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1992-08-18
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PC-Task Manual V1.11
IBM PC emulation for the Amiga range of computers
Copyright 1992 by Chris Hames
All Rights Reserved Worldwide
***************************************************************************
Copyright
PC-Task software and documentation are copyright Chris Hames. No part
may be reproduced, transmitted, translated into other languages, posted to
a network, or distributed by electronic or other means without the express
written permission of the author Chris Hames. This software may not be
rented, lent or leased. You may not decompile, disassemble or reverse
engineer the software.
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability will be accepted for any damage that
may appear to have resulted from use of this program. All use is at your
own risk. The software is provided "as is" without any warranty implied or
otherwise to the fitness or accuracy of the software and documentation.
The documentation is believed to be correct but the author reserves the
right to update the software and/or documentation without notice.
TradeMarks
Commodore is a registered trademarks of Commodore Electronics, Ltd.
Amiga, Amiga 500, Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, AmigaDOS, Amiga Kickstart, Amiga
Workbench are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
IBM, CGA and MDA are trademarks of International Business Machines
Corp.
MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Inc.
All other trademarks are trademarks of their relative Companies.
***************************************************************************
Contents
General Information
Introduction 1.1
System Requirements 1.2
Backing up your PC-Task Disk 1.3
Installing PC-Task on your Hard Disk 1.4
Starting and Configuring
Starting PC-Task 2.1
Option Screen and starting the Emulator 2.2
Saving options/Using defaults/Quitting 2.3
Floppy Drive options 2.4
Hard Drive options 2.5
CGA/MDA options 2.6
Parallel and Serial options 2.7
Priority options 2.8
Memory options 2.9
ToolTypes/ShellArguments 2.10
Emulating
General Emulating info 3.1
Turning the Mouse Driver on 3.2
Quitting the Emulator 3.3
Using your PC
Resetting the emulator 4.1
Getting programs to work 4.2
Using DOS 4.3
Using PC-Task DOS utils CopyToA & CopyToI 4.4
Amiga Technical Information
Creating a Hard Drive partition 5.1
Creating fast temporary Drive in ram 5.2
Amiga <-> IBM file exchanging with Floppies 5.3
Amiga <-> IBM file exchanging with File Drives 5.4
Amiga <-> IBM file exchanging with Partitions 5.5
Using a 5 1/4 40 track drive to read 360K disks 5.6
Getting as much memory as possible 5.7
Getting faster emulation 5.8
IBM PC Technical Information
IBM PC Boot Procedure 6.1
Other Information
Technical Support 7.1
Troubleshooting 7.2
Glossary 7.3
References 7.4
***************************************************************************
1.1 Introduction
****************
Even though the Amiga range of computers are excellent, the world PC
market is still dominated by IBM PC's. So you might want to run some
programs written for the IBM PC but don't want to buy another computer.
This is where PC-Task comes in, it allows you to run the majority of IBM PC
programs on your Amiga computer and hence make use of the memory and
peripherals you already have. The speed of PC-Task is directly related to
the speed of you Amiga so when you make your Amiga faster your PC emulation
becomes faster.
Multitasking is what has set the Amiga apart from other PC's and
PC-Task works fully without taking over the machine. PC-Task just becomes
another application screen that you switch to when wanted.
The emulator supports two floppy drives as well as two hard drives so
that you have a versatile environment. Pseudo hard drives can be created
as a file on your hard disk. This feature allows the use of already
created bridgeboard pseudo hard drive files. You can also use a partition
as a hard drive.
MSDOS is not supplied, I suggest you use version 5.0 or 3.3. You can
produce a 720K bootable(system) disk usually by putting a 3.5 inch DSDD
disk into a real IBM computer(or compatible and at the MSDOS prompt
typing(Assuming you put it in the A: drive):-
"format a: /s" OR "format a: /s /f:720" OR "format a: /s /n:9"
The manual tries to keep things easy to understand with the more
technical information that might be of use to a advanced user in later
sections.
