ray@vax135.UUCP (05/20/84)
Here is a summary of the responses I received on the multi-function boards for the IBM pc: (1) AST - 10 responses, all positive or very positive. (2) Quadram - 4 responses, all negative or very negative. (3) Tecmar - 2 responses, all negative. (4) STB - 1 response, positive. (5) Vista, Super RIO - 1 respone each, positive. (5) Monte Carlo - 1 response, negative. In addition, IBM Product Centers are now selling the AST Sixpackplus boards which seems to mean that it is IBM's favorite and works satisfactorily with the pc as far as big blue is concerned. IBM is not currently selling any other combo boards. I initiated the poll after I had problems with the Quadram 384k board hardware, software, and customer service. I am currently invoking the Federal Fair Credit Act and not paying for my credit card bought Quadboard until it is either fixed or my money refunded. In, summary the AST board seems to be overwhelming best choice and definitely stay away from the Quadram board (and possibly all their products).
bae@fisher.UUCP (The Master of Sinanju) (05/20/84)
Now wait just one bloody minute! I have had my Quadram board for a year and a half, and have never, ever had any problems with it. I have recommended it to many friends, all of whom purchased it. Each was completely satisfied with its performance. -- Brian A. Ehrmantraut {ihnp4, decvax, ucbvax}!allegra!fisher!bae
broehl@wateng.UUCP (Bernie Roehl) (05/22/84)
$a I agree. I've had no problems with my Quadboard in over a year of operation. -Bernie Roehl (University of Waterloo) -- -Bernie Roehl (University of Waterloo)
chenr@tilt.UUCP (Raymond Chen) (05/23/84)
make that one more person who's had no trouble with a quadboard. I've had a fully-stuffed (256K) quadboard for over a year and a half now and haven't had a thing to complain about. -- The preceding message was brought to you by -- Ray Chen princeton!tilt!chenr
mark@cbosgd.UUCP (Mark Horton) (05/29/84)
Another thing to take into account when choosing non IBM boards. I have an XT with a quadboard and an STB monitor board. I was having trouble with the serial ports. The local dealer's service shop guy whipped out his quadboard manual and immediately found the problem - I hadn't changed the interrupt vector from RQ4 to RQ3, even though the quadboard serial port was COM2 (since the XT port was COM1). This is my one complaint about Quadram's otherwise excellent product - nowhere in the manual that I could find did it say what the heck RQ3 and RQ4 were or that I should change it if I ran it as COM2. The service person was puzzled by the STB board, however. He had never seen one before, and didn't understand why nothing useful came out of the composite video plug in the back. I had been hanging around and explained that the board was configured as a monochrome monitor and not color. So only the high volume well known brands are likely to be easily serviced. Mark