AT&T 6300+ ROM BIOS problem

Barry W. Kort bwk at mbunix.mitre.org
Thu Jun 1 04:56:04 AEST 1989


In article <3134 at sun.soe.clarkson.edu> dean at sun.soe.clarkson.edu
(Dean Swan) responds to my earlier plea for help on DigiTalk
SmallTalk V/286, which does not run on my AT&T PC 6300 Plus:

 > - First, It sounds like you're using a something less than legitimate
 >   copy.  If I'm wrong, ignore this comment.  If not, have the boss buy
 >   you another copy.

By now we have bought some half-dozen copies.  I assure you DigiTalk
isn't losing money on us.

 > - Smalltalk V/286 can switch between protected and real modes in a
 >   couple of different ways.  The master disks come with a program
 >   to help you determine the way that works best on your machine. 
 >   If the default method doesn't work which sounds like your problem,
 >   then you have to specify a command line switch to use the alternate
 >   method.

Yes, I tried all 4 combinations of the /S (shutdown) and /T (restart)
switches.  Machs nix.

 > - Also, depending on what else you use your extened memory for, you
 >   may have to set some other command line switches to tell Smalltalk
 >   to stay out of certain areas of extended memory.  This is explained
 >   in an appendix of the manual.

I tried the /X, /D/ and /U command line options to keep V/286 from
trying to access the extra 384K on the motherboard, which, for reasons
unbeknownst to me, are assigned noncontiguously to the high-address
end of the machine's memory address limit.  I'm now considering a
suggestion to rip out the extra 384K to see if that is what's tripping
up V/286.

 > Hope this helps some!

I don't wish to sound unappreciative.  I do thank you for your advice.
I'm still looking for an existence proof that V/286 can be made to
run on the 6300 Plus, before I continue with more exploratory
neurosurgery on the motherboard.

--Barry Kort



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