jhc00614@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (01/17/90)
I have just recently purchased the Trumpcard 500 and I have a few
questions and answers for anybody interested.
Questions first: Note, I have a Trumpcard rev. 3.1 and utilities 1.3g
After formatting and setting my ST-157N-1 into two partitions, I got
a total formatted space of 45.8 meg. Someone mentioned of a way to increase
this and I was wondering how it is done.
Second, the interleave was supposed to be set at 3:1 in the default
parameters of the TCUTILS program but someone on PLink mentioned that a
setting of 2:1 increased his access time significantly. I followed suit
and was wondering if it really does help.
Lastly, how fast is it compared to other A500 hard drive systems? And
is it possible to set up both Amiga and Mac partitions on the same drive?
(P.S. Where would I get this patch by the way?)
If anybody can help with these three questions, I really appreciate it.
Now, maybe I can help somebody as well. I have just purchased the
Meta 4 card w/ 0K from Briwall for $165. I have purchased two 1X8 80NS
SIMMS from Micro Electronic Tech. of MA at 508-435-9057 for $80 a piece
with lifetime warranty. (They are made by Siemans of West Germany). In
addition, I purchased a separate power supply because it is necessary if
you add extra ram. Instead of paying IVS for an overpriced power supply,
I purchased a external hard disk case w/ 60 watt power supply and fan from
Wetex International in CA at 213 728 3119. It has room for two 1/2 height
5 1/4 inch hard drives and 3 power chords.
I hooked up the red +5V and Yellow +12V to a 5 din plug I purchased
from Radio Schack that plugs into the back of the Trumpcard 500 case.
The Trumpcard 500 din switch if you look at it from the back of the case
goes as follows: TOP
+5 G
+12 N
G
(G stands for ground)
This setup works find and dandy but don't forget to use a voltmeter to
make sure before you hook it all together. (Also, you should turn on the
hard drive power before the computer power).
All I can say, is that the Trumpcard is a fine little hard drive though
the extra power supply and muffin fan I bought for it along w/ the set up
time was a bit more than I planned on spending money or time on in buying it
but I considered the Xetec, A590 and Impact before deciding on it. Oh yeah,
I also considered the Infinity Machine by MAST but after getting BS and one
excuse after another since November, I decided I didn't have an INFINITY and
went with something that exists.
Hope this helps anybody,
Jason Chungeberger@godot.psc.edu (Ed Berger) (01/17/90)
In article <111400077@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> jhc00614@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > > > I have just recently purchased the Trumpcard 500 and I have a few >questions and answers for anybody interested. I was considering the Trumpcard 500 when I went shopping for a hardrive. It seems to be the answer for someone who NEEDS Amax support now. The patch was supposedly on PeopleLink (where everything else seems to be). > Lastly, how fast is it compared to other A500 hard drive systems? I've heard that it is comparable, You're not going to get super high performance without an accelerated Amiga, the drive probably has about the most effect, not the controller & software unless they're really bad... Here's whats wrong with the TrumpCard 500: ========================================== > Now, maybe I can help somebody as well. I have just purchased the >Meta 4 card w/ 0K from Briwall for $165. I have purchased two 1X8 80NS >SIMMS from Micro Electronic Tech. of MA at 508-435-9057 for $80 a piece So to add 2M of RAM it costs you ~$320. To add 2M of RAM to the A590 cost me ~$158.50 (all you need is the chips) To add 2M of RAM to a Supra/500 or Pacific Periphs costs ~$269 (of course thats all you can add, not 4M RAM) >addition, I purchased a separate power supply because it is necessary if >you add extra ram. I was wondering how they handled that, its never mentioned in the Ads. I figured it needed external power, everyone else does.... I was hoping it used another ZorroII slot for ram so if you upgrade to a 2000 your RAM can follow you; but I've heard that it is a proprietary card??? Supra and I guess Pac.Periph. use power from you're hardrive supply, which you must furnish if you buy only the controller. > USEFUL Info on power supply hookup deleted.... > All I can say, is that the Trumpcard is a fine little hard drive though >the extra power supply and muffin fan I bought for it along w/ the set up >time was a bit more than I planned on spending money or time on in buying it >but I considered the Xetec, A590 and Impact before deciding on it. I do think they go out of the way to make the inital price seem great. But if you add multiple partitions, or hardrives to you're controller you'll want to add at least 512K, to have 1M left for applications. People considering a hardrive upgrade have to look at the overall system that is required to figure out the price. It may be easier to buy one piece at a time. My brother-n-law got a Cltd (non-Kronos), and had to return it twice, before he got a working example. He had to buy a power supply and case for his used SCSI drive, and the software FedX didn't support it, making life all the more difficult. It was an obscure drive, but they did support its larger brothers. Supra does not support it either, but the A590 software justs asks the drive for info, and works wonderfully. At least the Cltd software could ask the drive, and tell you (so you can figure it out), the supra would leave you guessing if you got an unsupported drive without info from the mfr. And then you have to manually enter it everytime you run Supra-Format (No Save data) That turns out to be 3 times to configure the drive. (you're forced to reboot and run SupraFormat again... The best software... Sure...) >Oh yeah, >I also considered the Infinity Machine by MAST but after getting BS and one >excuse after another since November, I decided I didn't have an INFINITY and >went with something that exists. That was the most obvious vaporware Ad I've ever seen! -Ed Berger eberger@b.psc.edu
871579l@aucs.uucp (Todd Lowe) (01/18/90)
In Article: 33076 of comp.sys.amiga Jason Chung writes: > I have just recently purchased the Trumpcard 500 and I have a few > questions and answers for anybody interested. > > After formatting and setting my ST-157N-1 into two partitions, I got >a total formatted space of 45.8 meg. Someone mentioned of a way to increase >this and I was wondering how it is done. > Second, the interleave was supposed to be set at 3:1 in the default >parameters of the TCUTILS program but someone on PLink mentioned that a >setting of 2:1 increased his access time significantly. I followed suit >and was wondering if it really does help. Thanx for the info on the ram, and I have some answers for the above, but due to their nature they are in comp.sys.amiga.tech. Todd Lowe 871579l@aucs
jhc00614@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (01/21/90)
The thing is, I knew the costs involved before I purchased the Trumpcard.
