Algor/Norway combo or X-Surf 2...and a whole host of other questions...

[Rob72]

Just need a little advice and information.

I have an A4000D, WarpEngine 4040, Picasso II graphics card, Toccata sound-card, and soon, a PowerFlyer 4000 FastATA card.

I want to connnect this machine to my broadband internet connection, and had originally thought about buying a X-Surf 2.

However, I have quite a nice BlizKick set-up on my Blizzard 1230mv.IV A1200, and wanted to emulate some of that by using BlizKick on my Warp-Engine...but AFAIK, because the Warp-Engine lacks a hardware MapROM function...BlizKick will not work.

If I was to purchase the Algor/Norway combo, that would satisfy the 'net connection, and add the ability to use BlizKick modules and OS3.9 romtags etc.

I have recently rejoined the Amiga scene after a 2 year absence...and I caught the back-end of the debate about Elbox releasing cripple-ware drivers. Does anyone know if the latest FastATA 4000 driver suffers from this? I may have got the wrong end of the stick...but want to make sure before I go ahead with the purchase.

Also, does anyone have the documentation that ships with the Algor, and could send it to me, so I can have a read up on how the FlashROM functions work, and if it will  be compatible with my system? The PDF documentation on the companys' website doesn't mention the FlashROM in detail...

Has anyone had any experience with either or both of the Algor and Norway? How does the software/hardware perform? The USB functionality would be a bonus...mainly interested in the Ethernet and FlashROM capacities at the moment...particularly, as all this functionality takes up only a single Zorro slot.

On an almost completely unrelated point...has anyone had experiences of using a Mediator based PCI system, with a 68040 running at 40MHz. Most of the systems I see have a 68060 cpu driving things...just wandered if anyone has used a 68040...and can compare graphics performance using the Voodoo based graphics cards, to the performance I currently get with my old Picasso II board...

Thanks for the time...hope you are all still awake after reading this...   :-D

[Matt_H]

Welcome back to the Amiga!

I've only got experience with an XSurf Mk 1, but the Mk 2 is very similar.

Here's my thought on your networking options:

The XSurf will give you some "bonus" (non-bootable, burning to a CDR drive on one of these ports is also not recommended)  low-end IDE ports, 2 clock ports, and a 26pin connector for something like a highspeed parallel or serial port.

The Algor/Norway will give you USB ports and the extended boot rom.

Since you've got a Powerflyer (and motherboard IDE) the XSurf IDE ports don't seem like they'll be of much use to you. Neither does the 26pin port, since I'm guessing you won't need serial and parallel for much due to your Ethernet upgrade.

On the otherhand, the XSurf is MUCH cheaper than the Algor/Norway combo.

Basically, does the added cost justify what you're planning to use the card for?