Amiga Plus Special 18/AMIGAplus Sonderheft 18 (1999)(ICP)(DE)[!].iso/PD/Anwendungen/ShapeShifter/SSFAQ.txt

Text File | 1999-01-11 | 11KB | 180 lines

ShapeShifter Troubleshooting Guide

ShapeShifter can act a bit strange at times and some of its features are
not obvious. Please consult this FAQ list if you are having problems with
ShapeShifter. General Graphics PrepareEmul Turbo cards SCSI Audio DraCo
Possible problems on the Amiga side

General Will there be a PowerPC version of ShapeShifter? A PowerPC
ShapeShifter for AmigaOS is not planned. How do I type a '~'? Try
<Alt>-<N>, followed by <Space>. If that doesn't work, activate the
USKEYMAP tool type and use the "`/~" key. For other keys, consult the
"Keyboard" desktop accessory. How do I rebuild the desktop file when
starting the Macintosh? You have to hold down the left Amiga key and the
right mouse button on startup. The key combination <Alt left><Amiga left>
doesn't work because this combination is intercepted by the Amiga
operating system as a replacement for the left mouse button. How do I
prevent volumes being ejected on restarting the Macintosh? Hold down the
Alt key (or the right mouse button), choose the "Restart" menu item and
keep holding the Alt key until the Macintosh screen is cleared. I have xx
MB of memory in my Amiga, but ShapeShifter is using only a small part of
it. ShapeShifter can only use a contiguous memory block. E.g. if you have
2MB of Chip RAM, 8MB of 32 bit Fast RAM and 4MB of 16 bit Fast RAM, the
theoretically available amount of memory for ShapeShifter is 8MB (and not
14MB). The Amiga operating system will, of course, use some of these 8MB
for itself. In spite of my 68040, the Macintosh emulation is slower than
on an Amiga 3000. How can that be? You are probably using a 512K ROM. This
ROM is not completely 68040 compatible and ShapeShifter has to turn off
the data cache to make it run. If you use a 1MB ROM (e.g. from a Quadra)
the speed should increase notably. How can I install the Macintosh System
without HD floppy drives? (According to Mike Carlson): Use a program
called DiskDup+ on a real Mac to read in a Mac System disk. I used the
Disk Tools (or whatever it's called) disk from System 7.5 as a test. It
doesn't matter that the disk is 1.44 Mb. After DiskDup+ reads the disk,
have it save the image to a file. Get it to your Amiga. I used a
null-modem. But you can also use "Splitz" and "Jointz" to split the file
into smaller parts that can be transferred with DD disks. Tell
ShapeShifter that this image is a FileDisk. Start ShapeShifter. How do I
print under ShapeShifter? You need a suitable Mac printer driver. For
Epson-compatible parallel printers you can use "Chuck's Printer Driver",
for HP DeskJets/LaserJets you need "HPDJ 3.0". Simply configure the Mac
printer port for the parallel port and choose it from the Mac printer
driver. The serial settings don't matter but you should turn on "Hardware
Handshake". You may also use the commercial package "Power Print" that
includes drivers for the most popular printers. For more info, contact:

  GTD Softworks INC.
  4664 Lougheed Highway
  Suite #188
  Burnaby,BC
  Canada V5C6B7

  Telephone: ++1-604-291-9121
  Fax:       ++1-604-291-9689
  EMail:     [e-mail]

I can no longer format 720K disks under System 7.5/7.6. With 7.1 it
worked. Due to a brain-damaged modification to the Disk Initialization
Package, System 7.5/7.6 refuses to format 720K disks unless the "720K Disk
Formatter" extension is present. If you give ShapeShifter the tool type
"720KKLUDGE", it will format these disks with 719.5K. Apart from losing
512 bytes of disk space, it doesn't make any difference. 719.5K disks can
be read on a real Mac as can 720K disks under ShapeShifter with System
7.5/7.6. The Macintosh doesn't boot. How can I now quit ShapeShifter? The
Finder is not loaded. Press <Ctrl><Shift left><Alt left><Esc>.
ShapeShifter should then quit itself. Nothing works! After starting
ShapeShifter, I only get a white/gray/dithered gray screen. In rare cases,
it may happen that the Macintosh won't boot or might crash on startup.
Then you should try the following: Turn the option "Allocate Mac ROM
memory first" on. Turn the option "Write-protect ROM" off. Switch off the
CPU cache (command "CPU NODATACACHE" from the Shell). Start ShapeShifter
with the tool type "NOCOPYBACK". Delete the file "ShapeShifter PRAM" and
start ShapeShifter again. Change the graphics settings to "Amiga
Bitplanes", "1 Bit" or try the "Amiga window" mode. Hold down the left
shift key on startup (first wait for the dithered Mac background pattern
to apprear). This will disable all system extensions. When you have
problems with File-/DeviceDisks/SCSI then make sure that the maximum
transfer sizes (MaxTransfer) are set correctly on the Amiga side as well
as in the ShapeShifter settings. SCSI devices must be correctly
terminated. Boot the Macintosh from disk and use "First Aid" or the Norton
Disk Doctor to check the integrity of the start volume and the system
file. Re-install the Macintosh System, "for every Macintosh", including
the EtherTalk software. Try a different Macintosh ROM If that doesn't
help, then I don't know (i.e. bug reports are useless). Graphics I have
changed the graphics settings and now there is only garbage on the screen.
How can I now quit ShapeShifter? Press <Ctrl><Shift left><Alt left><Esc>
(eventually hold it down). ShapeShifter should then quit itself. When I
switch from the running emulation to my workbench screen, parts of the
screen get overwritten with Macintosh graphics. If you are using
CyberGraphX, consider using Picasso96 instead. Otherwise there is no real
solution for this. Press <Ctrl><Tab> before switching screens and take
care that no Macintosh program is drawing on the screen as long as the
Workbench screen is in front to minimize the effect. If you can live with
a graphics slowdown, you may also activate the gadget "Refresh always" in
the graphics settings. With a graphics card under CyberGraphX/Picasso96, I
rarely get graphics errors which disappear with ShapeShifter 3.5. This is
probably due to the QuickDraw acceleration. It can be turned off with the
"NOQDACCEL" tool type. Why are the graphics only in grayscales? Open the
Monitors control panel on the Mac and switch to color. Will there be video
drivers for the OpalVision/IV24 cards? Not from me. PrepareEmul
PrepareEmul fails to work, it just reboots and reboots. My Amiga is
softkicked. PrepareEmul doesn't work with softkickers. The only solution
is to patch the Kickstart file as shown in the manual. PrepareEmul fails
to work on my expanded A1200. Start PrepareEmul with the "A1200" switch.
PrepareEmul still doesn't work. Try the "A1200" switch even if you don't
have an A1200. PrepareEmul still doesn't work. See the manual for
alternatives. Turbo cards I have problems on my A2000 with G-Force040
accelerator and a 1MB ROM. (According to Oliver Stein): Find the program
"Set040" by Nic Wilson and insert the following line in your
"Startup-Sequence" right after PrepareEmul:

  Set040 >NIL: FASTROM NOLOCAL NOZCACHE

If you remove all 16 bit Fast RAM from your system, you are able to use
the original (AmigaOS) "68040.library", but then you have to use the
"A1200" option of PrepareEmul. (According to Stefan Raudonis): The program
"GVPCPUCtrl" must not be started in the Startup-Sequence. The command
alone, without parameters will cause programs to crash under ShapeShifter.
I have problems on my A2000 with a Fusion-Forty accelerator. To get rid of
ALL problems regarding the Fusion-Forty and ShapeShifter and to be able to
use ShapeShifter's MMU features, install the original (AmigaOS)
"68040.library" in LIBS: and insert the following two lines at the top of
your Startup-Sequence:

  SetFF FASTKICK AMAXIV
  SetPatch NOAGA REVERSE QUIET

Or, if you are softkicking a different ROM image:

  SetFF FASTKICK devs:kickstart AMAXIV
  SetPatch NOAGA REVERSE QUIET

You don't need "PrepareEmul" then. I have problems with my Phase 5 68060
board. Turn off the "CyberPatcher" utility. SCSI My SCSI devices are not
being recognized. The name of the SCSI driver must be spelt correctly.
E.g. on the A3000 this is "scsi.device" in lowercase letters, without
quotes, and without "DEVS:" in front. The IDs of the devices you intend to
use must have a checkmark in the SCSI settings (the gadgets directly near
the digits 0..6). The SCSI bus must be correctly terminated. I cannot use
DeviceDisks and/or SCSI devices with my Oktagon/AT-Bus 2008/
AlfaPower/TandemAT/ALF-2/ALF-3 controller. You have to use "SSIOktaPatch".
Please read the file "ReadMe" in the archive "SSOktaPatch.lha". I have
problems with SCSI devices on a Fastlane/CyberSCSI/Blizzard SCSI card. See
the ShapeShifter manual. Audio What is "AHI" and where do I get it? AHI
(Audio Hardware Interface) is a device-independent audio driver by Martin
Blom. More information and AHI itself can be found here. ShapeShifter
requires ahi.device version 4 or higher. I can't use my sound sampler. The
Amiga hangs as soon as I click on the "Record" button. Your CPU is
probably not fast enough to do the sampling. The CPU load of sampling at
22kHz equals that of a serial transmission at a sustained data rate of
approx. 250000bps. As you need a fast CPU to do this with the
"serial.device", you need a fast CPU to do sound sampling under
ShapeShifter. "But my A500 can sample at 48kHz!" you may answer. Then name
any Amiga sound sampling program that multitasks while sampling. DraCo
ShapeShifter runs on the "DraCo" computer by MacroSystem. There are only a
few things to take care of: PrepareEmul is not needed In the "DraCoSystem"
preferences editor, the option "Enforcer from 0" must be turned off To get
sound, you must have AHI and a sound card that is supported by AHI
(preferably the Toccata by MacroSystem) Only HD floppy disks are
supported. If the access to the floppy drive is enabled ("Floppy"
settings), ShapeShifter will crash on quitting. This is a bug in the
dracodisk.device. MacsBug doesn't work

Possible problems on the Amiga side Some properties of ShapeShifter may
lead to problems on the Amiga side or may disturb concurrently running
Amiga programs: PrepareEmul will move the processor's vector base register
(VBR). This may break some, very very few Amiga programs. The FileDisks
won't work with automatically (de)compressing file systems like XFH. If
you use such a file system, you must create the FileDisk files using the
name of the original (uncompressed) volume (e.g. "DH1:MacFileDisk" and not
"XH1:MacFileDisk" if "XH1:" is an XFH mirror of "DH1:"). The debugging
tool "Enforcer" is not compatible with ShapeShifter on principle. You have
to turn it off. Owners of 68060 turbo boards from Phase 5 must turn off
the "CyberPatcher" utility. Utilities that change the behavior of the
AmigaOS task scheduler or modify task priorities are generally not
compatible with ShapeShifter and may lead to all sorts of weird problems.
Do not run these utilities or exclude ShapeShifter from their
modifications, if possible. Christian Bauer
([e-mail])