@database MTecA590.guide
@Node Main " MTecA590 "



                    @{fg highlight}MTecA590@{fg text} - MTec020 & A590 In Harmony

                 A system to help two components get along


@{fg highlight}Introduction...@{fg text}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 @{" Concept              " Link "INTRO_CONCEPT"}                        What the hell this?
 @{" System requirements  " Link "INTRO_SYSREQ"}                        Which computers can use it?
 @{" Installation         " Link "INTRO_INSTALL"}                        How do I install it?

@{fg highlight}Using MTecA590...@{fg text}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 @{" Overview             " Link "OVERVIEW"}                        Other thoughts.


@EndNode

@Node "INTRO_CONCEPT" " Concept "
@Toc "Main"

@{fg highlight}The motivation for using MTecA590@{fg text}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    So you just installed a brand new M-Tec 020 board into your old A500,
 all excited that you only payed $100 or so for a %500 speed increase, still
 sweating with anticipation, when a voice from above warns you that if it
 seems to good to be true...

    You put your trusty A500 back together ever so gently, leaving the
 sheilding out as it won't fit anymore (aw who needs RF sheilding anyway),
 snap the A590 grounding plate back on, and wrigle your A590 chassis back
 in place.

    The moment of truth, you flip the power switch...

    No hard drive.  :(

    Maybe you read german (eck!) and learn from the manual that when using
 DMA SCSI controllers, the M-Tec 020 will not auto-config it's 32bit RAM,
 citing a flaw the SCSI host.  Or maybe you just play with the jumpers
 until your HD shows up again.

    Big deal, you say, so I have to run a stupid memory adder in my startup
 script.  I can live with that.  Better than using a 68000...

    So you set it all up, reboot, and wait... No problem.  Except shouldn't
 my machine be faster than this?


    Now, I suppose many people would be satisfied at this point, maybe
 they're happy using their 2.x ROM, or even soft-kicking a pirate 3.x ROM
 image into the 24bit A590 ram, but your not.  You want that ROM image to
 be in the 32bit RAM, and you don't want to give up the 2megs of A590 RAM.
 That's why you bought the thing in the first place, to see those windows
 snapping open like an A1200.  But the only way to do that is to have the
 board autoconfig it's ram.  What now?  Spend more money that you don't
 have?  Well this little assembly of software will fix all.


@EndNode
@Node "INTRO_SYSREQ" " Requirements "
@Toc "Main"

@{fg highlight}System Requirements@{fg text}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    There are a few requirements:

     @{fg highlight}·@{fg text} You must have KICKSTART v2.x+ in ROM.

     @{fg highlight}·@{fg text} M-Tec must have 32bit RAM and be set for Autoconfig.

     @{fg highlight}·@{fg text} OS 3.x software must be installed on the boot HD*

     * Well, not entirely true, but some programs will guru using the new
       KICK and the old libraries.


@EndNode
@Node "INTRO_INSTALL" " Installation "
@Toc "Main"

@{fg highlight}Installation@{fg text}
~~~~~~~~~~~~
    There is no installation.  Simply find out the specific values of your
 HD partition(s) when in 68000 mode (using GVPinfo), enter these into the
 devs:mountlist file, and boot from the disk.  Your system will boot into
 OS3.1(4086) mode and as fast as physically possible.

    Take a look at the example mountlist (devs:) for more details.


@EndNode
@Node "OVERVIEW" " Overview "
@Toc "Main"

@{fg highlight}Overview@{fg text}
~~~~~~~~
    Of course, now your old HD Startup-Sequence isn't going to work smoothly,
 you'll have to remove a few lines.  Here is what I use...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
; $VER: Startup-Sequence 1.8 (31.12.97)

Failat 21

C:MountENV                              ;from AmiNET (saves RAM)
Run >NIL: SYS:Executive/Executive       ;from AmiNET (get this!)
Wait 2

Assign PRINTERS: DEVS:Printers/
Assign KEYMAPS: DEVS:Keymaps/
Assign LOCALE: SYS:Locale/
Assign HELP: SYS:HELP/
Assign REXX: SYS:REXX/
Assign LIBS: SYS:Classes/ ADD
C:Mount DEVS:DOSDrivers/~(#?.info)
IF EXISTS DEVS:Monitors
 C:List >NIL: DEVS:Monitors/~(#?.info|VGAOnly) TO T:M LFORMAT "DEVS:Monitors/%s"
 Execute T:M
 C:Delete >NIL: T:M
EndIF

SetEnv Language "english"
SetEnv Workbench $Workbench
SetEnv Kickstart $Kickstart
UnSet Workbench
UnSet Kickstart

C:AddDataTypes REFRESH QUIET
C:IPrefs

C:ConClip

Path RAM: C: S: SYS:Scripts SYS:Utilities SYS:Rexxc SYS:System SYS:Prefs SYS:WBStartup SYS:Tools SYS:Tools/Commodities

Execute S:User-Startup

C:LoadWB >NIL:
endcli >NIL:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Hope this helps...


@EndNode