Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3 / Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso / scope / 176-200 / scopedisk200 / amaxinfo / amax-comp.505 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-03-19 | 48KB | 949 lines

Everything You've Been Wondering About A-Max -------------------------------------------- Version 05/5/91 This file is intended to answer all common (and some not-so- common) questions about A-Max, the Macintosh Emulator package by ReadySoft for the Amiga. If your question is not answered herein, or if you find an error or omission, please contact Kurt Tappe via whichever of these methods you prefer: USPS: 184 W. Valley Hill Rd. Malvern, PA 19355-2214 E-Mail: jkt100@psuvm.psu.edu or jkt100@psuvm.bitnet or "KurtTappe" on Quantum Link Phone: (215) 458-5000 (work) or (215) 363-9485 (home) First, a bit about me, my qualifications, and why I created this file: I'm a technical writer who is an avid user of both my Amiga 2000HD at home and a Mac IIci at work. As a result, I'm in a position where I know both the Amiga and the Mac well, and I use A-Max on a daily-basis. After reading many different discussion areas on various networks, I kept seeing the same questions about A-Max popping up repeatedly. It took me years to learn what I know about the Mac and Amiga and how best to bridge the Commodore-Apple gap, and I would like to help ease the learning process for others. I hope this file helps clear the fog. :-) Kurt - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Contents ======== Overview of A-Max Theory (or How The Heck Did They Get Mac Software To Run On Amiga?) How Compatible Is A-Max? What Is Needed In Addition To The Basic A-Max Package? What Else Can I Add To A-Max? What Are The Differences Between The Macintosh ROM versions? Is ReadySoft Planning A Version Of A-Max To Use The Newer ROMs? Will A-Max MultiTask With The Amiga? What Macintosh System Versions Work With A-Max? How Can I Save PRAM Settings? Is There A Way To Automatically Accelerate the Mouse? What's This I Hear About Apple Cutting Off The Supply Of ROMs? Are There Alternatives To Using Apple ROMs? Are There Legal Alternatives To Using Apple ROMs? Can A-Max Read Macintosh Disks? What Is An A-Max Format Disk? Why Can't A-Max Read Macintosh Disks In Amiga Drives? Do I Really Need To Buy A Macintosh Disk Drive? Where Can I Find The DB-19 And DB-23 Connectors To Make Make My Own Mac Drive Interface? What is A-Max II+? What Methods Can I Use To Transfer Files To And From A-Max? Can I Use A Hard Drive With A-Max? What Hard Drive Controllers Are Supported By A-Max? Can A Macintosh External Hard Drive Be Connected To The Amiga And Used With A-Max? Can I Use A Modem With A-Max? Should I Buy A-Max Or An Actual Macintosh? What Are The Cost/Benefit Comparisons For A-Max vs. An Actual Mac? How Much Of The Amiga's Memory Can Be Used By A-Max? How Does A-Max Use The Second Amiga Mouse Button? How Do You Run A-Max As An Option From The Startup Sequence? What Video Modes Can A-Max Use? Is A Special Monitor Needed? What Printing Options Are Available From A-Max? What Do All These Accessories for A-Max Cost? How Fast Is A-Max Compared To An Actual Macintosh? Can A-Max Be Accelerated? What Accelerators Are Compatible with A-Max? What Are The Differences Between The Original A-Max and A-Max II? Why You Should Get A-Max II If You Own The Original A-Max What Problems Were Corrected With Version 2.06 Of A-Max II? How Do You Tell What Version Of A-Max You Have? Where Can I Obtain Public Domain Mac Software? What Is An ".hqx" File and How Can I Decode It? About ReadySoft - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Overview of A-Max ----------------- A-Max II (referred to as just "A-Max" for short throughout this doc) is a combination hardware/software package from ReadySoft that allows your model 1000, 500, 2000 series, or 3000 series Amiga to run Macintosh software. While A-Max is operating, your Amiga is, for all intents and purposes, a Macintosh. The package consists of a cartridge that plugs into your Amiga's external floppy drive port and two floppy disks which contain the A-Max software. Theory (or How The Heck Did They Get Mac Software To Run On Amiga?) ------------------------------------------------------------------- While A-Max is called an "emulation," there are those who justifiably refer to it as (in the words of Commodore engineer Dave Haynie) "a hostile port of the Macintosh operating system." To understand what this means, a brief description of the Macintosh OS is needed. When Apple designed the Macintosh, its designers did their utmost to keep the entire basic operating system of the computer (all the built-in functions for drawing windows, moving the pointer, activating menus, drawing graphics, etc.) down to a small size and on a single set of chips. The advantages of this design are manyfold, the most notable of which are reduced cost and ease of mass-production. So a Macintosh, at its most fundamental, is merely a set of two ROM chips containing basic machine language routines that can be called by programs. The fact that the entire Mac operating system is contained on just two chips is the key to A-Max. A-Max uses actual Macintosh ROMs in its emulation. When you run A-Max, it copies the ROMs into a section of the Amiga's RAM and then selectively modifies the ROM code. The modification makes the ROM routines interact with the Amiga hardware instead of that found on a Macintosh; graphic calls, input/output, disk routines, and memory management are some of the key routines that are modified to be Amiga- compatible. When A-Max completes the modifications, it then turns control of the system over to the Mac ROM code, and voila! You now have a