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Text File | 1992-07-29 | 30.4 KB | 801 lines

ames) from the 64 version, we have not because that driver has BAM problems. At this point, it's just best to avoid those drivers until Paul gives us fixed versions. RL DOS is currently at version 1.70. Many of the changes since 1.60 have been aimed primarily at fixing problems we found with overseas computers, and for providing a means of allowing for the different character sets used in other countries. There are something like a dozen or so different versions of the 128 ROMs for various countries, and we didn't want to have to make as many different versions of RAMLink's ROM, so we found a way to get around that. Anyway, as for the differences between 1.40 and 1.60, I will have to look that information up and post it later. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 44 Tue Feb 04, 1992 A.KARANTZE [The Maverick] at 03:55 EST Howdy all. Well Im glad to say that I got my RAMLink up and running perfectly Having that 1mb SIMM installed makes all the diff.The REU is on direct and can be used by my other proggys, and partition 2 i protected. And boy, when RAMLink works, it works. No probs with data retention, corruption, not a peep. My gateway actually works 100% with it... believe it or not. Any chance of CMD doing something similar for the A500 !? Antony karantze A satisfied RAMLink user from NZ! ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 45 Tue Feb 04, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 22:03 EST Glad to hear things are working better for you. I still worry a little, though...data retention problems should not occur simply from using an REU alone, though under some applications the REU can easily be wiped out if used in direct mode. As for doing a RAMLink for the A500, I really kind of doubt it...at least not until Commodore sells a few million more - then maybe it would be the time required to develop it. :) ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 46 Wed Feb 05, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 09:27 EST Mike Mc, From the description of the program, it sounds like it should run just fine. The only way to tell for sure, is to give it a try with the suggested set up. Before doing a permanent re-orgnization of RL, you might want to give it a trial run. Make sure everything on RL is backed up on disk. Then zap RL, and set up the partitions for the program to see how it works. Howie ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 47 Thu Feb 06, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 09:34 EST Is there any way to keep applications used with Switcher from being wiped by gateWay if you exit gateWay and then restart it? I know it only takes a second or two, but it would be nice to be able to boot gateWay and then drop into a program that was run before and frozen in memory. Since I am using Ramlink in normal mode and it is battery backed it seems to defeat one of Ramlink's purposes when a saved program in battery backed ram gets wiped. Is there a way to prevent it? I have given the manual a good buzz over and can't find any help on preventing gateWay from overwriting or clearing the space used to hold a program transfered there earlier with the task switcher. This would be especially handy if you want to run two geoPaint programs at the same time and you want to switch back and forth between the two. It means only clicking on one program to start! ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 48 Sat Feb 08, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 06:01 EST CMD Doug- If RAM 41-71 is corrupt,what driver should be used for a 1764 REU in the RL? Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 49 Mon Feb 17, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 07:51 EST About Switcher - no, there isn't any way to retain a saved context. This gets wiped out whenever Switcher is re-installed. While it might be possible to rewrite Switcher 64 to handle that, the 128 version couldn't do it for sure. I doubt that it will be attempted, though - too many other things in gateWay need fixing before any thought can be put into changing features. As for the RAM 41-71, there is no substitute. I can only recommend that the system not be used with a 1764, or if using a 1764 with RAMLink that you get a RAMCard with at least 1 Mb of memory (if you don't already have one!) and set up gateWay to use RAMLink in Normal mode with one of the RL drivers. While Paul is working on a fix for the RAM 41-71 driver, it may be some time before that becomes available. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 50 Tue Feb 18, 1992 W.HAGEN1 at 00:14 PST The gateway 64 addendum states the parallel doesnt need to be disabled when booting from the hd, but I found this not to be true, with the system locking up unless I disable with @p0. This is with rl v1.40 and hdos v1.80. