



Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 118       Sun Aug 21, 1994
CBM-ED [e.g.bell]            at 13:10 EDT 
 Doug:  I think I have everything working now wrt the partitions.  I kind
 of wish that CBM had taken the effort to make the 1581 work more like the
 RamLink in at least one respect... being able to read from one partition
 and write to another at the same time w/o things getting confused!
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 119       Sun Aug 21, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 15:29 EDT
 
I know what you mean, Ed. I don't believe I've ever talked to ANYONE who
thought that the 1581 partitioning was well implemented.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 120       Mon Sep 05, 1994
J.BARBER9 [Dan Barber]       at 22:12 EDT
 
I just got a ramlink and I was wondering, how long will a backup battery last
if you have a 4 meg ramlink with a 1750 reu pluged into it?  I know the manual
says 8-24 hours but I thought that someone might know more if I gave speficis.
Also is there a faster way to charge the battery than have it pluged into
ramlink. (that was to be a ?)  One last thing, if ones battery gets low will
it corrupt the files (data) or will they just be lost (erased) and the ramlink
will reset when you plug it in?  Thanks in advance.


Dan.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 121       Mon Sep 05, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 23:56 EDT
 
It's nearly impossible to be specific, because the draw of various conponents
varies a lot. It will be closer to a minumum value when an REU is on the
system, though - REU's have a tremendous amount of current requirement to keep
the REC chip ticking, in comparison to the very small amount of current it
takes to keep the SIMM modules alive. Also, if you have four 1MB SIMMs
installed, the draw is pretty much the same as if you had four 4MB SIMMs
installed - it has more to do with the number of SIMMs than it does with the
actual amount of memory. So a 4 MB RAMLink using one 4MB SIMM will stay alive
longer on backup than the same unit would with four 1 MB SIMMs.

Generally speaking, low battery conditions will generally cause a complete
loss - or at least apparently. There is a point where corruption occurs, but
most of the memory will corrupt around the same time; once it does, RAMLink
won't be able to find valid system information during the next start-up, and
will initialize the tables as if it had been completely without power.

A faster charge could be employed with a charging unit, yes. Just make sure
that the charger is intended to operate with the type of battery being used.
Charging too fast generally results in shorter battery life, and faster
discharging in the interrim.

Overall, the rating of backup time is intended to be conservative. I've heard
of RAMLink's going 2 to 3 days on a fully charged battery. But some will
indeed come close to minimum rating, especially if they're the older
(original) version of RAMLink.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 122       Tue Sep 06, 1994
D.TUOMI [Doctor]             at 05:01 EDT
 
Mine has been proven to last about 48 hours.  I have a revision G RAMLink with
a single 4mb SIMM, a single 1mb SIMM, and a 1750 REU. This 5 and a half meg
RAMLink was tested in January during the California Earthquake.  My power was
gone for 2 days.  When we came back on-line, there was some corruption in the
RAMLink, but almost all the data was still there and the computer was able to
initilize properly. I wish I could say the same for my monitor which fell on
the floor.

Doc.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 123       Sun Sep 18, 1994
H.HERMAN1                    at 19:18 EDT
 
Doug,

When a progam I run makes one of its calls to RAMLink, RL returns a 39,  file
not found error.

Could you provide more detail on this error?  Especially how it differs  from
error 62 which is the CBM and RL/DOS error for file not found.

Thanks!

Howie
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 124       Sun Sep 18, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 22:37 EDT
 
Yeah, this one never got documented until the FD manual (thanks for telling me
it existed, Mark!). Here's the synopsis as given in the FD manual:

 39  FILE NOT FOUND
     This particular 'file not found' error will usually show up when a
     subdirectory name specified in a path is not found, when a 1581
     style sub-partition cannot be located, or when a file specified in an
     autoboot sector cannot be located. Make sure that the spelling is
     correct and that the sub-partition, subdirectory or file exists.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 125       Mon Sep 19, 1994
H.HERMAN1                    at 02:43 EDT
 
Thanks Doug!

That is exactly the info I needed!   :)

Howie
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 126       Sun Sep 25, 1994
J.BARBER9 [Dan Barber]       at 17:09 EDT
 
Can one dissolve or compress a file or files in ramlink with arc, or will they
become corrupted?  Thanks in advance.


