lel@wuphys.UUCP (Lyle E. Levine) (06/18/88)
A few days ago, I posted a request for advice on 3 1/2" Hard Disks for a 2000. We decided to go with Pacific Peripheral's Overdrive SCSI controller with a Seagate 157N HD (48 Meg formatted). Thanks to ALL for your wonderful response!!!!!!!!!!! I got much good advice and the above configuration matched our needs exactly. Now I need just one more thing. Is there ANY relatively cheap way to add a 68881? I know about the Hurricane board but would prefer just a floating point coprocessor. We do MUCHO floating point stuff in Physics! Price is important. Thanks in advance!!! ========== IBM is a Division of Sirius Cybernetics Corporation "their fundamental design flaws are completely hidden by their superficial design flaws." - "So Long And Thanks For All The Fish" Lyle Levine: Paths -> ihnp4!wuphys!lel Best way: (314)889-6379 uunet!wucs!wuphys!lel
dca@toylnd.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) (06/24/88)
In article <554@wuphys.UUCP>, lel@wuphys.UUCP (Lyle E. Levine) writes: > Now I need just one more thing. > > Is there ANY relatively cheap way to add a 68881? I know about > the Hurricane board but would prefer just a floating point > coprocessor. We do MUCHO floating point stuff in Physics! > Price is important. Thanks in advance!!! > Well.. I was intrigued by an ad in Info from CMI (Creative Microsystems Inc.) for a widget which supposedly substitutes for the 68000 which has a 14Mhz 68000 on it and a 68881 socket so I called and got the literature. Claimed performance increase of 20% - 40%. Advertised price is $149.95 without the 68881 and $199.95 with it. You probably aren't going to get any cheaper than this. Their address: Creative Microsystems 10110 SW Nimbus #B-1 Portland, OR 97223 Phone: (503) 684-9300 They also apparently do the Kickstart Elimnator for the 1000. I don't know anything else about this product and or company. When I called it was supposed to be coming available in around 3 weeks. It might be available now. David Albrecht
dales@teksce.SCE.TEK.COM (Dale Snell) (06/29/88)
[ Quick, Martha, get the line-eater! He's posting again!! ]
Hi all. This posting might be considered a bit commercial, so if that
offends you, hit "n" now...
You have been warned. :-)
Regarding Creative Microsystems Inc.'s Processor Accellerator: I've
seen it, it exists, and I'm going to buy one. I saw a demo the other day,
and was so impressed that I decided to dig into my hard disk fund to get one.
In article <223@toylnd.UUCP> dca@toylnd.UUCP (David C. Albrecht) writes:
|In article <554@wuphys.UUCP>, lel@wuphys.UUCP (Lyle E. Levine) writes:
|> Now I need just one more thing.
|>
|> Is there ANY relatively cheap way to add a 68881? I know about
|> the Hurricane board but would prefer just a floating point
|> coprocessor. We do MUCHO floating point stuff in Physics!
|> Price is important. Thanks in advance!!!
|>
|
|Well.. I was intrigued by an ad in Info from CMI (Creative Microsystems Inc.)
|for a widget which supposedly substitutes for the 68000 which has a 14Mhz
|68000 on it and a 68881 socket so I called and got the literature.
|
|Claimed performance increase of 20% - 40%. Advertised price is $149.95
|without the 68881 and $199.95 with it. You probably aren't going to get
|any cheaper than this.
Well... I called CMI today to put in my order, and this is (from
memory) what they told me: The $149.95 unit is the one with NO support for
the FPU, not even the glue chips or socket. The $199.95 unit has the glue,
socket, and support software, but *NO* *FPU*. :-( The person I talked
to apologised for the badly worded ad, and said that the marketing guy was
"taking it in the shorts" for that gaffe. Interestingly, their dealers
weren't interested in stocking the FPU-less model, only the more expensive
one. So if you want one, I guess that's the spendy one you'll have to get,
and buy the MC68881 yourself.
There are two different models (other than the price differential, that
is). One is for the A1000, the other for the A500/B2000. The 1000 model
should be shipping this week, the 500/2000 model should probably ship some
time starting next week. As far as I know, there isn't one for the A2000.
A little technical info: The board boots up at 7MHz. They supply a
program to toggle the speed between 7 and 14 MHz. There is also a program to
tell the system that it has an MC68881 installed. The FPU runs off of its
own crystal, and may be faster than the system clock. (The one I saw was a
16MHz model.) Unfortunately, under v1.2 Amiga software, the system won't
automatically use the FPU. That ability has to be compiled in. Version 1.3
will have the new floating point library, which the Amiga will use if it
knows about the '881. I don't know how many programs use both software and
hardware float routines, so I don't know how useful this gets under 1.2.
Guess I'll find out when I get mine.
|
|Their address:
|Creative Microsystems
|10110 SW Nimbus #B-1
|Portland, OR 97223
|
|Phone: (503) 684-9300
|
|They also apparently do the Kickstart Elimnator for the 1000. I don't
|know anything else about this product and or company. When I called it was
|supposed to be coming available in around 3 weeks. It might be available now.
??? I assume David means the Acellerator. The Kickstart Eliminator has
been shipping for a long time now. The company has been around for a while,
and while it's small, seems solid enough. Of course you should take that
judgement with a grain of salt... Um, the entire salt cellar... My business
acumen is virtually nil. :-)
Oh, and for those who want to know: Yes, they will be installing v1.3
ROMs in their KickStart Eliminators, when C=A releases it.
DISCLAIMER: I have no financial or business connection with Creative
Microsystems Incorporated, other than as a(n enthusiastic) customer. My
opinions in this matter are strictly my own, and in no way reflect the
corporate views of Tektronix, Incorporated, its officers or subsidiaries,
or of Creative Microsystems Inc.
If this was overly commercial, I apologise. It just seemed like the
perfect opportunity to let folks know about this, since the question was
asked, and I had just found out about the product.
--dds
|
|David Albrecht
|
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to Ami's request but Ami's request | UUCP-!: ...!tektronix!tekgen!teksce!dales
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