Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

A forum for Classic Amiga specific support issues.
Spectre660
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by Spectre660 »

Dont you use Diskimage_device and DiskimageGUI to deal with ADF's under AmigaOS 4.1 ?

http://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2012/06/ ... x1000.html
danbeaver wrote:A week and a half using my X1000 reveals that programs running on my A4000T in OS4.1 work the same on the X1000, just faster. I had backups of all my partitions on a 128 GB SSD and just moved it to the X1000. No big deal there. I use the same programs to access my network printers and use a Catweasel to get to my floppies -- yes I still find a need for these. The Catweasel support imports disks as ADF images requiring me to unADF them unless I use them for UAE. Still getting used to that by the way as I never had to emulate before.
Sam460ex : Radeon Rx550 Single slot Video Card : SIL3112 SATA card
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danbeaver
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

Yes. It works fine on the X1000, but has never worked on my A4000T after multiple installs. But then it really is unnecessary on my A4000 with its FDD as part of the original computer. I do download .adf's off the net and store them this way, but usually extract them to a VD0: ram based drive the system knows as DF1. A small addition to the config file in DEVS and it behaves 99% of the time as a physical drive. I now just have to remember that the two computers are different, duh!
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

Now onto another issue: how do I tell my DELL workgroup printer that a print job coming from my Amy's ought to be duplexed? The Dell settings (unlike my older retired HP) has no permanent setting and must be told this via my Windows driver, but the Postscript driver on my Amy has no such setting; I'm pretty sure it is a printer code sent with the initialization of the print job, and I believe that I can open the lpr port manually and send it, but now I'll have to search that out... While the neurons are down...
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danbeaver
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

Decided that since my office PC (Win 7) could not share the playground with non-"homegroup" devices, I bought a 1-Bay ZyXEL NSA310 NAS for $110 and a 3 TB HDD on sale from NewEgg and use it to share/transfer files from my PC, A4000T, and X1000. I now has >1.5 TB of files I had downloaded to my PC (with my "30" Mbit/s cable connection -- it ran for about 5 days running FileZilla)). Now refurb'ing an Amiga means just getting it and connected to my intranet. I tried using Samba without any PC access and this was a simple "plug & play" solution: Open NAS, insert (screwless) HDD, close box, turn on, run software (well that sucked as CD was a mess, but 39 years of computer usage led me one download and quick install), and transfer files (shared drive on PC, and FTP on my Amy's). Bang, in 20 minutes she was up and running. Now what do I do with 6 TB of episodes of Gilligan's Island? Er, actually movies I have copied from my Tivo over a 5 year span. Amazing as it seems to write this, but my Classic OS 4.1 install has taught me: a) a lot of information on OS 4.1, b) That information applies 98% to my new X1000, and c) The A4000T can really keep up with the X1000 on most tasks (well I said, "most"). Once they enable use of the second core on the X1000, then Good Golly Miss Molly! Or this is what true pre-emptive multitasking what meant for. It would be nice if the Classic kernel would use the 060 as a co-processor for simple tasks.

Oh, the Catweasel MK2 with the correct IDE cable (small twist) and software from AmigaKit has my X1000 acting like it was born with a FDD; I just need to re-map TD0 & TH0 as DF0 (been lazy).

Late addition: have used AmiFTP to upload programs from my Classic to the server, including 4 GB of WHDLoads and a chunk of TOSEC files. The X1000 now has 1 site access to these; it is a shame that the OS4Depot server has no FTP access (seems there used to be a mirror for this). But "one-day-at-a-time."
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danbeaver
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

OK, not a specific OS4.1 issue, although the duplex option could be easily added the the Postscript output as it involves just 1 line of postscript code:

%%BeginFeature
<</Duplex true >> setpagedevice
%%EndFeature

Using AmiPDF I save the output as a file, add this piece of code and copy that the the PAR: (which forwards it the the lpr.device, onto my network and into my Dell printer). This gives me my beautiful high quality color output in duplex that is better for putting in my binders. Yes, I can read from the monitor (especially my 32" Westinghouse), but I learned to problem solve on paper, and my retention and understanding is better.

As an aside, "Dealers of Lightening" by Micheal Hiltzik is a real good insight into the origins of modern computing; I also recommend, "iWoz" as a prime example of how to be a genius and handle money (and divorces) like a a non-genius; also "ENIVAC" by Scott McCartney is a good read.

Mapping DF0 to the catweasel.device, TD0, in the DEVS config file as I do DF1 to the statram.device to use for floppy based programs still has kinks in the system; I'm sure the answer is there, but it is still a work in progress.
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danbeaver
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

I am adding this post on my OS 4.1 A4000T via Indivision's new X-Surf 100 NIC I got this past week. The 1 page manual is not explicit, and rather than Cerf for an answer, I just did trial and error to get it working in Z3 mode in my Mediator based A4000T. 1) Install the nifty card (it actually has a finger hole at the back to help pull it out if needed). 2) Set the Mediator SWAP jumper to closed, and 3) Remove "minor" cards like your BigRam+ or ZorRAM (because there is not enough autoconfig space for both of them). Without a Mediator one probably doesn't have to worry. The same issue of Z3 autoconfig space arises when trying to use 2 ZorRAM or BigRam+ with a Radeon 256MB 92X0; it won't work.

I suspect that setting to run in Z2 mode would drop it down out of the 32-bit range into 16-bit, but then one loses the full speed advantage of the board. To be honest (see previous posts) I found that I never use the RAM swap pages that my BigRam+ offered. I only run one or two large programs at a time, and extra effort is needed (NetSurf, OWB, and Poseidon USB) to force the use of the SWAP partition. The large amount of RAM looks nice (along with the RAM added by the Radeon 9200) under OS3.9, but I never use nearly any of it. If one really needs that much RAM, an NG Amiga (like an X1000) with 2 GB of RAM (never having used more than 400 MB), is the way to go. The Wiki information says it takes 64 MB of Z3 space (SubSize 64K), but only 64K Z2 space; The Z3 speed I'm guessing is from longword accesses over a much faster bus.

Speed wise the NIC card feels fast; way faster than my RTL8029, but can't "feel" a difference between the card's ASIX device AX88796B and the one hanging off my Deneb USB port. My cable ISP Max's at 30 Mb/s and my switches are gigabit over 300 Mb/s power line to the modem, so the rate limiting factor beyond my intranet is the actual throughput I get from my ISP. I guess the testosterone thing to do is get some comparison benchmarks, but someone will do that along the way and I'll just take a nap with the munchkins. I ought to play with it in OS 3.9, but I rarely work there these days (between OS 4.1 on my T and X1000).
Last edited by danbeaver on Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:17 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Hanzu
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by Hanzu »

danbeaver wrote:I am adding this post on my OS 4.1 A4000T via Indivision's new X-Surf 100 NIC I got this past week. The 1 page manual is not explicit, and rather than Cerf for an answer, I just did trial and error to get it working in Z3 mode in my Mediator based A4000T. 1) Install the nifty card (it actually has a finger hole at the back to help pull it out if needed). 2) Set the Mediator SWAP jumper to closed, and 3) Remove "minor" cards like your BigRam+ or ZorRAM (because there is not enough autoconfig space for both of them). Without a Mediator one probably doesn't have to worry. The same issue of Z3 autoconfig space arises when trying to use 2 ZorRAM or BigRam+ with a Radeon 256MB 92X0; it won't work.

I suspect that setting to run in Z2 mode would drop it down out of the 32-bit range into 16-bit, but then one loses the full speed advantage of the board. To be honest (see previous posts) I found that I never use the RAM swap pages that my BigRam+ offered. I only run one or two large programs at a time, and extra effort is needed (NetSurf, OWB, and Poseidon USB) to force the use of the SWAP partition. It looks nice (along with the RAM added by the Radeon 9200) under OS3.9, but I never use nearly any of it. If one really needs that much RAM, an NG Amiga (like an X1000) with 2 GB of RAM, is the way to go.

