#Is Amax 4 Worth It?
17 messages in this thread
I am currently running Ready Soft's AMax Plus 2.5. Does anyone have any
history on the new V4.0 with support for AmigaDos multitasking and color
screens? Is it time to upgrade?
Jim Philippou
see AMAXIV.LHA in library 2:
Description of features, availability, and pricing for A-Max IV from
ReadySoft Inc.
A-Max IV is a COLOR Mac emulator for the Amiga 2000/3000/4000 series
computers. It requires the use of MAC 128K roms and Apple System 7.0
or higher software (not provivded). Download with a protocol.
Michael,
Has anyone here actually taken delivery of A-MaxIV? I was all excited
about ordering one…but haven't yet. The more I think about it, the
more I wonder if Emplant doesn't give more features (provided you get
a deluxe one with SCSI and serial ports).
Would you or anyone else here care to comment on the comparison? The
main thing going for A-Max IV is the reliability of the prior A-Max
line.
Bill,
While I own and use A-Max II+, I haven't seen or used either Emplant or
A-Max IV. I would love to play with Emplant. I haven't ordered the upgrade
to A-Max IV yet either. One of these days I'll have to make the decision
on which to get. I have been very impressed with what I've heard from Jim
Drew and Emplant users and look forward to hearing of UU's release of
additional emulations for the Emplant board.
I've got both the old AMAXII+ v2.56, and an Emplant board.
Whiel the Emplant is getting more and more stable, I still have as yet
to get my AMAX formatted 80MB Quantum drive to work properly through
their empscsi.device on my 4000. According to tech support there is a
known problem with their driver and the 40000 (MaxTransfer has to be
reset below 1024), and they will be fixing it in a new rev.
Unfortunately, nothing has gotten me to the point of a fully operable
system using their SCSI driver.
Everything works just fine (albeit PIGGISHLY slow) on the A2091
controller that is concurrently installed in my 4000. It would appear
that the Emplant SCSI still needs to have a few bugs squashed.
Unfortunately, the AMAXII+ doesn't offer an onboard SCSI option, so I
can't use it in my 4000 as effectively. I'll probably stick with the
Emplant – even if it is buggier, it frees up a slot in my machine. (That
is until I get a _real_ SCSI-II controller……)
If you go with the Emplant, be prepared for a few undocumented
surprises….
Erik Flom
Erik,
>I still have as yet to get my AMAX formatted 80MB Quantum drive to
work properly through their empscsi.device on my 4000.
Interesting! I just pulled the 2091 out of my 4000 and moved my 80meg
Quantum tom Emplant's scsi chain and all is working fine. I now have the
80meg internal Quantum (all Amiga), a 44meg Syquest (either), a 170meg
LaCie Quantum (all MAC), and an Apple CDrom drive (both) on Emplant's scsi
chain. I've done some big file transfers (12meg plus animations, etc.)
with no problems. I know even Jim says there are problems with the 4000
and the currebt empscsi.device, but I'm not seeing any. I have just had
the motherboard and CPU board replaced. Maybe that's why? What problems do
you see with your Quantum?
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
Oh man, what problems _don't_ I see with the empscsi.device!
Let's see:
I've got one 80MB & one 200MB Quantum drives, one Seagate 400MB drive, a
Syquest 5110C, and a Toshiba CD-ROM. This is in a six-month old 4000/040
w/ rev 9 Buster chip.
1. The CD-ROM has always worked like a charm.
2. When using HDToolBox or SCSIMounter to access the empscsi.device, they
will often lock up when polling certain drives (the 80, 200, & 400MB
drives specifically, though it'll occasionally lock up on the others).
3. When a drive locks up, it has to be powered down to reset it.
4. empscsi.device doesn't auto-mount devices, which is a real pain.
BTW, what's the deal for formatting a true MAC Syquest? When I run the
MacHD_Setup on a Syquest formatted using LaCie's SilverLining, it'll only
create a mountlist for the Mac partition, ignoring all the little
sub-partitions created during formatting on the Mac. Is this correct? (It
seems like I'd want a mountlist that includes all the apple specific
partitions on the drive.
Thanks,
Erik Flom
Erik Flom
Eric,
>1. The CD-ROM has always worked like a charm.
Mine too. 🙂
>2. When using HDToolBox or SCSIMounter to access the empscsi.device,
they will often lock up when polling certain drives (the 80, 200, & 400MB
drives specifically, though it'll occasionally lock up on the others).
SCSImounter looks for the rigid boot block info which is why it bombs
if I try to use it to mount a CDrom. I know nothing about Amax partitions
and if they would screw up scsimounter. In general I only use scsimounter
to mount my Syquest. I use the regular mount command which seems to work
better with the empscsi.device.
