dross@ub.d.umn.edu (david ross) (09/13/89)
My brother-in-law has an 512k Amstrad XT clone (I think the PC512) with 2 5.25" drives. He wants to enhance the machine a bit, and recently asked my advice about hard disks, memory expansion, and speed-ups. Since he's rather distant (in CA), I haven't had a chance to open his box and check out the slot arrangement (if memory serves, th Amstrad has 3 8-bit slots free). I also recall something about the Amstrad BIOS being in-house and somewhat strange. So, I address these questions to the Amstrad-owning community: 1) Has anyone had any special trouble/success fitting a hard card into the Amstrad? (He's thinking of getting a cheapie, like the ones from HDI or CompuAdd) 2) Has anyone successfully run an EMS board (e.g., an Everex) in the creature? Will it fit alongside a hard card in the slots provided? 3) Will the Amstrad tolerate a NEC V30? 4) If he decides to splurge, and get an Inboard 386 (in lieu of #2 and #3), will this fit in the machine alongside a hard card? More to the point, will it work? How about other accelerator boards? Please e-mail to conserve bandwidth; I'll summarize if there's either something exceptionally interesting or if other Amstrad owners ask me to.