Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!um-math!hyc From: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Cartridge..ramdisk Message-ID: <10044@stag.math.lsa.umich.edu> Date: 3 Oct 89 17:48:46 GMT References: <2539@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> <11830057@hpldola.HP.COM> Sender: news@math.lsa.umich.edu Reply-To: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu) Organization: University of Michigan Math Dept., Ann Arbor Lines: 78 UUCP-Path: {mailrus,umix}!um-math!hyc In article <11830057@hpldola.HP.COM> jg@hpldola.HP.COM (Joe Gilray) writes: > >The Ultradisk sounds pretty cool, Howard, but your note immediately provoked >a rash of questions in my mind: Sorry for such an incomplete posting! }-) Some answers... > >1) How much did it cost? I ordered mine at the Dearborn World of Atari Show, so they were discounted somewhat. Came out to around $500 for the 2 meg cartridge (expandable to 4M). >2) where can I get one? I ordered directly from Alpha Systems. 216-374-7469, 24 hour, call 'em and ask for a (free) catalog. I've seen other mail order places listing their products, but don't have any names offhand... >3) How fast is it? Comparable to a main memory Ramdisk or a harddisk? > Transfer rate? From Qindex13.PRG... A: C: N: GEMDOS 97% 1147% 1451% DMA 112% 6814% 4388% The C drive is my Quantum 80 hard drive, the N drive is my first Ultradisk partition. Kind of surprising that it's slower than the hard disk for DMA operations... btw, 120ns RAMs are installed. >4) how big is it (physically)? It's kind of an L-shape, but when plugged in to the cart port, the remainder is about 3-4" wide and 6" long... >5) how long does the battery last? The docs say "several hours" as long as the adapter jack has something plugged into it. (Smart switch connected to the jack.) In practice, I've had the thing completely powered down for about a week (went on vacation) and it still had everything intact when I powered up the ST. >6) you can auto boot from it? (you already answered this one) Yep, you can autoboot, and you're supposed to be able to disable the autoboot with the Ctrl-Shift keys, but I haven't been able to get this to work. As such, I tend to use a program like bootedit to select auto programs & stuff. (For those times when I need to boot from a floppy. Btw, Falcon runs great off the Ultradisk.) >7) is it compatible with harddisks? (and this one, but I'm runnning out > of questions) Yep, I have no problems using it and the Supra autobooter... >8) etc, etc, etc? Hm... Well, since I have a Mega, I didn't get the clock option. It allows using up to 60K as a printer buffer, which I find very handy. I haven't opened it up yet, but expect to fill it to 4M sometime soon. (Heh - an 8 meg ST. Cool stuff.) No technical specs for what the driver does, unfortunately. No passthru for other cartridges either, also unfortunate. I'd like to use it with Minix, but for now I'm sitting idle on that. Sorry I didn't measure an in-RAM RAMdisks for comparison, but (understandably?) I don't keep any of those around any more... > >Expiring minds need to know! > >Thanks! >Joe Gilray No prob. I'm always happy to brag about my computer. (Usually to poor benighted PC & Mac drones, but what the hell... }-) -- -=- PrayerMail: Send 100Mbits to holyghost@father.son[127.0.0.1] and You Too can have a Personal Electronic Relationship with God!