1.2 System Requirements
***********************
PC-Task requires an Amiga 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 with at least 512K of
ram. Versions for 68000, 68010, 68020+(and later) processors are provided
on the disk. The system must be running Kickstart/Workbench 1.2 or later.
1.3 Backing up your PC-Task Disk
********************************
The PC-Task disk can be copied so that should something happen to your
copy you can continue to use the program by obtaining another copy from the
original disk. Consult your Workbench manuals for further information on
making backups.
You can only make a backup for your own personal use. Please respect
the enormous amount of work gone into this product and do not make illegal
copies for other people. The more registered users of this product the
better for you as it will promote further development of the software.
1.4 Installing PC-Task on your Hard Disk
****************************************
Boot off your hard disk or a workbench disk into workbench. Then
insert the PC-Task disk. You should now be looking at a workbench screen
with the disk icon for PC-Task. Double click the PC-Task disk icon and a
window will be displayed. In this window are various versions of PC-Task
as well as a utility call TDPatch1213. Open the drawer of your hard disk
where you wish to put PC-Task. Now you must drag at least one of the icons
across from the PC-Task window to the drawer on your hard disk. If have a
system which is running Kickstart/Workbench 1.2 or 1.3 drag the TDPatch1213
icon to your hard disk. Now you need to drag one of the PC-Task programs
to your hard disk. Which one depends on which processor your machine has:-
PC-Task68000 is for 68000 machines such as stock Amiga 500, 1000,
2000's.
PC-Task68010 is for 68010 machines which no current amiga comes with
but someone might have installed.
PC-Task68020+ is for 68020 or later processors such as stock A3000's.
You could of course drag all three versions across to your hard disk
but this would waste some space as only one will work on your machine.
***************************************************************************
2.1 Starting PC-Task
********************
If you are running under kickstart 1.2 or 1.3 then you need to first
double click the TDPatch1213 program. This program fixes bugs and adds
some features to kickstart to allow reading and writing to IBM floppy disks
when running PC-Task.
Now you must choose the correct version of PC-Task for your machine to
run. It is dependent on your processor. Here is a guide to which version
is for your machine:-
PC-Task68000 is for 68000 machines such as stock Amiga 500, 1000,
2000's.
PC-Task68010 is for 68010 machines which no current amiga comes with
but someone might have installed.
PC-Task68020+ is for 68020 or later processors such as stock A3000's.
To start PC-Task just double click the icon of the program that is
appropriate to your machine. The program should then load up and display
an option screen.
If the option screen did not appear but instead a error window
appeared and said you had the wrong processor then you have run the wrong
version of PC-Task for you machine so try a different version.
2.2 Option Screen and starting the Emulator
*******************************************
The option screen allows you to change various functions of the
emulator but the only thing you must do to begin emulating is click the
start button or press the return key.
2.3 Saving options/Using defaults/Quitting
******************************************
The option screen has three gadgets at the bottom right of the screen
that control the configuration of PC-Task.
Use Defaults
This resets all options to the default initial values.
Save Configuration
This creates a file called "PC.config" which contains the
configuration as currently set. PC-Task attempts to load this file each
time it is executed and will use its values if found.
Quit
Just quits PC-Task from the option screen.
2.4 Floppy Drive options
************************
On the bottom left of the option screen are the assignments for
PC-Task's floppy drives A and B. The floppy drives can be be assigned to
any device and will in be used in the emulation as the PC's A and B drive.
All you have to do is enter the name of the drive into the two text
gadgets. By default they are assigned to DF0: for A and to DF1: for B
which are the first two Amiga floppy disk drives.
If you have two external floppy drives you might want to use those
instead and give your default internal floppy drive DF0: a rest. In this
case you would set A to DF1: and B to DF2: or visa versa.
The drives by default are used as IBM PC 720K drives and hence can
only read disks of that format. Please note the standard Amiga drives DO
NOT read 3.5inch 1.44 Meg IBM PC disks. Some new machines are now being
sold with a new drive which allows the reading of High Density (1.44Meg)
disks. To find out if your drive can read such disks place a HighDensity
disk (they have the extra hole) in a drive and format it from Amiga
Workbench (You must be running Kickstart 2.0 or later). If it creates a
disk with capacity 1.7Meg then you have a high density drive.
People who mount their drives as IBM format drives so they can read
and write files using the ShareWare software MSH (see references section)
or other similar pieces of software might be better using the name mounted
for use with that software instead of the default DF0: etc.
2.5 Hard Drive options
**********************
A Hard drive with PC-Task can either be a file on you Amiga hard disk
which is treated as a hard drive in the emulator or a partition on your
Amiga hard disk. You can have two hard drives with the emulator C and D.
If you chose to set up only one it must be the C drive as the D drive is
not available if the C drive is not found. The emulator will boot off the
hard drive C if no IBM disk is found in floppy A and hard drive C is
bootable. Note that some versions of IBM DOS do not work on hard drive
partitions of size larger than 32 megabytes so it is suggested you create
hard drives of 32 megabytes or less.
See the important information on setting up a partition in the
technical section if you want to use a real partition on your Amiga hard
drive instead of a file hard drive. It should only be attempted by
advanced users.
If you have a existing bridgeboard hard drive file all you have to do
is press the left mouse button over one of the hard drive text gadgets and
enter the file name (including path) in the text gadget eg
"Work:IBMHardDriveFile".
If you want to create a hard drive file on your Amiga hard disk:-
Step 1.
-------
Click on the "Create HardDiskFile" gadget.
Step 2.
-------
Click the file name text gadget and enter the file name (including
path) you wish to use. eg "Work:IBMHardDriveFile"
Step 3.
-------
Click the size text gadget and enter the size in megabytes you wish to
use. A value of 32(Meg) or less is recommended.
Step 4.
-------
Click the "GoDoIt" gadget. If all is well your hard drive will then
start and after some seconds (depending on the size you specified and the
speed of your hard drive) the file should be created. DO NOT reset during
this step as resetting while a hard disk is writing can cause major
problems.
Step 5.
-------
Click the HardDrive C text gadget and enter the name you entered in
step 2. You might want to save this new configuration at this stage.
Step 6.
-------
Start the emulator and boot off a MSDOS disk that has the MSDOS
programs FDisk and Format contained on the disk. These programs are MSDOS
commands that are not contained in COMMAND.COM but are instead separate
commands that come with MSDOS if you purchase it.
Step 7.
-------
Execute the FDisk program and partition the hard disk (Note usually it
is sufficient to just press return to all options).
Step 8.
-------
Now use the format command:-
"format c:" (Just to format it)
"format c: /s" (If you want the Hard Disk to be bootable)
Or you might also be able to make it bootable by using the command
"sys c:"
Step 9.
-------
You should now be able to access hard drive c:.
2.6 CGA/MDA options
*******************
You can emulate two different display adaptors, MDA which is a
monochrome text only adaptor that will give faster updates, and CGA which
gives you color and graphics capability. You can toggle which mode you
will use by pressing the left mouse button on the gadget to the right of
the "Graphics Adapter" text.
If you choose to use MDA you can set the two colors by pressing the
left mouse button on one of the two color boxes. Then adjust the for red,
green, and blue gadget controls on the right of them.
2.7 Parallel and Serial options
*******************************
You can toggle the "Use Parallel" and "Use Serial" gadgets to on or
off by pressing the left mouse button on the gadgets. When the gadget has
a tick displayed you will be able to use the parallel or serial port for
printing or communications with a modem during emulation. By default both
are turned on for use, if you want to use another Amiga program that uses
either of these ports you might want to turn them off.
2.8 Priority options
********************
Since your machine will still be multitasking and you will want to get
maximum performance out of the emulator two options are provided to control
processor allocation. "Priority when selected" is the priority the
processor should give to running the emulator when the emulator screen is
selected. "Priority when not selected" is the priority the processor
should give to running the emulator when the emulator screen is not
selected.
Giving a value of one for "Priority when selected" allows the emulator
to get the majority of the processors time when you are working with it.
Giving a value negative one for "Priority when not selected" allows other
programs to get the majority of the processor when you are not working with
the emulator.
2.9 Memory options
******************
In the bottom right box you will find two sets of up/down gadgets for
changing the amount of memory the emulator will try to use for the IBM PC
and the minimum amount it will leave free. "Memory Kilobytes" sets the
amount of memory PC-Task will try to allocate for emulation with the
maximum allowed being 704K. If the emulator fails to get the amount set it
will try for a smaller amount until it gets too low to be functional.
"Minimum Leave Available" is the minimum the emulator will leave
available for other Amiga programs after allocating the main memory. This
can be used to ensure that available memory does not get to low when the
emulator allocates the amount it wants. If memory available gets below 64K
the system is more likely to crash. I suggest never lowering this value
below 16K.
2.10 ToolTypes/ShellArguments
*****************************
PC-Task has some options that cannot be accessed from the option
screen. These options are more for the advanced user and are specified by
adding the ToolType to the PC-Task icon or specifying the keyword after the
program name when starting PC-Task from a Shell/CLI.
NOOPTIONSCREEN=ON
This stops the option screen from appearing. Use it if you are happy
with the options you have set up and want PC-Task to go straight to
emulation.
SMOOTHSCREENCHANGE=ON
Since version 1.10, PC-Task when changing screen resolution closes the
current screen and opens a new one. This keyword makes it use the old
method which may not work in the future, but it does look nicer since the
screen is manipulated instead of a new one being opened. It doesn't seem
to work with the FORCENTSC keyword.
MAXDEPTHTWO=ON
MAXDEPTHTHREE=ON
These limit the maximum screen depth that PC-Task will open. This can
be of great use on a machine with chip (graphics) and slowfast (memory at
$c00000 which is called fast on the system but is as slow as chip memory)
memory only. On such a machine any more than a depth of two will slow down
operation of PC-Task. So if you don't mind loosing some colors you can get
faster CGA operation by using either of these keywords.
FORCENTSC=ON
Only for Kickstart 2.0- users. This is for people with PAL machines
who want the PC-Task screen to fill the complete screen. You must have the
NTSC monitor in your Workbench startup drawer or similar and have a newer
type Agnus chip which can produce the 60Hz display.
***************************************************************************
3.1 General Emulating Info
**************************
The emulator starts by displaying the memory available for the IBM PC
and Drive A-D's allocation. It will then try to boot off the floppy in
floppy drive A. You then just have to insert a 720K DOS boot disk into the
drive A which is usually the internal drive DF0:. It will try to boot off
the Hard Drive C if no disk is found in A. You should now be able to run
IBM PC software as you would on a real IBM PC.
3.2 Turning the Mouse Driver on
*******************************
To turn the mouse driver on press the LeftAmiga-P all at the same
time. This should usually be done just before starting the IBM program you
wish to use the mouse with.
You can also use the MSDOS utility PCTMouse that is supplied with
PC-Task to turn the mouse driver on. If you want the mouse driver to be on
always you can put the PCTMouse command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (see your
MSDOS manual for more details on the AUTOEXEC.BAT file).
Note the top part of the screen is cleared when you turn the mouse
driver on and you can no longer use the screens drag and depth gadgets.
3.3 Quitting the emulator
*************************
To exit out of the emulator press the LeftAmiga-RightAmiga-DEL all at
the same time. You can also use the MSDOS utility PCTQuit that is supplied
with PC-Task.
***************************************************************************
4.1 Rebooting
*************
To reboot the IBM just press the Ctrl-Alt-DEL all at the same time as
you would do on a normal IBM.
4.2 Getting programs to work
****************************
Some programs might work when you use the MDA instead of CGA and visa
versa. Make sure the program you are trying will work on a normal IBM PC
and does not require a 80386 machine or EGA/VGA graphics.
