Subject: Re: TWGS Upgrade Availability? From: Rubywand Date: Fri, Sep 18, 1998 215 Message-id: <360224A4.F470694D@swbell.net> Alan J. Hunt writes ... > > In article <19980917051943.03467.00000546@ng-fa1.aol.com>, supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer) wrote: > > > >spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote: > > > >>In article rubywand@swbell.net writes... > >> > >>>Mitchell Spector writes ... > >>>> The TWGS-2B GAL was a DMA fix Applied Engineering issued for > >>>> the board, and an absolute requirement for it to co-exist with a > >>>> RamFAST SCSI board (without it the RamFAST will not function at > >>>> all, and I would assume the Apple High Speed SCSI card as well). > >>>> > >>>> With Applied Engineering long since out of business and the > >>>> GAL virtually impossible to duplicate by convential means, that > >>>> leaves no source for replacement GALs (except perhaps finding a > >>>> dead TWGS board to pull it from; Alltech might be of help here > >>>> if they have any in stock). As I mentioned before, I found it > >>>> much more affordable (and less hassle) to just purchase a used > >>>> TransWarp GS board to replace your old one. > >>> > >>> Neat info! This probably explains the conflicting reports on > >>>whether or not the TransWarp board is DMA compatible. > >> > >> No, not exactly. Without the TWGS-2B GAL, the TransWarp GS is > >>not DMA compatible at all. Adding the chip *attempts* change that, > >>but you end up with flakely DMA compatibility at best. > > > >Not quite. You have a RamFAST revision C, right? Although I no > >longer have a RamFAST, I still have a revision D manual. On page > >25, it says what you describe, but ONLY applicable to the revision C > >card. The revision D card should work with either the 2A or 2B > >GALs. The Apple High Speed SCSI card could always work DMA > >magic with any TransWarp. > > > I have not been able to get my RamFast card to work with the TWGS, at all. I > have the rev. D version as well. If you (or anyone) know of a way of > overcoming this issue, I'd be really grateful for some guidance. Cause as far > as I can tell, the page from the RamFast manual that Supertimer is quoting, is > wrong. > > I also have an Apple HS SCSI card. That one definitely works. > A look at the RamFAST manual indicates some problems (mainly with using the Rev. "C" board). Possibly, some of these relate to the "D" board: You might try changing your TWGS AppleTalk/IRQ setting to ON. This is the setting suggested for the RF Rev. "C" board. (You might, also, try ripping out all AppleTalk drivers, INITs, etc.. This is not something the manual suggests; but, getting rid of AppleTalk stuff often seems to eliminate 'strange problems'.) For several Applied Engineering memory cards, DMA must be turned OFF for an RF Rev. "C" board. You might try setting the Ramfast.system DMA Option to No. According to the manual, the Rev. "C" board will not work with the AE "GS-Ram" revision "A". If you have such a board, try pulling it. As Mitch notes, the Rev. "C" board is not supposed to work with a TWGS having the 2A GAL. If your TWGS has this GAL, it is, at least, suspect when it comes to working with any RamFAST. The manual also talks about maybe needing to send your TWGS to AE for "further modifications". This causes me to wonder if, possibly, RamFAST assumes that a TWGS has at least the version 1.5 ROM or, even, the 1.7 ROM. The manual mentions several NDAs and INITs which can cause problems: Mr. Apple, Fancy Apple, Twilight, Carpet Bag, FastSpeed, Ram.Namer. In general, any unusual INITs and NDAs are suspect. For sure, CloseView and screen savers are known problem causers. Rubywand