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 51 Tue Feb 18, 1992 W.HAGEN1 at 21:25 PST I seem to be dhaving trouble using gateway on the hd 40 with a ramlink. My ram expander is a 1764 expanded to 2megs, and works fine with geos and configure 2.1, and checks out on a ram check. When using ramlink with the expander in the ramport with the correct driver, the system locks up, and when taking ramlink out of the system and only using th ram expander wih the ramdisk driver, the system locks up. Also, with ramlink in place and the expander in either the ramport or the pass thru port in direct mode, clicking on the ramdisk does not give the menu to configure the expander. Is this a bug with the gateway? ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 52 Sat Feb 22, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 08:18 EST Not sure why a lockup would happen with parallel enabled...I boot that way all the time without problem. There was a change in one of the files in gateWay very early in production which was supposed to fix that. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 53 Sat Feb 22, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 08:32 EST May be a matter of how you configured your system. To use the RamDisk driver with a 2 Mb REU, say NO to the 'Install RAMLink/GEOS Patches?' prompt when running MakeBoot on your boot disk, and leave RAMLink in direct mode. What RAM test does your REU pass? It's not uncommon for a 2 Mb REU to fail to operate properly when plugged into RAMLink, as the combined circuitry of the two tend to load the bus excessively. Also, the gateWay's RAM test is more complete than the one done by GEOS, and the RAM TEST program included with RAMLink is more complete than any other available. 2 Mb REU's are chancy at best, since the REC chip in the REU was only designed to drive about 16 RAM chips. Also, if your gateWay boot disk is set up in certain ways (RL/GEOS patches installed or certain drivers as the first 3 drivers on the disk) it is quite likely that a lockup will occur when booting without RAMLink present on the system. Boot disks must be made specifically for a particular hardware arrangement. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 54 Fri Mar 06, 1992 A.KARANTZE [The Maverick] at 01:27 EST Doug, remember how I said I got Gateway to work on my 128 in 64 mode. Well,shock horror, it has deteriorated again. If I want to load it, I have to run MakeBoot EVERY time before I load it... any ideas? The default partition is 2, where my terminal prog is. Part 1 is my RAM expander, and part 3 is where my GEOS data is. Is this the prob, or is it because Im running the 128 in 64 mode? How are the new versions of GateWay coming along... I really wanted the 128 ver but I hear that the bugs are still being "squashed". Thank you, and RAMLink runs perfectly on this PAL machine! Antony karantze ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 55 Sun Mar 08, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 09:49 EST What you describe would indicate that the GEOBOOT file is somehow being corrupted. Recently we have found that some 128's may need to have the jumper clip installed to avoid corruption problems (3 cases we've found so far). I'll check this with Mark and put up some info about it. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 56 Sun Mar 08, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 11:37 EST Antony, In describing your RamLink partitions, you didn't mention a "buffer" partition *IN* RamLink to seperate REU ram from the rest of RL ram. The "buffer" partition is the one that must be created *immediately* after the REU partition. It can be assigned any number, and generally would be the second one created, after the REU. With this partition, you shouldn't have those probs with GateWay. Howie ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 57 Sun Mar 08, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 21:30 EST Is anybody familiar with the "GeoPower Tools" program?Is it compatable with GW? What are it's pros & cons?I do know you can print multiple copies of documents. It replaces desktop,would it interfere with GW? Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 58 Mon Mar 09, 1992 A.KARANTZE [The Maverick] at 01:44 EST Howie, Thats interesting, looks like Im going to run out of RAM again. Ill try it. How big should this BUFFER be, and is it a NATIVE,FOREIGN or just a LOCAL :-) Antony karantze ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 59 Mon Mar 09, 1992 PAUL-MB at 19:24 EST GeoPower Tools isn't a replacement deskTop, like gateWay; it's a collection of 20+ =APPLICATIONS= which are fully gateWay compatible. It's $19.95 from Softdisk. :) ...Paul @ Micro-Bytes Publishing ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 60 Tue Mar 10, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 01:50 EST Antony, I set mine up as the smallest possible, 256 blocks, I think it is. Also as FOREIGN. I don't believe that the option selections matter too much, so long