4.3 Getting around in IBM DOS
*****************************
There are many versions of DOS for IBM PC's here is a quick guide to
some of the most common commands. The basic idea is to type "a:" return to
refer to drive a and "b:" return to refer to drive b etc. Filenames are
usually of 8 characters with a 3 character ending describing the type of
file. File's ending with .exe or .com are usually programs which can be
run by typing their name. Script type files .bat are text files containing
a list of commands to execute which you can execute by just typing their
name. General text files usually end with .doc or .txt.
cls Clear the screen.
date Enter/View the date.
dir Show's the names/dates/sizes of files and dirs contained
on a disk.
dir/p Same as dir above but you press a key after each page.
dir/w Same as dir but spread across the screen with just names.
cd Make a directory the current(default) one, to move in and out
of dirs.
cd db Would go into the db directory if it was in the current dir.
cd \ Take's you to the directory above(parent) the one you are
currently in.
type filename.???
Would display to the screen a text file called "filename.???"
del filename.???
Would delete a file called "filename.???"
copy filename.??? b:
Would copy the file called "filename.???" to the disk in
drive b.
4.4 Using CopyToA & CopyToI
***************************
PC-Task comes with two IBM-DOS utility programs. They allow you to
copy files between the PC-Task program and your Amiga disks. While in
PC-Task you can:-
CopyToI AmigaPathFile IBMPathFile
To copy a file on your amiga Harddisk to your IBM floppy you could
"CopyToI DH0:file.dat a:file.dat"
CopyToA IBMPathFile AmigaPathFile
To copy a file on your IBM floppy to your amiga Harddisk you could
"CopyToA a:file.dat DH0:file.dat"
To print a file using your Amiga printer driver you can
"CopyToA a:file.txt PRT:"
Or to copy a file directly to your Amiga parallel port you can
"CopyToA a:file.txt PAR:"
***************************************************************************
5.1 Creating a Hard Drive partition
***********************************
The setting up of a partition on your hard disk is a lot more
complicated than using a file as a hard disk. I suggest users use a hard
disk file as described in section 2.5 (Hard Drive options). Only advanced
users should attempt this and even they must keep in mind the wrong setup
could cause the loss of other data on the hard disk. You must assign a
area of your hard drive for this either using software (if you have
partition creating software for your hard drive) or actually create a
mountlist entry for the partition in file "devs:mountlist". Here are the
entries that PC-Task requires with the restrictions your entry must
follow:-
Device - device name of the hard drive
Unit - unit number
Flags - flags usually 0
Surfaces - Must have value in range of 1 to 255
BlockPerTrack - Must have value in range of 8 to 63
LowCyl - Must have value in range of 0 to 65535
HighCyl - Must have value in range of 0 to 65535
BlockSize - Must be the default 512 but is assumed.
ALSO: ((HighCyl + 1) - LowCyl) Must have value in range of 1 to 1024
Note: It is recommended that you don't create partitions of over 32
megabytes.
If your partition entries follow all the above rules then you don't
have to worry about changing them and can skip the following. If however
your partition entries violate any of the above rules then you will have to
make changes so that they don't. Here is how the emulator calculates the
important size and location information from the partition entries:-
StartOffsetInBlocks = LowCyl * BlocksPerTrack * Surfaces
SizeInBlocks = ((HighCyl + 1) - LowCyl) * Surfaces * BlocksPerTrack
The way the size and start offset is calculated means that you can
change values of Surfaces/BlocksPerTrack/LowCyl/HighCyl and still end up
with the correct size and start offset.
Here is an example where the BlocksPerTrack is too large:-
INVALID1:
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 1100
HighCyl = 1400
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 64
#
This has StartOffsetInBlocks = 1100 * 1 * 64 = 70400 And has
SizeInBlocks = ((1400 + 1) - 1100) * 1 * 64 = 19264
By halfing the BlocksPerTrack and doubling the number of cylinders from 301
to 602, making sure the start offset and size are same it becomes:-
IBMC1:
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 2200
HighCyl = 2801
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 32
#
This has StartOffsetInBlocks = 2200 * 1 * 32 = 70400
And has SizeInBlocks = ((2801 + 1) - 2200) * 1 * 32 = 19264
Here is another example where the BlocksPerTrack is too large but in this
case if we double the number of cylinders we will go above the 1024 limit:-
INVALID2:
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 1000
HighCyl = 1600
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 64
#
This has StartOffsetInBlocks = 1000 * 1 * 64 = 6400
And has SizeInBlocks = ((1600 + 1) - 1000) * 1 * 64 = 38464
By halfing the BlocksPerTrack and doubling the surfaces we bring it within
the restrictions:-
IBMC2:
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 1000
HighCyl = 1600
Surfaces = 2
BlocksPerTrack = 32
#
This has StartOffsetInBlocks = 1000 * 2 * 32 = 6400
And has SizeInBlocks = ((1600 + 1) - 1000) * 2 * 32 = 38464
5.2 Creating fast temporary Drive in ram
****************************************
Some IBM programs do a large amount of disk read/writing of temporary
files and so you might want to set up a a drive in ram for them to use.
