Micronics 33 vs Everex Tape

Chuck Forsberg caf at omen.UUCP
Mon Oct 16 08:04:27 AEST 1989


I recently upgraded my SCO Unix system to a 33 mHz Micronics
motherboard.  So far there have been some casualties with
respect to add-in boards.

An AST 4-port XN would not work under either DOS or Unix.
I've replaced it with a Stargate 8-port dumb board, so
there's no great loss here.

When switching from the Intel mother board to the Micronics,
I couldn't get anything to boot with a WD8003E Ethernet card
plugged in.  I haven't pursued this exhaustively yet.

The most annoying problem is an Everex 60 MB cartridge tape
with the long interface board.  This unit makes data errors
under both DOS and Unix when the Micronics is operated full
speed.  Everex diagnostics pass but a image backup/compare
yields bad data.

I have discovered that booting DOS, then running "setspeed
AT8", and then running FLPBOOT allows me to boot Unix without
a cold or warm boot.  (A cold/warm boot restores full speed 33
mHz+cache operation.) I then turn on the "TURBO" switch.  Unix
seems able to write/read the Everex tape without errors.
Leaving the "setspeed AT8" out of this procedure results in
bad data written to and read from the tape.

I'd like to hear what types of boards do and don't work
properly at higher speeds.  The I/O bus on the Micronics is
supposed to be 8 mHz (slow speed setting), but at least in
this respect Micronics' Hertz's are quicker than IBM's (no
problem with a 6mHz PC/AT hopped up to 9 mHz).

P.S.  Both Byte and PC Magazine tested a number of 33 mHz
systems recently, and neither reported any such problems.  I
have heard that some 33 mHz motherboards have more control
over I/O speed to allow boards such as TARGA to operate
properly, but I found no mention of this in the magazine
reviews.  (But then I already knew how well magazines review
things from how they did on communications programs!)

Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX          ...!tektronix!reed!omen!caf 
Author of YMODEM, ZMODEM, Professional-YAM, ZCOMM, and DSZ
  Omen Technology Inc    "The High Reliability Software"
17505-V NW Sauvie IS RD   Portland OR 97231   503-621-3406
TeleGodzilla:621-3746 FAX:621-3735 CIS:70007,2304 Genie:CAF



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