Macintosh operating system running on an Amiga, and thinking it is a Mac. This method differs from an emulation in that an emulation is independently developed code that tries to act like another piece of code. A-Max is the actual Macintosh code, modified (ported) to the Amiga. This fact explains A-Max's remarkably high degree of Macintosh compatibility. How Compatible Is A-Max? ------------------------ The list of major applications that run on A-Max II is very extensive, and is too long to be listed here. A-Max is well over 90% compatible, and a better question to ask than "What will A-Max run?" is "What WON'T it run?" However, a brief sampling includes: Microsoft Word 3.02 and 4.0, Quark XPress 2.12 and 3.0, PageMaker 2, 3, and 4.0, MacWrite 4.5, 5, and IIv2, MacDraw II, MacPaint, Adobe Illustrator 88, FullPaint, SuperPaint, Canvas, Freehand, and utilities such as Font/DA Mover, Disinfectant, On Cue, Adobe Type Manager 2.0, After Dark, ResEdit 2.1, DiskTools II, StuffIt, MacTools, and Norton Utilities (all parts of NU work beautifully; Speed Disk, File Recovery, Fast Find, KeyFinder). Unless a piece of software performs direct hardware calls, it will run on A-Max just as well as on a Mac Plus. Of course, be aware that a FEW programs don't run on A-Max, but they're nearly all games. The ONE major application that I have found to be incompatible is Adobe Illustrator 3. Two major games that do not run are SimCity and Dark Castle (SimCity loads and runs, but will not advance the clock, so you build all you want, but the year is always 1900.) Many games DO work, and I play Tetris, Risk, and Strategic Conquest all the time. To demonstrate the extent of the compatibility, A-Max format disks can even be sector-edited as if they were Macintosh disks! For more information about compatibility with A-Max, you can watch for the regular (monthly?) postings to comp.sys.amiga.emulations by Rich Andrews. Rich maintains two lists ("games" and "non-games") of Macintosh programs and their compatibility with A-Max. What Is Needed In Addition To The Basic A-Max Package? ------------------------------------------------------ In addition to A-Max, you will need a set of 128K Macintosh ROM chips. This is the only other REQUIRED hardware item. However, to make your life much easier you will want some other items (listed below.) Software-wise, you will need a set of the Macintosh System Software. What Else Can I Add To A-Max? ----------------------------- A plethora of hardware and software can be added to A-Max as accessories to make using A-Max easier. These include: An external Macintosh (or compatible) floppy drive to read Macintosh disks. (strongly recommended) A polarized display filter to reduce flicker. An Amiga display enhancer, such as Commodore's A2320 or MicroWay's flickerFixer, that will eliminate flicker from interlaced display modes. A display adapter must be accompanied by a VGA or multi-synch monitor that will accept the adaptor's output. Amiga RAM expansion and/or an Amiga accelerator card. Macintosh public domain software to accelerate the mouse, save Parameter RAM settings, alter the window title bars, etc. What Are The Differences Between The Macintosh ROM versions? Is ReadySoft Planning A Version Of A-Max To Use The Newer ROMs? --------------------------------------------------------------- A bit of Macintosh ROM history: The original Mac ROMs were 64K in size, and were used on the Apple LISA/Mac XL, Macintosh 128, and Mac 512. The next generation were 128K in size and were used on the Mac 512E, Mac Plus, and Mac SE. The latest generations are 256K and 512K and are used on the Macintosh Classic, Portable, SE/30, and II series. The major upgrades between the versions were: 128K - Allowed use of double sided (800K) floppy disks and added the Hierarchical File System (HFS). 256K - Allowed use of high density (1.4 Meg) floppy disks, and added color. 512K - Same as 256K, but also has a tiny version of System and Finder built-in so you can boot from ROM in an emergency. The original A-Max allowed the use of either the 64K or the 128K Mac ROMs. A-Max II requires the 128K ROMs. There is a rumor circulating that ReadySoft is working on an "A-Max III" that will use the 256K ROMs to possibly allow emulation of a Mac II. Of course, at this point this is mere speculation. A pertinent question to ask about such a rumor is where potential A-Max III customers would get hold of 256K ROM chips, as Apple has controlled their distribution strictly since they were available. Will A-Max MultiTask With The Amiga? ------------------------------------ The Macintosh is a non-multitasking computer; the operating system was not designed to allow for portions of memory to be allocated to various tasks and to be off-limits. In addition, the Mac OS was not designed to wait for other tasks to finish using shared portions of the computer, such as the screen, I/O devices, storage devices, etc. Thus, A-Max cannot multitask with the rest of the Amiga. Such a feat could not be accomplished without major modifications to the Mac ROM code, which would probably cause many software packages not to run under A-Max. So, in short, no, A-Max cannot multitask with AmigaDOS. For those technically curious: One programmer posted to the network some time ago saying that he was attempting to write his own Macintosh emulator; what he termed "A public domain A-Max." The main difference between his program and A-Max was that he tried to make his emulator multitask with the Amiga system. His strategy was to require his product be used on an Amiga with a lot of memory, and then locate the entire emulator in a 4 megabyte section of upper Amiga RAM. The RAM containing his emulator would be contiguous and not accessible to