always favorably impressed with Emplant, but at the time I had
it, it was lacking things I needed to assure compatibility with my colleagues
at work. I know that Emplant has overcome many of the problems I once had. I
have always had 2 Amax IIs, so when the upgrade became available I sprung for
one to see how it was and to help me decide if I might want to reconsider
buying Emplant.
I am finding that Amax IV has a number of peculiarities, not
the least of which is the inability to access my tape drive. Today I
found out that I have a real problem with serial ports. Microphone
seems to work fine until I try to run any connect script, then
nothing. Same with America Online which doesn't seem to be able to
dial the modem. Both these programs work fine under Amax II. I
think Amax IV still may have some flaws in the armor!!
BTW, one problem I had with Emplant was that with a 10 meg
3000 I was barely able to create a 4 meg Mac system after Amiga
bootup because I only had about 6 meg of available fast ram. Emplant
seemed to need all its ram in a contiguous chunk (Amax IV is the same
in that regard). UU said that the onnly way to get a larger system
was to install another 8 meg of fast ram (12 meg wouldn't do it, they
said you needed 16 meg of fast ram) because of the way Emplant
mirrored memory. I'm curious to know if that's still the case. At
least Amax IV doesn't care as long as available ram is in a contiguous
chunk, so I could increase the Mac system by simply adding 4 meg
instead of 8 meg. Can you clue me in to how Emplant handles memory
under the latest software release?
Steve
Emplant now allows you at allocate any amount of your ram to the
emulation. No longer is it limited to half your fast ram.
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
Well I have 16 megs and it gives me 13 free, under 3.7 I don't know about 8 meg
fast systems.
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
Only if you go by the old version (pre 3.5) of Emplant math routines were
improved by as much as 500%.
;-}
Ben, (Hey they don't pay my telecom time no more free ads)
Ben,
Well, I checked my old speedometer ratings for the Emplant and
compared them with the Amax IV for the whole set and found that both
boards are pretty much the same. I was wrong about the video. The
Emplant rating was somewhat less than Amax IV's, but otherwise the
benchmarks were pretty similar. Amax IV was a tad better on a few
and a tad worse on a few others and virtually the same on the
majority of them.
Nevertheless, Amax IV's video performance seems very sluggish
despite the benchmarks compared to black/white. Performance overall
slows down quite a bit, particularly opening and closing windows,
waiting for programs to load, even button complementation when
clicking the mouse on a gadget seemed to be in slow motion. I don't
recall that Emplant was like that, but it's been a while since I used
one.
I've also found that Amax IV has a problem with my tape drive.
If I don't set the drive as a scsi manager device in the preferences,
then the Mac doesn't recognize the drive at all. If I select it as a
scsi manager device, the Mac recognizes it, but Retrospect won't read
or write to the drive. It will control it to the extent of
retensioning, but that's it. Readysoft indicated that is a problem.
Amax II has no problem using the tape drive. I never used tapes on
Emplant, so I don't have any way to compare this particular
irregularity.
Well you definately have to see the new software on EMplant there has been a
LOT of speed inprovements. Of course we'll probably see massive feature and
update wars between the 2 products in the next few months.
Ben Lott
Ben,
Well, I was never unsatisfied with Emplant's speed, even if it
was slower than now it was more than adequate. The problem then was
that you couldn't read 800k Mac disks without Sybil reliably and it
didn't write either 800k or HD format floppies. My problem was that
at work I wouldn't be able to read my colleagues disks nor write ones
they could read because Emplant then didn't write a Mac format
compatible disk. I also couldn't get a large enough system allocated
because with only 8 meg of fast ram I could only allocate about a 3.5
meg system. With System 7.0 loaded there wasn't enough ram left to
load Word let alone edit a file! With 7.1 the system allocation is
even larger. Currently my system uses a shade under 3.0 meg. Emplant
couldn't use any more than half the available ram, at the time. Guess
that has all changed. Perhaps I should put in an order, again, and
give it a try once more.
>boards are pretty much the same. I was wrong about the video. The
>Emplant rating was somewhat less than Amax IV's, but otherwise the
The only thing missing from this though, is you haven't actually told us
what sort of Video you are using ! Are you using the AGA chipset on a 4000
? a video card of some sort ?
