mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) (10/20/88)
I am currently in the process of buying a SCSI hard disk controller for my
A1000. I would also like the ability to add memory (probably not more than 2
MB) in the future without too much pain.
I am not interested in the A1000 SOTS products due to lack of an upgrade path
should I move to another Amiga, their tendency to obliviate the expansion bus
for other use, and the fact that they are not DMA. The Supra SOTS product does
not offer memory expansion anymore (they discontinued that) and is not DMA.
Besides, their hard disk is expensive and uglier than sin.
The exception to the SOTS rule is the Microbotics Starboard, which is usable on
an A2000 and offers memory expansion capability on-board. Unfortunately, it is
not true DMA transfer. Conversing with Matt Dillion, he tells me that he gets
about 40-50K/sec with FFS, but that he also has an Adaptec SCSI <-> ST-412
converter that may be getting in the way of data transfer. I would be
interested in hearing comparisons of the Starboard with the current crop of
Zorro-2 DMA controller cards. This, not coincidentally, is the cheapest
acceptable option available to me.
If I want to purchase a Zorro-2 controller card, I have few choices. The
2000-and-1 nearly certainly will not be produced. I called ASDG and found that
they had received only about 30-40 reservations for 2000-and-1 boxes, and that
they were expecting about 300 to seriously go forward with production. The
Pacific Peripherals box is delayed until mid-december, with who knows how many
other delays until the box finally sees the light of day. The Bill's Boards
product is (in my opinion) expensive for what it delivers, will require assembly
on my part (it comes half-assembled), and will require me to search for a power
supply and baby-AT case to produce an system with a footprint the size of
Godzilla.
Selling my A1000 and moving to an A2000 will cost more than any of the other
solutions available to me, though it would give me the coprocessor slot and
capability of using the new chipset.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
--M
Michael Portuesi / Information Technology Center / Carnegie Mellon University
ARPA/UUCP: mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu BITNET: rainwalker@drycas
"my friends say she's a dumb blonde, but they don't know she dyes her hair"