the rest of the system, thereby theoretically overcoming some of the restrictions for A-Max not multitasking with the Amiga OS. Apparently his attempt failed in trying to get his emulator to share common system resources, such as the screen, I/O, etc. What Macintosh System Versions Work With A-Max? ----------------------------------------------- A-Max has been tested with and runs system versions 4.2 through 6.0.5. System 6.0.7 does not totally work with A-Max; users of 6.0.7 have reported various problems ranging from random system crashes to increased software incompatibility. Will System 7.0 Work With A-Max? -------------------------------- The phrase that best describes the compatibility between 7.0 and A-Max is "Three strikes and you're out." System 7.0 failed in three attempts to run it on A-Max: 1) The 7.0b6 installation disks would not boot. 2) After booting with another disk, the 7.0b6 installation program crashed. 3) A-Max would not boot from an external hard drive on which System 7.0b6 has been installed and from which 7.0b6 did work on a real Macintosh. The reason for 7.0's incompatibility is unknown, though it is conceivable that Apple made 7.0 intentionally this way to discourage use of Macintosh emulators. ReadySoft is rumored to be working on another version of A-Max that will be 7.0 compatible. How Can I Save PRAM Settings? Is There A Way To Automatically Accelerate the Mouse? ------------------------------------------------ The Macintosh has a few bytes of battery backed RAM called "Parameter RAM" (PRAM) which holds information about system settings set in the Control Panel such as the time and date, mouse speed, cursor blink rate, menu blinking, and more. Because the Amiga has no such RAM, some other method is needed to preserve these settings. A-Max sets the Macintosh clock for you but does not set any of the others. There are a variety of utilities to set some or all PRAM settings. Many are available from the public domain sources listed in the section below about finding public domain software. For accelerating the mouse, I recommend "Pointing Device," a Control Panel device that sets the mouse speed upon every startup to a predefined set of exacting acceleration thresholds you can define in the Control Panel. For setting the RAM Cache and Volume settings, try "Disk-Param." On a side note, to change the window title bars to a pattern other than the horizontal lines that cause horrible flickering on interlaced displays, try "WindChooser." "Pointing Device," "Disk-Param," and "WindChooser" can all be found in the InfoMac directory of FTP site 36.44.0.6. What's This I Hear About Apple Cutting Off The Supply Of ROMs? -------------------------------------------------------------- In September of 1990, some discouraging news came out for A-Max users. Apple, which had previously freely sold the 128K ROMs to whomever wanted to purchase them, was restricting the supply. Commencing September 15, 1990, Apple would only ship a new set of ROMs to dealers who returned a defective set. Are There Alternatives To Using Apple ROMs? ------------------------------------------- Since the above announcement, the supply of Mac 128K ROMs has indeed dwindled. This has opened the door to a new wave of EPROM copies of the Mac ROMs and to the distribution of pirated versions of A-Max which contain the Mac ROMs on disk. Until Apple makes the actual ROMs available again, the pirated versions will proliferate These pirated versions of A-Max will probably hurt Apple more than ReadySoft, because serious users of A-Max will still need to buy the actual product in order to obtain the cartridge to allow them to connect a Macintosh drive to their Amiga. The pirated versions of A-Max that load the ROMs from disk do work with the cartridge, so users that cannot obtain ROMs can find a pirated A-Max, buy the package, thereby circumventing Apple. Are There Legal Alternatives To Using Apple ROMs? ------------------------------------------------- At least two third-party companies are currently developing alternatives to Macintosh ROMs. The most notable is a company called "NuTek" (not to be confused with NewTek, the developers of the Video Toaster.) As reported in the January 29, 1991 issue of MacWeek: "NuTek Chip Set Could Pave Way For Legal Clones A small start-up company is preparing to mount an assault on Apple's proprietary bastions. NuTek Computers, Inc. last week claimed to have developed technologies that will allow OEMs to create Mac-compatible computers without violating Apple patents and copyrights. NuTek will rely on Mac-compatible ROM it said was written from scratch and on the Open Software Foundation's Motif user interface. The company, funded by U.S. and Taiwanese venture capital, said that by the fourth quarter it will deliver all the components required for Mac compatibility, including Mac-compatible operating system software in ROM and on disk, user-interface software based on Motif, and three VLSI (very large scale integration) application- specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that replicate the Mac's internal logic functions. OEMs will need at least six months thereafter, NuTek officials said, to build Mac-compatible machines, using Motorola 68020 or 68030 microprocessors. Apple said it could not comment because it has not seen NuTek's technology. Computers developed with NuTek's chip set and software will have all the capabilities of Macs, according to Benjamin Chou, the company president. They will be able to use Mac peripherals and run all off-the-shelf Mac programs, except for those that access the hardware directly, he said. (sound like another product we all know? -Ed) Mac interface calls will be remapped to the Motif interface, but