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Sidecar and Print.com
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I have used it so far, to bad effect, with the turbo pascal editor toolbox
editor and the print.com command and it fails with both. With Print.com it
says file is being printed (actually it has it queued at that point). Then
when I again issue the print command (which generally shows you the files
queued for print) I get the message that there is an error in the list
device which indicates that it may be offline.
Well….my printer is online for my Amiga and online for my AT&T 6300 but
not for my SIDECAR. That's a little more baloney than I'm prepared to
swallow. As I have indicated I think the SIDECAR's compatibility is less
than complete. A friend brought over the PC version of STARGLIDER (a game)
today to see what it would look like in a window on the AMIGA. Well…it
looked like color static. When we booted it on my AT&T 6300 it ran fine.
For the amount of compatibility they have provided they shouldn't
have charged more than $350. At that price the machine is a good place to
stick a hard card, although at this point I wonder whether the hardcard
will partition properly and be useful. The one thing I like about the box
is the ability to pass files between MS-DOS and Amigados. However I could
do the same by using a null modem cable. I am definitely a dissatisfied
customer. If I could get my money back today, I'd take it and run.
To me, it has long been known that there exist problems with using the
Amiga parallel port on most Sidecar IBM programs. I think I even mentioned
this in my first preview of the Sidecar, written more than a year ago. Some
IBM software talks directly to the parallel port. This software will not
work on the Sidecar. Programs need to use the official DOS printer calls
instead, which the Sidecar can handle. If you get a parallel port card for
the IBM side – and these are cheap, about $50 – they should work fine.
As for Starglider, it is a notoriously nasty game. It goes directly to the
hardware, in the name of speed. It is not so much the fault of the
Sidecar. It's like the Amiga: when a program doesn't work, do you blame the
machine, or the programmer? (I suppose it depends if you are Jerry
Pournelle.)
To me, it has long been known that there exist problems with using the
Amiga parallel port on most Sidecar IBM programs. I think I even mentioned
this in my first preview of the Sidecar, written more than a year ago. Some
IBM software talks directly to the parallel port. This software will not
work on the Sidecar. Programs need to use the official DOS printer calls
instead, which the Sidecar can handle. If you get a parallel port card for
the IBM side – and these are cheap, about $50 – they should work fine.
As for Starglider, it is a notoriously nasty game. It goes directly to the
hardware, in the name of speed. It is not so much the fault of the
Sidecar. It's like the Amiga: when a program doesn't work, do you blame the
machine, or the programmer? (I suppose it depends if you are Jerry
Pournelle.)