A-Max II Manual to A-Max v 2.5x.
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ReadySoft, Incorporated A-MAX II Version 2.5
----------------------------------------------------------------
A-Max II
and
A-Max II Plus
The Macintosh (R) emulator for your Amiga (R)
User's Guide for
Version 2.5
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Copyright
The A-Max II program, utilities, User's Guide manual, A-Max II Plus card
and A-Max II cartridge are copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 Simon Douglas
and ReadySoft Incorporated, All Rights Reserved. ReadySoft Incorporated
grants the purchaser the right to make a backup copy of the A-Max II disks
for his/her archival purposes only.
Use of Software Licensed to Others
You acknowledge that the use of A-Max II requires the use of software which
is the property of others, including Apple Computer, Incorporated. The use
of A-Max II will require you to procure the right to use such software from
Apple Computer, Incorporated ancvor other authorized parties. Your failure
to lawfully procure the right to use such software may be a violation of law,
including the copyright laws. ReadySoft Incorporated makes no representations
concerning the availability or cost of obtaining such rights.
Disclaimer
Although ReadySoft Incorporated believes this program performs the functions
described in this guide, the program is provided as is without performance
warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not
limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and of fitness for a
particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of
this program is with you. ReadySoft Incorporated isn't responsible for any
damage to your computer resulting from the installation, use, or misuse, of
the A-Max II system (card or cadridge). ReadySoft Incorporated does not
guarantee that A-Max II will run all Macintosh programs, or run them at full
speed.
Limited Warranty
ReadySoft Incorporated warrants the magnetic media, Plus card and cartridge
from manufacturing defects for a period of 90 days from the date of purchase.
Should either fail in the course of normal use within this 90 day period,
ReadySoft Incorporated will replace the disk(s) and/or card or cartridge.
It is the responsibility of the purchaser to bear the cost of shipping these
items to ReadySoft Incorporated and to provide proof of purchase verifying the
purchase is within the 90 day warranty period.
Items Beyond warranty
If the disks, card or cartridge fail beyond the warranty period, there will
be a fee to recopy disks or replace the hardware. When sending goods back to
ReadySoft for repair from outside Canada, please mark the outside of the
package "Defective Canadian goods being returned for repair."
Radio and Television Interference
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class
B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are
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designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a
residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate
radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a
particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference
to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the
equipment oft and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the
interference by one or more of the following measures:
* Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna
* Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver
* Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different than that
to which the receiver is connected
* Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
WARNING
Only equipment with shield-grounded cables (computer input-output devices,
terminals, printers, etc.), certified to comply with appropriate FCC limits
can be attached to this device. Operation with non-certified equipment may
result in communications interference. Changes or modifications to this
device not expressly approved by ReadySoft Incorporated could void the user's
authority to operate the device.
Apple, and the Apple logo, AppleTalk, LocalTalk, TokenTalk, EtherTalk,
AppleShare, ImageWriter, LaserWriter, Mac, Macintosh, and MacTerminal are
registered trademarks and Finder, MultiFinder, Switcher, SuperDrive are
trademarks of Apple Computer, Incorporated. Amiga is a registered trademark
of Commodore-Amiga, Incorporated. Atari and ST are registered trademarks of
Atari US, Corp. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems,
Incorporated. Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation.
Magic Sac is a trademark of Data Pacific, Incorporated. SyQuest is a
trademark of SyQuest Incorporated. Silverlining is a trademark of La Cie Ltd.
Art Department Professional is a trademark of ASDG, Incorporated. Spectre is
a trademark of Gadgets by Small. SoftPC is a registered trademark of Insignia
Solutions, Incorporated. A-Max II is a trademark of ReadySoft, Incorporated.
This manual was created using Microsoft Word and Ready,Set,Go! by Letraset
running under A-Max II Plus and System 7 on Commodore Amiga computers.
A-Max II Software and Design by Simon Douglas.
Cartridge Design by Don Holtz and David Foster.
Plus Card Design by Ralph and Gunther Doewich, CyberCube Research Ltd.
User's Guide by Gary Gehman and Simon Douglas.
A-Max II Version 2.5
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Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION 5
1.1 About this Manual 5
1.2 A-Max II and A-Max II Plus 7
1.3 New Features of the A-Max 2.5 Software 7
1.4 What's Included 8
1.5 What's Not Included 9
2.0 INSTALLING A-Max II 10
2.1 Backing up your Disks 10
2.2 About the Mac ROMs 10
2.3 lnstalling the A-Max II Cartridge 11
2.3.1 lnstalling the ROMs in the Cartridge 11
2.3.2 Adding an Apple 800k Drive 12
2.3.3 Installing the Cartridge 12
2.4 Installing the A-Max II Plus Card 14
2.4.1 Installing the ROMs in the Plus Card 14
2.4.2 Installing the Plus Card 15
2.5 Installing the A-Max 2.5 Software 15
3.0 PREPARING SOFTWARE 17
3.1 Disk Drives and Formats 17
3.2 Macintosh and A-Max II Formats 17
3.3 Preparing your First System Disk 18
3.4 Macintosh Disk Transfer Software 19
3.4.1 Using Mini Transfer Disks 19
4.0 A-Max II STARTUP 22
4.1 Startup Program 22
4.2 The Macintosh Boot Screen 22
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5.0 STARTUP PREFERENCES 24
5.0.1 Save & Start A-Max 24
5.1 Video Preferences 24
5.1.1 Video Modes 25
5.1.2 Visible Size 25
5.1.3 Display Size 26
5.1.4 Screen Positioning 26
5.1.5 Colors 27
5.2 Memory Preferences 27
5.2.1 MMU Mode Memory Use Options 28
5.2.2 Non-MMU Mode Memory Use Options 28
5.2.3 Memory Sizes 29
5.2.4 Use KickStart 29
5.3 Serial / Parallel Preferences 30
5.3.1 Port Input / Output Options 30
5.3.2 lmageWriter Emulation Options 31
5.4 Hard Disk / SCSI Preferences 32
5.5 General Preferences 32
5.5.1 Save Parameter RAM to Boot Disk 32
5.5.2 Boot from RAM Disk and Mount RAM Disk 32
5.5.3 High Density Floppies 32
6.0 A-Max II OPERATION 33
6.1 Keyboard Differences 33
6.2 Disk Eject 34
6.3 Finder Shutdown 35
6.4 Mouse buttons 36
6.5 Formatting Disks 36
6.6 Sound 36
6.7 The A-Max II RAM Disk 36
6.8 Real Time clock 37
7.0 USING HARD DRIVES 38
7.1 Partitioning an AmigaDOS Hard Drive 38
7.2 A-Max II Hard Drive Partition Preferences 40
7.3 Initializing the A-Max II Partitions 41
7.4 Making A-Max II Partitions Bootable 42
7.5 A-Max II Partitions under AmigaDOS 42
7.6 Using Mac SCSI Devices without A-Max II Partitions 42
7.7 Startup Sequence 44
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8.0 SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY 45
8.1 System Disks 45
8.2 Compatibility with Mac Applications 45
8.3 What to do if an Application Won't Run 46
9.0 SOFTWARE TRANSFER METHODS 47
9.1 Full Disk Transfer 47
9.2 Serial File Transfer 48
9.2.1 Serial Transfer (null modem) 48
9.2.2 Serial Transfer (modem) 49
10.0 FILE TRANSFER UTILITIES 50
10.1 File Transfer 2.5 Software 50
10.2 File Conversion Options 52
10.3 Advanced Options 52
10.3.1 Fork Selection 52
10.3.2 File Type and File Creator 53
10.4 Transferring the File 53
10.4.1 Copying AmigaDOS to A-Max II 53
10.4.2 Copying A-Max II to AmigaDOS 53
11.0 PRINTERS 54
11.1 Apple lmageWriter 54
11.2 Epson Compatible 9 & 24 pin Dot Matrix 54
11.3 Apple LaserWriter and other PostScript Printers 55
11.3.1 Creating the PostScript File 55
11.3.2 Printing the PostScript File 56
11.4 Other Printers 56
12.0 PLUS CARD SPECIFIC FEATURES 57
12.1 AppleTalk 57
12.2 MIDI Support 57
13.0 GLOSSARY 59
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Section 1
INTRODUCTION
A-Max II is a hardware and software system that allows Macintosh software to
run on any Amiga model. It will do so making use of your Amiga's resources
such as RAM, hard and floppy drives, serial and parallel ports, mouse and
keyboard. Because A-Max II runs original, unaltered Macintosh applications
directly on your Amiga, you will find that most software runs as fast or
faster on your Amiga as on a similarly equipped Macintosh. An Amiga system
with A-Max II lets you run all the Amiga's software as well as giving you
access to most of the productivity software that has made the Macintosh a
success.
Although A-Max II supports only 128K Mac Plus ROMS, there are several
extensions made to the capabilities of these ROMs including supporting faster
processors such as the Amiga 3000's Motorola 68030, Memory Management Unit
and floating point coprocessor, large RAM sizes, large screen sizes and
virtual screens larger than your physical display with smooth panning.
To accomplish its task A-Max II shuts down the normal AmigaDOS operating
system. Therefore, it is not possible to multitask Amiga programs with
Macintosh applications. After using A-Max II, it will be necessary to reboot
your computer to resume AmigaDOS operation.
1.1 About this Manual
This manual will tell you how to use the A-Max II system and point out the
differences between an Amiga with A-Max II and a Macintosh. This manual
attempts to document the installation and operation of A-Max II and ReadySoft
products only. It is assumed that you are already familiar with the Macintosh
system and know how to use the Mac applications you want to run. You should
read this User's Guide in its entirety before attempting to use A-Max II.
The manual has been constructed according to the following general outline:
* Introduction
The section you are now reading;
* Installing A-Max II
Describes setting up the hardware elements of A-Max II; installing the
Apple ROMs and the A-Max II Plus card or A-Max II cartridge and optional
Apple Drive;
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* Preparing Software
Describes the different disk formats A-Max II can handle and how to get
Macintosh system software into a form that is usable by your system;
* A-Max II Startup
Describes how to get A-Max II up and running and the various configuration
options that are available;
* A-Max II Operation
Descusses the various differences between a true Macintosh and an Amiga
functioning as one under A-Max II;
* Using A-Max II with Hard Drives
Describes how to set up Amiga hard drive partitions for use as A-Max II
Macintosh storage devices. Also, how to access external SCSI devices through
the Amiga controller;
* Software Compatibility
Presents information relating to different versions of the Macintosh system
software and describes the sorts of third-party programs that will not work
under A-Max II;
* File Transfer Utilities
Describes the tools provided for moving data across the several disk formats;
* Printers
Explains how to use your Epson compatible or other printer with A-Max II and
how to print PostScript files to a LaserWriter or compatible laser printer;
* Plus Card Specific Features
Discusses the additional features of the A-Max II Plus system;
* Glossary
Contains an alphabetized list of terms used in this manual.
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1.2 A-Max II and A-Max II Plus
A-Max II is available in two configurations:
* The base A-Max II system which consists of the A-Max 2.5 Software and an
external cartridge which will plug into any Amiga's floppy disk drive port.
The cartridge has two sockets inside for ROM chips and provides externally a
connector to which an Apple 800K floppy disk drive may be connected, and a
pass-through connector for Amiga external floppy drives. The Apple drive is
required to read and write Mac format disks.