applications will retain full-functionality. NuTek said it has not decided whether it will attempt to replicate System 7.0's features. The company is currently negotiating with three key OEMs who have "global distribution channels," the company said. Analysts who had seen prototypes of the Mac compatibles said the execution appeared sound. "They've taken a very reasoned approach," said Bill Higgs, vice president of InfoCorp/Gartner Group in Santa Clara, Calif. NuTek stressed that it had taken scrupulous precautions to protect itself legally, following clean-room procedures and documenting all steps of its development process. It said it is financially prepared to withstand a legal battle with Apple and will shoulder legal liabilities on behalf of its OEMs. A legal battle is not unlikely, experts said. "I suspect Apple will try to find a way to challenge this," said Jack Russo, a computer law attorney based in Palo Alto, Calif. Apple will look for whatever it can "claim was derivative of its original work," Russo predicted. NuTek Computers Inc. is at 1601 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, Suite 250, Cupertino, Calif. 95014. Phone (408) 973-8857, Fax (408) 973-8557." What this means to ReadySoft and A-Max is that ReadySoft would seem to be a prime customer of NuTek, adapting A-Max to use the NuTek ROMs. Unfortunately, as stated in the article above, the new ROMs won't be available until Fall 1991 at the earliest, and probably much later when Apple sues them and delays the release. Can A-Max Read Macintosh Disks? What Is An A-Max Format Disk? Why Can't A-Max Read Macintosh Disks In Amiga Drives? Do I Really Need To Buy A Macintosh Disk Drive? -------------------------------------------------------------- One quirk about the Macintosh is that it uses a radically different disk format than any other computer that uses 3.5" disks. Macintosh floppy drives are variable speed, unlike the constant speed drives used by Amiga, IBM, Atari, Sun, etc. This is why an actual Macintosh drive needs to be connected to A-Max if you want to read Macintosh floppy disks. To use the Amiga floppy drives, A-Max formats floppy disks in a special A-Max format that is neither AmigaDOS format nor Macintosh format. This is to greatly increase compatibility with the Amiga drives; A-Max format floppies can even be sector-edited from the A-Max side. Had A-Max used AmigaDOS format, the disks would have been too different from Macintosh format to be used by the Mac ROMs. Macintosh format could not have been used because Amiga floppy drives cannot change their speed to read the Macintosh disks. If you don't wish to purchase a Macintosh floppy drive, see the sections on A-Max II+ and Transferring files to and from A-Max for other alternatives. Where Can I Find The DB-19 And DB-23 Connectors To Make Make My Own Mac Drive Interface? ------------------------------------------------------- Some folks have obtained a file that describes how to make their own hardware interface between a Mac drive and the Amiga. The schematics call for a DB-19 and a DB-23 connector. They may be obtained from: Benetech Electronic Supply P.O. Box 400085 Euless, TX 76040 (800) 866-6860 What is A-Max II+? ------------------ A-Max II+ is an internal card for the Amiga 2000 and 3000 series of computers that is being developed by ReadySoft. A-Max II+ will provide all the capabilities of A-Max II. The card replaces the need for the current A-Max cartridge by allowing the Mac ROM chips to be plugged into sockets on the card. In addition, it will allow A-Max to read and write actual Macintosh format disks in Amiga drives. It overcomes the problem of variable speeds by quickly turning the Amiga's drive motors on and off to slow them to whatever speed is needed to read a particular track of a Mac floppy. This effectively eliminates the need for a Macintosh floppy drive to be connected to the Amiga to read Mac disks. A-Max II+ will also provide an AppleTalk port that will allow A-Max to be connected to an AppleTalk network. A-Max II+ will support Commodore's new 1.76 Mb high-density drive and will reportedly allow the new drive to read Macintosh high- density disks. However, only Macs with the 256K ROMs can use high-density disks. So in order for A-Max to truly make use of Commodore's new high-density drive, ReadySoft will have to treat high-density disks as something other than floppies. Time will tell what solution is implemented. A-Max II+ was announced by ReadySoft when A-Max II was released. The original due date was November 1990, but as of this writing the card has not yet been completed. The new release date is expected to be late spring 1991. What Methods Can I Use To Transfer Files To And From A-Max? ---------------------------------------------------------- A-Max comes with a very good File Transfer utility that lets you move programs between the Amiga and Mac sides if you have a Mac drive attached to A-Max. The utility also will translate the file as it is transferred if you so choose. The translation options available are "None," "Text" (Mac uses linefeeds in ASCII text, while Amiga uses carriage returns), "MacPaint," "MacBinary," and "PostScript." If transferring from Mac to Amiga, each option except "MacBinary" lets you choose whether to transfer the Data or the Resource fork of the Mac file. "MacBinary" is a format that translates both the Data and the Resource forks. ReadySoft also attempted to provide a method for transferring Mac files to and from A-Max without a Mac drive, for those users who had access to an actual Macintosh. This method calls for use of FTF (File Transfer Format) disks which are a hybrid format disk that can be written to by both Macintoshes and Amigas. An FTF disk holds about 