A_ASENCIO@upr1.upr.cun.edu (Hard Bytes Amiga User Group) (11/13/90)
Hi everybody: The Bodega Bay is a modular expansion console for the A500 that have 4 100-pin A2000 compatible card slots. 3 of the 4 slots are IBM compatible. Have 2 5.25" drive bays that can be use also for hard disk and 3.5" drives. Ah, of course,is made byu California Access, and the retail price is $349.95 Have anyone bought it or seen it? I want to knnow how reliable it is. Thanks, Angel// \X/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- // Hard Bytes University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez \X/ Amiga User Group A_ASENCIO@upr1.upr.clu.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------- ******* Did you eat your Apple? Is your machine STuck? ******* ***//** Or your Inferior Broken Machine doesn't work? ***//** *\X/*** @ @ WE HAVE THE CURE @ @ *\X/*** ******* \___/ Get an Amiga, it's the best! \___/ *******
md41@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Marcus Dolengo) (11/16/90)
California Access created this "beast" called "Bodega bay" which gives the
Amiga 500:
4 amiga 2000 slots including 3 PCXT/AT slots <the XT/AT slots "overlap?">
3 drive bays <2 5.25" and 1 3.5" drive bay>
"full A2000 compatibility*" <asterick theirs. the * reads: Video and
co-processor upgrade options coming soon. Contact your local dealer for more
details or call (408)/378-0340>
All for a price of $349.95 list!!!!!! fucking A! when are they shipping?
argh! I ordered my A500 on tuesday.. god I hope I can pick it up tomorrow.
a friend of mine got his A3000 in 3 days, shouldnt it take just that long for a
500 system? :-/
ahh, another question. I saw the supra ram ads, I wanna know if lets say I had
one for 2 megs Ram, could I use it with the GVP 500+HD? ah well. Is commodore's
external 3.5 inch drives still humongous or did they scale them down?
<still looking for a US Robotics modem, dual or whatever, preferably
used/reconditioned. anyone can help?>
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"Get your Jimmy thicker with St. Ides Malt Liquor" -Ice Cube
About MS-DOS: "... an OS originally designed for a microprocessor that modern
kitchen appliances would sneer at...."
- Dave Trowbridge, _Computer Technology Review_, Aug 90
<apologies to rlw@ttardis> :)hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill) (11/17/90)
.... Beware 500 expansion systems bearing more than 1 slot....
--
adam hill
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu Make Up Your Own Mind.. AMIGA!
Amiga... Multimedia NOW
Most Common Phrase at DevCon '90 - "Shhhhhhh.." yorkw@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (Willis F York) (11/17/90)
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill) writes: > .... Beware 500 expansion systems bearing more than 1 slot.... I jus saw a Neat ad for this, Took forever to figger out that it WAS an ad not just a pretty picture. What's the Price on this Puppie?, How good is it? . -- yorkw@ecn.purdue.edu Willis F York ---------------------------------------------- Macintosh... Proof that a Person can use a Computer all day and still not know ANYTHING about computers.
kzyx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (11/18/90)
Adam Hill writes: > .... Beware 500 expansion systems bearing more than 1 slot.... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If the expansion system is not placed too far away from the computer, and has its own power supply. It is not clear to me that more than 1 slot will constitute a problem. > adam hill > hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu Make Up Your Own Mind.. AMIGA
farren@well.sf.ca.us (Mike Farren) (11/18/90)
kzyx@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes: >Adam Hill writes: >> .... Beware 500 expansion systems bearing more than 1 slot.... > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > If the expansion system is not placed too far away from the computer, >and has its own power supply. It is not clear to me that more than 1 slot >will constitute a problem. The A500 expansion bus is just like the A1000 expansion bus, in that it is not designed to accomodate multiple bus loads. You might be able to get away with it, but lacking a specific statement from C/A that this is untrue, I would be VERY wary of trying to stick more loads on that slot. There are a LOT more considerations that bus length and power, believe me. Or if you don't want to believe me, try any good reference on digital design :-) -- Mike Farren farren@well.sf.ca.us
aegnor@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (David C. Powell) (11/19/90)
In article <1990Nov16.211604.1609@evax.arl.utexas.edu> hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill) writes: > > .... Beware 500 expansion systems bearing more than 1 slot.... >-- > adam hill > hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu Make Up Your Own Mind.. AMIGA! > Amiga... Multimedia NOW > Most Common Phrase at DevCon '90 - "Shhhhhhh.." Oh PLEASE, why should they BEWARE!? The Bodega Bay (tm) just reminds me of MY PAL (by Byte by Byte) a *5* slot Zorro I (yes kiddies predates the 2000 and 'her' slots) expansion chassis with room for 3 half height 5.25 form factor devices (ie. HD's, Floppies, what-not). Just looks like it has been redesigned for the 500 and updated to be Zorro II form factor slots (with bridge-board compatibility(sp?) added... as long as it is PROPERLY designed (like mine) I see NO reason to fear, in fact, if I OWNED a 500, tis what I would INVEST in! I use mine constantly in the following configuration: 2 HD's (a 40Meg and a 20Meg, a 2 Meg board, 1 Meg on the 'motherboard' of the PAL, the HD's are controlled by a ST506 controller in slot "3", the memory board is in slot "4", and a 2400ZI *INTERNAL* Supra 2400 baud modem is in slot "2", I am about to add another 2 Meg board in slot "5" and slot "1" will hold a SCSI controller RSN (I number the 5 slots from top to bottom, 1-5) and the HD's sit to the left of the slots, with one free half height space that will go to my SCSI drive I plan to format for STRICTLY Mac (A-Max II) use ONLY! So again I ask, why if it is properly designed should ANY 500 owner beware!? My PAL was built in 1986, and has been used by me and one other for THAT long with NO problems (h$ll, it has the ORIGINAL Microscience 40Megger in it!) and I have several friends who WILL be buying the Bodega Bay(tm) and I have NO fear for them, for from what I have read/seen of the brochures it will be the only device on the bus, just what C= supports.... and at THAT price they should sell a TON of them.... Oh well, I just wanted to throw my $.02 in, as I use the 'big brother' that predates the Bodega bay by, oh 4 years with no probs... wanted to 'un-scare' any potential buyers.... don't fear till AFTER it proves to be badly designed (which from all appearances it is NOT, but one never knows....) Disclaimer (my first) I do NOT work for CA, am not going to buy a Bodega Bay(tm), do not own a 500, etc. Just wanted OTHERS to know that as long as the expansion chassis is well designed, you should get years of good service out of one of these puppies.... ;-) If it turns out to be junk, well, THEN there might be a 'true' arguement for the above post (Beware....) Flames to /dev/null, I have TOO MUCH real work during the week to read them in my mail box... :-) -dcp (trying to CLEAR not muddy the waters...) *----///-David C.Powell--:ARPA: aegnor@bsu-cs.bsu.edu--------------------* |\\\/// :UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!aegnor | | \///\miga 1000 evolves to the /\miga 3000, the dream continues... -me | |"Humanity does seem to have beer pretty well nailed down, but computers,| *-forget it. They're just starting to get usable..." -Dave Haynie-------*
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill) (11/20/90)
As being the person that posted this I guess I should defer to the people
who designed the 500. Anyone from CBM willing to explain potential problems
associated with a expansion chassis on the 500. Will the fact that it has no
BUSTER chip affect having a DMA SCSI card with a BridgeBoard and a memory
card on the Amiga side. What I want to know is can you get all of the signals
from the 86 pin bus to drive a 030 accelerator?
I just remember some of the expansion chassis from 2 yrs ago giving 500
owners grief and explanation of how when you buffer the bus to reduce noise you
make multiple things on the bus "unstable". Or am I just dreaming about these
post?
I would like to hear from someone who bought it and has >1 thing installed
in it. The true test will be the running of MANY different boards.
The Eternal Pessimist
--
adam hill
hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu Make Up Your Own Mind.. AMIGA!
Amiga... Multimedia NOW
Most Common Phrase at DevCon '90 - "Shhhhhhh.." ridder@elvira.enet.dec.com (Hans Ridder) (11/21/90)
In article <1990Nov19.213059.2402@evax.arl.utexas.edu> hill@evax.arl.utexas.edu (Adam Hill) writes: > As being the person that posted this I guess I should defer to the people >who designed the 500. Anyone from CBM willing to explain potential problems >associated with a expansion chassis on the 500. Will the fact that it has no >BUSTER chip affect having a DMA SCSI card with a BridgeBoard and a memory >card on the Amiga side. What I want to know is can you get all of the signals >from the 86 pin bus to drive a 030 accelerator? Well, I'm not from Commodore, but I'd like to point out that there's nothing magic about Buster. He's just some logic on a chip, logic that can easily be produced with a PAL or discrete gates. The Expansion Specifications show just what's needed. With that, you should be able to use any legal Zorro II cards, DMA and everything. I sort of doubt however, that anyone will produce an expansion box with IBM slots and a co-processor slot, etc. Once you pack all that and a power supply into a box, it would probably be too expensive for most A500 owners (although it's probably technically possible.) It might cost as much as an A2000, considering what the sales volume might be. If you don't believe, just ask Perry at ASDG about the A2001. > I just remember some of the expansion chassis from 2 yrs ago giving >500 owners grief and explanation of how when you buffer the bus to >reduce noise you make multiple things on the bus "unstable". Or am I >just dreaming about these post? I think you probably got that backwards. As a long time A1000 owner, I've followed all of Dave Haynie's posts on expansion bus stuff. The problem is with expansion boxes which *don't* buffer the bus. Putting multiple boards in one of these will almost guarantee problems. A properly designed expansion box should work just as well as the A2000/A3000. About a month ago, Dave posed the question (in c.s.a.hardware, I think) as to why no one has taken the design straight from the Expansion Specifications, and made an expansion chassis for the A500 (and the A1000 :-). I don't think he would've mentioned it if he did think it was possible! He seemed to think that there was some money to be made there, and I'd have to agree with him. I imagine that's just what the Bodega Bay people did (I wish I'd done it!) > adam hill -hans ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hans-Gabriel Ridder Digital Equipment Corporation ridder@elvira.enet.dec.com Customer Support Center ...decwrl!elvira.enet!ridder Colorado Springs, CO