The A-Max II Plus system which consists of the A-Max 2.5 Software and an
internal expansion card for the A2000 or higher. The card has two sockets
for ROM chips and connects inside your Amiga to the floppy disk drive chain,
enabling you to read and write Mac format disks with your standard Amiga
drives - no Apple drive is required. The Plus card also provides two serial
ports that are pin compatible with those found on a real Mac. The serial
ports can be configured as RS422 serial, LocalTalk, or MIDI. The MIDI option
is a feature unique to the Plus card that enables direct connection to MIDI
standard digital musical instruments, without any need for an external
interface box such as the Mac or Amiga normally require.
1.3 New Features of the A-Max 2.5 Software
If you are upgrading from A-Max II Version 2.0 to Version 2.5, you should read
this manual to find information on the following new features:
* The Startup Preferences displays and capabilities have been considerably
revised. The Memory Preferences options have changed and there are completely
new Hard Disk / SCSI Preferences displays and other General Preferences options;
* Commodore's 1.76 Mb high density floppy drive is supported to read, write and
format 1.44 Mb disks compatible with the Apple SuperDrive
* Support for virtual scrolling displays up to 2048 x 2048 pixels has been added;
* Apple System versions up to System 7.0 have been made compatible;
* File transfers direct to Fast Filing System formatted AmigaDOS hard drive
partitions are supported;
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* The Apple Extended keyboard is now emulated rather than the old Mac Plus
keyboard. This makes the function keys, Esc key and IBM equivalent keys
(with applications like SoftPC (R) ) active;
* The Apple SuperDrive is emulated to support MS-DOS disks with the
Apple File Exchange file transfer program, and other applications such as
SoftPC, the IBM emulation package;
The Macintosh battery backed-up parameter RAM is simulated by saving this
information on the boot disk; & You can autorun the A-Max II startup program
with an auto keyword from the CLI.
1.4 What's Included
Your A-Max II package should contain:
* The A-Max II Plus expansion card or the A-Max II cartridge;
* One disk labelled A-Max Program;
* One disk labelled A-Max Utilities;
* This manual;
* An A-Max if registration card.
It is very important that you complete and send the registration card back to
us. As well as giving you a 90 day warranty, this card is the only way we
can inform you of product upgrades and other information regarding A-Max II.
Complete and send in your card now.
The A-Max Program disk contains a file called ReadMe that includes information
that was unavailable at the time this manual went to print. After reading the
manual, you should read this file for any updates and corrections.
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1.5 What's Not Included
In order to use A-Max II, you must supply:
* Apple 128K ROMs. These come as a set of two 28-pin chips from an original
Mac 512Ke or a Mac Plus. No other ROMs are compatible with A-Max II Version
2.5;
* Macintosh System disk in either A-Max or Macintosh format (see Section 3.0
for information on what you will need in the way of Apple system software).
If the disk is in Macintosh format and you aren't using the A-Max II Plus card,
or don't have an Apple disk drive, you will need to transfer the information
using one of the methods described in section 3.5 before you can make use of it;
* The Mac applications and data you want to run, again, in A-Max or Macintosh
format.
You may also want:
* An Apple 800k external disk drive, if you are using the A-Max II cartridge.
This will enable you to use Macintosh format disks directly under A-Max II
without having to first transfer them to A-Max format. It also allows you
to format and write Macintosh readable disks so you can transfer data back
to the Macintosh;
- An A-Max II Plus MIDI connector cable, if you have the Plus card and would
like to make use of its built-in MIDI features. The cable connects to one of
the card's mini DIN-8 sockets and provides standard MIDI DIN-5 IN and OUT
sockets. You won't need this cable to use a standard Mac external MIDI
interface with A-Max II Plus. Mac MIDI interfaces may be connected to the
Plus card with a standard DIN-8 cable, exactly as you would to a real
Macintosh.
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Section 2
INSTALLING A-MAX II
WARNING
Unplug your Amiga before installing the A-Max II cartridge or Plus card.
Installing the card or cartridge with the power on could cause injury to the
installer and damage to the equipment. ReadySoft will not be responsible for
any damages caused by improper installation of the card or cartridge. Such
improper installation may void the warranties on both the A-Max II hardware
and your Amiga.
2.1 Backing up your Disks
The first thing you should do is make a backup copy of the A-Max Program Disk.
This disk is not copy-protected so it can be backed up with the Amiga Workbench
Duplicate menu command, the CLI Diakcopy command, or any Amiga disk backup
utility.
The A-Max Utilities disk is not copy-protected. However it is in a special
format that has two partitions - one is read by a Macintosh when the disk is
inserted in an Apple drive or by A-Max II Plus, and the other by the A-Max II
cartridge system when inserted in an Amiga drive. The contents of each
partition are identical; the disk is formatted in this manner so it may hold
programs for two machines at once. You should backup either half of the
Utilities disk once you get A-Max II up and running with a System disk, or
with your real Macintosh. Backup the disk by dragging the files to another
disk or folder - don't try a full-disk copy.
ReadySoft supplies A-Max II without copy-protection for your convenience so
please don't lend, give or otherwise distribute this program to anyone.
Remember that software piracy discourages development of new products and, in
particular, upgrades to A-Max II.
2.2 About the Mac ROMs
There have been several revisions of both Macintosh 128K ROMs but all
revisions will work equally well with A-Max II. The Macintosh ROMs are Apple
part numbers 342-0341-x and 342-0342-x where 'x' is a revision letter A,B,C.
Often the set of two chips will have different revision letters, but always
keep the two as a set - the letters need not match.
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WARNING
If you are removing the ROMs from a Macintosh, be extremely careful not to
come into contact with the wires connecting the display tube to the video
board. These may contain a deadly high-voltage charge even if the computer
is unplugged. Apple ROM chips, like all electronic devices, are extremely
sensitive to static electrical discharge. Improper handling of the chips
could damage them. Be sure to ground yourself by touching a metal surface
or using a static protection wrist strap (available from Radio. Shack) before
handling the ROM chips.
2.3 Installing the A-Max II Cartridge
This section covers installation of the A-Max II cartridge system, including
the optional Apple external floppy drive.
2.3.1 Installing the ROMs in the Cartridge
The two Mac ROM chips must be inserted into the empty sockets on the AMax II
cartridge. To do this you must first carefully unscrew and remove the top
cover of the A-Max II case. When the case is open, you will see a circuit
board with several small chips and two large 28 pin IC sockets. Insert a ROM
chip into each socket (either chip in either socket - the order doesn't matter)
[IMAGE - A-MAX II CART / ROM PLACEMENT]
Placement of Macintosh ROM Chips on the A-Max II board.
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with the U-shaped notch of each chip pointing in the same direction as all
the other smaller chips on the board.
Ensure that the two rows of pins on each chip are not crooked or broken.
To insert the chip, start with one row of pins resting lightly in their
sockets, then align the second row. Finally, push the whole chip firmly into
place. If the chip is very hard to push in all the way, check that no pins are
bent up underneath the chip. If there are, straighten them out and try again.
When both the ROM chips have been socketed, hold the board so that the "A-MAX
(C) ReadySoft' text is the right way up and check that the notches of all the
chips point up and that no pins are bent or broken. Then, replace the cover
of the case.
2.3.2 Adding an Apple 800K Drive
Although the A-Max II cartridge system is functional without one, the addition
of an Apple drive produces the optimum configuration for emulating the
Macintosh on an Amiga. If you have an Apple 800K external disk drive, you
can use it with A-Max II to directly read, write and format Macintosh format
disks. You can also move programs and files effortlessly from A-Max II to
Mac format disks and back.
With the Amiga's power off, plug the connector of the Apple drive into the 19
pin socket on the side of the A-Max II cartridge. Once installed, you can
leave the Apple drive plugged in at all times. It will not affect the Amiga
while running under AmigaDOS.
We cannot guarantee that all third party Mac compatible drives will function
with A-Max II. It has been our experience that Apple manufactured drives
work better than third party drives. Note, however, that the older,
single-sided (400K) Apple drives and the high density SuperDrive will not
work with A-Max II. If connected, they will simply be ignored.
2.3.3 Installing Om A-Max II Cartridge
With the ROMs in place, you are almost ready to connect the cartridge to your
Amiga. Included with the A-Max II cartridge are two sets of plastic legs.
You may need to use one or the other pair, depending on which model of Amiga
you own. It you have an A500 the cartridge will sit at the same level as the
computer and will not require legs. If you have an A1000, insert the longer
set of legs into the holes in the bottom of the cartridge case. If you have
an A2000 (or are plugging the cartridge into the back of an Amiga external
disk drive), insert the shorter set of legs into the holes.
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WARNING
Always turn off the Amiga before connecting or disconnecting the A-Max II
cartridge, or plugging in an Apple or Amiga drive. Failure to do so could
damage your equipment.
[ Image - Cart + Legs ]
Plastic legs are supplied to support the A-Max II cartridge.
The cartridge can either be plugged into the back of the last external Amiga
drive or into the external disk drive port on the back of your Amiga itself.
Although it is probably more convenient to have the cartridge plugged into
the back of an external drive, some disk drives will not allow this as they
do not pass power through to their rear connector. If the A-Max II software
does not recognize the cartridge when it is plugged into the back of an Amiga
drive, you will have to plug the cartridge directly into the Amiga's disk
drive port and plug the external drive into the A-Max II cariridge's pass
through connector.
Once the cartridge is plugged in, it may be left connected. It will not
interfere with the normal operation of the Amiga. The cartridge will not
become active until you run the A-Max II Startup program. Remember that the
Amiga can only handle a maximum of four disk drives and with the A-Max II
cartridge installed you can have up to three Amiga drives and one Apple drive.
Also, any Amiga drive connected through the A-Max II cartridge will become one
drive number higher than it was when directly connected to the Amiga, for example
DF1: will become DF2: when attached to the A-Max II cartridge's pass-through
connector).
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An A-Max II Extender cable is available from ReadySoft for $24.95 plus $4.00
shipping and handling. This cable allows you to place your A-Max II cartridge
in a more convenient position, away from the back of your Amiga.
2.4 Installing A-Max II Plus
This section covers installation of the A-Max II Plus system.
[Image - PlusCard]
Component Locations on the Plus Board
2.4.1 Installing the ROMS In the Plus Card
The two Mac ROM chips must be inserted into the empty 28 pin IC sockets on
the A-Max II card, labelled LOW ROM (IC3) and HIGH ROM (IC4.) Insert a ROM
chip into each socket (either chip in either socket - the order doesn't matter)
with the U-shaped notch of each chip matching the notches in the sockets.
Ensure that the two rows of pins on each chip are not crooked or broken. To
insert the chip, start with one row of pins resting lightly in their sockets,
then align the second row. Finally, push the whole chip firmly into place.
If the chip is very hard to push in all the way, check that no pins are bent
up underneath the chip. if there are, straighten them out and try again.
When both the ROM chips have been socketed, hold the board so that the
"A-Max II Plus Copyright (c)1992 ReadySoft Incorporated" text is the right way
up and check that the notches of the ROM chips point up and that no pins are
bent or broken. You are now ready to install the card in your machine.
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2.4.2 Installing the A-Max II Plus Card
Remove your Amiga's cover as described in the manual accompanying your machine.
