bisanabi@vrdxhq.UUCP (Paul Paloski) (03/06/87)
> From: seismo!harvard!wanginst!elrond!bam (Bruce A. Mallett) > > Yes, my brother recently bought one of these systems from IMS with a > 44meg MiniScribe drive, a monochrome adapter, and a full meg of memory. > The thing works well and does about 10.1 on the Norton utility (at 10 > mcycle). It is nicely built using the std. rail mounting for the disk > drives. Speaking of which it has room for two full height hard drives > plus a single 1.2 meg floppy or for 3 1/2 high drives and a full height > hard. Was also glad to see that they use the Western Digital > controller. The system has the fastest boot time I ever saw in an AT > clone: CTL-ALT-DEL to MS-DOS prompt is about 5 seconds! The Miniscribe > drive is FAST (28ms) and it shows. Also comes with Speed-Stor software > which is menu driven and a snap to setup. > > The only weak point is the keyboard which is smaller than an AT's and > has a sloppy feel to it. If possible try to substitute this for one you > are more comfortable with. > > The people at IMS are courteous and shipped the system to us within 10 > days. Of course if others start noticing their add I am sure that they > will get backlogged! Overall I am very impressed. > > (Bruce A. Mallett) > The above is a reply I received last month when I made a request about the IMS machines. Since then I have also purchased one. Here are my comments : Computer System : AT Clone (6/10 Mhz) : 6 MHz - slower than 6 MHz IBM PC/AT -- Norton rates at 5.7 : 10 MHz - faster than 6 MHZ (obviously)- Norton rates at 10.3 Keyboard : AT style, smaller, squishy feel (better than PC Limited) : (IMS said that you could plug a regular IBM keyboard in) Power Supply : 200 Watts : can handle those additional cards Hard Drive : Miniscribe 70 Meg : 28ms (fast), sounds noisy but works Floppy Drive : Hitachi or something : works/sounds fine, (PC Limited drives are very flakey, so I was concerned.) EGA Card : Some generic card : does not emulate CGA nor Hercules mode. Upgrades : Video 7 Vega $140 extra - software mode switch resolution 640x350 : Video 7 Vega Deluxe $190 extra - automatic mode switch resolution 640x480/752x410 SpeedStor : Used for partitioning the hard disk : VERY nice and easy. Extras : --------- Monitor : $164 Upgraded to the NEC Multisynch 512K Memory : $ 70 Upgraded to 1 Meg (they use 256K chips, not 64K) I/O Card : $ 75 Added Everex I/O Card (1 serial, 1 parallel port ) Negative Comments : ----------------- When I removed the cover from the machine, the box itself looked like it had been dropped from a plane without a parachute. The mounting around the floppy drive looked like it had been hammered repeatedly; the flat metal braces being bent, dented, etc. The case itself wobbles slightly which produces noise from vibration. I found out from the company that they receive the boxes separate and add the components in themselves. They were very pleasant when I mentioned the mangled box, and would talk with the assembly department. Everything in the box works fine, so I know they were added after the box got hurt :-) And once the cover is replaced, and the monitor sitting on top, you would never know the condition of the box. The I/O card was jumpered incorrectly. At least if you plan on using the serial port with a modem, it was incorrect. This was 'easily' fixed. (Took me time because I ruled out a jumper set which was the 'problem'). Another minor point was that when I ordered the 'upgraded Vega board', I meant 'out of the two Vega boards, I want the upgraded, or higher, one', and they heard 'upgrade from the generic board to a Vega board'. So mention the Vega DELUXE specifically if that is what you want. I even asked for verification of the ordered items and missed the distinction. They have sent out the Vega Deluxe card to me, and given me a return authorization number for returning the other Vega board. However, my credit card account has been charged for both EGA cards until they receive the old one back. There is a hum which periodically comes and goes which drives me crazy. I've tightened everything up, but no luck. It may rest with the warped box mentioned earlier. POSITIVE: --------- System : The system seems to work fine. I have used it for about a week with no problems. Just some cosmetic/aesthetic items. People : The IMS people are very courteous. They spent a bit of time trying to satisfy me (I tried to have them bill me the $50 EGA upgrade difference and send it out, and trust that I will return the other board), but each of three people I talked with were not authorized to do so. They even answered some technical questions while I was making my order. Delivery : The system arrived on the tenth business day after the order. : Some companies send their boards via FedEx, but this one is via : UPS, but this does help keep costs down. All in all, I would recommend this company and their systems to anyone. -Paul -- :-- Paul : :UUCP: ...!{decuac, rlgvax, seismo, verdix}!vrdxhq!bisanabi
crimmins@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu.UUCP (03/11/87)
/* Written 11:02 am Mar 6, 1987 by bisanabi@vrdxhq.UUCP in uxc.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.ibm.pc */ > >Computer System : AT Clone (6/10 Mhz) > : 6 MHz - slower than 6 MHz IBM PC/AT -- Norton rates at 5.7 > : 10 MHz - faster than 6 MHZ (obviously)- Norton rates at 10.3 Slower than a 6 MHz IBM PC/AT? Norton rates a 6MHz IBM PC/AT at the same speed, a 5.7 rating. An 8 Mhz AT operates at a Norton rating of 7.7 Too bad those aren't *actual* speed increases as seen through *actual* use..... ---- Dan Crimmins University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Computing Services Office - Micro Consulting Dept. ARPA: crimmins@uiucuxc.cso.uiuc.edu BITNET: crimmins@uiucuxc.bitnet CSNET: crimmins@uiucuxc.csnet UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!crimmins
bisanabi@vrdxhq.UUCP (03/25/87)
In article <174200046@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu>, crimmins@uxc.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >> >>Computer System : AT Clone (6/10 Mhz) >> : 6 MHz - slower than 6 MHz IBM PC/AT - Norton rates at 5.7 > > Slower than a 6 MHz IBM PC/AT? Norton rates a 6MHz IBM PC/AT at the same > speed, a 5.7 rating. I ran a program on the IMS in the 6-Mhz mode and on a 6-Mhz IBM PC/AT at the same time. It merely performed calculations in memory and displayed which loop number it was doing on the screen. Watching both run simultaneously for 10,000 loops, the IMS machine definitely ran slower at that speed. (Does the one wait state at 10 Mhz mean one wait state at 6 Mhz ??) -- :-- Paul : :UUCP: ...!{decuac, rlgvax, seismo, verdix}!vrdxhq!bisanabi