Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn From: gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Re: FPE and a transwarp gs Message-ID: <11166@smoke.BRL.MIL> Date: 28 Sep 89 03:33:06 GMT References: <1989Sep27.023104.971@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> <1989Sep27.024212.1824@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD. Lines: 38 In article <1989Sep27.024212.1824@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> rbannon@cosmos.acs.calpoly.edu.UUCP (Roy Bannon) writes: >I was thinking of getting a FPE. I was wondering how much it would help? It makes a TREMENDOUS difference in floating-point computation, especially with a compiler like Orca/C generating in-line code to use it directly (as a slot peripheral) rather than via the SANE tools. >Does anyone out there in netland have a gs with a transwarp and a FPE. >If so, can you notice a mesurable difference with and without the FPE? Well, you'd get a dramatic speed-up in floating-point operations, although the integer-CPU SANE emulations obviously would run faster using the TransWarp GS. The FPE is still many times faster. However, you should be advised that the FPE doesn't work with the TransWarp GS as it is shipped. One of the AE technical support people told me of a mod that AE will make to your TransWarp GS to prevent the problem. I made the mod myself (technically voiding my warranty) but for some unknown reason mine still are incompatible. Maybe U22 pin 1 isn't really on the upper left as I had thought? Anybody who knows for sure or who can look at their AE-modified TWGS, please let me know which pin of U22 was lifted, or if some other mod was made. >Can it be placed in any slot? Specifically, can it go in slot 6? Yes, it's just a slot peripheral. The installation disk that comes with the FPE includes SANE takeover INIT files for all slots. The installation program peeks at the slots and tells you where it found the FPE card, then when you tell it to install the INIT it copies the appropriate one onto your system disk. >Is the sane tool file compatible with sys 5.0? Yes, I was using it fine via both SANE and direct slot code before I installed the TransWarp GS. If you can ever get them to coexist, you'll have a real cruncher.