The Plus card will install in any free 100-pin Zorro slot in your machine, but
for convenience in connecting the floppy drive connector it is recommended that
you use the slot closest to the power supply and floppy drives in the A2000,
and the top-most slot in the A3000. Decide on which slot you wish to use and
plug the Plus card in as described in your Amiga's manual.
In order to read Mac format disks in your Amiga drives, you need to connect
the Plus card's 34-pin floppy connector into the drive chain. Disconnect the
34-pin ribbon cable that presently connects the Amiga motherboard to the
internal floppy drives from the motherboard connector and attach it to the
identical connector labelled TO AMIGA FLOPPY (CN5) on the Plus card.
Next, take the supplied 34-pin extra ribbon cable and use it to connect the Plus
card connector labelled TO AMIGA MOTHERBOARD (CN6) to the now empty Amiga
motherboard connector. Check the orientation of all cables - the colored
stripe on each cable marks pin 1 and this should match the labelled pin 1
on each connector.
If you wish to make use of MIDI software with A-Max II, plug the optional MIDI
cable into the mini DIN-8 serial socket labelled MODEM / MIDI and flick the
Plus card's MIDI control switch to the position labelled MIDI. Otherwise,
make sure the switch is in the position labelled STD.
2.5 Installing the A-Max 2.5 Software
The AmigaDOS format A-Max II Startup program and associated utilities can be
installed on your hard drive. Starting up from a hard disk is a much
quicker process than from floppy disks. The A-Max Program disk is not
copy protected and includes an automatic hard disk installation program called
AMax II Install. Simply click on the A-Max II Install icon and the necessary
AMax II files will be copied to the current system boot partition of your hard
drive.
You may choose to manually copy the files over to your hard disk; nearly every
thing is contained within the A-Max II drawer on the program disk. However,
you should be sure to read the rest of this manual carefully - particularty
the sections about using A-Max II with partitions on your hard disk - to make
sure you copy all of the necessary files. The DEVS: directory of the disk
contains hard drive controller device drivers that A-Max II needs to operate
with hard drives.
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Note (to Amiga 1000 owners)
If you wish to use your Kickstart RAM with A-Max II (see section 5.2.4), you
must boot from an exact copy of your original A-Max Program disk. This disk
has a non-standard boot block that enables A-Max II to take over the Kickstart
RAM. If the boot block is rewritten or destroyed, you will not be able to
access this Kickstart RAM, even though all other aspects of the A-Max if
program work correctly. It is advisable, therefore, to keep your disk
write-protected at all times to avoid viruses which often attack the boot
sectors of floppy disks. If your boot block becomes corrupted, you can use
the FixBootBlock command on the A-Max Program disk to rewrite the correct
boot block.
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Section 3
PREPARING SOFTWARE
With the Macintosh ROMs installed and the A-Max II hardware installed in your
Amiga, you will be ready to mount the necessary software that makes your
machine Macintosh compatible. Before discussing the methods for accomplishing
this, however, we must cover the differences between Amiga, A-Max II, and
Macintosh disk formats.
3.1 Disk Drives and Formats
The Amiga's floppy disk drives record data at a constant speed while the read/
write heads move in and out across the disk, writing or reading information.
The floppy disk drives used in a Macintosh are able to vary the speed with which
data is placed on the disk while reading and writing. This does not gain the
Macintosh any advantage in capacity over other disk drives. It does make
emulating the Macintosh on other machines considerably more difficult.
All computers that use disk drives of one type or another also use their own
logical methods for recording the information stored on them. These methods
are called file formats and most computers use their own format. You should
already be familiar with the 3.5' floppy disk drive(s) in your Amiga and the
AmigaDOS file format that the Amiga uses. As mentioned, the Macintosh has its
own unique disk drives and it also has its own format for encoding information
on the drive. The AmigaDOS and Macintosh file formats are not directly compatible.
ReadySoft has devised a way of using the Amiga's single-speed disk drives to read
and write Macintosh formatted files. This method involves the use of a special
A-Max II disk format. The following discussion will provide details about these
different formats.
3.2 Macintosh and A-Max II Formats
The Macintosh disk format, as mentioned, is Apple's unique way of encoding their
program information onto the disks in Macintosh's variable-speed drives. If you
want to directly read or write Macintosh format floppy disks, you must attach an
Apple compatible 800K disk drive to the A-Max II cartridge's 19 pin drive port.
When your Amiga is running A-Max II Macintosh emulation, however, all of your
normally Amiga floppy drives will be able to create disks with the special
- 17 -
A-Max II format. This special format can receive Macintosh format files.
A-Max II format disks will not be readable in either a Macintosh floppy drive
or an Amiga drive under AmigaDOS operation, though, so be sure to keep your
floppies separately stored or labelled to avoid confusion.
The A-Max Utilities disk included with your A-Max II package is an exception
to this rule. This disk has been specially constructed to contain an A-Max
format partition and a Macintosh readable partition. This Utilities disk
provides the tools to create your first A-Max II System disk.
3.3 Your First System Disk
This section applies only to users of the A-Max II cartridge system without
an Apple 800K floppy drive connected to their cartridge. A-Max II Plus and
Apple drive owners can skip to section 4.
It is key, here, to realize that before you can make A-Max II work for you,
you must get the vital Macintosh System and Finder files into some format
that is readable by A-Max II. We strongly recommend purchasing, or at least
borrowing, an Apple compatible disk drive for this purpose. A-Max II will
boot into Macintosh emulation simply by placing a disk containing System and
Finder files (hereafter referred to as a System Disk) into the Macintosh
drive. You can read and write Mac format disks directly in your Mac drive,
and transferring software to A-Max II format disks is simply a matter of
dragging files from the Mac disk icon to a blank disk in an Amiga drive. This
method is the simplest, most complete Macintosh emulation possible with the
A-Max II cartridge system.
The next simplest approach is to find someone else who uses A-Max II and who
will allow you to make an A-Max II format System disk on their computer.
Some A-Max II dealers have offered this service to their customers.
Note
In addition to reading A-Max II format disks, the Amiga drives are also capable
of reading disks formatted by Spectre and Magic Sac. These are Macintosh
emulation products for the Atari ST platform. If you have access to a System
Disk in either Magic Sac or Spectre format, you can use these to boot A-Max II
as well.
In the absence of these two possibilities, ReadySoft has supplied, on the A-Max
Utilities disk, a tool that will allow you to create an A-Max II readable System
disk on a real Macintosh. This is the Disk Transfer program.
- 18 -
3.4 Macintosh Disk Transfer Software
The Disk Transfer software is a Mac program that allows you to transfer disks
from Mac to A-Max II format without the need of an Apple external drive for
your Amiga, however, you will need access to a real Macintosh in order to
produce the transfer disks. These disks have a double sided capacity of only
272K.
If you must use the Disk Transfer program to prepare your first System disk,
you will need access to the System 4.1 revision of Macintosh software. This
is because both System and Finder files must be present on the disk to boot
A-Max II into Macintosh emulation. Later versions of these two files (e.g.
System 6) are too large - even when stripped of fonts and desk accessories -
to fit onto a 272k disk.
The older System 4.1 can be stripped down and transferred onto a 272K Mini
Transfer Disk (see procedure below). Once you have this disk prepared and
are able to boot A-Max II into Macintosh emulation, you will be able to
format 800K A-Max II disks and can install more recent versions of the System
and Finder files.
3.4.1 Using Mini Transfer Disks
You will need a Macintosh with at least one 8OOK floppy drive, the A-Max
Utilities disk, a copy of Macintosh System 4.1 or 4.2, and a blank 3.5'
floppy disk.
* On a Macintosh, execute the Disk Transfer program on the A-Max Utilities
disk. Click the Make Mini Transfer Disk button and then insert a blank disk
in the destination drive when requested.
[Image: A-Max Transfer prmpt)
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The disk will be formatted and initialized to 272K and when formatting is
complete will be ejected.
Once a Mini Transfer Disk (MTD) has been formatted, you can reuse it for
subsequent transfers without reformatting.
Now, Quit from the Disk Transfer program and return to the Desktop.
Re-insert the formatted MTD. It will appear as a normal disk icon, but
will show only a 272K capacity.
Copy the files you wish to transfer onto it.
Note
In the case of System files, it may be necessary, first, to remove most of
the fonts and desk accessories using the Mac's Font/DA Mover utility.
Run the Disk Transfer program again.
Click on the PrePare Mini Transfer Disk button.
Insert the MTD in the destination drive as requested and click Ok. The
Prepare Mini Transfer Disk command moves the MTD's contents to a
different area on the same disk that is readable with Amiga drives.
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The Mini Transfer Disk can now be used simply by inserting it in an Amiga
drive when A-Max II requests it. The disk will appear as an ordinary disk, but
with a capacity of 272k. While A-Max II is incapable of writing to these disks, it
is possible to format other disks and copy files from the MTD to them.
With a MTD containing Mac System and Finder files, you can now switch on
your Amiga and execute the A-Max ii Startup program.
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Section 4
A-MAX II STARTUP
This Section describes how to startup and boot A-Max II with a Mac system disk.
4.1 Stertup Program
Power up your Amiga in your usual fashion. Insert the A-Max Program disk and
click twice on its icon to open. Inside a drawer marked A-Max II, you will
find the A-Max II Startup icon. Click twice to launch the program. A-Max II
Startup and other associated files are all grouped together inside the A-Max II
drawer to facilitate hard disk installation. If you have not already done so,
but would like to, you can copy these files simply by dragging the whole A-Max II
drawer into your hard disk icon (see Section 2.5 -Installing the A-Max 2.5
Software).
If you are running the A-Max II Startup program from the CLI rather than
Workbench, you may add the option auto to the command to start the card or
cartridge without any user action, for example:
run A-Max II Startup auto
If you don't select the autorun option, A-Max II will present you with the
preferences screen before running. Clicking on the Start A-Max II button
will start the card or cartridge. The preferences options are discussed in
Section 5. For now, the default configuration will most likely suffice.
4.2 The Macintosh Boot Screen
A few seconds after after the ROMs have been installed, the screen will flash
through several colours - black, green then blue. Finally, a Mac screen will
appear with a picture of a disk with a flashing question mark, and a copyright
message at the top. This is the Mac asking you to insert a System disk. The
Mac can accept a System disk in any drive.
* If you are using A-Max II Plus you can insert a Mac format System disk in
any of your Amiga drives.
* If you have an Apple drive connected to the A-Max II cartridge, you can
sinply place a Mac format System disk in that drive.
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* Otherwise, you should put an A-Max II, Magic Sac/Spectre. or Mini Transfer
disk with a system on it in an Amiga drive.
When you insert a disk in any drive, A-Max II will try to start from it. If
the disk contains the necessary files, you will get a happy Mac icon and then
the 'Welcome to Macintosh' window. If not, A-Max II will reject the disk and
display a flashing "X,' indicating you should try another disk.
It is possible that you might get a black screen and a sad Mac icon. This
means a System Error occurred during the boot process. To reboot from a sad
Mac display, click the right mouse button. Try a different System disk and,
if the same symptom occurs, check your A-Max II preferences (particularly your
memory configuration and size) and check your ROMs for damage.
- 23 -
Section 5
STARTUP PREFERENCES
When A-Max II starts up it will begin by displaying a screen of configuration
options. You can tailor A-Max II to your liking and then save these settings
as automatic defaults.