as it doesn't get used (the reason for it being the smallest possible size). I quess it can get used, but with the precaution that stuff in it is likely to get corrupted (the original reason for its creation). :) Best way to look at it is as an unused buffer for collection of junk... Howie ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 61 Wed Mar 11, 1992 D.WADLEIGH [Sadsac] at 00:15 EST Could someone please post some information about the initial configuration of RAMLink. What is the purpose of that first partition when using Gate- way? Where is it placed in memory? I have a flat C128, 3 meg RAMLink and a 1750 Ram Expander. The manual says to configure with the NORMAL- DIRECT switch in the NORMAL position, but I then use it with Gateway and everything else in the DIRECT position. It seems that if the first partition is using the Ram Expander then all should be lost when switched to the DIRECT position. Also, Howie, has mentioned several times something about a "buffer partition". What is the purpose of this? How do you create it and what type and size is it supposed to be? My configuration works fine. But it is a mystery what is really going on with that first partition. Thanks! -Sadsac- *b READY FOR INPUT 1>*b READY FOR INPUT ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 62 Wed Mar 11, 1992 A.KARANTZE [The Maverick] at 01:12 EST Howie, Thanx for that, Ill have a go later in the week. -SadSac- I dont know why the part's are set up like that, except maybe they seem to work best when done. So, according to latest info, do this: Partition 1 : REU ram expander, 2048 blocks, FOREIGN type. " 2 : SIMM RAM, buffer, 256 blocks, Foreign. " 3 - ? : any configuration you like, in NATIVE mode. This should make it work (cant vouch for the buffer,havent tried it ye yet on my setup). The switch should be in DIRECT mode, printer on and connected when you run MAKEBOOT. At least thats what Im going to do. BTW: The REU is in Direct mode so it can be used with other proggys. It works great with Maverick (!), but on my GEO-BOOT ver of GEOS the REU causes GEOS to crash. Maverick ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 63 Sat Apr 25, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 05:51 EDT Anybody- When I use my RL w/ 5mg of RAM,answer the following: How would I set it up so it can use switcher? Do I need the GEOS patches?I set it up exactly like the last paragraph on pg.6 w/ a 512 DACC partition. I have GW in partition 1 on device 9.I tried to use AUTOFILE EDITOR to make it boot on start up, but I must not be writing the command correctly.What would be the proper command?The partition is named Gateway. Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 64 Sat Apr 25, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 17:49 EDT First, I'd rename the partition. gateWay doesn't seem to like partitions whose names begin with 'g' (stupid bug, but cause hasn't been found yet). The patch question should be answered YES if you use RAMLink in DIRECT mode while using gateWay (absolutely required if you don't have an REU). The problem you are having with the AUTOFILE is because the startup file 'GEOS' from gateWay is not really a BASIC program. What you should do is write a small BASIC program like this: 10 LOAD"GEOS",9,1 Save this under a name like 'BOOTGEOS' and then set the AUTOFILE to load and run it instead. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 65 Sat Apr 25, 1992 PAUL-MB at 22:23 EDT <gasping because his gateWay switcher partition is called GATEWAY STUFF> ``` Paul ``` ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 66 Sun Apr 26, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 06:14 EDT Thanks DOUG- It is funny,I had that partition named Gateway all the time and just started to have problems. What about SWITCHER,is there anyway to configure a RL w/5MG but no REU to use SWITCHER? Right now that is the only reason that I need my REU. I get confused because the Gateway manual will say "without any type of Ram Expansion" in some sentences and I don't know if they consider the RL w/SIMMS a Ram Expansion device. Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 67 Sun Apr 26, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 23:43 EDT I have used gateWay and Ramlink without a REU by making the first partition 512K and making it partition #31. Works just fine with switcher. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 68 Tue Apr 28, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 05:40 EDT JBEE- Are you saying the first partition made AFTER the 512 DACC partition? This is how I made up the partitions,according to the last paragraph on page 6: (in the order made)#6 512 DACC,#5 XTRA 1471,#4 XTRA1 1451,#3 Utilities,#3 Genealogy NATV 2048 ,#1Gateway NATV (whatever is left of the 5MGs. ---*****************************************************--- CMD Doug, The program for autobooting GEOS worked great. I changed the 2 partitions starting with "G" with Gateway.Is this enough or must I start from scratch with Ram-tools? Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 69 Tue Apr 28, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 08:04 EDT No, I was talking about the 512k DACC partition. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 70 Wed Apr 29, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 06:23 EDT JBEE- After posting my last message I tried SWITCHER with my system configured as I posted. It workked great.There were a few bugs but nothing to get upset about. First,it won't use Text Manager while in SWITCHER. Second,I tried using Geo- spell while in SWITCHER and the system locked up so badly,that I had to remake the RL Boot disc. Otherwise,SWITCHER was terrific.Strangly,my system is set up so that every GEO- Application has a seperate sub-directory.This keeps the files on the main directory to a minimum.It also removes any doubts as to what each file is for. Strangly,SWITCHER will work even if it isn't in the sub-directory,although you must have GW, the disc drive (for icon) and the printer driver in each sub-directory. My main purpose at this time was switching between Geo-Calc & Geo-Chart. ---*****************************************************--- One,small thing is GW won't re-boot since I added Bootgeos.But I just reset instead. Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 71 Thu Apr 30, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 00:15 EDT One thing very handy about using Switcher is using it to run two copies of geoPaint at the same time with the same graphic picture and cutting and pasting between the two with photo scraps. Makes lining up pictures for custom labels real easy. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 72 Sat May 23, 1992 A.KARANTZE [The Maverick] at 04:03 EDT Hi there Commsters. Just relating an interesting experience I had using Gateway 64 and JiffyDos. I recently tried creating a gateway boot disk for my 128 in 64 mode. As with other experiences, I did'nt get it to work, but when i reset my machine, it cam up with the message: " **** COYDOS 6.1 CMD (1989) " according to the dictionary, COY means "pretending to be shy". Does this mean that my DOS chip is having me on, and is trying to be part of a government department ie bureaucratic and uncooperative? Or is it maybe that the chip is trying to pull some moves on other chips in the computer? Resetting the machine had no effect, I had to turn it off for about 5 minutes to completly clear it, after which it was no longer shy about working. Hmmmmmm makes you wonder about these hardware developers 8-) On a more serious note, I *still* cannot make a bloody boot disk for gateway - I am no longer using RAMLink, just my 1750. Boots up to the initialization screen, and it crashes, as above. <wimper> help??? - The Maverick - ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 73 Sat Jun 27, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 06:04 EDT Well I did it again!I repaired the REU and ran the 1750 ram test 5 times w/ the REU in my other C64.It came up OKAY. Then I connected it to my RL and ran the Ramlink "Ram Test" for 2 passes.Again all was fine. I configured RL with a DACC for the REU & a DACC buffer,then a NATV for the RL. I copied all the files from the GW boot disc,INCLUDING the RamDisc.When I made boot in GW I answered no patches.When I start up it shows the 3 icons(1541,RLdrive,RamDisc),but it only has 2 drives when the control panel appears.There is no RamDisc drive. This happened once before but I have no idea how I fixed it.What is going on? Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 74 Sat Jun 27, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 06:45 EDT By the way,I have NEVER been able to configure a drive as per page 35 GW docs. I highlight the icon,click on open and all I get is a reset.I have NEVER seen the configure control panel. What am I doing wrong?? Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 75 Sat Jun 27, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 07:11 EDT Mike, Happy to hear that you got everything fixed! :) As to seeing only two drives, do you have the RAMLink switch set to DIRECT? And, I wonder if you should be using the RAM41_71 driver for task switching? Howie ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 76 Sat Jun 27, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 07:30 EDT Ooopss... RAMDisk should be fine! So the thing to check for is if RL is set to DIRECT. Oh! JBEE!! Any other thoughts? :) Howie ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 77 Sat Jun 27, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 15:21 EDT Not yet :) I am curious what the original problem was with the REU. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 78 Sat Jun 27, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 18:43 EDT Howie & JBEE- I spent a great part of today playing with GW.I tried it w/patches & w/o patches.It IS in Direct. I CAN configure RAM41-71,but it only shows HALF of the ram.It also seems to just create a second location for my 1541 floppy drive. I CANNOT open RAMDISC to locate at drive C or to configure,it just resets to GW. I CANNOT open SWITCHER to check on it's status,it just resets as above. A few times that I tried to activate SWITCHER,I crashed. I will repeat my configuration of RL.First,I created a 2048 block DACC partition #1 for the REU. Second,I created a 256 block DACC partition #8 for the BUFFER. Then I created 4 various partitionsbefore I created the GATEWAY partition (named ramlink) w/ the remaining blocks. Remember,I have 5 MG SIMMS. Also remember, this is a 64. After my earlier post,I ran the RAM TEST for 1 1/2 hours with no problems. My system ran Fine before both without a REU and w/ a 1764. Just to add to the beginning of this message,when I configure the RAM41-71 it ONLY shows 1541 in the window?? Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 79 Sat Jun 27, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 23:55 EDT Try createing the DACC as partition #31. Using it as partition #1 will probably cause problems, as that is normally the default partition. Also, avoid naming any partitions starting with 'G'...never have figured out why strange things happen when you have them, but they do. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 80 Sun Jun 28, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 05:58 EDT Doug- Are you talking about the REU DACC or the buffer DACC? Also I have no patitions named with a "G". I learned that once before. The system ran great until I decided to add the expanded REU.As a matter of fact it ran fairly decent with the faulty 1751. I am assuming that without any failures on the Ram Test,it can't be the REU. Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 81 Sun Jun 28, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 07:07 EDT This is getting scarier & scarier. I tried making the DACC partition #31. Now,this is what is happening. RamDrive,still nothing.RAM 41-71 appears as drive "C",BUT it has these 5 files in it,TWICE.2 of each. RL Drive,RAM 41-71,RamDisc,Switcher & GeoBoot. If I erase them,they reappear when I return to that drive,which by the way has the same name as RL, not the name of the REU. Does it matter if I configure the RL in Direct or Normal mode? Should I disconnect the battery back-up?? This has become a health problem as I have gained 7 pounds from all this time in front of the computer. Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 82 Sun Jun 28, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 10:13 EDT Mike, I know nil about electronics, but... What you are describing (like when a TV shows ghosting) might be leaking signals in the REU's ram, maybe? And (while I am quessing) it seems reasonable that the Ram41_71 driver would be using lower banks of the REU than the RamDisk driver, possibly pointing to a prob in the REU's upper banks? Now, I know you have said that the REU passed the Ramtest. I wonder if you may have tried running some other program that would use the full 512k of Ram to see how that runs? I may be way out in left field in conjecturing this possibility, but why not try running something other than GateWay, that uses the full REU? Howie ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 83 Sun Jun 28, 1992 CMD-DOUG at 23:27 EDT The 'ghost' files are an effect of a bug in the way gateWay handles RAM. We made a patch for that in newer versions of RL DOS, not knowing when a new version of gateWay would appear. You have RL DOS v1.40 probably. How many drives do you have attached, and what are their physical numbers? When making your new boot disk, did you start from scratch under GEOS? Did you run the RAMLink RAM test? Or just the REU RAM test? The one with RAMLink is much more thorough, and tests the unit while in RAMLink, where it might fail due to excess bus loading even if it worked fine alone. More devices on the bus, heavier load. Assuming you have only one physical drive, is RAMLink set for device #9? GEOS won't like it if you have a device #8 and #10 but no #9 (physical). My 2 cents worth. :) Doug ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 84 Mon Jun 29, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 00:46 EDT Mike, is your REU one with the surface mount controller or the long gold plated IC? The reason for asking is that you might have to replace some ferrite beads or resistors to make it compatible with your C-64. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 85 Mon Jun 29, 1992 J.PEEPLES at 01:18 EDT As Doug suggested, if you have physical drives which share the drive number of the RAM-disk you're trying to create under gateWay, the first time you try to access those disks, or especially to swap drives, the system will crash. Try making a seperate basic "pre-boot" program to move all the drives that are not going to be used out of the way. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 86 Wed Jul 01, 1992 J.ROBBINS16 [JBUS] at 01:20 EDT I think we've all forgotten about a problem discovered very early on when gateway64 was first introduced. the Ram 41_71 driver has a bug in it. I had sucess with using the RAMDISK driver in place of Ram41_71 driver, when using the 1750 REU, and when I used the REU in parallell with RamDrive or RamLink, I made that driver the first driver, and the RLdriver the second one. If you're using a 64 computer, there is mentioned someplace in these boards about cutting a jumper wire in the 1750 for use with the 64. I never had to do that, but it worth looking into. ...just on a thought... some auto-execute files cause a similar problem, with files, especially if you duplicate geopaint files alot. gateway64 also leaves some garbage after an application is run, so a validate might not be such a bad idea after boot-up if you run any auto- execute files. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 87 Fri Jul 03, 1992 M.MCCORMIC10 [Mike Mc-] at 05:53 EDT All- Thanks to all for your advice.It "appears" that I gat everything running properly now. After I reformatted RL,making sure that I was in normal mode,Istarted from scratch. I setup GW in RL by moving the files from the original disc.Then I found that I could open RAMdrive on my floppy boot disc.So I configured RAMdrive on the floppy and then transfered it to GW in RL. One thing we all must remember is if we don't help each other in places like GENIE,there will not be any Commodore 64 or 128 and CMD will have to look to other markets.We need them,but they also need us. Mike Mc- ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 88 Fri Jul 03, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 07:43 EDT One thing I would suggest now that you have it setup properly and it is working well, is to back it up! Write down the partition numbers, where everything is, etc etc and then back the whole thing up on floppies. If by chance you get a bad crash or otherwise wipe it clean you can reset it back up in a flash. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 89 Sun Jul 05, 1992 D.WADLEIGH [Sadsac] at 22:37 EDT Doug - When configuring RAMLink for use with a 750 REU to be used in the DIRECT mode, the instructions say to create a 2048 block DACC partition first - (can be numbered #31 or whatever). What is the purpose of this FIRST partition? It seems to be invisable. Also, if the REU is going to be used with the switch in DIRECT mode, why is a first partition created that uses the memory of the REU? One more -- why does Howie say that there has to be a -BUFFER- partition?? OH - BTW my set up is a flat C128, 3 meg RL, 1750 REU, 1581, 1571 and GATEway. Thanks - Sadsac - ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 90 Mon Jul 06, 1992 C128.JBEE [* Sysop *] at 00:09 EDT The reason for deleting all partitions and making the DACC first is so programs that use a REU won't end up wiping out your Ramlink information by accident. They are only working with the REU's memory. A DACC is somewhat invisible but if you type "@cp31" you can still set yourself to the partition. If you try to do a directory you will get an error because no directory exists. Maybe Howie meant using a buffer for "switcher" inside of gateWay? ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 91 Tue Jul 07, 1992 J.PEEPLES at 00:05 EDT When using gateWay with a REU-equipped and RAMCard-equipped RamLink, you have to create TWO DACC buffers. The first one you create is the 2048-block DACC, which basically tells the 'Link to allocate all the REU's memory into a single partition which is to be a seperate storage space and not subject to RL-DOS. This allows you to use the REU in DIRECT mode without overwriting information stored in the RAMCard itself, which IS under RL-DOS. Simply, what you've done is tell the RAMLink that you want to use the RAM expanded -AS- expasion RAM, and not as a disk drive. The next one you have to create is a 512-block DACC. This IS in RAMCard memory, and is necessary to use Switcher and for use with native mode partitions on the RAMLink. Technically, you shouldn't have to make this second partition, but you do have to--just call it one of the many gateWay bugs, and really one of the easiest to work around. One other thing to make sure of is that you move the NORMAL/DIRECT switch to DIRECT before booting gateWay. And when using MakeBoot, be sure to tell the program you do -NOT- want to use the RAMLink Kernal patches, since all DMA is going to the REU instead when the system is configured in this manner. Hope it helps! --James P. ------------ Category 12, Topic 5 Message 92 Tue Jul 07, 1992 HOWIE-CBM at 04:12 EDT James, Thanks for the very clear and concise explanation of this! :) I knew these things had to be done, and did them, but never fully reasoned out the "why" of them. I thought setting up the second DACC (RL's ram) for 256 blocks was all that was needed. Is 512 now what is being suggested? Howie ------------