Article 200 of comp.sys.amiga.reviews:
Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: shambarg@netcom.COM (Scott Shambarger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: Emplant (software version 1.7)
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.emulations
Date: 23 Jan 1993 15:40:33 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
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Keywords: hardware, emulator, Macintosh, commercial
PRODUCT NAME
Emplant MAC II, IIx, and IIcx emulator, with software version 1.7.
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review was originally posted in
comp.sys.amiga.emulations. It was submitted to c.s.a.reviews
by the author, and I changed the layout to conform with the
c.s.a.reviews "standard." - Dan]
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A hardware Macintosh emulator which runs concurrently with AmigaDOS.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Utilities Unlimited, Inc.
Address: 1641 McCulloch Blvd., Suite 25-124
Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403
USA
Telephone: (602) 680-9004
BBS: (602) 453-9767
E-mail: jdrew@cryo.rain.com (Jim Drew)
LIST PRICE
I don't know the list price. I paid $300 for Emplant with
Appletalk. There is a version with SCSI as well, and a version with neither
Appletalk nor SCSI, but I'm not sure of their prices.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
An Amiga 2000 or 3000 with a 68020 or 68030 processor.
(68040 compatibility is unconfirmed, A4000 support is
promised "soon", and an A1200 board is in the works.)
MAC II/IIx/IIcx ROM's.
SOFTWARE
Macintosh System 6.0.5 or greater
COPY PROTECTION
None.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Hardware: A3000/25, 2Meg Chip RAM, 4Meg Fast RAM.
Emplant board, Appletalk option
Mac IIx ROMs
Software: AmigaDOS 1.3, 2.04, 3.0 (SuperKickstart)
Emplant MACII v1.7
AmigaVideo v2.2
REVIEW SCOPE
I have decided to write this review as a summary of where this
product currently stands in development. The product is quite usable, and
features that are planned for the near future will make it quite complete.
I am not associated with Utilities Unlimited, (except maybe as an
unsolicited beta-tester) and have no financial interests in the product's
success.
OVERVIEW
The Emplant emulator is a hardware/software combination that allows
the use of an 68020/68030 powered Amiga to run an environment almost
identical to that of a MAC II/IIx/IIcx. (68040 compatibility is
unconfirmed). The hardware can support Appletalk and a SCSI interface
depending on configuration. The software currently supports hard drive
support, up to 16-color 640X400 emulation, and it co-exists favorably in the
multitasking environment of AmigaDOS on its own screen.
REQUIREMENTS
The emulator requires MAC II/IIx/IIcx ROMs and System 6.0.5 or
greater. It currently ships as a Zorro II card for the A2000 or A3000
computers. A4000 compatiblity is "soon" and an A1200 board is in the
works. You have the option of using Chip or Fast memory, but I would
suggest using Fast RAM and plan on having A LOT of it.
BACKGROUND
I have been caught up in the Emplant fervor since the product was
first vaporware in early 1992. Having waited over six months for the product
actually to ship, I had allowed my expectations to become a little overblown.
Hence, when I finally received my Emplant board and associated software
(especially after at least a week of panic that Utilities Unlimited had
closed up and headed south), I was inclined to give up in dispair together
with quite a number of co-patriots in the Usenet community.
Since the Emplant board first shipped, the software has gone through
quite a few changes. After downloading what must be my 6th or 7th upgrade
from the Utilities Unlimited BBS, I can finally approach the product as a
functioning entity (although not a complete one). Version 1.7 of the
Emplant MACII software now runs at speeds comparable to a true MAC II.
Although it still lacks sound, Amiga printer support, and a conventional way
of supporting MAC low-density disks, it can now stand as a usable substitute
for the real thing.
PRODUCT SUMMARY
Functional in Emplant version 1.7 software:
o MAC II/IIx/IIcx ROM compatible (required)
o Uses all 32bit memory on A3000 and some accelerators (VXL at
least)
o Hard disk compatible, currently only formats up to 20Meg
partitions, but can read any size partitions if
formated by another MAC entity (ie. AMax). Removable hard
drives supported.
o RAM disk supported; (all track oriented AmigaDOS devices are
supported)
o Appletalk printer/network supported (I haven't tested this)
o Disk formats supported:
AMax: Amiga drive compatible, used by AMax II/II+ Mac
Plus emulator by Readysoft, custom.
Emplant: Amiga drive compatible, claimed to be faster
than AMax format, custom.
MAC (low density): Uses additional hardware called
SYBIL (sold by Utilities Unlimited) to read
on Amiga drives. I've had no luck with SYBIL.
o Amiga video supported using a chunky pixel to planer conversion
program. This program copies MAC graphics (stored using a
method incompatible with the current Amiga custom chips to a
displayable form in an Amiga intuition screen. Video update
rate for this conversion can be set by the user from 6 frames
a second up to 60. I have found 30-60fps very smooth and have
not suffered a significant slowdown in MAC system performance.