The various options are divided into five windows - Video, Memory, Hard Disk,
SCSI, Serial/Parallel, and General. There is a large button for each for
these windows on the main screen.
5.0.1 Save and Start A-Max
The Save button will save your selected configuration to a file in the DEVS:
directory so that the next time you run A-Max II the same options will
automatically be selected.
Clicking the Start A-Max button (or simply pressing the Return key) will start
the A-Max II boot process. The Mac ROMs and A-Max II cartridge or Plus card
will be checked. If all is well, you can click the OK button or press Return,
and after a few seconds if A-Max II cannot start, you will get an error go
stating the problem. If you get a cartridge or Plus card error, make sure
the ROMs and card or cartridge are installed as outlined in sections 2.2 and
2.3.
5.1 Video Preferences
This window controls how A-Max will display a Mac desktop of a size you
select. The A-Max 2.5 Software allows a Mac screen with a size limited only
by the amount of available CHIP RAM. You also control the physical attributes
of the display you will be using here - its size, position and video mode (such
interlaced and/or Productivity.) The Video Preferences window is similar to
AmigaDOS 2.0's ScreenMode preferences program.
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5.1.1 Video Modes
The following options are available under the Video Mode heading. They control
the video output mode used to display the physical screen.
* Hi-res
* Hi-res Interlaced
* Productivity
* Productivity Interlaced
* A2024
Hi-res and Hi-res Interlaced refer to standard Amiga display modes, available on
all Amiga models. The Hi-res mode provides a base resolution of 640 x 200 (640 x
400 interlaced) with any monitor. Hi-res Interlaced is recommended as it has
something close to a 1:1 aspect ratio, and is compatible with all of the available
flicker fixers.
The Productivity modes are only selectable if your machine has Commodore's Enhanced
Chip Set installed. At present, the A3000 is the only machine that comes standard
with these chips. The Productivity mode provides a base resolution of 640 x 400
(640 x 800 interlaced) with a MultiSync or VGA type monitor.
The A2024 mode requires the very high resolution (1008 x 800) Commodore A2024
monitor (or Viking Monterm). The A2024 mode ignores the settings of Visible Size
and Display Size.
5.1.2 Visible Size
The following options are available under the Visible Size heading. They control
the size of the physical screen to be displayed:
* Workbench
* 512 x 342
* 640 x 400 (NTSC) or 640 x 512 (PAL)
* 672 x 460
The Workbench setting uses the size of the Workbench screen, as recorded in your
AmigaDOS preferences file. If you are using Workbench version 2.0 you can set
these dimensions directly, with Overscan preferences tool. If your Workbench
version is 1.3 or earlier, you can use a program such as MoreRows to adjust the
size of your Workbench screen.
-25-
The 512 x 342 option selects the size of the standard Macintosh Plus or Classic
screen. This is the minimum size that can be used; anything smaller will be
forced to this size.
The third option is the standard Amiga Hi-res screen size (units equipped for
European PAL video standards can display 640 x 512 pixels. The U.S. standard,
NTSC, provides for 400 lines).
The 672 x 460 setting is a common overscan screen size achievable in either
Hi-res or Productivity, NTSC or PAL.
5.1.3 Display Size
This option controls whether or not to use a Mac display size that is larger
than your actual physical screen size.
The CHIP Used display shows you how much CHIP RAM is being used for
your current configuration.
If Visible Size is selected then your display size will be the same as selected
under the Visible Size heading, so the entire Mac desktop will be visible at once.
If Virtual is seicted then the Width and Height numbers control the size of a
virtual screen that is at least as large as the Visible Size. Only a portion of
this virtual screen is visible at any one time, the rest displayed when the
pointer moves beyond the edge of the visible screen - the screen fine scrolls to
display a new portion of the virtual screen. This feature - similar to that in
AmigaDOS 2.0 - is available in all video modes except A2024.
5.1.4 Screen Positioning
For the Hi-res and Hi-res Interlaced video modes A-Max II centers the screen by
referring to the AmigaDOS preferences file. Thus, if your normal Workbench
display is centered, so will the A-Max II display.
If you need to center the screen on your monitor while using either of the
Productivity video modes, you can adjust the X and Y coordinates of the ECS screen
center. Normally, you won't have to adjust these values as the defaults will work
correct on most VGA or MultiSync monitors.
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P27 is Missing...
5.1.5 Colors
5.2 Memory preferences...
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------------------------------
begin p28
In non-MMU mode A-Max II allows Mac software to make use of all the Amiga's
expansion memory by permanently allocating the empty areas of the address space.
This method means that the Mac OS is running with a certain amount of system memory,
of which some proportion is always allocated. If you are using expansion memory and
check the memory size given in the About Finder or About this Macintosh window, you
will see an incorrect value given for the amount of RAM the Mac thinks it has.
Don't worry, this is normal.
The A-Max 2.5 Software is compatible with MultiFinder and System 7 (which now runs
"MultiFinder all the time as the standard "Finder.') MultiFinder is particularly
useful with expansion memory in non-MMU mode because it controls the use of memory
by applications in a manner that is compatible with A-Max II. So, running an
application under MultiFinder may help for compatiblity with A-Max II.
5.2.1 MMU Mode Memory Use Options
In MMU mode the use options are:
* Use Only 32-bit RAM
This option only makes use of any 32-bit RAM in the system. This will be
fastest possible configuration, but all CHIP RAM, 16-bit expansion RAM,
and other RAM will be used only for the RAM disk.
* Use All RAM
This option makes all your Amiga's RAM available for use by the Mac system.
* Don't Use CHIP RAM
This option makes use of all RAM except CHIP RAM, the slowest RAM in an Amiga.
In all cases, the fastest available RAM will made use of where it is most
needed. For example, even in the Use All RAM mode, the system code, stack,
and globals will be placed in 32-bit RAM, as will the first loaded Mac
applications, to maximize the speed of any particular configuration.
5.2.2 Non-MMU Mode Memory Use Options
When not operating in MMU mode the use options are:
* Use All Expansion RAM
This option makes all Amiga RAM available as Mac system memory.
-28-
* Don't Use Slow RAM
This option uses all RAM except that found above location $C00000.
Because of the high location of such RAM, it tends to be the least
conpatible of any Amiga RAM.
* Use Only CHIP RAM
This option only uses CHIP RAM as system RAM, however the A-Max II system code
is still placed in expansion memory if available, for speed. This is the most
compatible of the non-MMU modes, but limits you to the amount of CHIP RAM in your
Amiga - typically 512 Kb or 1 Mb.
5.2.3 Memory Sizes
There are four memory size displays:
* System Memory
This displays your currently selected Mac system memory size - the
amount of RAM Mac applications and system code will run in.
Clicking on this button will increase its size to the next possible size.
* Max System Memory
This displays the maximum selectable System Memory size for the selected
memory use option. This is not necessarily the amount of RAM in your
system as not all RAM may be addressable by the Mac system.
* RAM Disk Memory
This displays the amount of RAM currently allocated to the A-Max II RAM Disk.
As you select more system memory, the RAM Disk will decrease in size.
* CHIP Used
This displays the amount of CHIP RAM being used by the currently selected video
display size.
5.2.4 Use Kicketart
The A1000 model Amiga allows the use of an additional 256K of RAM with A-Max II.
This is the RAM where the disk-based Kickstart operating system normally resides.
Making use of Kickstart RAM turns a 512K Amiga 1000 into a 768K Macintosh.
The Use Kickstart RAM option allows Amiga 1000 owners to use their extra 256k of RAM
with A-Max II to increase the amount of memory available during Mac emulation.
The only disadvantage in using this memory is that you will have to reload
Kickstart when you want to return to AmigaDOS.
-29-
Note:
If you wish to use your Kickstart RAM with A-Max II you must boot from a
verbatim copy of your original A-Max Program disk. This disk has a nonstandard
boot block that enables A-Max II to take over the Kickstart RAM. It the boot
block is rewritten or destroyed, you will not be able to access this Kickstart RAM,
even though all other aspects of the A-Max II program work correctly. It is
advisable, therefore, to keep your disk write-protected at ail times to avoid
viruses which often attack the boot sectors of floppy disks. If your boot block
becomes corrupted, you can use the FixBootBlock command on the A-Max Program
disk to rewrite the correct boot block.
5.3 Serial / Parallel Preferences
The standard Macintosh has two serial ports and no parallel port; one port is
known as the Modem Port or Port A, and the other as the Printer Port or Port B.
There are two options for each port to control how they are emulated.
5.3.1 Port Input / Output Options
The first set of options, labelled Port A or Port B, determines where Mac IO for
a particular port will be directed; for Port A the options are:
* Plus Modem
Data is directed through the Plus card's Modem port. Make sure the switch on
the Plus card is set to STD. Not seleciable on A-Max II cartridge systems;
requires the Plus card.
* Plus MIDI
Data is directed through the Plus card's Modem port, with the on-board
MIDI drivers enabled. Make sure the switch on the Plus card is set to MIDI.
This option is not selectable on A-Max II cartridge systems; it requires the
Plus card.
* Amiga Serial
Data is directed through the standard Amiga serial port. Baud rates are
restricted to between 110 and 19200 with Amiga serial.
* Amiga Parallel
Data is directed through the standard Amiga parallel port. Data is output only,
there is no input from this device. Note that A-Max II cannot access any
third-party parallel output ports, only the Amiga parallel port can be used.
- 30 -
And, similarly, for Port B the options are:
* Plus Printer
Data is directed through the Plus card's Printer port.
This option is not selectable on A-Max II cartridge systems; it requires the
Plus card.
* Amiga Serial
Data is directed through the standard Amiga serial port. Baud rates are restricted
to between 110 and 19200 with Amiga serial.
* Amiga Parallel
Data is directed through the standard Amiga parallel port. Data is output only,
there is no input from this device. Note that A-Max If cannot access any third-party
parallel output ports, only the Amiga parallel port can be used.
The usual choice for A-Max II cartridge systems is to have the Mac's Modem (Port A) data
coming out of the Amiga's serial port, and the Mac's Printer (Port B) data coming out of
the Amiga's parallel port. If you have a serial printer connected to your Amiga, you'll want
to set the Port B (Printer) output to the Amiga serial port. Also, some Mac applications can
optionally send printer output through the Mac Modem Port (Port A), so sometimes you may want
to control the Port A output.
5.3.2 Imagewriter Emulation Options
The second set of options controls what sort of printer emulation is active with each port's
output:
* None
The port's output is passed through unchanged. This option is usually used with serial
(e.g. telecommunications) output or with an Apple Imagewriter or LaserWriter printer
connected to the Amiga.
* IW-9 pin
* IW-24 pin
* LQ-24 pin
The remaining options enable emulation of the Apple Imagewriter printer if you have an
Epson compatible 9 or 24 pin dot matrix printer connected to your Amiga.
(See section 11.1 for information on ImageWriter emulation and which option
you should use.)
- 31 -
5.4 Hard Disk / SCSI Preferences
This window displays:
* the name of the A-Max II hard disk driver to be used and its identification text;
* the names of partitions that have been recognized for Mac use, and boot/mount options
for each such partition;
* the name of an AmigaDOS partition that can be used for file transfers to Mac partitions
or disks;
* an enable option for access to Mac SCSI devices.
