eric@chronon (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