I have not had to use HDToolBox since my Amiga Quantum was already
formatted and partitioned. I just moved it from the 2091 to Emplant.
>4. empscsi.device doesn't auto-mount devices, which is a real pain.
I used the RDprep program to generate an old time mountlist for my
Amiga Quantum partitions and use the mount command in my user-startup to
mount them. They pop up just as if they were auto mounted.
>BTW, what's the deal for formatting a true MAC Syquest?
I had a friend who works at a service bureau and has a great deal of
MAC experience install the OS extentions needed to support Syquests. They
format fine for me. I'll check it out and let you know what I am using.
BTW I was told early on that you could run into problems with Syquests
that were partitioned, so I have never partitioned a Syquest on either the
Amiga or MAC sides. I just format the whole thing as one big partition.
All in all the empscsi.device still has a few problems (no auto
booting, doesn't handle Syquest changes, etc.) but is usable for me. I was
just sick of that slug of a 2091. I can put up with the limitations for a
while. When 3.2 gets here I'll reevaluate it and see where I'll go from
there.
BTW if Safe Harber gets them in stock in time Santa may be bringing me a
Vlab-YC. I want to be able to digitize short segments of real video and
composit in (awkward phrase?) Imagine FX. Sort of a poor man's glass shot.
It should make for some very interesting segments for a future Amiga Gang
tape. 🙂
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
Thanks for the feedback! (More than I can get from UU's "Tech Support"
line – you know the one that's only available from 10-3 M-W-F and is
always busy…..)
I haven't had much trouble getting the disks to auto-mount. I just used
RDPrep (as you suggested) to create the mountlists.
I did notice that the Mac creates a number of small 'utility' partitions
on any drive I initialize on the Mac side. (These are invisible to the
user, much like RDB's are on the Amiga.)
When using Mac_HDSetup to create a mountlist for it, the only partition
that the program will allow me to create a partition for is the main data
patitions. The other partitions (which appear to contain Mac OS info) are
not mounted, and that caused me to fear that the partition would be
corrupt. (I haven't had the time to do much more than get the system up &
running right now.)
Here's hoping I have better luck with 3.2 and the new motherboard I should
be getting next week.
When you get that VLab-Y/C card, make sure and give us all your impression
of it.
Thanks,
Erik Flom
PMFBI, but you mention a program called RDprep which sounds like something I
need. My scan did not find it in the libraries here. Can you tell me where to
find it?
—–Paul—–
It is over in one of the AmigaVender libraries – think Microbotics.
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
"…it'll only create a mountlist for the Mac partition, ignoring all
the little sub-partitions created during formatting on the Mac. Is this
correct?"
Why would you want more than one partition on a 44MB SyQuest cartridge?
Each partition eats a bit of ram, the less partitions the more memory for
programs. Not sure how much but it adds up with five or six SCSI devices
on the bus. Besides that, I wouldn't want a partition any smaller than
40MB.
Christopher
You guys keep missing the point:
I am _NOT_ the one creating these extra partitions.
When I run LaCie's Silver Lining utility, _or_ APS' HD formatting utility,
it _AUTOMATICALLY_ creates a number of extra partitions. (As I said
before, they appear similar in function to the AmigaDOS RDBs.)
My question is why Mac_HDSetup will create a mountlist _ONLY_ for the main
data partition (resulting in a mountlist entry with fewer cylinders than a
std 88MB Syquest)?
As far as partitioning goes, only one disk is setup that way, and that's
the internal 120MB drive on my 4000. I have never understood the logic
behind partitioning drives. (And, I'm not asking for reasons……:^)
Erik Flom
Erik,
Hmmm, no idea why LaCie's Silver Lining utility, _or_ APS' HD formatting
utility, would setup multiple partitions. I use Hard Disk Toolkit (HDT) on the
MAC stuff here and always get a single partition. Is there some default or
setting you've overlooked that is the culprit?
Chris
Somehow, I lost the first part of my reply…(Though I have a sinking
feeling you'll get it under a different subject heading. :^)
Anyway, I think my mistake was using the term 'partition'.
When _you_ use Mac_HDSetup to create a mountlist for a true Mac drive,
does it show a number of data areas on the drive, only one of which can be
saved as a mountlist?
Anyway, I think a number of problems will be resolved with the release of
v3.20. (Now all I need to do is get through to their BBS. :^)
Thanks,
Erik Flom
v3.20 will not be distributed via UU's BBS as Jim Drew stated sveral times
in comp.sys.amiga.emulations. The reason is that you need to replace some
chips for 3.2 to work – if you don't 3.2 won't work at all. So he told us
at least.
Ottmar Roehrig from Hamburg, Germany
Erik,
Ah, I see, Mac_HDSetup is an Emplant supplied program. I haven't used it
before. Sorry, I thought you were talking about a Macintosh commercial program.
Chris