mook@pnet02.cts.com (Ralph Stempel) (05/31/88)
The LA Times had an article last week about the high cost/unavailability of
256K DRAMS. They quoted lots of people from a number of computer companies,
and nobody suggested that there was any connection between this shortage and
any government action.
Their contention was that nobody was making any 256K's, having switched to
producing 1meg DRAMS. The 1 meggers are supposed to catch up to demand by late
'88/early'89.
There is no reason to believe that there will ever be any appreciable
number of 256K chips available.
-Ralph Stempel
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd!crash, cadovax}!gryphon!pnet02!mook
INET: mook@pnet02.cts.comelg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) (06/01/88)
in article <4271@gryphon.CTS.COM>, mook@pnet02.cts.com (Ralph Stempel) says: > The LA Times had an article last week about the high cost/unavailability of > 256K DRAMS. They quoted lots of people from a number of computer companies, > and nobody suggested that there was any connection between this shortage and > any government action. They must not have interviewed Jack Tramiel, is all I have to say about THAT. To see what I'm talking about, look in the "Nanobytes" section of the latest Byte, for what Jack has to say (he accuses the semiconductor industry of collusion and false shortages, amongst other things). Is it true that Jack (oops, Atari Corp.) is suing Micron about a RAM contract they tried to slip out of? Just a random rumor I picked up somewhere... -- Eric Lee Green {cuae2,ihnp4}!killer!elg Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509 "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"
tsouth@pro-pac.CTS.COM (Todd South) (06/01/88)
In Article: <4271@gryphon.CTS.COM> mook@pnet02.cts.com (Ralph Stempel) writes: > The LA Times had an article last week about the high cost/unavailability > of 256K DRAMS. They quoted lots of people from a number of computer > companies, and nobody suggested that there was any connection between this > shortage and any government action. > Their contention was that nobody was making any 256K's, having switched to > producing 1meg DRAMS. The 1 meggers are supposed to catch up to demand by > late '88/early'89. > There is no reason to believe that there will ever be any appreciable > number of 256K chips available. > -Ralph Stempel Okay, call me ignorant, but I still can't believe that! How many Amiga owners here have 1meg sockets on their motherboards? How many IBM's, Mac's, Apple ]['s, ST's, VT100's, Mac ]['s, or any other computers that are currently being used in the educational or personal or small business markets are actually using 1 meg chips on a regular basis? How many of you think that you will pay for a motherboard upgrade so that you have 1 meg sockets only? How many of you think that computer manufacturers will give you free mother- board upgrades? (Commodore? not likely, Apple Inc.? No way!!!) Todd South -- UUCP: {nosc, ihnp4, cacilj, sdcsvax, hplabs!hp-sdd, sun!ihnp4} ...!crash!pnet01!pro-simasd!pro-pac!tsouth ARPA: crash!pnet01!pro-simasd!pro-pac!tsouth@nosc.MIL INET: tsouth@pro-pac.CTS.COM - BITNET: pro-pac.UUCP!tsouth@PSUVAX1
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (06/01/88)
In article <4258@killer.UUCP> elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) writes: > Is it true that Jack (oops, Atari Corp.) is suing Micron about a RAM > contract they tried to slip out of? Just a random rumor I picked > up somewhere... > Eric Lee Green {cuae2,ihnp4}!killer!elg You could have picked up that "rumor" from the Wall Street Journal. In that it is true and a matter of public record. According to the Journal report, Micron and Atari had a verbal agreement for one price, but when it came time to put pen to paper the price was somewhat higher. Micron's argument sounded a lot like those "prices subject to change without notice" disclaimers, and Atari's argument sounded a lot like a "you can't do that to us!". Whatever the outcome, the Memory chip shortage is not a simple problem with a simple cause. One of the new realities is that no one has a "cheap" memory expansion product anymore, because the chips cost so much. Don't bother looking for something that costs the same or less than last years product. You may see 1 meg parts get as cost effective as 256K parts were at one time (about $20 a chip) but don't count on it. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
jdm@gryphon.CTS.COM (John Mesiavech) (06/02/88)
In article <3051@crash.cts.com> tsouth@pro-pac.CTS.COM (Todd South) writes: > >In Article: <4271@gryphon.CTS.COM> mook@pnet02.cts.com (Ralph Stempel) >writes: > >> The LA Times had an article last week about the high cost/unavailability >> of 256K DRAMS. They quoted lots of people from a number of computer >> companies, and nobody suggested that there was any connection between this >> shortage and any government action. >> Their contention was that nobody was making any 256K's, having switched to >> producing 1meg DRAMS. The 1 meggers are supposed to catch up to demand by >> late '88/early'89. >> There is no reason to believe that there will ever be any appreciable >> number of 256K chips available. > >> -Ralph Stempel > >Okay, call me ignorant, but I still can't believe that! How many Amiga >owners here have 1meg sockets on their motherboards? How many IBM's, Mac's, >Apple ]['s, ST's, VT100's, Mac ]['s, or any other computers that are currently >being used in the educational or personal or small business markets are >actually using 1 meg chips on a regular basis? How many of you think that >you will pay for a motherboard upgrade so that you have 1 meg sockets only? >How many of you think that computer manufacturers will give you free mother- >board upgrades? (Commodore? not likely, Apple Inc.? No way!!!) > >Todd South > >-- Point of information: Chips Used by Various Computers.. 1) Amiga: 256K standard, some Zorro II boards use 1 meg SIMM packages 2) Mac: All expansion on Macs of any flavor are in the form of 1 meg SIMM (Simple Inline Memory Module) boards, two for 1 meg of RAM. 3) Atari ST: 256K chips 4) IBM: Varies by board maker; earlier boards used 64K, most modern use 256K. 5) Apple ][: Earlier ones used 16K (Pluse, some IIe), IIc used 64K, IIGS uses 256K Most people that I have seen that use 1 Meg chips do not have sockets; they use SIMM connectors and SIMM boards which are a HELLUVA lot more convenient to work with than your standard DIP package. But the man is correct in that the grand majority of RAM today is 256K chips. John -- 0-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-> All disclaimers apply; I didn't write this <-=-=-=-=-=-0 | ----------------------|------------------- | | "I want a New Duck | John Mesiavech | | One that won't try to bite | net.soldier.of.fortune | | One that won't chew a hole in my socks | {backbone}!gryphon!jdm | | One that won't Quack all night" | Go Purdue! (by req) | | Weird Al Yankovic, "I Want a New Duck" | | 0-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-0
david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- One of the vertebrae) (06/03/88)
In article <3051@crash.cts.com> tsouth@pro-pac.CTS.COM (Todd South) writes: >Okay, call me ignorant, but I still can't believe that! How many Amiga >owners here have 1meg sockets on their motherboards? How many IBM's, Mac's, >Apple ]['s, ST's, VT100's, Mac ]['s, or any other computers that are currently >being used in the educational or personal or small business markets are >actually using 1 meg chips on a regular basis? How many of you think that >you will pay for a motherboard upgrade so that you have 1 meg sockets only? >How many of you think that computer manufacturers will give you free mother- >board upgrades? (Commodore? not likely, Apple Inc.? No way!!!) er.. Apple ]['s and vt100's have no need for extra memory. especially the vt100. I don't know about ST's but I suspect that they use 1/4 meg chips. Mac's aren't self-upgradable to my knowledge but again they probably use 1/4 meg chips. IBM's vary depending on the manufacturer and the expansion board. Some use 1 meg chips other's use different stuff. Mac II's use SIMM's which I understand can come in 1 meg or 1/4 meg models. For us ... at least the ASDG 8MI board uses 1 meg chips. 2 megs of 1 meg chips about 1.5 months ago cost me $500 and the board ran ~$350. I think there's another board for A2000's which uses SIMM's. thumbnail review of the 8MI board: I like the looks of the board, the manual and the software. The board looks like ones I'd find inside a Vax. The manual is user-friendlied but otherwise has lots of good information in it. The software is complete and does a good job (especially the rrd). -- <---- David Herron -- The E-Mail guy <david@ms.uky.edu> <---- s.k.a.: David le casse\*' {rutgers,uunet}!ukma!david, david@UKMA.BITNET <---- <---- Goodbye RAH.
elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) (06/04/88)
in article <55031@sun.uucp>, cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) says: > to us!". Whatever the outcome, the Memory chip shortage is not a simple > problem with a simple cause. One of the new realities is that no one > has a "cheap" memory expansion product anymore, because the chips cost > so much. Don't bother looking for something that costs the same or less > than last years product. > > You may see 1 meg parts get as cost effective as 256K parts were at one > time (about $20 a chip) but don't count on it. 1 meg parts, at $40/chip, are already more cost-effective than 256K parts at $12/chip $44/M (above are spot market prices, large quantity, from a Dallas merchant). Has anybody else noticed that Commodore is raising the price of the Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 due to the DRAM shortage? We got the notice in the mail a couple of days ago.... I've been wondering when it would come. Makes you wonder if Commodore is re-designing the Amiga 2000 this very minute to use 1 megabit DRAM's.... their 2 megabyte boards supposedly are using the 1M parts now (if the new-product announcements they handed out at Devcon are more than just vapor). The 256Kx4 parts, 4 of them, of course... possibly with sockets for 4 more for when the Fatter Agnes bloates up to 2 megabytes of addressing instead of just 1 megabyte. The latest issue of EE Times had a long article. Their main conclusion was that the shortage was caused by American governmental pressure upon the Japanese government to reduce their exports of DRAMs. MITI then stopped supporting semiconductor foundary expansion, and when the Japanese brought out 1M parts, they instead converted 256K foundaries to produce the new parts. A shame, really. Many exciting new products, such as the Memetics frame grabber, are on hold until DRAM's can be bought in quantity once more (although, frankly, the Mimetics board needs the wait -- they have the slowest/clumsiest software I've ever seen). -- Eric Lee Green {cuae2,ihnp4}!killer!elg Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509 "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"
fiddler%concertina@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (06/07/88)
In article <9528@e.ms.uky.edu>, david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- One of the vertebrae) writes: > > er.. Apple ]['s and vt100's have no need for extra memory. especially > the vt100. I don't know about the vt100, either, but an Apple//gs with only 256K is pretty useless. 1Meg is usable, more is better. Even a //e can benefit from more memory, if only to use it as RAMdisk or (with AppleWorks) as a large desktop area. Both machines are pitiful with only standard memory. > I don't know about ST's but I suspect that they use 1/4 meg > chips. Mac's aren't self-upgradable to my knowledge but again they > probably use 1/4 meg chips. Macs from the Mac Plus on use SIMMS for memory. They are upgradeable by the user (although Apple says you gotta take it to a dealer. 1Meg SIMMs are in just as great demand over there as they are anywhere else. > Mac II's use > SIMM's which I understand can come in 1 meg or 1/4 meg models. Yes, but nobody seems to want to use 256K parts unless they just can't get the bigger stuff. (In lower-end Macs it's even worse, since they are marginal in regard to heat, and the 1Meg parts produce less of it.) seh