200K and is formatted such that the usable portion is on the tracks for which the Macintosh spins the floppy at the same speed as the Amiga, thus forcing the Mac to write data that is readable by Amiga drives. Unfortunately, the FTF disks are both tedious and unreliable. This method of transfer, when it works, takes many times longer to use than if a Macintosh drive were connected to A-Max, and it does require the proximity of an actual Macintosh. Many users have reported problems using FTF disks; some could not get the Mac to recognize the disk, others could not get the Amiga to recognize them, and many could not get the FTF disk formatted in the first place. Because of the inconvenience and unreliability of the FTF method, it is widely suggested that any regular users of A-Max purchase a Macintosh or compatible drive for reading and writing Macintosh disks and transferring files. Can I Use A Hard Drive With A-Max? What Hard Drive Controllers Are Supported By A-Max? --------------------------------------------------- One of the most notable upgrades from A-Max to A-Max II was the addition of hard drive support. Most popular SCSI hard drive controllers are compatible with A-Max II, which requires its own specialized drivers to allow it to interface to various controller cards. Here is a list of HD driver files for A-Max II and the controllers they support: ALF.amhd - Amiga Loads Faster (ALF) cltd.amhd - C-Ltd controller comspechd.amhd - Comspec SA500/1000/2000 controllers DISscsi.amhd - CMI MultiPort board gvpscsi.amhd - GVP Series I and II* gvpat.amhd - GVP AT/IDE controller** harddisk.amhd - Xetec FastTrak hddisk.amhd - A2090 icddisk.amhd - ICD SCSI controller icddiskide.amhd - ICD IDE (AT style) controller ivs_scsi.amhd - TrumpCard controller ivs_SCSIpro.amhd - TrumpCard Professional (available from IVS) nexus.amhd - Advanced Storage System / Nexus controllers scsi.amhd - Commodore A590/A2091/A3000 scsi.amhd - Extam-688 Plus (different driver than above) supra.amhd - Supra A500 Byte Sync Controller*** * To use the gvpscsi.amhd driver with GVP ROM versions below 3.0, you must use the "Mount" command. ** To use the gvpat.amhd driver you also must use gvpat.device V2.4 and have A-Max 2.06 (or later.) *** Requires A-Max II v2.06 and Supra 1.10x controller software obtained from Supra; the cost is approximately $20-$30. There is also apparently a public domain Supra driver available on American PeopleLink. Thanks to Dan Zenchelsky and Dave Carlton for helping to compile this list. Note that A-Max can be used with a hard drive whether you have the 1.2, 1.3, or 2.0 Kickstart ROMs in your Amiga. A-Max II allows you to assign any partition or whole hard drive connected to the SCSI controller to be used with A-Max. Simply create the partition or connect the drive (either internally or externally) and assign the partition a volume name recognized by A-Max. With versions up to and including 2.04, this device name must start with the characters "AMAX". Version 2.06, attempting to comply with Commodore's standards for 3 character naming of physical devices, allows names of AX0, AX1, etc. Is There A Way To Get Rid Of The A-Max Partition Icon? ------------------------------------------------------ When you partition part of a hard drive for use with A-Max, the icon for that partition will appear on your WorkBench if the hard drive is being used with an automounting controller. To keep the A-Max icon from appearing, the partition must be made not to automount. Change the the A-Max partition to "Reserved File System." By creating a mountlist for the partition, it can be mounted only when A-Max is to be used, and will not appear on WorkBench. The method for achieving this varys from controller to controller. However, a very handy utility for this task is "DInfo" which reads data from the hard drive's RDB and generates a mountlist for the partition. "DInfo" is FreeWare and can be found on FTP site "tukki.jyu.fi" (sorry, no IP number available as of this writing.) An example of this procedure follows. This example is for the gvpscsi.amhd driver and a Quantum 40 HD: Mountlist entry: AMAX: Device = gvpscsi.device Unit = 0 Surfaces = 3 BlocksPerTrack = 37 LowCyl = 369 HighCyl = 738 # This assumes the Quantum is configured as unit 0. Then: Mount AMAX: A-MaxStartup "gvpscsi.amhd" must be located in "DEVS:". Now, the "upper" half of the Quantum 40 will be used by A-Max II. Make sure the Macintosh partition doesn't overlap with any other partition (e.g. AmigaDOS') or the RDB on this drive. Thanks to Ralph Babel for this example. Can A Macintosh External Hard Drive Be Connected To The Amiga And Used With A-Max? ---------------------------------------------------- Yes. You should not try to access the drive from AmigaDOS, but A-Max will recognize any Mac hard drives connected to the Amiga once you enter Mac mode. Be sure the external drive does not have the same SCSI ID as any Amiga drives. Can I Use A Modem With A-Max? ----------------------------- A-Max will work with any modem (or any other device you can find Mac software to drive) that is connected directly to the serial port. So if you have an external modem on the serial port, it will work. A-Max will NOT work with the Supra 2400zi internal modem. It will also not work with a modem connected to a serial expansion board (such as the A2232 or the expansion hack published in Amazing Computing) where the modem is not plugged into the built-in serial port. Queries to ReadySoft revealed that they have no plans to modify A-Max to work with any modems not directly connected to the serial port. Should I Buy A-Max Or An Actual Macintosh? What Are The Cost/Benefit Comparisons For A-Max vs. An Actual Mac? -------------------------------------------------------- (Be