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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

146.0. "1 Meg + Clock for $349.00!!" by JAKE::ACCIARDI () Tue Oct 28 1986 15:28

    I have just ordered an INTERNAL 1 meg ram board with a battery clock
    that installs inside the 68000 socket with no soldering.  
    
    The great part is that this kit was only $349.00!! That is the lowest
    price I've seen yet.
    
    The company claims the board is auto-config under 1.2, and will
    in no way interfere with additional bus add-ons, i.e, a PAL JR.
    20 meg drive with 1 meg ram will still work, giving 2.5 megs ram.
    
    The company advertises in Computer Shopper.  Their name and address
    is:
    
    	InterComputing Incorporated  	Phone: (800) 531-4747
    	2100 N. Hwy 360, Suite 2005
    	Grand Prairie, Texas 75050
    
    They claim they've shipped 400 units so far, with no complaints.
    Kits are back ordered 3 weeks, but I will post my impressions as
    soon as I receive it.  
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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146.1More info - possible volume discountAPOLLO::BERKSONTue Oct 28 1986 16:5516
    
    I called them and they seem anxious to sell these. They said they
    would be willing to give a discount for a group order. Something
    on the order of 15% discount for an order in the 10-20 unit range
    A savings of $50 might be worth the trouble of getting a bunch of
    orders together.
    
    Other details are that it installs above the motherboard and below
    the RF shield and is connected to the 68000 socket with a cable.
    The 68000 is moved to the memory board. Seems like the main thing
    to worry about with this would be the extra heat in the box.
    
    If it works well and people are interested in the group order idea
    send a reply or mail to YAVIN::BERKSON.
    
       mitch
146.2Does DMA work with that?KIRK::KYZIVATPaul KyzivatTue Oct 28 1986 20:515
I don't know how the system bus works on the Amiga, but is it possible that 
the interconnect described for this board would prevent DMA access to the 
expansion memory?  You might never find out until you buy a DMA hard disk.

	Paul
146.3Slobber!SHOGUN::HEFFELExamine everything.Wed Oct 29 1986 00:226
    Yet another drooling person here.  It almost sounds too good to
    be true.  I hope it works out well.  May they sell many, and have
    as many satisfied customers.  I'd be interested to hear what C-A
    has to say about this sort of thing.
    
    Gary
146.4Add a 68010 while you're at itAUTHOR::MACDONALDCUP/MLWed Oct 29 1986 00:341
    May as well slap a 68010 in there while you have the chip out!
146.5...JAKE::ACCIARDIWed Oct 29 1986 01:447
    re: .4  
    
    They DO offer the same board with a 68010 upgrade for $399.00. 
    I did not order this because I was not sure whether or not there
    would be any software compatibility problems with it.  I am not
    smart enough to make that judgement, and I would probably not
    trust a 68010 salesman to tell me the truth.  Anyone know for sure??
146.6AUTHOR::MACDONALDCUP/MLWed Oct 29 1986 13:256
    No compatability problems ... however there is a call used in 68000
    that is different in 68010 but is rare. At any rate there is a
    PD program that you load into your C directory that automatically
    checks and corrects those rare instances. The 68010 can increase
    performance of math intensive programs by as much as 50% (such as
    ChessMaster 2000).
146.7Sure. CM2000 needs help.JAKE::ACCIARDIWed Oct 29 1986 13:584
    Great!! Thats all Chessmaster 2000 needs against me, a greater speed
    advantage!!  (Hehe).  I guess I'll call that outfit and have them
    send me the 68010 board, for an extra 50 bucks.  Unless anyone knows
    where I can get a 68010 for less??
146.81 68010 to go, nothin' on it!JAKE::ACCIARDIWed Oct 29 1986 15:3114
    Well, I called back and ordered a 68010 upgrade.  The fella I spoke
    with claimed that the ONLY program that he knew of that would'nt
    run with a 68010 was Transformer, which I don't use anyway.  He
    reiterated Paul's suggestion of a PD fix to the code.
    
    While I had him on the phone, I pumped harder for info on whether
    or not the DMA access to the side slot was preserved.  He strongly
    insisted that it was, and that his board acted just like an external
    board, but merely went inside the box.
                                                         
    It's looking better than ever.  I only hope this is not a garage
    operation that will shut down 3 weeks from now.  From their ad,
    it looks like they are a full dealer, and they are probably assembling
    these widgets in the back room.
146.9FantasticANT::SMCAFEESteve McAfeeWed Oct 29 1986 20:0126
    
    Whew!!!!
    
    I called the 800 number given in .0 and this sounds almost too good
    to be true.  I asked him about heat dissipation (CMOS mem chips),
    installation, compatibility, wait states, etc.  Everything was
    favorable except it has one wait state.  Under certain circumstances
    this could slow things down quite a bit, but the salesman stated the
    typical slowdown was app. 5%.  (is this true?)
    
    I also asked him how they could manage to do this for this price.
    He said they simply had a lower markup than other vendors.  If someone
    else calls them ask them why they put this inside the Amiga rather
    than outside cause I forgot.
    
    He said they were shipping now and if I wanted one it would take
    about 5 days to ship.  When .0 gets his I would VERY much like to
    hear about it.
    
    Santa Claus is comin' to town...          
    
    Steve McAfee
    
    BTW  .0 Thanks for the info I don't usually buy Computer Shopper.
         Have these guys advertised anywhere else?
    
146.10It IS too good to be true!JOKE::ACCIARDIFri Oct 31 1986 03:2113
    I read on the USENET that this board will not auto-configure under
    1.2 or 1.*.  Funny, I could have sworn the guy said that it did.
     I guess he meant that he would provide a startup-sequence that
    would add the memory.  I am also getting concerned about this wait
    state issue...Also, he apparantly has TAKEN 400 orders, but has
    shipped none at all.  Either I'm crazy, or this guy is telling
    different stories.  Sounds more amd more like vaporware.  
    
    Oh, well, there's always PAL Jr.  If anyone can find out any more
    stuff, or at least hear new versions of the story, please continue
    posting to this note.
    
    
146.11USENET mentionCSSE::WARDFri Oct 31 1986 13:2030
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga
Path: decwrl!amdcad!lll-crg!lll-lcc!well!perry
Subject: Re: Internal Memory Expansion for the Amiga?
Posted: 29 Oct 86 14:52:17 GMT
Organization: Whole Earth Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Summary: not so great
 
In article <6134@decwrl.DEC.COM>, macdonald@author.dec.com (Paul MacDonald -- DTN 223-3439) writes:
> I received this mail from someone. Does anyone have info on this
> company and their product? Sounds like a real deal.
> 
>    "I have just ordered an INTERNAL 1 meg ram board with a battery clock
>     that installs inside the 68000 socket with no soldering.  
>     
>     The great part is that this kit was only $349.00!! That is the lowest
>     price I've seen yet.
>     
>     The company claims the board is auto-config under 1.2, and will
>     in no way interfere with additional bus add-ons.
 
I spoke with these people - THEY SAID:
 
	1 Wait state
	Does NOT autoconfig under any o.s.
 
>     They claim they've shipped 400 units so far, with no complaints.
>     Kits are back ordered 3 weeks, but I will post my impressions as
>     soon as I receive it."
> 
	Actually, that's 400 orders....not 400 shipped.
146.12AUTHOR::MACDONALDCUP/MLFri Oct 31 1986 18:014
    Interesting too that they are only shipping C.O.D.
    
    If it doesn't auto-config I will cancel for an outboard
    box.
146.13HYSTER::DEARBORNTrouvez MieuxWed Nov 12 1986 17:064
    Any 'new' news about this?
    
    Randy