pjd@cwruecmp.UUCP (dr. funk) (05/07/86)
I'd like to offer the following statistics/info on 520 and 1040 reliability based on our experiences. 520ST: We took delivery on twelve 520ST's last Fall. One (1) keyboard/computer unit was VERY DOA. Our dealer (and on up the chain!) couldn't figure out how to fix it so they replaced the whole PC board. One (1) monitor was flaky -- probably a thermal problem. This was fixed. 1040ST: We just took delivery on twelve (12!) 1040ST's last week. Six out of six work fine so far. We are about to unpack and test the other six, but I would anticipate only one failure based upon our earlier experience. A few side comments are in order. 1040ST availability. Units are out there. Finding them, ordering from a reliable dealer and getting them is another matter. Frankly Atari (Neil?), distibution in Ohio is a disaster. I can only encourage you to look into this situation as a large market is currently going unsatisfied. If a big advertising push is in the works, this will only frustrate Midwestern customers. (We ordered ours through a dealer on the other coast.) The high frequency 1040 noise reported in an earlier message is NOT from the floppy disk drive. It is caused by the switching power supply. I'm going to find some way to damp the sound as it is driving me CRAZY! I am particularly sensitive to high frequency sounds [audiophile comments to /dev/null :-)] and some of our machines are worse than others. I've been living with a 1040 and 20Mb developer's hard drive. This is a SUPER combination with Micro C Shell, microEmacs, DEGAS, etc. Can't wait now for OSS Prolog and eventually a 68020 product (prod, prod.... ) -- paul drongowski decvax!cwruecmp!pjd case western reserve university pjd%Case@CSNet-relay
knnngt@ukma.UUCP (Alan Kennington) (05/14/86)
On the subject of the high frequency noise from the 1040: Mine HAS a noise from the disk drive (internal). There is no other noise that shouldn't be there (within my normal hearing range). I get a high frequency noise from the intyernal disk drive every time I turn on the external disk drive. It is clearly caused by resonance of soime loose part of the drive mechanism, which is only free to vibrate when the drvie is not actually reading or writing. A piece of loose metal rings like a bell most times when the external drive just starts up. So it looks as though there is some variety in the 1040 noises. So long, Alan Kennington.