aware that this is a loaded question which asks for personal opinion. The following response reflects this.) If you already have an Amiga or are wary of buying a Mac because you sort of want an Amiga, I would recommend A-Max II. It is an impressive piece of software. A-Max is not a total replacement for buying a Mac--if you ONLY want a Macintosh and have no intention of using the Amiga side, get a Mac. If you need a color Mac, A-Max will not fit the bill; it emulates a Mac Plus, which is not color. But A-Max is a wonderful solution for the buyer who cannot decide between an Amiga and a Mac and does not have the money for both. Buyers do not make a great sacrifice in choosing A-Max over an actual Mac, owing to A-Max's high degree of compatibility and speed, and to the Amiga's versatility. So, in short: Buy (or at least strongly consider) A-Max if: * You already own an Amiga and want a Mac * You don't own either an Amiga or a Mac, and want both. Buy a Mac if: * You only want a Mac and don't need or want an Amiga. As for the benefits/costs of getting A-Max vs. an actual Mac: The Mac you could get for the price of A-Max (assuming you already own an Amiga) would not measure up performance-wise. According to MacWeek, the market price for a used Mac Plus is $560 and a complete A-Max package is approx. $400. A-Max gives you two machines in a box, so you save desk space. But that is the LEAST of the advantages. You also get a FASTER Mac; A-Max runs 14% faster than a Mac Plus, or about the same as a Mac SE (see the section on Speed Comparisons.) A-Max on an Amiga 3000 has been timed as faster than a Mac II. If you don't mind interlaced mode (or even better, if you have a flickerFixer, an A2320, or an A3000) you can run A-Max in 640x400 screen resolution, so you get a larger screen than a Mac Plus, SE, or Classic. You can even run it in overscan mode (672x460) so the horizontal screen size is greater than a Mac II, and vertical is nearly as large. You can also set the two screen colors, (which are obviously only black and white on a Plus/SE/Classic) to any two colors you desire. For example, some writers have claimed that yellow on blue is the most soothing combination of colors for the eyes; A-Max allows you to choose such a combination if you agree. Of course, there are tradeoffs to getting A-Max. Not all software runs on A-Max; many commercial games will not run. Many people would argue that if you own an Amiga, the games are better on the Amiga side, so this may not be a consideration, but it does bear stating. There is also the consideration of interlace flicker. A basic A-Max package may cost only $400, but to eliminate flicker a user could spend another $250 on a display enhancer and $300 more on a monitor to connect to the enhancer. These are options though, and it depends on the individual whether a $14 polarized screen filter will suffice to reduce flicker or whether the $550 display enhancer/monitor combination is better. But compatibility and display are the only two major costs of purchasing A-Max over a Mac Plus. Interestingly, you do not considerably sacrifice support from Apple in buying A-Max vs. a Macintosh. Unlike Commodore, who supplies a toll-free customer support hotline and Commodore Express service for its customers, Apple supports its owners entirely through its dealer network. Theoretically, an A-Max owner can get support from an Apple dealer just as a Mac owner can, so A-Max owners need not feel they have lost the "Apple connection" in not buying a Mac. How Much Of The Amiga's Memory Can Be Used By A-Max? ---------------------------------------------------- There seems to be a rumor circulating that A-Max can only use 1 megabyte of the Amiga's RAM and so will only give you a 1 megabyte Macintosh. Quite simply, this is not true. My A2000HD, for example, has 7 megs and A-Max II uses all of it. A-Max DOES incorrectly report the amount of RAM available once in Macintosh mode. Reports of incorrect RAM have varied from reporting 512K more than it should to up to 5 megabytes more than it should. This inconsistency does not hinder performance though; if you try to load a piece of software that requires more RAM than is actually available (but that A-Max seems to report IS available), the A-Max will catch itself and report the RAM deficiency. According to ReadySoft, A-Max II v2.06 can use up to 12 megs of Amiga RAM. See the section on "What problems were corrected with version 2.06," below. How Does A-Max Use The Second Amiga Mouse Button? ------------------------------------------------- It doesn't. The right mouse button has no function in A-Max mode. How Do You Run A-Max As An Option From The Startup Sequence? ------------------------------------------------------------ A utility called "CLIXECUTE" will allow you to run A-Max from the startup sequence by holding the left mouse button. This utility is available from jeremy@brahms.udel.edu. What Video Modes Can A-Max Use? Is A Special Monitor Needed? ------------------------------------------------------------- A-Max can be used with any monitor that can be connected to the Amiga. The standard Macintosh display, such as that used by the Mac Plus, SE, and Classic, is a 512 x 342 pixel resolution display. A-Max lets you choose the Macintosh screen size you want to emulate, with choices ranging from the basic 512 x 342 through 672 x 460. A-Max also lets you choose, independently of the Mac screen size, the Amiga video mode you want to use. In order to produce a Macintosh screen with a resolution larger than 200 vertical pixels, A-Max provides numerous options: 1) A-Max will use a 640 x 200 display to show part of the Mac display and will scroll the screen when you move the pointer to a portion not currently displayed. 