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 NNTP-Posting-Host: belvedere.cs.umass.edu X-NNTP-Posting-Host: belvedere.cs.umass.edu Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!not-for-mail 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 --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: http://math.uh.edu/~barrett/reviews.html