Impact, no matter what configuration, was out of bounds. The C-ltd was too
slow and too old. The A590 is nice, if you are willing to pay around $650 for
a 20 meg 80ms scsi. So $650, plus, $250? for the dated 256Kx4 ram, no fan,
and no expansion if you get an A2000, and all the compatibility troubles?
Well, cost alone was $900 for a 20 meg 80 ms system w/2meg? The Trump
cost me $230 for the case and controller, $339 for a 48meg 28ms ST-157n-1,
$160 for 2 meg of simms! (80ns), and $165 Meta 4 ram card EXPANDABLE to 4 meg,
$80 for power supply and case w/ room for 2 1/2 height hard drives when I
expand my system, and you get a very expandable, upgradeable, compatible
system for about 100 bucks more. Definitely worth it in my opinion,
especially since for that $100 bucks more, I get 28 meg more space, on a
faster hard drive, which I can take apart and put in my A2000 (someday
soon hopefully), with no compatibilty problems.
To each his own,
Look before you leap,
But he who hesitates is lost,
And other meaningles statements,
Jason Chung jhc00614@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (01/21/90)
Correction: I'm sorry, your system cost $160 ram + whatever you
paid for your system. I figured the A590 at $650 because that was the
best quote I got mail order. What did you pay for your A590 anyways?
If you bought it from your dealer, I'm inclined to believe you paid
close to $700 + tax.
Regardless, even if you paid $600 for it (my friend got one used
at that price) you get what you pay for, which is a SLOW drive,
with a SMALL drive space and no future expandability.
Even if it cost you on the low end, $760 for it all, for the extra
money, I got speed and space and a power supply. (BTW, the power supply
wasn't required, just an extra safety margin, because the A500 system
is only guaranteed for the computer and external drive.) Now, with
that power supply and case, I can expand easily. When you expand your
A590, guess what you are going to have to get?, a case and power supply...
so who's system is more cost effective in the end?
p.s. it would be a lot easier if you informed us how much your
A590 cost you. eberger@godot.psc.edu (Ed Berger) (01/22/90)
In article <111400085@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> jhc00614@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > > Correction: I'm sorry, your system cost $160 ram + whatever you >paid for your system. I figured the A590 at $650 because that was the >best quote I got mail order. What did you pay for your A590 anyways? >If you bought it from your dealer, I'm inclined to believe you paid >close to $700 + tax. I paid $589 for the A590 from a local authorized dealer, I should have waited for the educational discount. > Regardless, even if you paid $600 for it (my friend got one used >at that price) you get what you pay for, which is a SLOW drive, >with a SMALL drive space and no future expandability. I can exapand by adding 7 more SCSI devices, how many do you have? Its more than adequate for my current needs. No I will not have the complete Fish Collection on my drive, but my top picks from said collection. The drive measures slow. It is a heck of a lot more responsive than floppies, and connecting a faster drive did not seem substantial. Most programs seem to be made of small files, not just one large one. Diskperformance is less noticable under these conditions. > Even if it cost you on the low end, $760 for it all, for the extra >money, I got speed and space and a power supply. (BTW, the power supply >wasn't required, just an extra safety margin, because the A500 system >is only guaranteed for the computer and external drive.) Now, with >that power supply and case, I can expand easily. When you expand your >A590, guess what you are going to have to get?, a case and power supply... If I just replace the internal drive, no I don't need another power-supply. These days with all the new 200M 3.5" SCSI drives does make it look like a possibility. Since the A590 is CBM product. Any Passthru expansion device which doesn't work with it is BRAINDEAD! There really isn't much difference between prices for solutions. The A590 is incredibly easy for anyone to add to an Amiga500. Adding an external MacType drive should also be a piece of cake. I haven't seen any solution for A500 hardrives that is going to take full height SCSI drives (Which is where some of the largest drives and bargains are.) -Ed Berger eberger@b.psc.edu
eberger@godot.psc.edu (Ed Berger) (01/22/90)
In article <111400083@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> jhc00614@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes: > >dated 256Kx4 ram, no fan, 80nS is really dated RAM. The A590 has a fan! Its purring at me right now. >and no expansion if you get an A2000, and all the compatibility troubles? The drive should be perfectly formatted for the new A2091, oops. > Well, cost alone was $900 for a 20 meg 80 ms system w/2meg? The Trump $589 + 159 = $748 (A590 + RAM Chips) $230 + 339 + 160 + 165 + 80 = $964 >cost me $230 for the case and controller, $339 for a 48meg 28ms ST-157n-1, >$160 for 2 meg of simms! (80ns), and $165 Meta 4 ram card EXPANDABLE to 4 meg, >$80 for power supply and case w/ room for 2 1/2 height hard drives when I But Right now all you have is 2M of RAM, and a hardrive. Anything can be expanded in the future. I think many people would be terribly happy with 20M It is a lot of room for an organized environment. -Ed Berger eberger@b.psc.edu