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.