DMA Cards

alewis · 11 January 2007, 17:55

Neither AHD nor BBOAH state whether various cards are DMA or PIO. Is there any such list?

If not, can anyone comment on which of these cards are DMA capable, and *require* a DMA capable slot

X-Surf
Oktagon 2008
Nexus
VLAB 1.0
VLAB 1.3
MultifaceIII
Thanks

Zetr0 · 11 January 2007, 18:32

Heys Alewis, the following I am pretty sure upon

Non DMA

Code:

CON TYPE

Z2        XSurf
Z2        MultiFace III 
Z2        The Oktagon 2008 
Z2        GVP 4008 HC8+
Z3        Z3 Fastlane SCSI (memory not accessable)

DMA required

Code:

CON TYPE

Z3        Z3 FastLane SCSI + Memory

thats all i know my friend...

alewis · 11 January 2007, 21:26

Cheers

Secret Vampire · 11 January 2007, 21:57

if using a ZIII system, then DMA is going to be iffy on any ZII card, PIO may even be faster, though all ZIII cards should be capable of doing 32 bit DMA.

If I'm thinking right, and you're using a system with a ZIII busboard, then DMA capability only matters for ZIII cards anyway, all slots should be capable of ZII DMA, though without ZII RAM it's useless.

alewis · 12 January 2007, 01:24

Typical Brummie... yer wrong ;-)

Only needed to know so that I don't stick a card that is DMA-only into a non-DMA slot, to resolve a weird issue whereby a system would boot with a Picasso IV, but no other card. Solved now anyway, but always useful to know - and to preserve the knowledge - of which cards are true DMA and which are PIO.

alexh · 12 January 2007, 09:33

Are there such things as non DMA capable slots? That would explain a lot. If true which are which?

keropi · 12 January 2007, 09:38

non DMA slots? on 2000/3000/4000 ? I doubt it...
but on 1200 zorroII or the only zorroIII one (the micronik with a 3000/4000 accelerator fitted) all the slots are NON-DMA. there is no dma capable zorro busboard for the A1200

I wonder why...

alewis · 12 January 2007, 09:44

Certain (A3000?)A4000 expander boards have non-DMA capable slots, according to BBOAH and AHDB. Unfortunately, they dont list which slots are non-DMA. I would assume those furthest from the video slot(s)...

keropi · 12 January 2007, 09:50

ah, you mean 3rd party zorro busboards for 2000/3000/4000... yeah I forgot about them...

alexh · 12 January 2007, 13:43

Ah, I've had some problems with "card ordering" in my standard A4000D with original Commodore daughter card and I thought that you may have had a LOGICAL explanation why

keropi · 12 January 2007, 13:49

on the AlgorPro manual, E3B says that some bad-designed cards may prevent the AlgorPRO to be detected, so I guess the explanation is bad designed cards

alewis · 12 January 2007, 15:01

@Alexh

presumably to do with the way the card initialises and the amount of memory it reserves (16kb, 2mb, etc), much in the same way that C= advised one to fit RAM cards closest to the video slot/PSU (machine dependant), and maybe ZII cards need to be initialised before ZIII so that they order themselves in the ZII accesible 8mb autoconfig space.

I don't know this for a fact - ie I'm speculating - but it would make sense that ZIII could autoconfig anywhere in ZIII space, but ZII cards would only understand and access the 8mb ZII area (bottom 8mb?).

I also wonder, from time to time, whether power draw across the bus might be an issue...

11 January 2007, 17:55	#1
alewis Monochrome and 8 bit Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Underbarrow, Gods Country Age: 57 Posts: 600	DMA Cards Neither AHD nor BBOAH state whether various cards are DMA or PIO. Is there any such list? If not, can anyone comment on which of these cards are DMA capable, and require a DMA capable slot X-Surf Oktagon 2008 Nexus VLAB 1.0 VLAB 1.3 MultifaceIII Thanks

11 January 2007, 18:32	#2
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	Heys Alewis, the following I am pretty sure upon Non DMA Code: CON TYPE Z2 XSurf Z2 MultiFace III Z2 The Oktagon 2008 Z2 GVP 4008 HC8+ Z3 Z3 Fastlane SCSI (memory not accessable) DMA required Code: CON TYPE Z3 Z3 FastLane SCSI + Memory thats all i know my friend...

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11 January 2007, 21:26	#3
alewis Monochrome and 8 bit Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Underbarrow, Gods Country Age: 57 Posts: 600	Cheers

11 January 2007, 21:57	#4
Secret Vampire Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Birmingham UK Age: 43 Posts: 214	if using a ZIII system, then DMA is going to be iffy on any ZII card, PIO may even be faster, though all ZIII cards should be capable of doing 32 bit DMA. If I'm thinking right, and you're using a system with a ZIII busboard, then DMA capability only matters for ZIII cards anyway, all slots should be capable of ZII DMA, though without ZII RAM it's useless.

12 January 2007, 01:24	#5
alewis Monochrome and 8 bit Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Underbarrow, Gods Country Age: 57 Posts: 600	Typical Brummie... yer wrong ;-) Only needed to know so that I don't stick a card that is DMA-only into a non-DMA slot, to resolve a weird issue whereby a system would boot with a Picasso IV, but no other card. Solved now anyway, but always useful to know - and to preserve the knowledge - of which cards are true DMA and which are PIO.

12 January 2007, 09:33	#6
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,399	Are there such things as non DMA capable slots? That would explain a lot. If true which are which?

12 January 2007, 09:38	#7
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	non DMA slots? on 2000/3000/4000 ? I doubt it... but on 1200 zorroII or the only zorroIII one (the micronik with a 3000/4000 accelerator fitted) all the slots are NON-DMA. there is no dma capable zorro busboard for the A1200 I wonder why...

12 January 2007, 09:44	#8
alewis Monochrome and 8 bit Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Underbarrow, Gods Country Age: 57 Posts: 600	Certain (A3000?)A4000 expander boards have non-DMA capable slots, according to BBOAH and AHDB. Unfortunately, they dont list which slots are non-DMA. I would assume those furthest from the video slot(s)...

12 January 2007, 09:50	#9
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	ah, you mean 3rd party zorro busboards for 2000/3000/4000... yeah I forgot about them...

12 January 2007, 13:43	#10
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,399	Ah, I've had some problems with "card ordering" in my standard A4000D with original Commodore daughter card and I thought that you may have had a LOGICAL explanation why

12 January 2007, 13:49	#11
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	on the AlgorPro manual, E3B says that some bad-designed cards may prevent the AlgorPRO to be detected, so I guess the explanation is bad designed cards

12 January 2007, 15:01	#12
alewis Monochrome and 8 bit Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Underbarrow, Gods Country Age: 57 Posts: 600	@Alexh presumably to do with the way the card initialises and the amount of memory it reserves (16kb, 2mb, etc), much in the same way that C= advised one to fit RAM cards closest to the video slot/PSU (machine dependant), and maybe ZII cards need to be initialised before ZIII so that they order themselves in the ZII accesible 8mb autoconfig space. I don't know this for a fact - ie I'm speculating - but it would make sense that ZIII could autoconfig anywhere in ZIII space, but ZII cards would only understand and access the 8mb ZII area (bottom 8mb?). I also wonder, from time to time, whether power draw across the bus might be an issue...

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