page%ulowell.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA (11/20/85)
From: Bob Page <page%ulowell.csnet@CSNET-RELAY.ARPA> Tecmar is saying that the add-on memory will be available "mid-December" and that the other peripherals (winny, tape, modem) will be availble "some time first quarter 86." So I wait... I know an Amiga developer that already has pre-release Tecmar stuff, but they've only had it since Monday so don't have a lot to say about it. I do know that the disk was generating a lot of read errors, but at the time the fact that the disk was formatted incorrectly hadn't been ruled out. A company called Microbotics (in Texas? Somewhere out of the 128 belt :-)) has announced a 256K memory upgrade that plugs into the front of your Amiga (like the Commodore cartridge, but a little cheaper), and are talking about an expansion box and peripherals (all I heard of was a hard disk) but didn't have any firm plans. My observation is that 1Q86 will see an avalanche of hardware and software for the machine. A-squared (making the (genlock? and) framegrabber) said theirs will be ready 1Q86 also. So where's my MIDI? ..Bob UUCP: ...!decvax!wang!ulowell!page (except the machine is down, disk probs) ARPA: page%ulowell.csnet@csnet-relay (this one is up) PHONE: 617/452-5000x2233 MAIL: University of Lowell, C.S. Dept, Lowell MA 01854
farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren) (11/22/85)
I would like to note a couple of things about Tecmar:
1. Several of the products they advertised for the IBM PC have
NEVER been available.
2. Of the products that were available, many did not work well.
A point to think about here: Tecmar was the first company out
with multi-function and RAM expander cards for the IBM PC. How many
of their cards do you actually see in the field? One would think that
with the amount of jump they had on the competition (almost a year!),
their cards would be the most popular. That they aren't is suspicious,
at best.
Second point: a friend of mine, who worked at a VERY large computer
store, tells me that out of the three Tecmar hard disks they ordered,
NONE were still working three months later!
Going the other way, IBM has selected the latest Tecmar hard disk/
tape units for sale in their product centers. IBM is picky, so maybe
Tecmar has gotten their act together some. I would still recommend
waiting until there is more evidence of this, though.
--
Mike Farren
uucp: {dual, hplabs}!well!farren
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