Dan
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 127       Sun Sep 25, 1994
J.BARBER9 [Dan Barber]       at 17:53 EDT
 
Why does the manual (ramlink) state to turn the computer off and on with the
power switch and not the power strip thanks in advance.

Dan
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 128       Sun Sep 25, 1994
C.BOZARTH                    at 18:07 EDT
 
   I have a Ramlink with 4MB. Should I be able to use the Super
 Debugger of geoDebugger without a seperate REU? Until recently
 I had an REU plugged into Ramlink and Super Debugger worked. I do have
 a 512K DACC partition created by the RL/RD GEOS Setup program.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 129       Sun Sep 25, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 22:58 EDT
 
 > Can one dissolve or compress a file or files in ramlink with arc,
 > or will they become corrupted?  Thanks in advance.


I'm not aware of any problems associated with doing this.


 > Why does the manual (ramlink) state to turn the computer off and
 > on with the power switch and not the power strip thanks in advance.

To avoid data loss. This was a problem with some 64's and RAMLink units Prior
to Revision 2. If you have a Rev. 2 RAMLink, this shouldn't be a problem, and
really wasn't with MOST computers using Rev. 1 units.


 > I have a Ramlink with 4MB. Should I be able to use the Super
 > Debugger of geoDebugger without a seperate REU? Until recently
 > I had an REU plugged ino Ramlink and Super Debugger worked. I 
 > do have a 512K DACC partition created by the RL/RD GEOS Setup
 > program.

Unfortunately, this is indeed a problem. Some genius at BSW coded the Super
Debugger in a manner that would only work with a Commodore REU. It doesn't
even work with a geoRAM - their OWN product!

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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 130       Sun Oct 09, 1994
J.BARBER9 [Dan Barber]       at 23:08 EDT
 
Regarding the games that have been installed in ramlink, here is one:  Wrath
of the demon.  I got a disk verson and installed it with 2 1541 partitions.  I
have also installed the blues brothers.


Dan

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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 131       Sun Oct 09, 1994
J.BARBER9 [Dan Barber]       at 23:36 EDT
 
What is the best way to cary my ramlink with a battery backup and not loose
anything. (oops that was supose to be a "?")   I heard that if you carry a
ramlink with battery backup and disconect the powersupply that the battery
will d ischarge quickly.  Is this true? Also when did verson 2 of ramlink come
out?  This is in regard to the Arc quesion that I asked earler (if you can
disolve Arc files in a ramlink).  Thanks in advance.  :)


Dan

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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 132       Tue Oct 11, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 00:15 EDT
 
As long as your computer is powered down, you can disconnect the RAMLink from
it, then disconnect the power supply. Take it to wherever you're going, plug
the power back into RAMLink, then attach to the computer. Just be cautious and
never try this without a current backup - glitches generally occur most often
when you're not backed up. Quick discharge of the battery happens when RAMLink
is attached to a powered computer and RAMLink's own power supply becomes
disconnected - not something you would normally attempt.

I don't know the exact date of release of version 2, but it was about 2 years
ago, early in '93 I think.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 133       Tue Oct 11, 1994
D.TUOMI [Doctor]             at 05:36 EDT
 
The big problem I always had was the battery coming loose from the RAMLink. 
I've not solved that one yet.  I lost my RAMLink contents just this morning
while moving it across the room.  Fortunately, I had a complete backup on my
hard drive.  But, then my hard drive wouldn't spin up, and I got really
scared.  I called up CMD, and the lights were on but nobody was home.  Then I
called Dr. Midi over on Omni 128 and he asked what drive it was.  I told him
it was an ST1096N, and he informed me that Seagate drives suffer from
"Sticktion" and that if I shook the drive in a certain way it would "un-
stick."  Well I did, the drive spun up, and I copied the RAMLink back.  The
moral of the story is be sure your backups are on floppy disk, and never trust
a RAMLink in transit.

Doc.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 134       Sat Oct 15, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 01:24 EDT
 
I finally got my RAMLink today after a 2 week wait(not CMD's fault). I spent
all day trying to get GEOS set up on it. There's nothing in the docs about
having to change the Config RL files to CONFIGURE. It took me about 6 hours
and a visit from another RL owner to find that problem. Once I got over that
hurdle, it's been smooth sailing ever since.

