zork@mtuxo.UUCP (s.polis) (10/11/86)
Additional info... Actually, it's not a perfect cube, but it is about 9" all around. This product is an expansion box (same color as Amiga) that wedges nicely onto the bus tap. Unlike the MicroForge expansion box that I had briefly, I don't have to "reseat" the bus tap connection every other boot. (i.e. not at all now). Here is a breakdown of my purchase: Turbo Box $695 CPU with 68020/68881 $1480 512K memory board $1800 SCSI board [ back ordered] $650 20Mb hard disk [ also b/o ] $850 The above configuration takes 3 out of 5 board slots (1.5Mb ram max). I have placed an order for another 1/2 Mb ram board. With Lattice C, include files & ALINK in ram, a compile & link take 30 seconds. I'm beginning to get "intense" with the Amiga software. Sometime soon I'll make sure things are running efficiently in the 32 bit-wide ram. I have yet to get ahold of BLINK. In advance, I too would like to thank people who make software source & binaries available for the Amiga. (How do you make money? I'm coming off assignment soon...Oct 24th is the last day I'll have access to the net.) I suppose the individual components of the CSA box could be put together by an individual for less money...but I don't do hardware. I know enough to be able to shop for quality tho. I'm a systems software type; I stop at assembler, before register tranfer level. I don't touch chips unless they're edible. ...so I'd like to modify my offer of answering questions on the Turbo Amiga. For sales lit, availability & access to specific technical info, go ahead and contact CSA (I've been dealing w Patricia Chouinard) @(619)- 566-3911, 7564 Trade Street, San Diego, CA 92121. I contacted them after seeing the "Byte product announcement" in a recent issue. It is pictured. What I will do is oriented towards helping anyone find out just what this product can do: if you'd like to know how [fast] something will run on it, send me a diskette and the name of a program on it to execute. Have your program record its results onto your diskette. Enclose a prepaid return mailer. I'll note anything unusual [i.e. crash], or what visuals looked like. If you send a VHS video tape, I can record it in stereo for you. Some programs (like POLYSCOPE, old copy?) don't run because they assume they're loaded in the Amiga'a "local" 1/2 Mb ram. This is where the video & sound chips are able to access. I understand from Carolyn @CBM that there's a way to patch up object modules with this problem with ATOM, and somewhere someone may have a program for editing executable objects. In general, I suggest purchasing products from smaller companies via credit card. It supercedes any return policy a company may have prior to your paying the credit card bill (check with card issuers for specifics). Boy does my Amiga scream now! Yours 'till the Hunchback of Notre Dame straightens up, Stephen Guy Polis. (201)870-3366 home, (201)576-3629 AT&T. POB 70, Oceanport, NJ 07757 ---