2) Similar to #1, but will jump to the undisplayed portion instead of smooth scrolling to it. 3) Use a 640 x 400 interlaced display to provide enough resolution to show the entire screen at one time. 4) Use an interlaced overscan display to provide enough resolution to display a 672 x 460 Macintosh screen. Most users find that options 1 and 2 are much too distracting to use regularly. But unless you own an A3000 or some type of display enhancer, options 3 and 4 produce a flickering interlaced display which you will also likely find distracting. There are solutions though. I recommend using option 3 or 4 and getting some kind of display enhancer to reduce or eliminate interlace flicker. For months I used an A2002 monitor with a polarized display filter to reduce the flicker. This produced a darker, yet usable and very inexpensive solution; such polarized filters cost only $10-$15. Another possible solution is to use an A1080 medium-persistence monitor, which greatly reduces flicker because the phosphors on its tube take longer to fade than normal display tubes. Now that Commodore's A2320 display enhancer is available, it is a high-quality solution that should be considered by every serious A-Max user. Using an A2320 or a flickerFixer with an "el-cheapo" VGA monitor yields good results, and makes your Amiga-side look much better too. Of course, there is the solution suggested by AmigaWorld; wear polarized sunglasses while using A-Max. ;-) What Printing Options Are Available From A-Max? ----------------------------------------------- A-Max, like any other computer system, offers an assortment printing options, of both low and high quality and varying expense. For those seeking an inexpensive solution, A-Max has an ImageWriter emulation mode which allows you to print to an Epson compatible printer while the Mac software thinks it is printing to an ImageWriter. The output from this method is not up to full ImageWriter quality (the output is stretched vertically), but is close, and is certainly acceptable for those who merely need rough-draft quality output. Higher quality output can be attained with a variety of methods. An Apple LaserWriter will readily connect to the Amiga's parallel port and can be used from A-Max by simply selecting the LaserWriter driver from Chooser. While LaserWriters provide 300 dot-per-inch resolution, are fast, and support PostScript, they are quite costly. Another high-quality option is to purchase "JetLink Express," a 3rd party package (recommended by ReadySoft) that allows a Macintosh (or A-Max in this case) to print to non-PostScript laser printers. Using JetLink Express, which costs about $85 from most Macintosh mail-order catalogs, one can obtain 300 dpi laser printer output from LaserJet, DeskJet, InkJet, or BubbleJet printers costing under $1000. Comparable to JetLink Express are packages such as "Macprint" and "Freedom of Press." ReadySoft cannot confirm that either of these two products are compatible with A-Max II, but several users have reported successfully printing from A-Max II with them. A public domain Deskjet driver for the Mac is available on FTP site sumex-aim.stanford.edu (36.44.0.6) that is compatible with A-Max 2.06. What Do All These Accessories for A-Max Cost? --------------------------------------------- Here is a list of all the necessary items and of some optional ones you may wish to purchase. Be aware, of course, that many of the optional items will also be of use on the Amiga side, so aren't just for use by A-Max. Prices are constantly fluctuating, so the prices listed below are sure to be incorrect by the time you read this, but here goes anyway: Optional or Item Necessary? Approx. Price ------------------------------------------------------- A-Max II N $125 Mac 128K ROMs N $150 Mac Floppy Drive O $200 Polarized Screen Filter O $12 A2320 O $250 flickerFixer O $325 VGA monitor O $350 JetLink Express O $85 How Fast Is A-Max Compared To An Actual Macintosh? Can A-Max Be Accelerated? What Accelerators Are Compatible with A-Max? ------------------------------------------------------------- My personal tests (which agree with tests run by other A-Max users) show that A-Max running on an unaccelerated 7.14 MHz Amiga 500 or 2000 runs about 14% faster than an actual Mac Plus. This is roughly equal to the speed of a Mac SE. Any accelerator you add to your Amiga side will likewise increase the speed of the A-Max side. A-Max will recognize 68020 and 68030 CPUs and 68881 and 68882 math co-processors. According to ReadySoft, every Amiga accelerator available on the market as of this writing is compatible with A-Max. The only accelerators ReadySoft has ever experienced trouble with were the first generation CSA processor accelerators. CSA's currently sold Mega-Midget racer products are third generation and are 100% compatible with A-Max. A-Max running on Amigas with 68030 CPUs will think they are running under a 68020 CPU. The popular belief on this subject is that A-Max deliberately misreports the CPU in order to increase software compatibility. Thomas Tombs (tombs@ee.rochester.edu) at the University of Rochester ran speed tests on A-Max II and posted the following results: "Here are the results I got with my A3000-25/50 under AMAXII running 'Speedometer 2.5' compared to various Macs running the same program: Note: Values in parentheses indicate Floating point unit was NOT used. Higher values indicate better performance except for the Sieve and Savage tests. A3000/25/50 MacIIci MacIIcx MAC+ ------------------------------------------------------ KWhetstones/sec. 882.4(39.4) - 588.2(60.3) (7.37) Dhrystones/sec. 2871(2717) - 3736(3816) (768.8) Sieve (sec.) 3.70(3.83) - 6.00(5.98) (40.03) Savage