  I was wondering though: I have a 2 MEG BBGRAM. how can I set up the RL so it
will recognize it?
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 135       Sun Oct 16, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 00:46 EDT
 
There certainly SHOULD be info on having to use the RL CONFIG as well as
instructions for this. I'm going to have to check the current documentation
being sent, since there have been a few revisions over the years, but I know
that I WROTE that into the documentation, and that it should indeed be
included.

As for using a BBGRAM, I would guess that it should be handled the same as a
GEORAM, since it's basically a clone of that (with the addition of battery
backup, of course). But having never seen one of these, I'm not certain of
whether it may present any physical connection problems. Assuming it is like a
GEORAM, you should be able to plug it into the RAM PORT in RAMLink (remove all
power, battery & wall, from both the RAMLink and BBGRAM before plugging it
in). You can probably leave the battery off of the BBGRAM permanently, since
RAMLink will be providing power to it. I'd configure the RAMLink in NORMAL
mode, so that the BBGRAM just becomes 2 MB of RAMLink memory. From there, just
treat the whole setup as a RAMLink.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 136       Sun Oct 16, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 05:54 EDT
 
Well, maybe I am just brain dead and trying to get ahead of myself as far as
the documentation went. I read through it again and it never said to rename
the CONFIGURE file. 
  As for the BBG, the Configure RL doesn't seen to want to recognize the BBG
being connected. If I use Configure 2.1r as well as the MountBBGRAM autoexec
provided with the BBG, I may be able to get it to work. I'll  keep you posted
and let you know.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 137       Sun Oct 16, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 06:40 EDT
 
WOW! I inserted the BBGRAM, reconfigured the RAMLink with a 2048 DACC for GEOS
and POW! It works! Apparently the BBG acts as additional RAM that can be used
for more than just GEOS. I only thought the BBG was only GEOS compatible, but
when connected with RL it is like plugging a 2MEG SIMM into the RAM port!
Thanks for the steer in the right direction, DOUG. Maybe I can get away with a
smaller DACC? I'll try tomorrow.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 138       Sun Oct 16, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 15:15 EDT
 
You're on the right track now. By the way, GEOS itself doesn't care what the
name of CONFIGURE is generally, since it's an auto-exec; other desktops,
though, like Dualtop and TopDesk look for CONFIGURE by name, so these can
indeed throw you off if you don't rename CONFIG RL to CONFIGURE.

You can indeed get away with far less of a DACC... GEOS itself only needs 512
blocks (64K or one 'REU' bank) for the system area. But if you want to use any
of the standard RAM disks (RAM 1541 or RAM 1571) or applications like
Geocanvas or GeoWizard, then you need to set aside more. 2048 is a good figure
in most of these cases, and is still only 512K; in your case (you said this
was a 2 MB unit didn't you?) this would still give you an additional 1.5MB for
RAMLink partitionable RAM space.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 139       Sun Oct 16, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 22:59 EDT
 
As far as desktops go, I use DualTop, TopDesk(only because it supports 4
drives), and geoSHELL so I can see why I need to rename the Configure file.
  As far as the DACC goes, I set mine at 2048 so I can use GeoCanvas.
Everything seems to working great now and I can't seem to tear myself away
from the computer. All this speed is impressive. I showed an IBM user friend
of mine who used to own a Commodore and even he was impressed.
  One more question though. I set up my 128 system with:
    8- 1571
    10- 1581
    11- 1541-II
    16- RAMLink
  Could I get away with defaulting the RL to be drive 9 and still be able to
load GEOS? From what I understand, I think one of those positions (10 or 11,
I'm not sure) was meant for GEOS to be able to swap drives. I'm kind of
sqeamish about giving it a try since I got everything set up almost right.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 140       Sun Oct 16, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 23:20 EDT
 
No. Keep RAMLink outside the realm of normal GEOS device numbers for GEOS use.
This is because it is handled in a manner similar to an REU, which has no
physical device number, but simply has a psuedo device number assigned to it
by GEOS. Device number 11 is the one normally used by GEOS for device
swapping. If you have a physical device at 11 and attempt a device swap with
standard GEOS, you'll get a lock-up.