Using hard drives and SCSI devices with A-Max II is described in Section 7.
File transfer between AmigaDOS and Mac file system disks is discussed in
Section 10.
5.5 General Preferences
5.5.1 Save Parameter RAM to Boot Disk
With this option set on, the A-Max 2.5 Software will simulate the Macintosh's 256 bytes
of battery backed up parameter RAM that is used to store the various Control Panel
settings by saving the contents of this RAM to your Mac System disk, as long as it is
write-enabled.
It is unlikely that you will ever need to disable this option except to stop A-Max II
from saving this information to a disk that has a non-standard Mac boot blocks.
If you need to override the settings saved on a particular disk, hold down the shift,
Alt, and Amiga keys while rebooting A-Max II. The parameter RAM will be reset to its
default settings.
5.5.2 Boot from RAM Disk and Mount RAM Disk
These two options are discussed under Section 6.7, The A-Max II RAM Disk.
5.5.3 High Density Floppies
If you have one of Commodore's new 1.76 Mb floppy drives enabling this option will allow
you to read, write and format 1.44 Mb disks directly compatible with high density disks
created with an Apple SuperDrive, which is found on all current Macintosh models. Leave
this option off it you don't have a high density drive, or are not using 1.44 Mb disks;
this will reduce A-Max II's CHIP memory requirements. If you insert a high density disk
in a 1.76 Mb drive with this option off it will be just be immediately ejected.
-32-
Section 6
A-MAX II OPERATION
This section details the differences between A-Max II and a standard
Macintosh.
6.1 Keyboard Differences
The A-Max 2.5 Software now emulates the Apple Extended Keyboard; previous
versions emulated the Macintosh Plus keyboard. The Extended keyboard
has fifteen function keys, cursor control pad, numeric pad, an Escape key, and
six IBM equivalent keys such as Page Up, Home etc.
NOTE
Not all keys on the extended keyboard are supported by all applications, for example
the Escape key is often an equivalent to clicking a Cancel button, but not always.
This is the case for true Macintoshes also.
There are several keys on the Extended keyboard that are not on the Amiga's; the key
equivalents follow:
Command (X) - right or left Amiga key
Option - right or left Aft key
For the IBM keys described below, note that in most cases the key equivalent is shift
plus the Amiga key with the same IBM function:
Home - shift - 7 on the numeric pad
End - shift - 1 on the numeric pad
Page Up - shift - 9 on the numeric pad
Page Down - shift - 3 on the numeric pad
Clear ( Num Lock) - shift - ( on the numeric pad
F11 - shift - Del
F12 - shift - Help
F13 (Print Screen - shift - * on the numeric pad
F14 (Scroll Lock) - shift - ) on the numeric pad
F15 (Pause) - shift - / on the numeric pad
Otherwise, each Macintosh key is represented on the Amiga keyboard.
The Mac Key Caps desk accessory will allow you to verify the keyboard mapping.
-33 -
For programmers, the Macintosh interrupt switch can be simulated by typing
shift-Escape on the Amiga keyboard.
6.2 Disk Eject
Macintosh disk drives differ from most others, including the Amiga, in that they do not
allow the user to eject disks upon demand. Instead, it requires you to ask, through
software, that a disk be ejected. The reason for this is that the Mac system doesn't
necessarily update directories or files immediately but, rather, waits until it must
(i.e. it needs the memory or a disk swap is requested).
[Image: Mac Screen / FDD box flashers]
A-Max II indicates that an Amiga drive is ready to be ejected by displaying its
drive number in the right hand side of the menu bar. Drives are numbered from 1 to 4,
with drive 1 being the internal Amiga DFO:. If an Apple external drive is connected
it is always numbered 2, so that Mac software that can only access drives 1 and 2 will be
able to access the Mac floppy. Other connected drives are numbered sequentially up
to drive 4.
The Apple external 800K drive functions as it does normally on the Mac disks
are automatically ejected by the drive (there is no screen prompt to eject disks
from an Apple drive).
NEVER just eject a disk manually under A-Max II. Remember to first click on an
Elect button (or select an Eject menu option) and then pop the disk only when A-Max II
had indicated that it is safe (look for the appropriate number in the upper right-hand
corner of your screen). Failing to abide by this rule could result in corrupted or
destroyed disks.
-34-
If you do eject a disk from an Amiga drive without the program's permission, A-Max II
will detect this and flash the drive number on the menu bar. It this happens, you
should immediately replace the ejected disk in the drive, which will clear the flashing
prompt. Any disk access will be denied until the illegally ejected disk is replaced and
the flashing prompt cleared.
There are several ways to request a disk be ejected on the Mac:
* When the Finder (Apple's desktop program) is running, you can eject a disk by selecting
its icon and using the File menu command Eject, or Amiga-E from the keyboard.
* When an application is requesting a filaname, the dialog box will usually have an Eject
button to eject the currently displayed disk.
* Often the command-shift-1 and command-shift-2 keyboard sequences will eject the disks
in drives 1 and 2. Unfortunately, this option is unavailable for drives 3 and 4 as this
Macintosh keyboard macro doesn't support more than two drives.
* The supplied Shutdown program will eject all disks before rebooting. If the Finder
Shutdown menu option is available on your System disk, it will eject all disks also.
See the next section before using the Shutdown menu command.
WARNING
NEVER reset (Control-Amiga-Amiga) your Amiga or power down without ejecting all disks
through the Mac system!
6.3 Finder Shutdown
All versions of the Finder have a menu command called Shutdown under the Special menu heading.
On Finder versions 5.3 or earlier, this option will clash your Amiga. Finder versions 5.4
and later have two options, Restart and Shutdown. A-Max II supports the use of both options
with these System versions.
The Shutdown command quits all open applications. ejects all disks and turns the screen
black with a message saying it is safe to turn off your machine. At this point, you can
click the Restart button if you want to reboot. If you have finished using Mac software
and wish to return to AmigaDOS mode, now is a good time to reset with the Control-Amiga-Amiga
key sequence.
The Restart command is similar but immediately restarts the Mac system back to the Mac boot
screen.
- 35 -
6.4 Mouse Buttons
The Mac has a single button mouse, so the Amiga's right mouse button is unused
when running Mac software.
6.5 Formatting Disks
Disks are formatted under A-Max II exactly the same way as on the Macintosh; placing
a blank disk in the drive while at the desktop will bring up a dialog box prompting you
to initialize the disk. Click on the Two-Sided button to format an 800K disk. In unusual
circumstances you may find it necessary to format a 400K disk; click on the One-Sided
button or, if there is just an Initialize button, hold down an Amiga key while clicking
that button.
If you are using A-Max II Plus, the disk will be formatted to Mac format and will be
readable on a real Macintosh. To format a disk in the A-Max II format, hold down a
shift key until formatting has started.
If you are using the A-Max it cartridge system, the disk will be in A-Max's special format
that is readable only on Amiga drives with A-Max. Of course, if you are using an Apple
800K drive, the disk you format will be readable on standard Macintoshes.
6.6 Sound
A-Max II supports most digitized sounds. You don't have to do anything to enable
this feature, except set the sound volume level in the Mac Sound Control Panel.
The sound option can be shut off by setting the volume to zero. If applications go
directly to the hardware to produce sounds, some may produce undesirable results while
others will work fine.
6.7 The A-max II RAM Disk
A-Max II has a built-in RAM disk that automatically uses any Amiga memory not specified
as Mac system memory (as selected with the System Memory Size parameter in the Memory
Preferences window). The RAM disk is recovarable so it will survive A-Max II system
reboots and can be booted from if it contains the necessary system files (System and
Finder at least). The RAM Disk's contents will survive until you exit back to AmigaDOS.
The RAM disk will be mounted if there is memory allocated to it and the General Preferences
option Mount RAM Disk is set on. With the A-Max 2.5 Software, the RAM disk is not ejectable
and there is no need to press the F1 key to mount it, as in previous A-Max
versions.
-36-
The first time you boot A-Max with an enabled RAM disk, you will get the
[ Image left - RAM icon ]
standard Mac format dialog box with the RAM Disk's icon (a memory chip, shown to the left)
asking you to format the RAM the disk. Just click on Initialize and type in a name for the
disk (e.g. "RAM'). Once this is done, the RAM disk will appear as an icon on the desktop
and you can copy files to and from it as you would an ordinary disk.
To boot from the RAM disk, simply copy your System files into it, then restart A-Max II.
If the General Preferences option Boot from RAM Disk is set on, A-Max will restart from
the RAM Disk based System.
6.8 Real Time Clock
A-Max II will automatically use the date and time from your Amiga system clock. You should
use the AmigaDOS Date command to verify that your System clock is accurate before starting
A-Max II.
-37-
Section 7
USING HARD DRIVES
If your Amiga has a hard disk controller installed, or is an Amiga 3000 with a built in SCSI
controller, A-Max II can make use of partitions on your hard drives to store the Mac system and
applications. If the controller has a SCSI port, A-Max II can use it to access partitions on
Mac formatted SCSI drives, and use other Mac SCSI peripherals such as scanners, CD ROM drives,
and printers.
Storing data on a Mac formatted SCSI drive has the advantage of being able to access the
drive from both A-Max 11 and real Macintosh systems. Storing data in a partition on an
AmigaDOS hard drive lets you split an existing hard drive for use both by A-Max II and AmigaDOS.
If you are using removable media such as SyQuent drives, you may wish to format cartridges
with a Mac SCSI driver that supports disk changes, for example Sliverlining and many others.
If you access these drives as an AmigaDOS device, as described in section 7.1, the cartridges
will not be accessable with a real Mac with the same drive. To transfer data between Mac
and A-Max II systems via cartridge, set up the drive as a Mac SCSI device, as descibed
in section 7.6.
Hard disk controller cards on the Amiga are supported by A-Max II through the use of software
drivers that are written specifically for given cards. A different driver is required for
each controller. Several of these are supplied on the AMax II Program disk in the Davs:
directory. ReadySoft has made an effort to make the necessary technical details available,
but support for any card is dependent on cooperation from the controller card manufacturer.
If a driver for your card isn't included on the A-Max II Program disk this doesn't mean that
your controller card is not or won't be supported in the future. Contact your hard drive
manufacturer and they may be able to send you a driver if they have developed one subsequent
to this release of A-Max II.
7.1 Partitioning an AmigaDOS Hard Disk
Before A-Max II will recognize your AmigaDOS hard drive, it will have to be repartitioned.
In most cases re-partitioning the drive will erase any information already on it so you will
need to backup and restore any AmigaDOS partitions this will be covered in your controllers
manual. A-Max II will allow up to eight A-Max II partitions spread across up to eight hard
drives so long as they are all connected to the same controller card (any number of AmigaDOS
partitions
- 38 -
may also exist on these hard drives). Any number of hard drive controllers may be installed
in your Amiga and used by AmigaDOS but only one can be used by A-Max II.
To remain compatible with the large number of hard drive partitioning schemes for Amiga
hard drives, A-Max II relies on the setup software that comes with every hard drive to
create its partitions. An A-Max II partition is simply an AmigaDOS partition with a
partition name that begins with the four characters "AMAX" or the two characters "AX."
Some examples follows:
AMAX0: AX0:
AMAXWork: AMAX99:
Follow the controller card's manufacturer's instructions to create a partition of the size
you want to dedicate to A-Max II use. When you are partitioning your drive(s), most hard
disk setup utilities will ask you to name the partitions as you create them.
To denote a partition as an A-Max II partition, the name you give it must begin with
"AMAX" (no spaces, no hyphen) or "AX." Typically you might want to name your A-Max partitions
AMAX1, AMAX2, etc., but you could also name them AMAXWork, AMAXBackup.
If your partitioning software doesn't allow you to name your partitions (it may
automatically name them DH2:, DH3: etc.), you may have to edit the mountlist that the
partitioning software creates (in the DEVS: directory). You will have to find the default
names that the partitioning software created and replace them with names beginning with
AMAX (as discussed above). Hard disk controllers that utilize the Rigid Disk Format (or
Hardblocks) which includes most modern controllers, won't create a mountlist entry so
the only way to name your partitions is with the manufacturer's setup software itself.
Note that you cannot use the AmigaDOS Assign command to create a logical device for
A-Max II use, for example
Assign AMAX1: DH2:
won't allow use A-Max II to use DH2:, it will just be ignored. The actual device name
of the partition must contain one of the A-Max II partition specifiers.
Once all partitions you wish to dedicate to A-Max 11 use have been appropriately named,
you must ensure that they are mounted before you run A-Max II. Most hard drive
controllers will automatically mount all partitions, in which case, you won't have to do
anything. Some older controllers (such as the Commodore 2090) will only mount the boot
partition and leave it to you to
-39-
To be Continued....
Page 40:
mount any other partitions. If this is the case, you should add the appropriate
mount commands to your startup- sequence, for example:
Mount AMAX1:
Mount AMAX2:
7.2 A-Max II Hard Drive Partition Preferences
The Hard Drive/SCSI Preferences window contains information that will verify
your partitions have been recognized by A-Max II. The Partitions entries list
all partitions located in your system that fit the naming constraints described
above in section 7.1, plus any named file transfer partition. Additional restric-
tions are:
* there is a maximum of eight A-Max II partions, including a file transfer
partition, if selected.
* all the partitions must be on hard drives connected to the same hard disk
controller. Most Amigas only have one controller card installed, so this is
rarely much of a restriction.
If there are no partitions listed, go back and check the details in section 7.1 .
The Driver Name field contains the filename of the A-Max I I hard disk driver to
be used, and the Ident field contains text describing the controller card(s) the
driver supports. As long as A-Max II has located at least one usable partition,
these two fields will be filled in by A-Max II.
Beside each partition name are two options that are usually set on. Boot
means the partition will be checked to see if it can be booted from if it contains
a Mac system. Mount just provides you with a way to disable any partition so
that it won't appear on the Mac desktop. Both these options are permanently
set off for the File Transfer Partition.
The option Check for SCSi Devices enables any additional Mac SCSI periph-
erals you have connected to the controller card that has been selected above.
For example, if you wish to access an Apple formatted SCSI hard drive, the
Apple CD ROM drive, or the LaserWriter I ISC printer, this option needs to be
set on. Even if you have no such such devices, enabling this option does no
harm.
- 40 -
7.3 Initializing the A-Max II Partitions
Before you can use your A-Max II partitions to store any information, they must
be initialized by the Mac system. This is done under the Mac Finder. Run A-
Max II and boot the Mac with a floppy system disk (see section 4.0 - A-Max
Startup).
When the Mac desktop appears it will display dialog windows for each uninitial-
ized A-Max I I partition one at a time, each with the message '"This is not a
Macintosh disk: Do you want to initialize , it? " and an icon repre-
senting A-Max I I partitions (a rectangular hard drive with a small
Amiga "A" in the right corner, shown to the left.) After clicking the
Initiaiize button there will be a confirmation dialog and then you
will be asked to name the disk - this is the name that will reference the partition
on the Mac desktop - use any name you like. After supplying a name for the
drive, the dialog will then say '"Creating directory." This could take several
minutes, depending on the size of the partition and the speed of your hard drive
and machine. When complete, an icon representing the drive will appear on
the desktop.
If you have created more than one A-Max partition, another requester will
appear and the process will repeat itself until all partitions have been initialized.
If you are not asked to initialize the partition, or the icon for a partition never
appears after initialization, then either:
. the appropriate A-Max hard disk driver is not present in the DEVS: direc-
, tory;
the partition names you have used don't fit the criteria given in section
7 1 ; or
. the partitions weren't mounted before running A-Max II.
If any problem occur check the information in the Hard Disk / SCSi Prefer-
ences window before starting A-Max II.
Once your partition(s) have been initialized you may copy Mac applications,
data and system files as you would normally, by dragging file and folder icons
to the partition's icon on the desktop.
. 41 .
7.4 Making A-Max Ii Partitions Bootabie
You will normally want to make one of your partitions bootabIe so A-Max II will
automatically start the Mac system without the need for a floppy disk. Once
set up, any one of the partitions can be made bootable by copying a System
folder (containing both System and Finder files) into the partition, and making
sure the Boot option for the partition in the Hard Disk Preferences window is
set on.
If more than one partition contains a System folder, A-Max I I will boot from the
first valid system it finds. You should use the Boot options in the Hard Disk
Preferences window to enable only the partition you wish to boot from. See
section 7.7 for description of how A-Max I I scans for a startup disk.
Apple recommends that a single partition or disk never have more than one
System folder installed on it.
7.5 A-Max II Partitions Under AmigaDOS
Since A-Max II partitions are really just AmigaDOS partitions that contain non-
AmigaDOS information, they are still present and accessable while running the
normal AmigaDOS environment. Usually, a "Not a DOS disk" error will be
returned if you attempt to access A-Max II partitions with AmigaDOS
commands.
WARNING
It is possible to issue an AmigaDOS Forrmat command that will reinitialize
your A-Max II partition and make it usable by the Amiga filing system.
Doing this will completely erase your A-Max I I partition and any Mac
programs or data you had stored there.
7.6 Using Mac SCSi Devices without A-Max ii Partitions
As described in section 7.2, the Check for SCSI Devices option in the Hard
Disk / SCSI Preferences window enables access to Mac SCSI peripherals.
However, if you don't wish to use any A-Max II partitions on AmigaDOS drives,
A-Max II won't know which driver is necessary for your controller card.
For this reason it is possible to type a filename in the Driver Name box which
will be loaded in when you press the return key. The filename should be of
the form:
devs : name . amhd
- 42 -
NOTE
If there are any AMAX: partitions present in the system, or a File T ransfer
Partition has been named, the driver name will be obtained from these
partitions and any name you type in this box will be ignored.
To determine the name of the A-Max II hard disk driver you'll need the name of
the AmigaDOS device driver used by the hard drive card. The documentation
that comes with your controller should tell you the device driver name.
If not, and the controller utilizes MountList entries to describe its partitions, you
can find the device driver name from the entry for any AmigaDOS partition on
a hard drive connected to the controller card. As you scan down the entries in
the DEVS : MountList file, you will see Device = followed by the name of
the software driver. For example the Commodore 2090 card uses a device
driver called HDDISK . DEVICE, so a partition would have an mountlist entry:
Device = HDDISK.DEVICE
If your hard drive controller uses Rigid Disk Format (which means all partition-
ing information is saved on the first blocks of the hard drive itself, rather than
MountList entries) then you won't have a MountList to consult. Check the
documentation that came with your controller, or consult the manufacturer.
The name of the A-Max II hard disk driver is derived from the name of the
AmigaDOS device driver name. In most cases the suffix is just changed from
.DEVICE to .AMHD (in our example, the A2090 card would require a driver
called HDDISK.AMHD).
Some common controllers' device names are as follows:
Controller AmigaDOS device driver A-Max II driver
A2090 hddisk.device hddisk . amhd
A2091/A590 scsi .device scsi.amhd
FastT rak harddisk.device harddisk.amhd
GVP gvpscsi .device gvpscsi .amhd
ICD icddisk.device icddisk.amhd
Supra supradirect . device supradirect . amhd
TrumpCard ivs_scsi .device ivs_scsi.amhd
There are some special cases that the A-Max 2.5 Software handles:
A590 xt .device scsi.amhd
A2090 iddisk . device (etc) hddisk.amhd
. 43 .
In addition, be sure to check the ReadMe file on your A-Max II distribution
diskette for a listing of controllers and their device drivers that may have been
added since this manual was prepared.
7 .7 Startup Sequence
When A-Max I I boots up it first checks for and installs all disk devices. These
include:
. up to four floppy drives, one of which can be an Apple 800K drive
connected to an A-Max II cartridge on the eternal disk port;
. the A-Max II RAM Disk, if RAM has been set aside in the Memory
Preferences window and the General Preferences option Mount RAM
Disk is set on;
. all the A-Max II hard disk partitions, in the order listed in the Hard Disk /
SCSI Preferences window;
. Mac formatted SCSI storage devices, if the Check for SCSl Devices
option is set on. Devices are mounted in order of descending SCSI device
address number . The drivers for Mac SCSI devices are loaded from the
device itself, and the driver will then read the device's partition map and
install the partitions into the filing system.
Once all devices and partitions have been installed, the Mac system scans
through the devices looking for a startup disk (a disk containing a valid System
Folder.) The scanning order is the same as given above. It is possible to stop
some devices from being considered in the search for a startup disk, by the
following means:
. eject a floppy disk from its drive. You can eject all floppies by holding
down the left mouse button down while rebooting A-Max 11;
. set the General Preferences option Boot from RAM Disk off to disable
a startup RAM disk;
. set an A-Max II partition's Boot option in the Hard Disk / SCSl Prefer-
ences window off to disable booting from that partition;
. all Mac SCSI devices can be disabled by turning off the Check for SCSl
Devices option in the Hard Disk / SCSl Preferences window.
Note that, at the time of this writing, A-Max I I cannot support the Mac system's
Startup Disk control panel.
. 44 .
Section 8
SOFTW ARE COMP A TIBILITY
8.1 System Dlsks
A-Max II supports all the known Apple System disks, however System disk
versions 6.0 or later are recommended. At the time this manual was printed,
System versions up to version 7.0 had been tested. Some Mac applications
will suggest or require a particular System version; you should, of course, use
any recommended System version.
As explained in section 5.3 above, if you have a Finder version 5.4 or later
(usually found on System disks version 4.0 or later), you will be able to use the
Shutdown menu command.
8.2 Compatibiiity with Macintosh Appiications
As A-Max I I is an emulator and not a Macintosh, there will be some pieces of
Mac software that will not run under A-Max 11. Almost all Mac software that
goes through the Macintosh operating system (such as most productivity
software) will run with A-Max 11. Because of the wide range of hardware in the
Macintosh family it is rare for modern Mac software to bypass the system
software .
Compatibility problem arise when software talks directly to the hardware,
bypassing the operating system. This is most evident in copy-protected
software, games and program designed to use Mac hardware add-ons. Unfor-
tunately there is little that can be done to allow these types of program to run
with A-Max 11.
The A-Max I I Plus card is more compatible with some software because it
provides Mac software with two identical chips to those found in a Macintosh -
the 8530 Serial Communications Controller (SCC) and the 6522 Versatile Inter-
face Adapter (VIA.) Program running under A-Max II Plus can directly access
either of these chips and achieve the correct results. Examples of such
program include terminal programs, MIDI applications, and program that
make use of the VIA's accurate timers for graphics effects etc.