One way is to use the Hard Drive D (or use C if you are not already). You
can do this by creating a HardDiskFile in ram, then going into the emulator
FDisk'ing and Format'ing it then quitting the emulator, coping the file to
your hard disk and then creating a script file that copies the file to ram.
So then you just have to execute that script file before running PC-Task
and you will always have a fast ram drive.
5.3 Amiga <-> IBM file exchanging with Floppies
***********************************************
MSH (see references) and similar products can be used to access files
on IBM PC 720K disks from the Amiga environment. If you are going to use
one of them specify the drive name used to access the floppy in the PC-Task
option screen.
WARNING filesystems usually make the assumption they are the only one
with access to a drive, hence they often keep data internally. So don't
write from inside and outside PC-Task and expect both system to know about
the change. You can use the diskchange command from the Amiga side to tell
the Amiga filesystem that the disk has been changed since it was last
accessed but no such command exists under MSDOS. I suggest you don't write
to a drive from the Amiga side when PC-Task is running.
5.4 Amiga <-> IBM file exchanging with File Drives
**************************************************
MSH (see references) and similar products currently do not allow for
reading of these PC-Task and bridgeboard type file drives. BUT provided on
the PC-Task disk is a device called "hardfile.device" which can be used
with software to allow for reading and writing of files from file drives.
You must add an entry to you "devs:mountlist" and mount the device to
be able to access the file drive. Also you must assign HF: to the
directory containing the hard drive file. And the hard drive file must be
name HardFile0 or similar depending on the unit you use. The
hardfile.device automatically gets past the partition information. This
adds the complication that you loose the first track which must be
accounted for in mountlist.
When PC-Task creates a Hard Drive File it always uses 32
BlocksPerTrack 4 Surfaces and varies the amount of cylinders(16 per meg).
But with the mountlist you must allow for that missing track. A simple way
to do this is to set surfaces to 1 instead of 4 and to multiply the
cylinder number by 4 and subtract one for the missing partition track.
Using the way the hardfile.device calculates the drive size we can
check to see we are getting the correct size for the harddrive which is the
normal size minus the missing track(which is BlockPerTrack blocks). Here
is how the hardfile.device calculates size of a partition:-
SizeInBlocks = ((HighCyl + 1) - LowCyl) * Surfaces * BlocksPerTrack
Here is MSH example for a one meg hard drive file:-
MH0: Device = hardfile.device
Unit = 0
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 32
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 62
Reserved = 0
FileSystem = L:MessyFileSystem
Stacksize = 4000
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
DosType = 0
Buffers = 5
BufMemType = 1
#
SizeInBlocks = ((62 + 1) - 0) * 1 * 32 = 2016
(which is 2048(1Meg) - 32 )
DO NOT use this device name(eg MH0:) as the hard drive specification
for Hard Drive C or Hard Drive D in PC-Task.
WARNING filesystems usually make the assumption they are the only one
with access to a drive, hence they often keep data internally. So don't
write from inside and outside PC-Task and expect both system to know about
the change. You can use the diskchange command from the Amiga side to tell
the Amiga filesystem that the disk has been changed since it was last
accessed but no such command exists under MSDOS. I suggest you don't write
to a drive from the Amiga side when PC-Task is running.
5.5 Amiga <-> IBM file exchanging with Partitions
*************************************************
MSH (see references) and similar products can read and write to IBM
DOS hard disk partitions. Most products currently have reservations about
accessing hard drives so, proceed completely at your own risk. This
following information if provided as a guide, consult the other product
documentation for a more complete explanation.