Cum. Error 7.988e-10 - 7.988e-10 (2.297e-11) (2.297e-11) - (2.297e-11) - Savage Time (sec.) 8.52(71.43) - 11.13(40.27) (385.4) Savage Iterations 25000(5000) - 25000(5000) (5000) CPU test (6.40) (5.15) (4.25) (.87) Math test 95.27(5.24) (9.79) 95.27(7.82) (1.02) Hard disk test 2.69 3.42 2.95 - Performance rating (5.42) (5.73) (4.96) - What Are The Differences Between The Original A-Max and A-Max II? ----------------------------------------------------------------- The differences between A-Max (the original Mac emulator by ReadySoft, released in 1989) and A-Max II (the update to A-Max which was released in the late summer of 1990) are entirely in the software, and the differences are considerable. A-Max emulated a Mac 512E while A-Max II emulates a Mac Plus. A-Max II allows use of hard drives, emulates digitized Mac sound, Mac MIDI, offers more memory configuration options, and version 2.0.6 of A-Max II has now finally corrected the bugs with printing from A-Max. One other notable difference is that you could use 64K Mac ROMs with A-Max, you cannot use them with A-Max II - it requires the 128K ROMs. This is a software requirement though; the same cartridge is used. Why you should get A-Max II if you own the original A-Max --------------------------------------------------------- * If you own a hard drive, this is the biggest reason. The Mac, just like the Amiga (or nearly any computer) becomes a whole new beast when you add a hard drive. You will wonder how you ever did without it. * If you intend to print from the Mac side, you won't get good results without the newest (March 13, 1991) version of A-Max II. * If you own an Amiga 3000 with more than 8 megs of RAM, you need the newest version to avoid memory problems. * Some software will run on a Mac Plus but not a Mac 512E. * Sound, while considered by some to be a luxury, is part of the Mac system, and you aren't getting the whole picture with the original A-Max, which only emulated the basic Mac "beep." These are the big reasons. There are many other less significant (but possibly important to you) bugs that were fixed between the versions. I personally feel that the $54 upgrade price I paid for A-Max II was well worth it. What Problems Were Corrected With Version 2.06 Of A-Max II? ----------------------------------------------------------- The long-awaited version 2.06 was finally finished on March 13, 1991. This version corrects at least two major bugs, corrects a long-standing inconsistency with AmigaDOS, and corrects some unnamed minor bugs. Quoting from the README file on the disk: "Amigas with > 8 Mb RAM: Version 2.06 functions correctly with large RAM A3000s. The maximum selectable Mac system size is 8Mb; the maximum addressable by A-Max is 12 Mb. So if, for example, you have an A3000 with 16 Mb 32-bit RAM, and 1 Mb chip RAM (sic), A-Max will at most use 8Mb of 32-bit for Mac system memory, 192K of 32-bit for A-Max code, 128K chip RAM for A-Max use, and approximately 3.5 Mb 32-bit for the RAM disk. Of course these numbers only apply to the MMU memory mode." Another problem fixed in 2.06 is a bug that corrupted printouts to a LaserJet, DeskJet, InkJet, or BubbleJet printer using 3rd party printer drivers. Now that this is fixed, it opens the door to A-Max owners who would like to use inexpensive non-Postscript laser printers and still obtain high-quality output. See the printer options section for more info. Until 2.06, A-Max II had required that A-Max hard drive partitions be physically named with the first four letters "AMAX." Now, in keeping with Commodore's standards for device naming, 2.06 allows devices to be named AX0, AX1, etc. AMAX is still supported for users who used previous versions. Several new hard drive controllers are now supported; see the list of HD drivers in a section above. How Do You Tell What Version Of A-Max You Have? ----------------------------------------------- Just after entering Macintosh mode as the Mac starts up with the "smiley Mac," there is a text box at the top-center of the screen containing the ReadySoft copyright notice. In this box the version of A-Max is identified. Where Can I Obtain Public Domain Mac Software? ---------------------------------------------- For those of you looking for software accessories for A-Max, and who have access to computers connected to Internet, Bitnet, UseNet, etc. and with File Transfer Protocol (FTP) capabilities, try this FTP site: sumex-aim.stanford.edu 36.44.0.6 There are lots of goodies in the "info-mac" directory, such as mouse accelerators, control panel settings savers, etc. Of course, there are also the usual sources for public domain software; * Local User Groups * Compuserve, Apple-Link, GEnie, American People-Link * Apple dealers * Local bulletin board systems * University and college Macintosh labs What Is An ".hqx" File and How Can I Decode It? ---------------------------------------------- .hqx is a "BinHex"ed file. (Don't ask me how they got "hqx" from "BinHex...) The easiest way to un-BinHex a file is to use Stuffit. Stuffit version 1.5.1 has a "Decode BinHex file" option. The reason to use Stuffit is that the file you get after unBinHexing is often a Stuffed file, so you will need Stuffit anyway--easier to load one application than two! About ReadySoft --------------- ReadySoft, the publisher of A-Max, is a Canadian company that also produces "64 Emulator II," a C-64 emulator. ReadySoft has excellent telephone support if you have a question about A-Max, and is able to recommend Macintosh software and Amiga hardware that is compatible with the package. ReadySoft can be contacted at: 30 Wertheim Court, Unit 2 Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada L4B 1B9 TEL: (416) 731-4175 FAX: (416) 764-8867