bill@LOGICON.ARPA (04/21/86)
From: Bill D'Camp <bill@LOGICON.ARPA> I am getting an Amiga shortly and was wondering if anyone had gotten any memory expansion or hard drives for their systems yet. Most of the prices I've seen are quite high, I assume that they will go down as there is increased competition. Is anyone besides Microforge and Tecmar's "mythical" products available. Also I have heard about the mag Amazing Computing but haven't seen it here. Can someone post the address/phone for subscriptions? Thanks, Bill D'Camp
bobp@amiga.UUCP (Robert S. Pariseau) (04/23/86)
Comspec Communications Inc., is shipping 2 Megabyte memory expansions for the Amiga at $1079 US delivered. Their address is 153 Bridgeland Ave., Unit 5, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2Y6, phone (416)787-0617. Their box is about the size of a paperback dictionary. It promotes the bus (i.e., you can stick other things on as well). It gets its power off the main unit, so don't expect to stick 6-Meg of these guys on a machine that has all its other power drains in use. The versions they are currently shipping do not do the autoconfig stuff. That means you must flip switches inside them to specify the location of the memory in the address space. We have seen proto-types of their autoconfig units which should be shipping soon.
eric@chronon.UUCP (Eric Black) (04/25/86)
In article <1026@amiga.amiga.UUCP> bobp@snake.UUCP (Robert S. Pariseau) writes: >Comspec Communications Inc., is shipping 2 Megabyte memory expansions for >the Amiga at $1079 US delivered. Their address is 153 Bridgeland Ave., >Unit 5, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2Y6, phone (416)787-0617. > >Their box is about the size of a paperback dictionary. It promotes the >bus (i.e., you can stick other things on as well). It gets its power off >the main unit, so don't expect to stick 6-Meg of these guys on a machine >that has all its other power drains in use. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > >The versions they are currently shipping do not do the autoconfig stuff. >That means you must flip switches inside them to specify the location >of the memory in the address space. We have seen proto-types of their >autoconfig units which should be shipping soon. That's not the only problem! Be aware that while they do pass the bus through to other devices that may be plugged on after it, they do not buffer the bus. The expansion bus can handle only a couple of LSTTL loads. Just another reason you can't plug several of these in. I saw this unit at the Amiga show in San Jose (concurrent with the West Coast Computer Faire in SF), where they were demonstrating one unit plugged into an Amiga. The gent in the booth was quite sure that you could plug four of them together and have 8 Meg of expansion memory. He was not aware that they did not buffer the bus, but a technical type in the booth turned around and said that they did not. Since they were selling the unit there, and had a stack of them, I asked to see more than one installed and working. The first guy told me they had never done that, but he assured me that it would work if I bought them and took them home (!). Now that the autoconfig spec is nailed down, and they are prototyping a unit, I hope that they will be a "good citizen" on the bus! [BTW Bob -- the expansion documentation packet is GREAT! Even sample circuits and PAL EQUATIONS to handle the autoconfig protocol! Hate that form factor, though! That MicroForge box is absurdly huge sitting next to the Amiga, and the spec pretty much says it has to be that big, and has to sit RIGHT THERE] -- Eric Black "Garbage In, Gospel Out" UUCP: {sun,pyramid,hplabs,amdcad}!chronon!eric WELL: eblack BIX: eblack
wagner@utcs.uucp (Michael Wagner) (04/27/86)
In article <1026@amiga.amiga.UUCP> bobp@snake.UUCP (Robert S. Pariseau) writes: >Comspec Communications Inc., is shipping 2 Megabyte memory expansions for >the Amiga at $1079 US delivered. Their address is 153 Bridgeland Ave., >Unit 5, Toronto, Ontario M6A 2Y6, phone (416)787-0617. > Gee...these guys are about half a mile from my parents house (which makes them about 5 miles from my dealer...how come he doesn't seem to know this?). I think I'll call them Monday, and see if they like visitors. Michael
rb@ccird1.UUCP (Rex Ballard) (05/09/86)
In article <230@chronon.chronon.UUCP> eric@chronon.UUCP (Eric Black) writes: >In article <1026@amiga.amiga.UUCP> bobp@snake.UUCP (Robert S. Pariseau) writes: >>Comspec Communications Inc., is shipping 2 Megabyte memory expansions for >>Their box is about the size of a paperback dictionary. > >[BTW Bob -- the expansion documentation packet is GREAT! Even sample >circuits and PAL EQUATIONS to handle the autoconfig protocol! Hate >that form factor, though! That MicroForge box is absurdly huge sitting >next to the Amiga, and the spec pretty much says it has to be that big, >and has to sit RIGHT THERE] >-- Great, Amiga has finally come up with documentation on "good expansion" standards, looking forward to seeing what come out. Questions: Can't you connect the Amiga to the Expansion devices via something like a ribbon cable? Do you HAVE do buy a big CAGE (remember the TI 99/4)? Could accessories be added in daisy chain fashion? Could someone come up with a "card case" to slip over the bare cards so you could go either way (cage or ribbon cables)? I'm kind of glad Amiga didn't follow the IBM/APPLE/ S-100 convention of a "rigid backplane" in the main box, but it would be so nice to be able to choose between a $30 "ribbon bus" and $300 "cage", especially since one might only need 1 or 2 "slots" at first, but might need 8 later on. Could someone provide a semi-brief description of what the "expansion" should be?