The first thing to note is that you must have a different entry to the
one for PC-Task as for exchanging files you must make the start block be
past the IBM DOS partition information for the drive. The partition
information usually takes up the first BlocksPerTrack blocks.
Here is how a device calculates the important size and location
information:-
StartOffsetInBlocks = LowCyl * BlocksPerTrack * Surfaces
SizeInBlocks = ((HighCyl + 1) - LowCyl) * Surfaces * BlocksPerTrack
So we take the entry created for PC-Task:-
IBMC:
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 200
HighCyl = 801
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 32
#
This has StartOffsetInBlocks = 200 * 1 * 32 = 6400
And has SizeInBlocks = ((801 + 1) - 200) * 1 * 32 = 19264
And since it has only one surface, to add the size of the partition
information (BlocksPerTrack) we only have to add one to the LowCyl.
And with adding the MSH entries we get:-
MF6:
Device = scsi.device
Unit = 6
Flags = 0
LowCyl = 201
HighCyl = 801
Surfaces = 1
BlocksPerTrack = 32
Reserved = 0
FileSystem = L:MessyFileSystem
Stacksize = 4000
Priority = 5
GlobVec = -1
DosType = 0
Buffers = 5
BufMemType = 1
#
This has StartOffsetInBlocks = 201 * 1 * 32 = 6432 (6400 + 32)
And has SizeInBlocks = ((801 + 1) - 201) * 1 * 32 = 19232 (19264 - 32)
So you can see that we have achieved out goal of making the start
offset go past the partition information and also subtracted the size of
the partition table from the overall size of this partition.
WARNING filesystems usually make the assumption they are the only one
with access to a drive, hence they often keep data internally. So don't
write from inside and outside PC-Task and expect both system to know about
the change. You can use the diskchange command from the Amiga side to tell
the Amiga filesystem that the disk has been changed since it was last
accessed but no such command exists under MSDOS. I suggest you don't write
to a drive from the Amiga side when PC-Task is running.
5.6 Using a 5 1/4 40 track drive to read 360K disks
***************************************************
Some users have 5 1/4 inch disk drives connected to their Amiga's that
have a switch for selecting 40 track operation or are 40 track drives only.
These probably can be used with PC-Task if you add a mountlist entry so
that PC-Task can see that they have 40 tracks instead of 80. Add a entry
like this to your "devs:mountlist" file:-
MS3: /* Or whatever you want to call it */
Device = trackdisk.device
Unit = 2 /* 0=DF0: 1=DF1: 2=DF2: */
Flags = 0
Surfaces = 2
BlocksPerTrack = 11
LowCyl = 0
HighCyl = 39
#
Execute the command "mount MS3:" from a Shell/CLI. Then just specify
MS3: in the Drive A or B entry on the PC-Task option screen and it should
use that drive a 360K 5 1/4 disk drive.
5.7 Getting as much memory as possible
**************************************
If you have 1 meg or less memory available on your machine you might
not be getting 640K for your IBM-PC emulation. Try one or more of the
following:-
Make a boot disk that only runs PC-Task (and TDPatch1213 if 1.2/1.3)
Select MDA instead of CGA.
Don't use Serial or Parallel.
Disconnect external disk drives.
Lower the value of "Minimum Leave Available".
Run the LeaveSlowFast program if you have a 512K Chip/512K Slow Fast.
Don't crunch the PC-Task program.
5.8 Getting faster emulation
****************************
Use the MDA Graphics Adapter which doesn't have the colors and
graphics but it is faster updating. If you have have only chip and slow
fast memory this makes a big difference in general speed.
If you must use CGA, add MAXDEPTHTWO=ON or MAXDEPTHTHREE=ON to the
PC-Task icon ToolTypes or your Shell/CLI arguments. These keywords reduce
the number of colors displayed but make a large difference to speed on a
machine with only chip and slow fast memory.
Other things that could help with emulation speed are:-
Don't run other programs in the background.
