MCL Hardware Compatibility Notes

[mark@cambridge.apple.com]

The following text - now included with every copy of MCL 2.0 - discusses a
few issues of hardware compatibility that have arisen since we started
shipping the product.


Macintosh Common Lisp 2.0
Hardware Compatibility Notes 

Thank you for purchasing Macintosh Common Lisp 2.0. Here are a few notes on
MCL's compatibility with various types of Macintosh.


PowerBook Duos
Apple's recently announced PowerBook Duo 210 and 230 are incompatible with
the PTable extension included with MCL 2.0. This extension (or INIT, in
System 6 terminology) configures certain aspects of your system's memory to
increase the efficiency of MCL's Ephemeral Garbage Collector (EGC). If you
have a Duo, simply ignore the step in the Installation process in which you
drop PTable into your System Folder. You can still use the EGC as usual.

If you do install PTable on a Duo (if you installed it before reading this
note, for example), your system will "hang" when you try to start it up,
since this is when it tries to load extensions. To de-install PTable:

-	push the Restart button,
-	hold down the shift key while your Duo starts up (this disables all
extensions),
-	remove PTable from the "System Folder:Extensions:" folder.


Other Macintosh Compatibility Issues
There are two other minor incompatibilities we'd like to mention. If you
run MCL 2.0:

-	under A/UX 3.0 on a Quadra 700, 900, or 950, or
-	with virtual memory enabled on a Macintosh IIci with exactly 4 megabytes
of physical memory and you use the ci's internal video

you will need to obtain a small patch from us. To get one of these patch
files, call us at (617) 374-5300 and ask for "MCL Hardware Compatibility".
If you have access to the Internet (and you may have access without knowing
it -- see the MCL 2.0 Release Notes for more details about contacting us
electronically), send a message to Bug-MCL@Cambridge.apple.com, describing
your configuration and asking for a patch. 

Finally, a note to those of you who would like to run MCL 2.0 on a
Macintosh equipped with a "third-party" (non-Apple) accelerator board.
While we are not in a position to guarantee MCL 2.0's compatibility with
any of these boards, we do know that some of our users are happily running
MCL on them. Where incompatibilities have cropped up, we have on occasion
been able to fix the problem through small patches and workarounds. If you
encounter a problem, feel free to contact us as above to ask if we know
anything about the board you are using. If you contact us before buying a
particular accelerator board, we will be happy to let you know whether we
are aware of any problems with the it. 

Thanks for using Macintosh Common Lisp 2.0!