mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella) (12/05/90)
I finally got my STacy from a small semi-local dealer, and promptly noticed three things I don't particularly like: 1. The model I bought was orignally a Stacy 1, but the RAM was replaced with a SIMM module, with 4 MB. This was as advertised. What was not advertised was the sticker that fell off the case as soon as I picked it up, saying that removal /damage of the sticker voided my warranty. The sticker was apparently protecting a screw that JRI opened to install the SIMM's. Before I take this up with JRI, or the dealer (who did not "authorize" the modification - he ordered the box from another dealer who had already done it), does anyone know if I've been screwed like I think I have? Does JRI honor the warranty? I have no address or phone # for them. 2. My first problem that the voided warranty won't cover - if I have a MIDI instrument connected and powered on, Stacy won't boot. More particularly, she boots, displays the desktop, then immediately locks up. This doesn't happen if the MIDI instrument is turned off when I boot, so I can work around this, but it is annoying. I don't remember this happening on the Mega 2 I used to use, so I am pretty sure this is a bug, not a feature. Has anyone else expereinced this? Could I be doing something wrong? 3. The first piece of software I tried to run on, Mitch Bradley's Forthmacs, doesn't work correctly. Actually, it comes very close, but I seem to be unable to "save-rel" anything without getting a "Flushbuf error" - and there is plenty of space on the disk, and the disk is not write protected. I plan to take this up with Mitch, but it definitely is not a good sign. Hopefully it is something I am doing wrong, and not something funny about the Stacy or its TOS (called "Rainbow TOS" - is this the same as 1.4?) -------------- Marc Sabatella (marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com) Disclaimers: 2 + 2 = 3, for suitably small values of 2 Bill and Dave may not always agree with me
mjs@hpfcso.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella) (12/07/90)
Followup: my two problems turned out to be software related. Forthmacs was unable to write my file to disk because the disk did indeed fill up. I have no idea where the space went; I deleted a file that should have been 150K, but only have 74K left. Perhaps the file wasn't really that big, or the disk had a bad spot, or TOS lost a few blocks (the latter possibility may be worth worrying about, but it hasn't happened again). The lockup when my MIDI instrument was on appears to have related to one of the public domain desktop accessories my dealer had installed (a calculator and a ram buffer) or perhaps the HAL9000 program he put in my auto folder. I blew them all away, and now it works fine. I still am annoyed about the warranty (although it was only 90 days to begin with), and I still wonder what this "Rainbow TOS" is, but I am a lot happier than I was yesterday. -------------- Marc Sabatella (marc@hpmonk.fc.hp.com) Disclaimers: 2 + 2 = 3, for suitably small values of 2 Bill and Dave may not always agree with me