Subject: Re: TWGS Upgrade Availability?
From: spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)
Date: Tue, Sep 15, 1998 22543Â
Message-id: <16SEP199801542169@vax2.concordia.ca>

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.

>     When you say the RamFAST will not work at all without the 2B GAL,
>do you mean that a Rev D RamFAST board will not work even if RamFAST
>setup Options are set for TWGS with DMA set OFF?

    If you have the original TWGS-2A GAL, the RamFAST will not work
at all with the TransWarp GS (nothing short of swapping this GAL on
the board will resolve that). Once you have the upgraded GAL, you
still must set the option in the RamFAST menu to tell it you have
a TransWarp GS present. If you still continued to have problems, it
was recommended you disabled the DMA option in the menu.

    Once again, it is an *absolute requirement* that you have the
TWGS-2B GAL if you use the TransWarp GS in the same system with a
RamFAST SCSI controller (again, I don't know about the Apple High
Speed SCSI, but would assume the situtation would be similar).

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca