Re: TWGS Upgrade Availability?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector) wrote:

>In article rubywand@swbell.net writes...
>
>>Mitchell Spector writes ...
>>>     The TWGS-2B GAL was a DMA fix Applied Engineering issued for
>>> the board, and an absolute requirement for it to co-exist with a
>>> RamFAST SCSI board (without it the RamFAST will not function at
>>> all, and I would assume the Apple High Speed SCSI card as well).
>>> 
>>>     With Applied Engineering long since out of business and the
>>> GAL virtually impossible to duplicate by convential means, that
>>> leaves no source for replacement GALs (except perhaps finding a
>>> dead TWGS board to pull it from; Alltech might be of help here
>>> if they have any in stock). As I mentioned before, I found it
>>> much more affordable (and less hassle) to just purchase a used
>>> TransWarp GS board to replace your old one.
>> 
>>     Neat info! This probably explains the conflicting reports on
>>whether or not the TransWarp board is DMA compatible.
>
>    No, not exactly. Without the TWGS-2B GAL, the TransWarp GS is
>not DMA compatible at all. Adding the chip *attempts* change that, 
>but you end up with flakely DMA compatibility at best.

Not quite.  You have a RamFAST revision C, right?  Although I no
longer have a RamFAST, I still have a revision D manual.  On page
25, it says what you describe, but ONLY applicable to the revision C
card.  The revision D card should work with either the 2A or 2B
GALs.  The Apple High Speed SCSI card could always work DMA
magic with any TransWarp.

>>     When you say the RamFAST will not work at all without the 2B GAL,
>>do you mean that a Rev D RamFAST board will not work even if RamFAST
>>setup Options are set for TWGS with DMA set OFF?
>
>    If you have the original TWGS-2A GAL, the RamFAST will not work
>at all with the TransWarp GS (nothing short of swapping this GAL on
>the board will resolve that). Once you have the upgraded GAL, you
>still must set the option in the RamFAST menu to tell it you have
>a TransWarp GS present. If you still continued to have problems, it
>was recommended you disabled the DMA option in the menu.

FOR THE RAMFAST REVISION C CARD, but not for the newer
revision D card.  Revision D works with both 2A and 2B.

>    Once again, it is an *absolute requirement* that you have the
>TWGS-2B GAL if you use the TransWarp GS in the same system with a
>RamFAST SCSI controller (again, I don't know about the Apple High
>Speed SCSI, but would assume the situtation would be similar).

RamFAST revision C requires 2B GAL
RamFAST revision D does not require 2B, works with 2A or 2B
Apple High Speed SCSI card works with all TransWarps GS units.