md41@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Marcus Dolengo) (10/22/90)
I7m kinda tired of all this talk about the new macs, etc. etc, though I'd like to see Commodore do some heavy duty advertising blitzes on the A3000UX, A500P and all the other amigas. <stepping off soapbox> I plan to get an A500 very soon <any week now> and thought about getting the A590 for it until I saw this A500+" thing from GVP and I think in Amigaworld I saw an ad for another A590-type product. I wanted to know: 1- which one of these three periphs are faster <the HD's> and what their costs are <if anyone can quote prices around the NYC area, it would be better. I saw the A590 at JR music world for $460 but i'd probably get that on the Ed Disc before i'd buy it at JR music world....> 2- What are the maximum amounts of RAM i can plug into the A500 using these products? And can I install additional HD's? <ie say a CMD drive or other SCSI drives> thanks in advance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- o o | This Space For Rent Amiga!! // << md41@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu >> | \\ // /> <\ | \X/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coming soon to a .sig near you- Quotes!
rwm@atronx.UUCP (Russell McOrmond) (10/24/90)
In a message posted on 22 Oct 90 01:06:26 GMT,
md41@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Marcus Dolengo) wrote:
MD>1- which one of these three periphs are faster <the HD's> and what their costs
This is a loaded Question. The HARD-DRIVE in almost any other product is faster
than the IDE-8 that Commodore seems to insist on placing into the A590 - It
basically takes the BEST controller available for the A500, and puts a drive
in it that makes the competition make a LOT of money. Where I work we end
up selling a lot of the GVP controllers due to this problem with the Commodore
System. The Commodore CONTROLLER is faster, but the drive they ship with the
GVP (A Quantum 40M) makes the package run much faster.
Now, if Commodore Shipped their Superior controller with a Quantum SCSI drive
, then it would be an easy decision.
At this point, it depends on what you are willing to do:
a) Buy the A590 - Sell the IDE drive, and buy a REAL HD to put into your
controller
b) Take the simpler (And ends up being cheaper considering what Little money
you can get for an IDE) route and buy the GVP controller.
From a Hardware/Software standpoint, I have found the GVP and Commodore
Controllers to be the only real contenders. They have the experience, and
the Name to back up their products, unlike some of the 'Fly-By-Night'
people that are coming out with controllers these days - BEWARE - If something
breaks, and the company you bought the controller from no longer exists,
a replacement costs a LOT more than what you might have saved.
MD>2- What are the maximum amounts of RAM i can plug into the A500 using these
MD>products? And can I install additional HD's? <ie say a CMD drive or other
MD>SCSI drives>
The A590 takes 2M of DIP ram (256*4 chips - Quite common in a lot of Commodore
equipment these days (According to Schematics, placing 1M*4 chips are
possible with a single PAL change - I wonder if Commodore ever has plans to
offer an upgrade - 8M would be great(Expecially for the Cable companies that
buy 3 A500's instead of 1 2000, and allow for Multiple Redundancy in their
setups - A Small drive, and LOTS of RAM is what they need))
The GVP uses 4 1M*8 SIMM modules (IE: More expansion, but costs more Per meg)
---
Opinions expressed in this message are my Own. My Employer does not even
know what these networks ARE.
Russell McOrmond rwm@atronx.UUCP {fts1,alzabo}!atronx!rwm
FidoNet 1:163/109 Net Support: (613) 230-2282
Amiga-Fidonet Support 1:1/109joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) (10/25/90)
I think Commodore should make a variation of the A590 that has NO IDE, and is capable of handling SIMMs that are 1megx4 or 256x4. -Joseph Hillenburg UUCP: ...iuvax!valnet!joseph ARPA: valnet!joseph@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu INET: joseph@valnet.UUCP