Having true Fast ram. Such as that goes on most Hard drive
controllers such as the A590.
A faster processor such as a 68020 or 68030 or 68040. It is usually
very important to have at least a megabyte of 32bit ram with these as
well.
Kickstart/Workbench 2.0 or later OS.
***************************************************************************
6.1 The Boot Procedure for IBM PC's
***********************************
When you switch on an IBM PC or start PC-Task inbuilt routines
commonly called the BIOS do some initialization. Then the system checks
for a HardDrive C to read from and then give control to the DOS contained
on the boot disk. The the first sector on a DOS disk located on track 0
sector 1 side 0 called the boot record, is loaded in and executed. It
contains a routine to read in the ROM BIOS interface for the DOS which is
usually contained in a file called IBMBIO.COM or IO.SYS. Then the actual
DOS program file called IBMDOS.COM or MSDOS.SYS is loaded and executed.
Then the root directory of the boot disk is checked for a CONFIG.SYS
file which can contain information about device drivers and various other
configuration details. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file is executed line by line
similar to the Amiga's "S:startup-sequence" file.
COMMAND.COM is loaded and it is the interface between DOS and the
user. It produces the A> prompt or similar at which you type commands.
***************************************************************************
7.1 Technical Support
*********************
I can be reached by the following methods, but these could change in
the future:-
Internet: bytey@werple.pub.uu.oz.au
(to be changing to bytey@werple.apana.org.au)
FidoNet: Chris Hames at 3:633/353
Voice & Fax: +61 3 802 8513 ((03) 802 8513 in Australia)
7.2 Trouble shooting
********************
Disk-Full requester when selecting CreateHardDiskFile:-
You have tried to create a file larger than the space available on the
hard drive you specified. Either reduce the size of the hard drive file
and try again or give a filename with a path to a different hard drive.
PC-Task68020+ hangs with GVP board:-
Some old GVP 68030 Accelerator Boards have a PAL (a type of computer
chip) that will will not allow the reading/writing from odd locations. If
you find that the PC-Task68020+ version crashes or hangs soon after the
emulation starts this could be the problem. These people should contact
GVP for a replacement PAL which fixes this problem.
Wrong program for your processor:-
You have tried to run the incorrect version of PC-Task for your
processor. Try another version.
Error opening or using parallel.device:-
PC-Task cannot allocate the parallel.device for use. Possibly caused
by another program using the printer or no parallel.device found in your
"devs:" directory.
Error opening or using misc.resource:-
PC-Task cannot allocate the serial port for use. Possibly caused by
another program using the serial port.
Error opening or using ciab.resource:-
PC-Task cannot allocate the timer required for use. Possibly caused by
another program using timers, so try again after quitting from other
programs.
Keyboard seems to miss keys or similar:-
I suggest users delete the keyb entry from their AutoExec.bat entry
unless you really need it to remap to a german keyboard or similar.
7.3 References
**************
MSH
"MESSYDOS FILE SYSTEM HANDLER" copyright by Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert. Is
a freely distributable piece of software that is available on the Fred Fish
disk library collection. It allows you to read and write IBM PC 720K
floppy disks as well as possibly hard disks from the Amiga environment as
if they where just Amiga format disks. It is a shareware product so if you
get and use this software please reward its author.
Fred Fish Library
Is a group of disks containing Freely Redistributable Software. Disks
can be obtained through Amiga User Groups and dealers.
7.4 Glossary
************
PATH
The description of where a file is located. Can contain device and
directory names. An example is "DF0:hello" is the directory path to the
directory "hello" on the default internal floppy disk drive "DF0:". So if
you wanted to refer to a file called "world" in that directory you would
give the full filename (including path) of "DF0:hello/world".
DOUBLE-CLICK
Two quick presses of the button.
DRAWER
Directory. Allows files to be stored in a tree like structure.
GADGET
A graphical representation for a function that can be used using the
mouse.
PROCESSOR
The main CPU (central processing unit) that the computer executes
instructions on. The Amiga range of computers is based on the 68000 and
later processors.
PARTITION
Subsection of a hard disk usually treated as if a separate hard drive.