schwager@uiucdcsm.UUCP (07/14/87)
.
Well, I'm getting kinda tired of waiting for the Amiga 500 to hit the
local computer shop, and I'm reconsidering my purchase anyway. "Maybe I
should go with the Amiga 1000?" I think to myself. MicroComputer Services
is advertising them for pretty cheap... has anyone dealt with these guys?
I absolutely *cannot* get through to them on their customer service line,
and that makes me mighty nervous. Any comments, pro or con, about
ordering a computer through the mail?
The thing I'm most concerned about with the Amiga 500 is the Kickstart
in ROM. Booting right up sounds ok, but then what happens when
Kickstart 1.3 comes along? Any commentary?
-mike schwager
-- {ihnp4,convex,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!schwager schwager%uiuc@csnet-relay.arpa
University of Illinois, Dept. of Computer Sciencebryce@COGSCI.BERKELEY.EDU (Bryce Nesbitt) (07/15/87)
> Well, I'm getting kinda tired of waiting for the Amiga 500 to hit the > local computer shop, and I'm reconsidering my purchase anyway. "Maybe I > should go with the Amiga 1000?" I think to myself. MicroComputer Services > is advertising them for pretty cheap... has anyone dealt with these guys? Yes. I sold several thousand 256K ram cards to these people after Commodore ran out. What they are selling is a "refurbished" machine supplied to them by Commodore. These either broke and where fixed, or never-really-broke and where never-really-fixed by Commodore. I beleive that they come with a full warrantee, just like a 100% new Amiga. At the time the customers where getting prompt delivery of a working product, I have no reason to beleive this has changed. If you buy one, yank open the ram card and read the PC board... He's called a Starhumble Pointlessweebel. Or you could just ask that local computer store to order an A500 or two. > The thing I'm most concerned about with the Amiga 500 is the Kickstart > in ROM. Booting right up sounds ok, but then what happens when > Kickstart 1.3 comes along? Any commentary? Commodore has now publicly guaranteed to socket the Kickstart ROM. (yeah! Improvement from the C64 days!). So if 1.3 is a Kickstart upgrade you go to your dealer, plunk down a few bucks, and go on your way. Someone will probably sell a switching socket so you can have both. (Very inside joke --> It'll probably be called "Socket-2-Me", but don't buy it if it's called that.) I sure hope that socket can accept a 512K or 1Meg ROM... 256K is cramped! (and 192K was never more than a delusion) 1.3 could also be a WORKBENCH upgrade. The bootblock on Workbench disks could be upgraded to patch 1.2 Kickstart to be 1.3 Kickstart through the use of the (as of yet) almost undocumented "Rom tags" facility. ----------------------------- |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, EOT, SOH) {o O} . ( " ) bryce@cogsci.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!cogsci!bryce U "Success leads to stagnation; stagnation leads to failure."
keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (07/16/87)
In article <7200005@uiucdcsm> schwager@uiucdcsm.cs.uiuc.edu writes: >The thing I'm most concerned about with the Amiga 500 is the Kickstart >in ROM. Booting right up sounds ok, but then what happens when >Kickstart 1.3 comes along? Any commentary? What I'm worried about in 1.3, is that I've heard that the kickstart is now pretty packed. If they add features for 1.3, it would seem that one of the kickstart resident libraries would have to move to disk. I doubt that removing the secret messages would gain enough space to allow much in the way of additions. I would think that would mean Intuition.library would have to move to disk, as you need dos.library to read a library off of disk, and you need graphics.library just to display stuff to the screen. With intuition.library resident virtually all of the time in memory that was otherwise available in 1.2, we would notice a loss of some valuable available memory space, not to mention boot up time. And what worries me more, is if someone at Commodore thought of this and decided to allow for more PROM space in the 500/2000 than there is Kickstart space in the 1000. This could mean that 1.3 won't have this problem in the 500/2000 but only in the 1000. If that is the case, maybe Commodore better leave those secret messages in, in the 1000 version of 1.3. :-) Keith Doyle # {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd # cadovax!keithd@ucla-locus.arpa Contel Business Systems 213-323-8170
keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) (07/16/87)
In article <1656@cadovax.UUCP> keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle) writes: >With intuition.library resident virtually all of the time in memory that >was otherwise available in 1.2, we would notice a loss of some valuable >available memory space, not to mention boot up time. Oh yeah, and some disk space, I forgot that. TANSTAAFL I guess (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). Keith
kagle@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Jonathan C. Kagle) (07/18/87)