Anyway, if you move RAMLink to 9, GEOS may detect it as a physical device, and
will probably become very confused. From what I recall, it can make some
really strange things occur. Leave it at 16. ;)
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 141       Mon Oct 17, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 03:04 EDT
 
Sound advice! I tried setting RL to 9 and got an ugly lockup. That's the last
time I do anything stupid like that without asking you first, Doug. GeoSHELL
locked everything up too when I tried to swap. I don't know how TopDesk swaps
but I don't think I'm willing to experiment with it anymore.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 142       Tue Oct 18, 1994
S.VANDERARK [Steve VA]       at 03:08 EDT
 
Mac, you got the idea now. The rest of us never do anything stupid until we've
asked Doug. Then it's open season.

Guess he just brings out the best in us 0:)

Steve
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 143       Tue Oct 18, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 08:50 EDT
 
Yeah, it's my job to attempt to do all the stupid things BEFORE anybody else
does. :)
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 144       Wed Oct 19, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 04:00 EDT
 
That's why you are the Great Guru with all the right answers. B-)
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 145       Thu Oct 20, 1994
I.MCKINNEY [TheBigMac]       at 02:13 EDT
 
Someone enlighten me. Why must GEOS be in the first partition of the RRAMLink?
I have tried to get it to load from other partitions(such as  putting GEOS 128
and 64 in different partitions and it seems the RL always reverts back to
partition 1 looking for a CONFIGURE file. I just wanted some way to be able to
store both versions in the RAM.

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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 146       Thu Oct 20, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 15:47 EDT
 
It has to do with the way Jim Collette wrote the driver for RAMLink... instead
of checking to see if it is already in an acceptable partition during boot, it
just automatically starts looking for one beginning at partition number 1.
Thus, you can only boot from the first (numerically) 1581 partition on the
unit.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 147       Thu Oct 20, 1994
D.BOBER [RENTaLASER]         at 21:32 EDT
 
 Actually, if you want to configure RamLink as device 8 or 9, use GateWay.
 I have my RamLink configured as device 8, the 1571 as 9. Now I can BOOT
 GEOS from RamLink (device 8, partition no. 1).

 There are some bugs in the RamLink driver though. Don't attempt scratching
 a CBM File on a NON-GEOS disk or partition. It trashes the directory.

 Mr. Randall is rewriting the RamLink driver, this should take care of that
 problem and any other problem that may exist.

 :)

 sn
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 148       Mon Oct 24, 1994
J.BARBER9 [Dan Barber]       at 22:44 EDT
 
Does the ramlink reset button totally reset the computer?  Or is it possable
that, lets say a virus could still be in memory?

Thanks in advance.  :) Also has anyone installed ultama 6?  I am having a bit
of trouble getting it intalled. Thanks again.

Dan
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 149       Tue Oct 25, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 22:06 EDT
 
The only way to completely reset your machine is to turn it off. The reset
button on RAMLink is no different than any other reset button offered on other
external cartridges. Worrying about a virus, though, is somewhat unfounded. In
all my years of usingand programming Commodore computers, I've yet to either
see or hear of a VERIFIED virus for the 64 or 128. Bear in mind, a virus is a
program that 'spreads' itself. This isn't easily done on a 64/128, though it
is possible. But would-be virus programmers have in the past been far more
interested in creating their software demons on platforms that allow them to
flourish, and where they can generally do more harm.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 150       Wed Oct 26, 1994
D.TUOMI [Doctor]             at 05:35 EDT
 
The CMD hard drive would be a pleasant platform for viruses, considering the
DOS is on the HD itself.

Doc.
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Category 12,  Topic 2
Message 151       Wed Oct 26, 1994
CMD-DOUG                     at 22:30 EDT
 
But who wants to spend the money for a Commodore HD just to create a virus?
The DOS, btw, does have some mechanisms in place to circumvent easily making a
virus on it. Finally, with a device like the HD which has little documentation
on the actual inner workings, somebody would really have put a LOT of work
into creating one. Let's just all be happy that the misguided souls who like
to create these things would rather plague MS-DOS and other predominant
platforms.
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