Speed wise the NIC card feels fast; faster than my RTL8029, but can't "feel" a difference between the card's ASIX device and the one hanging off my Deneb USB port. My cable ISP Max's at 30 Mb/s and my switches are gigabit over 300 Mb/s power line to the modem, so the rate limiting factor beyond my intranet is the actual throughput I get from my ISP. I guess the testosterone thing to do is get some comparison benchmarks, but someone will do that along the way and I'll just take a nap with the munchkins. I ought to play with it in OS 3.9, but I rarely work there these days (between OS 4.1 on my T and X1000).
I also received my preordered X-surf 100 this week and I can use A4000 + Mediator + Radeon 9250 256MB + ZorRAM 256MB + X-surf 100. The only card I had to unplug for X-surf 100 was Elbox FastATA VI.

When I look showconfig of OS3.9. I see how much address space Zorro cards consume:

8510 100 DCE Cyberstorm PPC 128k
2206 161 ELBOX A4000 ZORRO III/II PCI 512meg
2206 33 ELBOX Mediator PCI 4000 MK II 16meg
3643 32 ZorRAM 256MB 256meg
4626 100 X-surf 100 64meg
2206 67 FastATA VI 16meg
Not sure what PCI cards cosume, but I have Radeon 256MB 9250, Terratec Solo-1 and Terratec 512i in PCI slots and ZorRAM 256MB. Swap jumper is closed always anyway since nothing has ever worked without it.

The trick seems to be to install ZorRAM 256MB physically before X-surf 100 to get the big part of the lower address space for it. Installing X-surf 100 physically before ZorRAM 256MB always caused reset loop in power up.

Would changing from Radeon 256MB to 128MB free enough address space so I could use FastATA IV too?

What driver are you using for X-surf 100 + OS 4.1 Classic? I heard there is going to be a driver for it, but no idea who will provide it.
A4000cr Rev D+CSPPC 233/66MHz 060+16MB 50ns+128MB 60ns+Plextor SCSI-3 CDRW+Adaptec SCSI to SATA adapter+OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 90GB+Mediator 4000 MK II+Radeon 9250 256MB +RTL8029+Terratec TTSOLO1-SL VER1.2+ZorRAM 256MB+DF0:-DF3:+Catweasel MK2 Anniversary+Indivision AGA MK II+OS3.9 & OS 4.1. RTL8139D & Terratec TT801-QD for OS3.9 only
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danbeaver
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

I used the drivers Jens listed to download from his Wiki site. Which ones are you using?
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Hanzu
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by Hanzu »

I have not had a chance to try out any yet since my OS4.1 Classic installation just broke up by some AmiUpdates I installed manually and I'm currenlty trying to troubleshoot what happened to my SCSI CD ROM and why the whole drive is suddenly not visible in Early Startup Control Menu. I need to make it work again to re-install OS 4.1 Classic.
A4000cr Rev D+CSPPC 233/66MHz 060+16MB 50ns+128MB 60ns+Plextor SCSI-3 CDRW+Adaptec SCSI to SATA adapter+OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 90GB+Mediator 4000 MK II+Radeon 9250 256MB +RTL8029+Terratec TTSOLO1-SL VER1.2+ZorRAM 256MB+DF0:-DF3:+Catweasel MK2 Anniversary+Indivision AGA MK II+OS3.9 & OS 4.1. RTL8139D & Terratec TT801-QD for OS3.9 only
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danbeaver
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Re: Understanding and Optimization of OS 4.1 for Classics

Post by danbeaver »

Try making the CDROM bootable (device 0) in CSPPC SCSI menu and let it boot up that way with the floppy instigating the install.

I would be careful with manual updates, as they don't apply across the board to all OS 4.1 installs.

I just found that many revised programs do work in OS4.1, as I'm pleased to find out (although Duke Nukem 3D is rude and sexist today as in 1998). PageStream V5 is still not working properly and it has been out for a few years.
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