From: bobdavis@cadvantage.com (Robert Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: Oxyron Patcher v3.12
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Date: 17 Sep 1998 11:00:19 -0400
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 142
Sender: barrett@belvedere.cs.umass.edu
Message-ID: <6tr863$1ta@belvedere.cs.umass.edu>
Reply-To: bobdavis@cadvantage.com (Robert Davis)
Keywords: patch, operating system, math, commercial
X-Review-Number: Volume 1998 Number 8
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PRODUCT NAME
Oxyron Patcher v3.12
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A patch program for Amigas with 68040 or 68060 cpus
to properly handle the math instructions which were built in
to the 68882 math IC, but left out of the the 040 and 060
chips.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: New Generation Software
Address: Haarmeyers-Kamp 6
49586 Neuenkirchen
Germany
Telephone: (05465) 9923
Fax: (05465) 1263
E-Mail: NewGOffice@aol.com
World Wide Web:
LIST PRICE
Advertised in Amazing Computing (USA)
for $27-$28 (US)
DEMO VERSION
none
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
1) Amiga with 68040 or 68060 cpu
2) Amiga OS 2 or newer
COPY PROTECTION
none
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
A3000, A3640 cpu board, 25 Mhz 68040
2-meg chip, 16-meg fast ram
OS 3.1 (Kickstart 40,68 Workbench 40.42)
ECS chipset and display
INSTALLATION
Simple, but you must modify the sys:s/Startup-Sequence text
file, by adding one line to the beginning of the file.
Two files and an icon must be copied into the sys:wbstartup
directory. The software comes on one floppy disk.
REVIEW
I have already installed some updated math library
updates on this A3000, with the hope of speeding up
picture display and 3D rendering. Here are my own
test results:
(Timings done with a manually operated stopwatch ...
my own reaction time is a factor here).
Display a JPEG picture of 275-thousand bytes.
Without OxyPatcher With OxyPatcher
FJPEG 8.28 SEC FJPEG 8.68 SEC
FJPEG 8.38 SEC FJPEG 8.22 SEC
FJPEG 8.29 SEC FJPEG 8.23 SEC
VISAGE 7.99 SEC VISAGE 7.79 SEC
VISAGE 7.65 SEC VISAGE 7.60 SEC
VISAGE 7.63 SEC VISAGE 7.47 SEC
The still picture display results show no huge speedup
while using Oxyron Patcher. Just maybe, given my thumb
speed pushing the button on the stopwatch, the programs
tested are a bit faster with Oxy Patcher.
Render a 3D picture using an old version of Real 3D (1.4.2)
Without OxyPatcher With OxyPatcher
7 min 20 seconds 5 minutes 14 seconds
Here is where Oxyron Patcher does a good job.
That is about a 30-percent speed increase which
can really save time when doing math intensive
graphics.
DOCUMENTATION
One small sheet of paper, instructions in German.
Text file on disk, in English.
LIKES
It works on my A3000/A3640 as advertised.
DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS
I think that a product distributed in the USA should
have the very simple instructions printed in English.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
Phase 5 seems to have a similar program for their 040/060
systems, but I've never used a Phase 5 product, so I
cannot honestly compare it to OxyPatcher.
BUGS
None that I could find.
VENDOR SUPPORT
I've had no need to get in contact with the vendor.
WARRANTY
There is the usual disclaimer built into the program's
'ABOUT' display, that if it messes up, it is not the fault
of the programmers.
CONCLUSION
I have a 68040 cpu. An even greater improvement should
occur on systems with a 68060 cpu, where fewer of the
68882 instructions are handled in hardware.
Newer software, written especially for the 040 and 060 cpus,
perhaps will not use the math instructions which have been
moved to the 680x0.library ... but I like to ue my old version
of Real 3D, and Oxyron Patcher speeds it up a lot.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Copyright 1998 Robert Davis
This review may be reprinted at will, as long as
you reprint it without modification.
Robert V. Davis
bobdavis@cadvantage.com
rdavis@nyx.net
--
Robert Davis Amateur Radio K0FPC Emporia, Kansas
bobdavis@cadvantage.com OR davisrob@esuvm1.emporia.edu
---
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