. 45 .
As described in section 5.2, if you are running A-Max II on an Amiga system
without an installed MMU, there may be some memory options that will
improve your system's compatibility. If your Amiga has memory at $C00000
(most commonly the 51 2 kb expansion RAM in Amiga 500's and 2000's), you
might consider disabling it, as this is the least compatible of all expansion
memory locations. Select the Don't Use Slow RAM option in the Memory
Preferences window. Some very old application software may even require
you to disable all your expansion memory with the Use Only CHIP RAM
option, which means the application must run in typically 51 2 Kb or 1 Mb of
system memory.
8.3 What to Do if an Appiication Won't Run
Some older Macintosh applications will refuse to run unless your A-Max II
system is configured exactly like a standard Mac. If you encounter such a
program, try the following:
. upgrade your Mac software to the latest release version from the
manufacturer
. run the application under MultiFinder instead of Finder , or under System 7 .
. set your Display Size in the Video Preferences window to 512 x 342,
which is the standard Mac Plus and Mac Classic screen size
. try setting the sound volume level to zero in the Sound control panel.
This can stop some applications from attempting to produce sound in an
A-Max II unfriendly manner .
. as decribed above, if you are running in non-MMU memory mode try
changing the Memory Use options in the Memory Preferences window.
. if you are running in MMU memory mode, try setting your memory size
to 4096 Kb or less. This will map the Mac ROM into the same location as
is used on a Mac Plus.
. if you are using A-Max 11, try running the software on the A-Max II Plus
system.
. 46 .
Section 9
SOFTW ARE TRANSFER
This section describes A-Max I I's support for cartridge system without Apple
external 800k drives. If you have the Plus card system, or are using an Apple
800K drive, this section is not relevent to you.
There are a number of ways to transfer files and data between A-Max I I and a
true Macintosh. Unfortunately, most of them require that A-Max I I already be
running and this cannot happen until you have an A-Max II format System disk.
If you don't have an Apple drive, you must use the A-Max II Mini Transfer Disk
method (see Section 3.5) to create a first working System disk. When you
have a working System disk, you will be able to use any of the other transfer
methods described below.
9.1 Fuii Disk Transfer
Full Disk Transfer is an option found in the Macintosh-based Disk Transfer
program. It uses the same Mini Transfer Disks described above, but it allows
you to store the contents of an entire 800K Macintosh disk on several 272K
Mini Transfer Disks. As previously stated, it requires a Macintosh to prepare
the disks, but it is also necessary that A-Max II is running, because the
program that reassembles the Mini Transfer Disks back into one A-Max I I
format disk is, itself, on the A-Max I I format Utiiities disk.
You might typically use the program as follows: Borrow a Macintosh and
create your first Mini Transfer Disk with a stripped down System on it. Then,
you use the Full Disk Transfer option to spread the contents of System 6.0.3
across a series of Mini Transfer Disks. Similarly, you could decompose all
your favorite full-disk applications onto separate sets of MTDs. When you
return to your Amiga, you can use the first Mini Transfer System Disk to get A-
Max II up and running, then begin rebuilding your software library onto A-Max
II disks.
With the Disk Transfer program running on a Macintosh, click on the Transfer
Fuli Disk button to begin. The Disk Transfer program will ask you to insert the
source disk and up to two additional blank transfer disks, one at a time (if the
destination disks are unformatted, the program will format them first).
After the transfer has been completed, you take the transfer disk(s) just creat-
ed and the original source disk back to the Amiga. While running A-Max I I ,
execute the Disk Receive program found on the A-Max Utilities disk. After
. 47 .
clicking the Receive Full Disk button, the program will ask you to insert a
destination disk (which wili be formatted if necessary) and the disks you creat-
ed on the Mac as well as the original source disk one at a time into an Amiga
drive. The separate disks will be reconstructed onto the destination disk in A-
Max format so that they can be used in Amiga 3.5" drives with A-Max I I . The
original Macintosh source disk can be used in this case, because the Amiga's
drives are actually capable of reading some (272K) of the data directly.
9.2 Serial File Transfers
A-Max II is compatible with many Macintosh terminal program, including
MacTerminal or the public domain FreeTerm. Once you have your A-Max I I
system up and running you can use a Macintosh terminal program to transfer
software in two different ways.
9.2.1 Serial Transfer (null modem)
If you have access to a Macintosh, but don't care to use the Disk Transfer
program, you can connect the Mac directly to your Amiga using a null-modem
cable. With a terminal program running on the Mac and one running on the
Amiga under A-Max 11, you can send files from one machine to the other .
It is also possible to use an Amiga terminal program running under AmigaDOS
to receive the data sent from the Macintosh. After receiving the file to Amiga-
DOS format you can use the File Transfer 2.5 program described in section 1 0
to convert the file to Mac format.
. 48 .
9.2.2 SerIal Transfer (modem)
If it is impossible to physically connect your Amiga to a Macintosh, it still may
be possible to use the Serial Transfer method through the medium of a local or
commercial Bulletin Board service. All kinds of files can be uploaded to these
remote locations and then retrieved using the same terminal software packag-
es described above. In addition to your own collection of program, it is also
possible to download selections from the many network libraries of freely
distributable Macintosh software. Useful software can be found in both the
Mac and Magic Sac/Spectre areas of the networks.
. 49 .
Section 10
FILE TRANSFER UTILITIES
A-Max II provides the File Transfer 2.5 application to enable you transfer files
from AmigaDOS to and from the Mac filing system, with a variety of supported
disk devices.
A-Max I I is also compatible with the Apple File Exchange application that is
supplied as part of the Apple System Software. This application supports file
transfers between the MS-DOS, OS/2, ProDOS and Macintosh filing system,
utilising your Amiga drives to read standard 720 Kb MS-DOS disks. Use of
Apple File Exchange is described in Apple's System Software documentation .
10.1 FileTransfer2.5Software
The A-Max 2.5 Software includes a new utility for transferring files back and
forth between AmigaDOS 880 Kb floppy disks or a hard drive partition, and any
Mac Format A-Max disk device. This program, File Transfer 2.5, replaces the
File Transfer program found on the earlier A-Max release diskettes. File
Transfer 2.5 is included on the Utilities disk.
File Transfer 2.5 also provides functions to convert different types of files
during the transfer. With the MacBinary file transfer, for example, you may
download Mac applications under AmigaDOS from information services and
then later transfer the application from MacBinary format into a runnable form
on the Mac side.
File Transfer 2.5 can use one of two AmigaDOS format disks - a floppy in drive
DF0: or a Hard Disk partition whose name is specified in the Hard Disk/SCSI
Preferences window. File Transfer 2.5 supports both Fast Filing System (FFS,
WB 2.0) and Old Filing System (OFS, WB 1 .2) formatted partitions.
File Transfer 2.5 works under A-Max II and produces the only instance when
you can legally insert an AmigaDOS format floppy disk The only floppy drive
that can receive this disk is the internal or first drive (DF0 : ). In order to use
File Transfer 2.5, you will need at least one other available disk drive (to hold
the Macintosh filing system disk). If you have an 800K Apple drive, you can use
a real Macintosh format disk. If you don't have an Apple drive, but do have a
second Amiga drive, you can Use an A-Max II format disk in this drive. If your
system contains only one disk drive, you will have to install and initialize the A-
Max II RAM disk and use that as your second drive. Of course, if you are
. 50 .
running your A-Max II system with Mac hard disk partitions, these may also be
used with File Transfer 2.5.
If you are transferring data to a Mac format disk, you will need to make sure
the file(s) to be transferred are set up either on an AmigaDOS partition which is
named under File Transfer Partition in the Hard Disk / SCSI Preferences
window, or on an AmigaDOS 880 Kb floppy and the File T ransfer Partition
name is empty.
If you are transferring data to a AmigaDOS format, make sure you have a
named partition with sufficient free space, or a formatted AmigaDOS floppy
disk ready to receive the transferred file.
Start A-Max II and boot the Mac system as usual. Double click the File Trans-
fer 2.5 program icon to run it. File Transfer 2.5 will read and display the root
directory of the selected File Transfer partition, if present, otherwise it will wait
for the insertion of an AmigaDOS floppy disk.
WARNING
If you should insert the AmigaDOS disk before running File T ransfer 2.5,
the Mac system will report that the disk is unreadable and ask if you want
to initialize or eject it. Initializing it will destroy the AmigaDOS formatting
and make file transfer impossible. Eject the disk and be sure to start the
File Transfer 2.5 program before inserting the AmigaDOS floppy.
When the program is running and a valid AmigaDOS directory has been read
and displayed, you are ready to transfer files. Before selecting a file choose
one of the conversion types arrayed down the right side of the window,
descibed below.
. 51 .
10.2 File ConversIon Optlons
The conversion options are:
. None
Copies the file without any translation.
Use this option if you plan to convert the raw data with another program,
for example converting TIFF to HAM graphics with Art Department
Professional for the Amiga.
. Text
Converts plain text files between the two system. Amiga line feeds and
Mac carriage returns are translated and vice versa.
. MacPaint<->IFF
Converts single bit plane (monochrome) images between the two formats.
. MacBinary
MacBinary is the most common format for Macintosh applications and files
stored on Bulletin Board Systems. Macintosh files downloaded from BBSs
can be transferred using the MacBinary setting.
. PostScript
Use this option when transferring PostScript files.
1 0.3 Advanced Optlons
There are additional gadgets for selecting Mac-specific attributes of the Mac
source or destination file. When a file conversion option is selected defaults
are set for these options that will be correct for most uses of File Transfer 2.5.
1 0.3.1 Fork Selectlon
Macintosh files are composed of two logical segments called forks. Every file
can have both a "resource" and a "data fork." Most applications and many data
file formats will store all their information in the resource fork (and access it
with the Mac Operating System's Resource Manager.) Some files may have
text or other data stored in the data fork.
The fork selection gadgets allow you to reference the contents of either fork of
a Macintosh file. The MacBinary conversion mode always transfers both forks
of a file.
.52.
10.3.2 File Type and File Creator
Every Macintosh file has a File Type and a File Creator field. This information
provides the same basic function as AmigaDOS's . info files. Each of these
item is a four character string. The file type specifies what kind of information
the file contains: TEXT, APPL, PICT, PNTG, etc. The file creator is a unique
identifier of the application that that created the file: WRIT, FPNT, etc.
To enter a File Type or File Creator, click in the appropriate string gadget and
type the identifier. Again, if you don't know what abbreviations to use, or do not
care to specify any, the default values will most often be correct.
10.4 Transferrlng the FIle
1 0.4.1 CopyIng Am igaDOS->Mac
Use the Parent and Root gadgets or double-click on directory names to move
through the AmigaDOS directories. Select the file you wish to transfer by
scrolling through the list of filenames and then single-clicking on the name (it
will be highlighted). The current path is displayed above the directory list.
Click on From AmigaDOS.
A standard Mac file requester will appear. Select the drive and, optionally , any
subdirectories to which you want the destination file copied. If you choose, you
may also give the destination file a new name. The file will inherit the source
file's name if you don't change it. Click on Save to begin the transfer.
1 0.4.2 CopyIng Mac->AmigaDOS
Select a destination directory of the AmigaDOS disk or partition to receive the
Mac file (a file name can be selected but it won't have any effect - only the
currently displayed directory is used). Click on To AmigaDOS.
