On 25-Nov-99, Macrohard Computers wrote:
> Hello Brad
>
> On 24-Nov-99, Brad Rogers wrote:
>
>> The first thing to upgrade, is your serial port. The internal one simply
>> doesn't cut it these days. In the short term, it's possible to flip a
>> low-res screen to the front, so that the serial port can have a bit more
>> DMA time. Adding a GFX card or faster processor will assist, but nowhere
>> near as much as that new serial port.
>
> The most advantages thing to do is upgrade the CPU. This helps everything
> work better. A graphics card should be the next step. A serial port
> upgrade is the least important. The stock serial port performance is
> automatically improved with a faster CPU & graphics card.
>
> I am running a 040/PPC A1200 with a Pixel 64 GFX card. I use the stock
> serial port and easily get top speeds on a 56K modem.
I can confirm this. I, too, have a Pixel64 and my CPU is a 50 mhz '060.
However, while the faster CPU helped somewhat, the greatest benefit to the
speed of browsing came from the gfx board. First, because browsing in 15bit
800 x 600 blows AGA out of the water, so to speak. And secondly, because
the serial port is no longer competing with the AGA chipset for CPU cycles.
At one time, I had a Surf Squirrel and found the benefits to internet speed
to be minimal (this was before the upgrade to the Pixel64). Of course, the
Surf Squirrel, as a PCMCIA device, eats some CPU time, too.
The only reason I have for wanting a buffered serial port, at this point, is
that -- while I get nice, fast downloads with my "56k" modem and the
standard serial port -- the mouse pointer will jerk around a bit and other
programs will slow down somewhat while I'm doing a download; e.g., text
entry in Final Writer becomes very sluggish. A revised version of the Ateo
serial card for the Ateo Bus should be out soon, and I'll probably get
that.
Hope this information helps.
Steve Folberg
>
> Regards
--
"*Amiga* - think different... think *really* different..."
"It is not your job to complete the work,
But neither are you free to abstain from it." -- R. Tarfon, Pirkei Avot
Visit my homepage at http://lonestar.texas.net/~rebbi
or
http://www.main.org/ctacs
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