rminnich@udel.UUCP (11/18/87)
Some time ago i sent out a request for an evaluation of Klinetronics ram boards and the Insider card from Michigan Software. I got back nothing on the Klinetronics. I got back a lot on the Insider card. It was all very favorable. So i told my father to get the Insider for $300. It includes 1 Meg. ram and a clock. Our experiences follow: First, if you can, do the 'solder it in' job. I do not trust E-Z-Hooks, though some of my correspondents reported good luck with them even over a period of a year. But soldering it in is so easy, what the heck. They also provide the 'extra ground on the daughterboard' fix, which i may apply to my own amiga when i get a chance. There were two problems: 1) We had to get a sheet metal nibbler and cut a little of df0:s sheet metal away. About a 1/2" by 1/4" section. The board was a tiny bit too big. 2) There was a solder bridge from ground to one of the address lines. But the diagnostic only complained about problems when the memory was configured at $600000, not at $200000 or $c00000. The symptom for $c00000 was that the machine would lock up instantly as soon as the $c00000 memory was referenced. I did not see the solder bridge right away (my eyes going bad? i used to be good at this stuff) so we wasted some time before my father found it. The installation was otherwise pretty easy. The instructions were good, not heathkit-level but quite readable. The job took 3 man-hours or so, plus another 1 or 2 for debugging. Now he has 1.5 Mb and boy is he happy! So, all in all, I and many others can recommend this card without exception. The quality of the card is good; my solder bridge was the only one i have heard of; the users who wrote (one from Australia) had been using them for as long as a year with no trouble. And of course having it auto-config is nice. And judging from the latest JDR catalog $300 for 1 meg is a very competitive price, esp. with the clock/calendar thrown in. -- ron (rminnich@udel.edu) Newsgroups: Comp.sys.amiga Subject: Insider Card summary Expires: References: Sender: Reply-To: rminnich@udel.EDU (Ron Minnich) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: University of Delaware Keywords: Some time ago i sent out a request for an evaluation of Klinetronics ram boards and the Insider card from Michigan Software. I got back nothing on the Klinetronics. I got back a lot on the Insider card. It was all very favorable. So i told my father to get the Insider for $300. It includes 1 Meg. ram and a clock. Our experiences follow: First, if you can, do the 'solder it in' job. I do not trust E-Z-Hooks, though some of my correspondents reported good luck with them even over a period of a year. But soldering it in is so easy, what the heck. They also provide the 'extra ground on the daughterboard' fix, which i may apply to my own amiga when i get a chance. There were two problems: 1) We had to get a sheet metal nibbler and cut a little of df0:s sheet metal away. About a 1/2" by 1/4" section. The board was a tiny bit too big. 2) There was a solder bridge from ground to one of the address lines. But the diagnostic only complained about problems when the memory was configured at $600000, not at $200000 or $c00000. The symptom for $c00000 was that the machine would lock up instantly as soon as the $c00000 memory was referenced. I did not see the solder bridge right away (my eyes going bad? i used to be good at this stuff) so we wasted some time before my father found it. The installation was otherwise pretty easy. The instructions were good, not heathkit-level but quite readable. The job took 3 man-hours or so, plus another 1 or 2 for debugging. Now he has 1.5 Mb and boy is he happy! So, all in all, I and many others can recommend this card without exception. The quality of the card is good; my solder bridge was the only one i have heard of; the users who wrote (one from Australia) had been using them for as long as a year with no trouble. And of course having it auto-config is nice. And judging from the latest JDR catalog $300 for 1 meg is a very competitive price, esp. with the clock/calendar thrown in. -- ron (rminnich@udel.edu)
jmpiazza@sunybcs.uucp (Joseph M. Piazza) (11/19/87)
In article <726@louie.udel.EDU> rminnich@udel.EDU (Ron Minnich) writes: >... I got back a lot on the Insider card. It was all very favorable. >So i told my father to get the Insider for $300. It includes 1 Meg. >ram and a clock. ... And of course having it auto-config is nice. The Insider doesn't actually auto-config; it's more like "auto-recognition." Somewhen during booting Ami looks at $c00000 (or whatever) to see if there's memory and if she (he? it?) does, she adds it to her pool of available memory. Or at least that's how I understand it. Correct me if I'm wrong -- but not everybody. How about only left-handed people? |-) Flip side, joe piazza --- Cogito ergo equus sum. CS Dept. SUNY at Buffalo 14260 UU: ...{rocksvax|decvax}!sunybcs!jmpiazza CS: jmpiazza@cs.buffalo.edu BI: jmpiazza@sunybcs >ron (rminnich@udel.edu)
schein@cbmvax.UUCP (Dan Schein CATS) (11/19/87)
In article <6634@sunybcs.UUCP> jmpiazza@gort.UUCP (Joseph M. Piazza) writes: >In article <726@louie.udel.EDU> rminnich@udel.EDU (Ron Minnich) writes: >>... I got back a lot on the Insider card. It was all very favorable. >>So i told my father to get the Insider for $300. It includes 1 Meg. >>ram and a clock. ... And of course having it auto-config is nice. > > The Insider doesn't actually auto-config; it's more like >"auto-recognition." Somewhen during booting Ami looks at $c00000 (or >whatever) to see if there's memory and if she (he? it?) does, she adds it to >her pool of available memory. Or at least that's how I understand it. >Correct me if I'm wrong -- but not everybody. How about only left-handed >people? |-) > > joe piazza > Hmmm.... for some reason this sounds real familar, wait its comming to me now... Thats it! A2000 & A500 w/501 yea thats where I heard this before. $C00000 memory is checked for by the 1.2 operating system. This gives the feel of auto config memory. But anyway - I have used an Insider for over 1 year now (w/68010) and have had no problems or complaints. -- Dan Schein uucp: {ihnp4|allegra|burdvax|rutgers}!cbmvax!schein Commodore AMIGA Bix: dschein Plink: Dan*CATS 1200 Wilson Drive phone: (215) 431-9100 ext. 9542 West Chester PA 19380 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ All spelling mistakes are a result of my efforts to avoid education :-) +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ I help Commodore by supporting the AMIGA. Commodore supports me by allowing me to form my own suggestions and comments.