In article <7200005@uiucdcsm> schwager@uiucdcsm.cs.uiuc.edu writes: >The thing I'm most concerned about with the Amiga 500 is the Kickstart >in ROM. Booting right up sounds ok, but then what happens when >Kickstart 1.3 comes along? Any commentary? The hand inserting the KickStart disk is slightly different from the hand inserting the Workbench disk. This "feature" was made more obvious in 1.2. At least on the 1000, the second "hand" could be eliminated, couldn't it? -Jonathan -- Jonathan C. Kagle Cornell Theory Center kagle@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu/kagle@crnlthry/!decvax!cornell!batcomputer!kagle "Union Carbide is proud to be the official supplier of tear gas for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games"
rick@oresoft.UUCP (Rick Lahrson) (07/19/87)
In article <7200005@uiucdcsm> schwager@uiucdcsm.cs.uiuc.edu writes: >Well, I'm getting kinda tired of waiting for the Amiga 500 to hit the >local computer shop, and I'm reconsidering my purchase anyway. "Maybe I >should go with the Amiga 1000?" I think to myself. MicroComputer Services >is advertising them for pretty cheap... has anyone dealt with these guys? >I absolutely *cannot* get through to them on their customer service line, >and that makes me mighty nervous. Any comments, pro or con, about >ordering a computer through the mail? Yeah, I've dealt with them, though not for hardware. I recently ordered $320 worth of software from them ($240 of which was for Word Perfect), based on the low prices in their ad in AmigaWorld. But I missed the fine print at the bottom that said to call for shipping charges, so I sent the $320. They sent back my order letter, along with a form with a check-off marked for insufficient shipping. They did not send back my check. You're right about their "customer service" number. It's obviously off the hook at all times! I tried for three days to get through to that number, with no luck. I finally just sent the letter back along with the $8 (right, eight whole dollars) for shipping, that was holding up my $320 order. I have since gotten three out of four of the programs I ordered, the missing one being Word Perfect, of course. I wonder if they have ever seen one. Maybe it's not even really available yet. The part that really makes me mad (excuse me, I mean **FURIOUS**) is that if I had phoned in my order, and charged it to a credit card, they would have charged me the shipping, sent the (partial) order sooner, with no wait for the check to clear, and they would have ended up with _LESS_ than $320 total, after paying the bank the credit card fee! An intelligent policy would be to ship the order along with a bill for the shipping. Even in the unlikely event that the bill wasn't honored, they'd be ahead! Now, I don't know how long it will be before I get my Word Perfect, and Microcomputer Services, Inc. has $240 of my money to play with for a while, and their phone line is tied up at all times, so I can't talk to a human being about this. I'm frustrated as hell with this company. In my frustration at trying to reach their "customer service" number, I called the order number, where I learned (no surprise) that the order phone was isolated from the rest of the company, and there was no way to communicate through that number except to place a new order. So I recommend trying this company only if you're confident that there will be no problems at all, or you're willing to transact all your business beyond the initial order, and resolve all problems, by mail. At their convenience. I'd probably be recommending them highly, due to their great prices, if they had a telephone! But I'd much rather pay more money than buy the frustration. Now, I'm not at all worried about using mail order in general, so I'd like to know if there's a mail order company that has prices anywhere close to MCS'. I've got lots more stuff I want to buy for my Amiga, and I'm going to buy it by mail, but _NOT_ from MCS. I'll pay more. And I'll call the company's customer service number _before_ their order number, to make sure it's possible to resolve problems. -- Rick Lahrson ...tektronix!oresoft!rick Disclaimer: If I ever speak for anyone but me, I'll warn you in advance.
louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos) (07/20/87)
If you want to get the balance of your money refunded, and they are not being responsive then this is what you want to do. Since you ordered the products by mail, the company must ship within 30 days of receipt of your order, or offer you a refund or notify you and ask if you wish to wait for the order to be completed. If you want a refund, and they are not cooperating, send a letter to them requesting a refund (probably via certified mail), along with a copy addressed to their Postmaster. Explain that according to postal regulations you want a refund immediately, and that a copy of this correspondence has been sent to their postmaster. This tends to get their attention. It works for me.. Louis A. Mamakos WA3YMH Internet: louie@TRANTOR.UMD.EDU University of Maryland, Computer Science Center - Systems Programming
bts@sas.UUCP (Brian T. Schellenberger) (07/28/87)
I have dealt with Microcomputer Services, and had good luck.
My Agiga arrived two days after I ordered it (by phone). And I ordered it in
late December, so I was quite impressed. But then I didn't have any trouble
getting them on the phone either, as I recall.
Also, if you are budget-concious, they have refurbished amigas (A1000R). That's
what I got, and it has performed just fine. Comes with the same warrenty as
new. Cheap as a 500.
--
--Brian.
(Brian T. Schellenberger) ...!mcnc!rti!sas!bts
DISCLAIMER: Whereas Brian Schellenberger (hereinafter "the party of the first