gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu (Errol Casey) (03/26/90)
Below are the replies I have received about the Sota accelerator cards. I personally cannot talk from experience of owning on. I attempted to contact them personally (Sota) for more information, but none of my messages were returned in a period of three days. I chose to purchase a Intel 386/PC Inboard accelerator card. Mesages follow: From: nghiem@ut-emx.UUCP (Alex Nghiem) Date: 19 Mar 90 06:05:11 GMT Reply-To: nghiem@emx.UUCP (Alex Nghiem) In article <1990Mar19.003132.29661@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu writes: >I am interested in collecting comments on either of these IBM PC >accelerator cards (Sota 286i / 386i). > >Questions: > >(1) Can you add additional memory to the accelerator card? How much. In its standard configuration, both SOTA's use the existing PC's memory and I/O peripherals. There are optional boards that allow you to add up to eight megabytes of memory and a 16 bit floppy and hard disk controller. However, with all the options added, its cheaper to buy a new machine. >(2) Does the 386 use a 386 or 386sx? Does it come with 32bit memory? The 386 is an 386sx. It sells for about 460.00 open market with no options. >(3) Any compatiblity problems? The Sota will work with 8086 PC's while the Intel 386/PC will only work with true 8088 IBM PC compatibles. The Sota can also run OS/2; however, it is obvious to me that if you want to run OS/2, you have to buy all the options. >Granville Errol Casey, Jr. >NCSU Computer Science Department >Email Addresses: gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu > gec%cscosl@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu The Sota 386SX is a better, later design than the Intel 386/PC. Everything on a Sota fits on a half card while the Intel is a full card. The Intel has no 16 bit floppy/ hard disk controller option. My bottom line is what do you get for the money. The Intel 386/PC can be easily bought at a discount. The Sota was not as available as the Intel the last time I checked and the Sota was not bundled with any 32 bit memory. In the past, some vendors bundled Windows/386 with the Intel 386/PC. Additional note: it seems that Intel and Sota play different games: Sota attempts to make their product conform will all software. Intel attempts to make all software conform with their product. If a software developer conforms to the latter, the software should work on the former. __________________________________________________________________________ This article is posted for factual information only. Any misrepresentation, if any, is purely unintentional. Any opinion expressed or implicit in these remarks are solely my own. nghiem@emx.utexas.edu !cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!nghiem nghiem@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu !cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf!nghiem From: RFM@psuvm.psu.edu Date: 19 Mar 90 03:12:37 GMT I have a SOTA 386si installed in a Zenith Z-159 (XT-level PC). Installed it in early January, it ran well for 5 weeks, then started acting up -- I'm not clear if the problem was the card or the Zenith installation; they have to "tweak" the board in various ways to optimize it for different systems, and mine came untweaked originally. Anyway, it's back in my machine now & all seems well. I have a Norton SI rating of 15.6 with the card installed & the cache turned on. Turn caching off so you're running in the "native" (???) 386sx mode & the Norton is 2.8. They supply software drivers for all sorts of caching; before my cad went in, I had to uncache my video & BIOS to get my machine to run any software --WP50, LOTUS, etc. Everything works with all caches turned on now, so they did something while they had my board. I have 1.2 megs of memory. It's all expanded memory (EMS4.0) & runs under a Sota EMS driver. 256k is a hard drive cache (also SOTA software) & works ok. Not sure where all my other EMS memory is, but LOTUS uses it. The 386si is a half-card. SOTA sells an add-on called Memory 16i which plugs into the 386si & adds up to 8 megs of 1 mb SIMMS. They claim OS2 compatability (extended memory) or EMS 4.0 (expanded) capability - you could use with DesView (they have a driver), etc. I plan to buy when I can afford.... I'm not sure if the 16i will disable my other memory. I can reason to an argument that optimum performance would dictate that the 16i memory should take precedence -- 16-bit BUS, etc. Maybe I can move my present memory chips to the 16i. I haven't gotten that deep into it yet. i Anyway, all my software runs with the board. The folks at SOTA seem responsive to inquiries, helpful, etc. No hassles concerning repair/modifi- cation. I like the performance enhancement. I run WP50, SPSS-PC, LOTUS, DBASE, ProComm Plus, Harvard Graphics, Norton Utilities & Commander, and the WP Library shell program. Microsoft Paint, too. Maybe some others, but I can't think of any. All run with no problems. I'm a little apprehensive about reliability right now -- spooked by my earlier experience, I guess. But everything is working fine right now. I have some 350+k LOTUS files that used to take 1/2 hour to sort; they sort in less than a minute now. ---Bob Munzenrider, Penn State U - Harrisburg. From: granoff@vaxwrk.enet.dec.com (Mark H. Granoff) Date: 19 Mar 90 13:35:07 GMT Reply-To: granoff@vaxwrk.enet.dec.com (Mark H. Granoff) In article <1990Mar19.003132.29661@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>, gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu (Errol Casey) writes: > I am interested in collecting comments on either of these IBM PC > accelerator cards (Sota 286i / 386i). > > Questions: > > (1) Can you add additional memory to the accelerator card? How much. No, not directly on the card. The SOTA Memory/16i card, released in the last 6 months or so, allows you to add up to 4MB (SIMMS), and cables into the accellerator card. There's a 4MB duaghter card (for a total of 8MB) if you want more than 4MB. The 16i memory is considered primary memory since its obviously faster; any existing memory is used to backfill. > (2) Does the 386 use a 386 or 386sx? Does it come with 32bit memory? Dunno. > (3) Any compatiblity problems? None (that I've seen). I have had a 286i card in my AT&T 6300 for a couple of years now. I think my Norton SI rating is up around 17 or so (I also have a V30 instead of my 8086i chip). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mark H. Granoff | Software Services/Engineering VAXworks Digital Equipment Corporation | ARPAnet: granoff@vaxwrk.enet.dec.com 129 Parker Street | EASYnet: VAXWRK::GRANOFF PKO2-1/M21 | Usenet : ...!decwrl!vaxwrk.dec.com!granoff Maynard, MA 01754 | AT&T : (508) 493-4512 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Views expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: RFM@psuvm.psu.edu Date: 19 Mar 90 13:45:39 GMT SOTA 386si is available for $380 through PC Connection in New Hampshire. This is where I purchased mine. From: homerun@portia.Stanford.EDU (Matt Watson) Date: 19 Mar 90 19:10:28 GMT Sender: Matt Watson <homerun@portia.stanford.edu> Reply-To: homerun@portia.Stanford.EDU (Matt Watson) Sota had to recall all the memory/16i daughterboards for the 286i/386i because of numerous bugs. This was told to me last week by PC Connection, where I got my 386i board last summer. It uses a 386sx chip, which is how Sota hopes to use the same expansion board for the 286i/386i. I have mine running on an IBM ps/2 mod. 25 and it flies... hope this helps... matt. From: baer@uwovax.uwo.ca Date: 19 Mar 90 22:11:29 GMT In article <1990Mar19.003132.29661@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>, gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu (Errol Casey) writes: > I am interested in collecting comments on either of these IBM PC > accelerator cards (Sota 286i / 386i). > > Questions: > > (1) Can you add additional memory to the accelerator card? How much. - The accelerator card itself uses the mother board's 8-bit memory I don't know about the 286i, but the 386i uses a 16k cache to speed throughput. The 8-bit memory is a bit of a bottleneck, but the card will speed up many operations. You can buy a 16-bit memory card that attaches to the accelerator card, though. It can be populated with up to 4mB. > (2) Does the 386 use a 386 or 386sx? Does it come with 32bit memory? 386sx. 16-bit memory, of course > (3) Any compatiblity problems? Many machines require special adjustments ("fixes") to the board. For example, the off-the-shelf board and/or the memory card will not work with a Zenith, but with the addition of some soldered wires and the odd capacitor or resistor the card works fine. Phone Sota first and ask if a "fix" is needed for your machine; distributors usually don't know about this. > A few minor glitches. Anyone interested in details, send me an e-mail message (BAER@UWO.ca or BAER@UWOVAX.BITNET) and I'll send along more details of my own experiences (see my previous posting). > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Douglas Baer, Dept. of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada N6A 5C2 Internet: BAER@UWO.CA Bitnet: BAER@UWOVAX From: sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin) Date: 20 Mar 90 00:33:26 GMT In article <10312@portia.Stanford.EDU> homerun@portia.Stanford.EDU (Matt Watson) writes: >Sota had to recall all the memory/16i daughterboards for the 286i/386i >because of numerous bugs. This was told to me last week by PC Connection, >where I got my 386i board last summer. It uses a 386sx chip, which is how >Sota hopes to use the same expansion board for the 286i/386i. I have mine >running on an IBM ps/2 mod. 25 and it flies... > >hope this helps... > >matt. Well, I've had the Memory/16i daughtercard backordered for nearly eight months now. Does anyone know if it *is* out, ever *was* out, or when it *will* be out? Performance with the cache is usually pretty good (I'm running with no problems on an IBM PC-1), but I'd like some EMS. I've only had two minor technical problems with it, and in both cases, a quick call to SOTA had the problem fixed within twenty minutes. Kevin Martin sigma@pawl.rpi.edu --- not affiliated with SOTA in any way From: RFM@psuvm.psu.edu Date: 20 Mar 90 03:57:08 GMT When my 386si came back from SOTA last week, they enclosed a note to contact an outfit (Person? Company? ???) called "BOFFIN" at the number (800) 255-4012 to get a 16i memory board. I haven't called 'cuz I don't have the money. Bob M. - Penn State-Harrisburg. PS: My 386sx has been working like a champ for the last 4-5 days. So far so good....... Date: Tue, 20 Mar 90 14:53:15 PST From: leadsv!zech@gatech.edu (Bill Zech) I bought a 286i about a year or so ago. You cannot add RAM directly to the board, but there is a RAM expansion piggy back board which SOTA sells for the 286i. I think it will handle several megs. Don't know about the 386i, but I would guess it's not much different from the 286i. I plugged my 286i into an AT&T 6300, which is not known for its IBM compatibility. The 286i worked fine, and has never glitched. One thing to note is that if you have an 8087, you will have to remove it from your system. If you want a coprocessor, you will have to buy an 80287 (or 80387), which may cost nearly as much as the 286i itself. Intel really rips the public off on those. - Bill Granville Errol Casey, Jr. NCSU Computer Science Department Email Addresses: gec@cscosl.ncsu.edu gec%cscosl@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu