oconnor@sunray.UUCP (10/28/87)
In article <2635@cbmvax.UUCP> andy@cbmvax.UUCP (Andy Finkel) writes: >Actually, I forgot...a little ribbon cable or extended board would be >needed for an A500 to use a SOTS. (Or make a cut out in the case). (I forgot >about that for a minute :-( ) > > andy >-- >andy finkel {ihnp4|seismo|allegra}!cbmvax!andy >Commodore-Amiga, Inc. Well, on to a different subject. Almost. I own an A500. As millions soon will. But I lust ( yes I do ) for the features of the A2000 : hardisk, cheap expandocards, IBM peripherals ( MS-DOS programs ? I don't care. But VectorFloatingPointCadSupportBoards and such are fun.). And maybe even (dare I ask) coprocessor slot. (video slot? too tough. ) And I want Robust expansion, not SOTS. Sooo... From whom, when, and for how much will I be able to get a box : 1. That plugs by 2 meter hi-quality ribbon cable into my SOTS connector 2. Has its own power supply, and a socket&cable eliminating the need for my A500 line-power-box (THAT'll handle power-sequencing probs) 3. Has official Zorro II slots, PC slots, and a bridge slot ( and a coprocessor slot if its not too much trouble ) 4. Costs only slightly more ( perhaps 30% ) than the difference between an A500 and an A2000. Where talkin' a serious growth path. In fact, this combo could be superior to a straight A2000 ( like, a 2 meter cable means this things footprint goes where feet belong : on the floor ). It can be big as a breadbox for all I care. ( I know, driving signals two meters without good buffering is a headache, and then theres the FCC. That 2-meter cable will probably have a little box-o-transcievers at the end of it. No big deal. ) And I've heard complaints about the A2000 keyboard : well, the A500 has a better keyboard than my Sun-3. Of course that's just my opinion. ( but it's true, yes it is! ) SO, Andy, George, Perry : anybody addressing the problem of what us A500 guys are gonna buy when we've paid off our VISA cards ? -- Dennis O'Connor oconnor@sungoddess.steinmetz.UUCP ?? ARPA: OCONNORDM@ge-crd.arpa "If I have an "s" in my name, am I a PHIL-OSS-IF-FER?"
grr@cbmvax.UUCP (10/29/87)
In article <7717@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> oconnor@sunray.UUCP (Dennis Oconnor) writes: > > Well, on to a different subject. Almost. I own an A500. As millions > soon will. But I lust ( yes I do ) for the features of the A2000 : > hardisk, cheap expandocards, IBM peripherals ( MS-DOS programs ? I > don't care. But VectorFloatingPointCadSupportBoards and such are fun.). > And maybe even (dare I ask) coprocessor slot. (video slot? too tough. ) > And I want Robust expansion, not SOTS. Sooo... > > From whom, when, and for how much will I be able to get a box : > 1. That plugs by 2 meter hi-quality ribbon cable into my SOTS connector > 2. Has its own power supply, and a socket&cable eliminating the need > for my A500 line-power-box (THAT'll handle power-sequencing probs) > 3. Has official Zorro II slots, PC slots, and a bridge slot ( and a > coprocessor slot if its not too much trouble ) > 4. Costs only slightly more ( perhaps 30% ) than the difference > between an A500 and an A2000. I'm not sure this would be practical. There would be real problems getting this shielded cable to work, without adding a bunch of wait states to the timing. I've had a few thought along this line, and the only thing that seems practical is a box no more than 3" thick that the A500 sits on. This box has maybe 3 horizontal Zorro II slots on the left hand side, room for a couple of 3.5" hard drives in the middle and a fan/power supply on the right hand side. A staple would connect the A500 to the box, a double edged card would connect the staple to a 2 or 3 slot vertical backplane. Buffers would be either on the staple or the double edged card. An option would be to have provision for 4 MB of memory and a SCSI controller on the double edged card. No video slot, sorry. The co-processor slot is kind of questionable, perhaps another connector on the staple whose use for an upside down co-processor card would be mutually exclusive with the bottom Zorro II slot. I would also be possible to have all the slots plug directly into the staple, I'm not sure this would work out in a pleasing manner. > Where talkin' a serious growth path. In fact, this combo could be > superior to a straight A2000 ( like, a 2 meter cable means this > things footprint goes where feet belong : on the floor ). It can be > big as a breadbox for all I care. ( I know, driving signals two meters > without good buffering is a headache, and then theres the FCC. That > 2-meter cable will probably have a little box-o-transcievers at the > end of it. No big deal. ) And I've heard complaints about the A2000 ^^^^ yeah, sure 8-( > keyboard : well, the A500 has a better keyboard than my Sun-3. Of > course that's just my opinion. ( but it's true, yes it is! ) > > SO, Andy, George, Perry : anybody addressing the problem of what us > A500 guys are gonna buy when we've paid off our VISA cards ? Well, the box I described *is not* something we are currently planning on doing, but we do have some A500 accessories in mind. There are already some third party A500 expansion devices, either available now, or in that everlasting RSN state. I'm pretty sure someone will try to address the expansion box issue, althought I don't know if it would be anything like what I've imagineered here. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {ihnp4|rutgers|allegra}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: out to lunch... Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)