A standard Mac file requester appears. Select the file that you wish to copy.
Click on Open. The file is then transferred to the AmigaDOS disk with the
same file name. If a file by that name already exists, you will be prompted to
Cancel the operation or Overwrite the file.
. 53 .
Section 1 1
PRINTERS
A-Max II supports several types of printers, each of which is described below.
1 1 .1 Apple ImageWrlter
Y ou will need the Apple ImageWriter printer driver in your System folder,
which must be selected from the Chooser desk accessory and assigned to the
printer port (Port B.) You will also need the correct cable to connect the
Imagewriter to the Amiga's serial port, or a serial port of the Plus card. In the
Serial / Parallel Preferences window, select Port B to be the correct serial
port (Amiga Serial or Plus Printer , depending on which you have connected
the ImageWriter to) and set the Port B Imagewriter Emulation to None. You
should now be able to print as you would normally on a Mac with an Imagewrit-
er.
11.2 Epson CompatIble 9 & 24 pIn Dot MatrIx
You will need the Apple ImageWriter or ImageWriter LQ printer driver in your
System folder; use the LQ driver if you have a 24-pin printer. Select the
correct driver and output port with the Chooser desk accessory, as described
above in section 1 1 . 1 . The setting of the Imagewriter Emulation option
depends on which printer you are using:
. 9-Pin Printer
Select IW-9 pin for the ImageWriter emulation on port B.
. 24-Pin Printer
Select LQ-24 pin if you are using the LQ ImageWriter driver, or IW-24
pin if you are using the ImageW riter driver.
The ImageWriter emulation feature translates the ImageWriter control codes
into Epson compatible codes as they go out the port. Because the ImageWrit-
er printers have unusual print densities, some printing will not have a 1 :1
aspect ratio when printed on an Epson printer. When printing Best quality
graphics on an Epson compatible printer, the horizontal print density will be
higher than that of an ImageWriter, so that the image will be compressed
horizontally by about 40%. When printing 24 pin graphics, the vertical density
is a little less than that of an ImageWriter LQ, causing pages to be about 20%
longer than they would normally be.
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Usually, the Faster print mode will provide the closest aspect ratio to 1 : 1 posii-
ble on your printer .
If the built-in ImageWriter emulation of A-Max II is too limited for your use, you
should consider a third-party Mac printer driver for your printer. Generally
these drivers will scale the image correctly for your printer's densities. See
Section 1 1 .4.
1 1 .3 Apple LaserWrlter and other PostScrlpt Laser PrInters
If you are using the Plus card and an AppleTalk (LocalTalk) printer, you can
print directly as you would normally on a real Mac. The Plus card's LocalTalk
feature is decribed in Section 1 2.1 .
The rest of this section is for A-Max II cartridge system owners who wish to
print to a serial or parallel compatible laser printer. This method has restric-
tions and is not as compatible as direct printing through AppleTalk and a Plus
card.
The A-Max I I cartridge does not support the AppleTalk local area network and
thus cannot support direct printing to the LaserWriter , however, it is possible to
print to the LaserWriter and other PostScript Laser printers by creating a
PostScript text file and then dumping this file out the serial or parallel port with
the supplied File Dump program, or any compatible terminal program.
1 1 .3.1 Creatlng the PostScript FIle
Your System folder should contain the LaserWriter and LaserPrep files and
the LaserWriter should be selected with the Chooser desk accessory. When
selecting the LaserWriter, you can safely ignore any "Can't Open AppleT alk'
messages. Proceed to print as you would normally, but immediately after click-
ing the Print button on the print dialog, press and hold the Command-K
(Amiga-K) keys until the message "Creating PostScript file" is displayed. The
file will be called "PostScriptX where X is unique digit for each PostScript file
on the disk.
The System 7 LaserWriter driver has a Destination option to print to a disk file
which simplifies the above process. Simply set this option to PostScript@ File
before clicking the Save button and select a destination file name in the
standard file requestor.
Some Mac applications, such as Aldus' PageMaker, utilize their own printer
drivers, most of which have options to create a PostScript file.
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11.3.2 PrintingthePostScriptFile
Before sending the PostScript file to your printer, you must have setup the
Serlal / Parallel Preferences window so that either the modem port or, more
typically, the printer port, is set to output to your printer (either parallel or serial)
and that ImageWriter emulation for that port is set to None.
Now run the program called File Dump supplied on the A-Max Utilities disk.
This program will allow you to select the output port (modem or printer), baud
rate, parity, number of bits, and handshake method (if you are using a parallel
printer you won't need to set any of the serial parameters). When these
parameters have been set, click on Dump File, select the name of the file you
want to print in the standard file requestor and it will be sent. Hold the
Command - Period (Amiga - .) keys down if you wish to stop the dump before
it's complete. Once the file has been sent you will be returned to the first
parameter selection screen. Repeat the process with another file or click on
Quit to exit.
If you are using a LaserWriter printer, connect it to the Amiga's serial port, set
the LaserWriter to 1 200 or 9600 baud rather than AppleTalk mode, and set the
baud rate on File Dump to agree with your baud selection on the LaserWriter.
The LaserWriter operates in hardware handshaking mode at all times. A non-
Apple PostScript printer should be set to PostScript Interactive mode rather
than Batch mode and connected to the Amiga's serial or parallel ports with File
Dump's output port set appropriately.
1 1 .4 Other Prlnters
There are several third party suppliers of printer drivers that allow the Mac to
use other types of printers. We have successfully tested the GDT Softworks
(phone (604) 291 -91 21 ) printer drivers which are available for dot matrix, daisy
wheel and HP LaserJet printers.
. 56 -
Section 12
PLUS CARD SPECIFIC FEATURES
This section covers other features the Plus card has over the cartridge system
that have not already been covered.
1 2.1 LocalTalk (AppleTalk)
AppleTalk now describes all of Apple's networking system, and LocalTalk
describes the low level physical hardware and access protocol of Apple's low
cost network hardware, which was previously known as AppleTalk. AppleTalk
Phase 2 can also utilize Ethernet (via EtherTalk) and T oken Ring (via Token-
Talk) hardware. For the present release, A-Max II supports only LocalTalk
networks. Support of the Commodore Ethernet card may be forthcoming.
The A-Max I I Plus system provides you with two serial ports that provide the
same features as those of a Mac, including compatibility with the LocalT alk
interface boxes made by Apple and other manufacturers, and other interfaces
such as Farallon Computing's PhoneNet.
Using LocalTalk with A-Max II Plus is identical to real Macs, there are no start-
up preferences controlling this option. Connect the interface hardware to the
Plus card's Printer Port, and use the Chooser desk accessory to turn Apple-
Talk on. You should be able to access AppleTalk printers and file servers as
you would on a Mac.
12.2 MIDI (Muslcal Instrument Dlgital Interface) Support
With the Plus card you can run many of the popular Macintosh M IDI sequenc-
ers and tools. The Plus card provides the same serial hardware as a Mac so
that these program can directly access the serial hardware and still remain A-
Max II compatible.
When running M IDI software you can make use of the Plus card's on-board
MIDI interface box by connecting the optional ReadySoft MIDI Y-cable, flicking
the Plus card's switch to the MIDI position and setting the Serial / Parallel
Preferences window option Port A to Plus MIDI. Alternatively, you may
choose to connect the same MIDI box that you would normally use on a Macin-
tosh to one of the Plus card's serial ports, for example if you need more than
one M IDI Out port. In this case set the switch to the STD position and the Port
A option to Plus Modem, or set the Port B option to Plus Printer.
- 57 -
Once you have set up your system, MIDI applications should run as they would
normally.
NOTE
The Plus card's MIDI interface provides software with a 1 MHz crystal
oscillator based reference frequency for precise adherence to M IDI specifi-
cations.
- 58 -
Section 13
GLOSSARY
Agnus
An Amiga custom chip that determines the amount of Chip memory your
Amiga can use. A new Agnus chip that is part of Commodore's ECS
upgrade allows A500 and A2000 computers to address 1 Mb of Chip
memory, which is a more A-Max I I compatible memory configuration than
the usual 51 2k Chip RAM size.
AppleTalk
Apple's local area networking System Software.
Chooser
A Macintosh desk accessory that allows the user to select which printer
driver on the System disk will be used for printer output, as well as other
options such as the printer output port and AppleTalk activity.
Controi Panel
A Macintosh desk accessory that lets the user control several different
options, such as sound volume, mouse and keyboard. Equivalent to the
Amiga's Preferences program.
Data Fork
One logical segment of a file in the Macintosh filing system that contains
simple streamed data (e.g. the raw text characters in a word processing
document). See also Resource Fork.
Desk Accessory (DA)
A special type of Mac program that is part of the System file and is
accessible while running most applications from the Apple menu.
ECS (Extended Chip Set)
A new version of the Amiga custom chips that allows the Amiga to
address 1 Mb of Chip RAM and produce non-interlaced displays with a
multi-sync monitor.
File Creator
A four character unique identifier contained within a file in the Macintosh
filing system that identifies the program on which the file was prepared.
- 59 -
File Type
A four character designator contained within a file in the Macintosh filing
system that identifies what kind of file it is and helps the Finder decide
how to use it.
Finder
The program that creates the Apple desktop. Equivalent to the Amiga's
Workbench. The Finder program has many versions and should always
be run in conjunction with the correct version of the System file.
Fork
In the Macintosh filing system, on of two logical segments that constitute a
file. See Resource Fork and Data Fork.
Interlace
An Amiga video mode that displays twice the normal number of screen
lines at half the refresh rate. This leads to a flickering display on ordinary
monitors, but some monitors are designed to minimize flicker, such as the
high persistence Commodore A2080 monitor or the A2024 monitor.
Magic Sac
A 64K ROM Macintosh emulator for the Atari ST .
MTD (Mini Transfer Disk)
A disk specially formatted on a Macintosh with a capacity of 272K that can
be read directly in an Amiga drive. An MTD can be used to transfer
software from a Mac format disk to an A-Max format disk if you have
access to a Macintosh but do not have an Apple 800K drive connected to
A-Max II.
Resource Fork
One logical segment of a file in the Macintosh filing system that contains
many elements and types of information, access to which is controlled by
the Resource Manager. See also Data Fork.
Spectre 128
A 1 28K ROM Macintosh emulator for the Atari ST .
System
A file which contains information the Macintosh requires for use at all
times. This includes startup information, fonts, desk accessories, and
other system code. There are many different System file versions, some
of which require certain ROMs.
- 60 -
System Disk
A disk that has the required system information on it for the Mac to startup
(boot) from it. This always includes the System file and usually the Finder
file (it is possible to have a System disk that consists of a System file and
an application that is started automatically). Often there will be other files
that are not absolutely necessary for startup. All the various system files
are often held together in a System folder on the System disk.
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A-MAX II Readysoft, Inc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the Amax II (v2.5)
A-Max II 2.5 text was OCR converted on an Amiga by: _ ?Ken Harvey? _
HTML conversion by Reginal Cross.
Scanned A-Max images courtesy of Ken Harvey
& Modified by Reginal Cross.
Last Updated 20 Feb 2001
If you find ANYTHING wrong or misspelled, have comments or tips,
please contact crossconnect4u@gmail.com.