All I know is I use a Picasso II in 256 colours and this thing is bitching
! It certainly `aint slow that's for sure. I remember trying the ECS
monitor modes (I have a 3000), and the 256 colour Picasso screens seem as
fast as the 2 colour ECS mode. (by the way my Speedometer ratings were
equal to a Mac II for the Picasso).
Tim
Ying Tong Ying Tong Ying Tong Tiddle I Po…..
On Autopilot Over Hong Kong
Tim,
Sorry, but I thought I had said I use a 3000T stock 25 Mhz with ECS
chipset. I was able to get video speeds which were somewhat faster than
Emplant's (from nearly a year ago, so not current) by using a standard 640 x
400 screen and setting the refresh timeout to 30.
Sorry, but I thought I had said I use a 3000T stock 25 Mhz
with ECS chipset. I was able to get video speeds which were somewhat
faster than Emplant's (from nearly a year ago, so not current) by
using a standard 640 x 400 screen and setting the refresh timeout to
30.
I must have missed that 🙂 at least I know where you are coming from now.
I think you will find the speeds are totally different now, the drivers
have been improved greatly, plus there is a major difference if you use a
graphics card. (which is what I do on my 040 based 3000T).
Tim
Ying Tong Ying Tong Ying Tong Tiddle I Po…..
On Autopilot Over Hong Kong
Erik,
PMFJI on this question, but I thought you were quite happy with the Emplant,
what seems to be the major problem?
BTW, the multitask procedure with the AMXIV is a mouse button keystroke
combination which pops the mac screen into and out of the foreground. You can't
see both the mac and Amiga screens simultaneously or pull down one screen to
reveal another.
Frank
My main frustration with the Emplant is the poorly functioning SCSI
driver, and their completely bogus tech support.
The SCSI driver has caused me hours of lost time – tinkering with it,
trying to get it to work. Now, I'll have to wait until the 're-write' of
the driver is finished!
And as for tech support, I really get the impression this whole thing is
run by 2 guys in a garage. If you're lucky, you can get through during
their minimal hours (M-W-F 10AM-3PM Arizona time), and they'll tell you to
DL their latest "version du'jour"- Then all you have to do is spend 5-10
hours trying to get through to the one line on their BBS.
They have Tech support like this, and they're supposed to be shipping 5000
units/month?!? It's gonna get real ugly in a few months.
Jan,
My upgrade has just arrived and I have yet to install it in my A4000/40.
Can you tell me what version of the sofware you received which finally
worked? It may save me trying to run the bum version. Hope I don't need to
replace my motherboard!
Thanks.
Pete Jones, flying on AutoPilot from Brussels, Belgium
You only need the upgrade if you have a 2000. The original version worked
on 3000s and 4000s.
//
-Karl \X/ Amiga and Autopilot: The *only* way to fly!
I got the old A-Max II external cartridge but not the internal A-Max II+ board.
Can anybody tell me if the A-Max IV upgrade will work on the cartridge too?
And what about this low density drive incompatibility? I have a Cutting Edge
external Mac 800K drive hooked up to the A-Max cartridge. Won't it work under
A-Max IV any longer?
Any answers are welcome, thanks in advance.
Hannes
They have offered an upgrade to AmaxIV (includes the card) for $350.00 US.
They then will allow a $100 trade in allowance on your cartridge, so the
actual cost is more like $250. You can use the ROMs from your cartridge.
The II+/IV board does not seem to allow connection of a Mac floppy drive,
but the IV software comes with an Amiga utility to copy a Mac low-density
disk to a file on a Amiga partition of your hard disk. When you start
AMax, you can mount that file as a sort of virtual disk, and copy the
contents into the Mac-formatted partition. This actually works, I've even
done it. The file copy from Amiga to Mac works VERY well, I've been
downloading Mac files from the Mac forums here with Autopilot, and copying
them over to the Mac. Soundmaster and lots of other utilities have
arrived that way, and all work fine. I like it!
//
-Karl \X/ Amiga and Autopilot: The *only* way to fly!