Modes currently supported:
Black and White (1 bit) (very fast)
4 color (2 bit) (very fast)
16 color (4 bit) (slower, but usable even at 60 fps
video conversion rate)
o Multitasks with AmigaDOS; allow a foreground and background priority
based on whether or not the MAC screen is activated.
o Support for 32bit Quickdraw.
o System 7.0.1 & 7.1 support (I haven't tested this either)
o Appletalk serial support from an AmigaDOS driver, so you can use
the Appletalk port as a second serial port.
o Noclick for Amiga drives
NOT functional in version 1.7 software, but forthcoming according to
the author:
o Disk formats not supported in this version include IBM (low and high
density) and MAC high density, slated for next software release.
Also, an AMax drive interface is claimed to be forthcoming.
o Amiga parallel printer/serial support from MAC side.
o Mac sound support.
o AGA mode support, all graphics modes, up to 256 colors.
PERFORMANCE
Speed Tests: (Using Speedometer v3.1)
Amiga video: ESC on 25Mhz A3000
Emplant: AmigaVideo Driver v2.2
Mac system: System 6.0.7
====================================================================
Overall (all with CPU caches ON, and using only 32bit Fast Mem)
Software: Emplant Emplant Emplant AMax 2.5
# colors: 4 4 16 2
Update rate (fps): 10 30 60 n/a
--------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU 6.03 6.03 5.73 6.60
Graphics (1bit) 6.88 6.13 5.05 6.10
Hard disk speed 1.51 1.50 1.47 1.66
Math 5.83 5.83 3.16 5.56
(1.0=Mac Classic)
KWhetstones 7.06 7.06 3.76 5.40
Dhrystones 5.39 5.39 5.18 5.28
(1.0=Mac Classic)
FPU KWhetstones 1.86 1.86 1.79 1.91
(1.0=Mac II)
====================================================================
32bit Quickdraw
Video Driver: 2.2 2.2 2.2 2.3
Update rate (fps): 10 30 60 30
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1 bit (black & white) 1.69 1.50 1.19 1.49
2 bit (4 color) 1.57 1.15 0.86 1.15
4 bit (16 color) 0.85 0.47 0.32 0.48
(1.0=Mac II)
Note: The system really bogs down in 16 color mode on an ECS machine.
This is due to DMA contention and is a result of the Amiga hardware
and not the emulation as such.
FINAL NOTES
o The emulator requires a program added to the start of the
s:startup-sequence. This program reboots the machine the first time
it is run, and then patches some system vectors when run on the
subsequent boot. There may be some compatibility problems with
this....
o I have a few final notes from my experience using Emplant. First I'd
like to note that even if you choose only one drive for MAC use, all
Amiga drives are disabled (at least under 2.04+).
o In 16 color mode, AMax and MAC format disks are not read or written
correctly, and even the custom Emplant format is not written
correctly. Hard drives work fine in this mode.
o The board does not appear to work on the A4000 correctly yet
(according to other Emplant user comments). An A1200 board is in the
works.
o Memory is constrained to the largest continuous block of free memory.
I therefore recommend booting the emulator after a system reboot so
that the memory isn't fragmented.
o No C= installer (yet)
o AmigaVideo driver version 2.3 is a memory hog and doesn't appear to
speed up ECS machines. (It uses a large MMU table for conversion.)
o Mac IIci/IIsi not supported (yet).
o On the A3000, a system failure results in a "bus error" (yellow
screen) due to the modification of the MMU table. This requires one
to turn off the machine to reboot.
o When you activate the MAC screen, the MAC mouse also clicks on
whatever it is currently over. So if the MAC mouse is over a Delete
File <OK> gadget, you can't activate the screen without clicking it.
o Don't plan on using a 9600 baud modem with Emplant in 16 color mode
in the background.
COMPATIBILITY
I have had a chance to try many programs on Emplant, and I attempted
to use the program thoroughly enough to see if it misfunctioned. These
programs include (no printer tests):
MacWrite II - OK MacDraw II v1.1 - OK
Word 4.0 - OK Cricket Draw - OK
After Dark v2.0 - OK Risk (B&W) - OK
StuffIt v1.6 - OK Tetris (B&W) - OK
Lode Runner (B&W) - OK Pipe Dreams (B&W) - OK
Robosport (B&W & 16 color) - OK
Sim Earth 1.0 (16 color) - not only works but is much
prettier and faster than the Amiga version...
The only program that didn't work 100% was Excel 3.0. Strangely enough the
program itself runs perfectly, but after one quits and the Desktop pops back
up, the system crashes (Amiga and MAC).
(Sadly I didn't think to test these under MultiFinder, nor test MultiFinder
itself. Oops.)
CONCLUSION
Emplant appears to be just past the threshold of being a usable
product. I feel that there are still some key functions that are missing.
Among them are Amiga parallel printer support and sound, 100% compatibility,
and at the very least AMax interface MAC drive support; but fixes for these
appear to be in the making and soon to be completed. In my opinion, this
product could become a viable alternative to a the purchase of a complete
second system for anyone who needs the use of a Mac II. It remains to be
seen if it can become an alternative to such a purchase for a true MAC
enthusiast. I believe its true selling point is its ability to multitask
seamlessly with AmigaDOS. In fact, most of this review was written in MEmacs
while Emplant was running in the background.
MAC and MAC II are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
Amiga is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines
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\/_/_/Internet: shambarg@netcom.com\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
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---
Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
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