Re: SecondSight boot stability

[rubywand@aol.com (RUBYWAND)]

In article <4uthft$ij9@asia.lm.com>, mportune@telerama.lm.com (Matt
Portune) writes:

>
>Anyway, I pulled the ZIP out.  In fact, I pulled every card out, except 
>the Second Sight.  Same problem on startup.  garbage - reset - garbage - 
>reset (3 or 4 more times) then *boink!*  "Apple IIgs" and a successful 
>boot.  I put every card back in, and took the second sight out.  EVERY 
>boot was flawless.  
>
>So now, after all this, I can safely say it's the Second Sight that is 
>causing the boot failures. ....
>

     Your tests seem to indicate that a big problem with SS is the Reset
sequence. Possibly, some SS boards may not allow sufficient time for some
systems to initialize. Such a situation would produce widely varying
outcomes from machine to machine.

     Removing a diode may change the Reset pulse width at a key pin and,
so, sometimes eliminate most startup bombs. A safer fix would be for SS
firmware to just wait for a command from the system before attempting to
mess with interrupts, DMA, etc..   
     



Rubywand