#BRidge Board – Worth it?
7 messages in this thread
Hello I have a friend who wants to get an A2000, but he has an IBM with
much software. They may get a bridgecard provided that the results of these
questions satisfy them. Thankyou for answering them:
Is the bridgecard 100% compatible to the IBM? Can it run PC, AT, XT?
What graphics does a bridgecard support? Are there seldom technical problems
with it? Would you recommend it?
Thank You,
David
We have had the XT Bridgeboard running for over a year with no problems. It
has run every MS-DOS program we have thrown at it, 100%. We also have a Plus
Hardcard 40 in one of the XT slots partitioned 30/10 with 30 meg on the XT side
and 10 meg available to the Amiga side. And to round things off, a cheapie
multi-function card for battery backed up clock, serial port and a game and
parallel port that we never use. A word of caution: COM2. There ain't none.
At least not available for your use. The Amiga uses the COM2 interrupt to
communicate to the Bridge. Two more words of caution: two megabytes. This is
what you loose from your Amiga address space with the Bridge installed. This
means that you can only bring your standard Amiga up to 7 meg of memory. If
you install a 68030 accelerator card you can break through this barrier. It
will be important to remember if buying a memory expansion for the Amiga, to
make sure that the expansion board will work with only 2, 4 or 6 meg installed.
Graphics are CGA and your friend will be disappointed at the way the screen
updates. It's not hard getting used to if you aren't running a 386 with VGA
right next to it. We recently installed an A2620 board and the additional
speed on the Amiga side results in much snappier screen and keyboard response
on the Bridge.
So much for the XT Bridge. Hope someone can fill you in on the AT Bridge.
Of course, once your friend starts getting used to multi-tasking, the
Bridgeboard will become more and more idle.
– Don Nafis – Nazlo Associates Ltd –
Don, does the xt bb come with msdos?
Ron
The XT Bridgeboard comes with MS-DOS 3.2 and also has 2 additional commands,
AREAD and AWRITE. These are file copy commands that allow you to transfer data
from Amiga to MS-DOS formats and vv as easily as using the COPY command. about
all the programs I used on the MS-DOS side. One other note, the A1010 external
3 1/2" drive can be plugged into the floppy expansion port on the Amiga side to
be used as df2: or into the back of the BB to be used as a 360k or 720k B:
drive. You can also set up virtual disks on the Amiga side called C: D: or
whatever, that exist on the Amiga as files. The files can be on floppy,
harddisk or ram:. And When Amiga networking becomes an everyday thing… Well
you catch the drift. Lots of flexibility. Not much power for the MS-DOS user,
but lots of flexibility.
– Don Nafis – Nazlo Associates Ltd –
Thanks for the answer and other info. I just bought 2 things. First, a second
hard drive (this one 48meg scsi, my old one 33 meg rll which will be put in an
outside box) set up as a hard card, and the xt bridge. I have to find the
Janus 2 software (I assume that my bridge will arrive tomorrow or Monday, but
with the old Janus) and enough info (Don C, you listening :-)?) and get it all
installed. I will have one, and maybe later 2 11meg or so partitions on the
hd's for the bb. I plan to get a multipurpose board with extra ram and
eventually a compatible accellerator for the bb. BTW, what do you do for a
serial port for the bb? Thanks again,
Ron
Good luck with your BB. I just picked up a cheapie multi-function board at the
Trenton Computer Festival to get the serial port and battery backed up clock.
I tested the parallel port but don't use it. As for the game port, who wants
to play games on a PC?
– Don Nafis – Nazlo Associates Ltd –
I want to get up to 640k. I would like to use the Ami serial port if possible,
and the same with the par port. I got the Janus 2 software but no docs, and
expect the bb Monday (unless my super got it already or UPS doesn't deliver on
Columbus Day). I have an empty 15meg partition on an Ami hard drive all ready
and waiting. As to the clock, Janus 2 lets you set the clock from the Ami
side, or something like that. I will eventually buy an accellerator.
Ron