northrup@wpi.wpi.edu (Jim Northrup) (07/08/90)
Just in case anybody else out there finds themselves in a similar situation, especially if they're considering buying the SubSystem expansion chassis... I have an Amiga 500 and some months ago I wanted to expand the ram. Thinking that I would someday be upgrading to a 2000, I went out and bought a SubSystem expansion chassis, and a ram card for it. My first ram card was a Supra card; it didn't work. I took it back (to The Software Shop) and they (cheerfully) replaced it with a Microbotics 8-Up card. It worked fine and has been working fine ever since. Today I went shopping for a hard card. My first attempt was a Microbotics Hard Frame with a GVP hard drive mounted on it. Two basic problems arose: (1) It doesn't fit in the chassis. I don't know why Progressive Peripherals was so cheap with their sheet metal; they should have made the chassis bigger. (2) The Subsystem and the Hard Frame didn't get along: I got system lock ups. I took the Hard Frame/GVP back to the Software Shop. They charged me a restocking fee, and I decided to try out a Xetec controller/GVP hard drive instead. This part isn't the fault of the subsytem: it turns out that the Xetec was defective. The Software Shop exhanged it for Supra controller instead. No restocking fee. Now here's where things REALLY got to be a pisser. It turns out that the Subsystem/8-Up doesn't get along with the Supra controller either! It doesn't make any difference which order they go on the bus: they just don't work together. The easiest symptom to spot is that the system won't warm boot; you can type Ctrl-Am-Am and the system will start the resest, the hard drive light will flash on for a second, but no booting takes place. So, Monday morning I get to take the Supra-setup back and pay another restocking fee. Here's why IMHO this is a real pisser: I can understand how hard it is to make the SubSystem be 100% A2000 compatible; the fact that the Hard Frame didn't work with the SubSystem didn't piss me off. But the fact that the SubSystem can't even be on the bus...that's annoying. I mean, all it should have to do is pass-thru cleanly, no? So, here's the bottom line. After months of being a fan of the SubSystem, I have to recommend against it now. For me, it was a very expensive way to just add a couple of meg to the 500. If I had to do it all over again, I'd just go with an A590-type setup in the first place, and to hell with an A2000 upgrade path. It sounds good in theory, but it's just not robust enough. -- Jim Northrup northrup@wpi.wpi.edu Assistant Professor, Mathematical Sciences WPI, Worcester MA 01609
salam@ub.d.umn.edu (Salim Alam) (07/12/90)
In article <13912@wpi.wpi.edu> northrup@wpi.wpi.edu (Jim Northrup) writes: > >So, here's the bottom line. After months of being a fan of the SubSystem, >I have to recommend against it now. For me, it was a very expensive way >to just add a couple of meg to the 500. If I had to do it all over again, >I'd just go with an A590-type setup in the first place, and to hell with >an A2000 upgrade path. It sounds good in theory, but it's just not robust >enough. >-- My .02c : I would highly recommend the IVS Trumpcard as a means of hard-drive/ram expansion for the Amiga. It is well designed, the expansion box slopes in order to ease typing, and IVS offers wonderful support. Also, the best part is that with all this, it is also the CHEAPEST alternative. And when you want to upgrade to a 2000, all you have to do is plug the cards into the 2000! - A satisfied customer.
BRANDON@ncsuvm.ncsu.edu (Brandon Hill) (07/13/90)
The IVS Trumpcard is definately a nice box. I have some praoblems with it...
the drive is mounted upside down (something some drive manufacturers reccommend
against) and there is no fan to cool the drive. (it gets rather hot after
running for several hours) The solution is simple, though...just mount the
drive in a seperate enclosure with better ventilation. This has the added
benefit of keeping the drive noise off the desktop.
BlHrnm@well.sf.ca.us (Robert Marsanyi) (07/17/90)
A further plug for the IVS Trumpcard. I've got one with 2Mb in SIMMs + a Quantum drive; it's quiet, runs pretty cool and all off the 500 supply (!), although I'm pretty sure I'd want to add an independent supply if I filled out the memory space. Also, I take it on gigs with me, and haven't messed anything up yet. --rbt rnm@well robert@f124.n25.z1.fidonet.ORG