rs5o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Randall Knowles Smith) (05/12/89)
In a recent post, the price of a PMMU was given as $490, with the additional comment that dealer installation was required. At work, we've got about 60 Mac II's, all with PMMU chips in them. As far as I know, they are utterly useless unless you're running A/UX, in which case they are necessary. (Don't ask why we got them; we're Carnegie Mellon, we don't have to have a reason.) In any event, no miracle occurs when you plug a PMMU in; you need software to get it to do anything, and System 6.0 doesn't have any code to use it. (This isn't technical knowledge, just experience; I've used Mac II's with and without, and couldn't tell the difference.) Also, dealer installation is required simply to make sure dealer profit margins stay good. Basically, all that's needed is a chip puller (or a screwdriver and some caution) to do the installation. Takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. So if you can find a PMMU without going through Apple, don't worry about the installation Randy Smith rs5o+@andrew.cmu.edu "My university loves me and takes all my opinions to heart, so long as I continue to pay them $16,000 -- oops, tuition raise, $17,000 a year."
ribet@maalox.berkeley.edu (Kenneth A. Ribet) (10/09/89)
In article <1989Oct6.004657.20614@rpi.edu> jtwarden@pawl.rpi.edu (Joseph T. Warden) writes: ... (much material deleted) >...I also >received a part from Motorola (Thanks so much Chet and crew) and it >was a 16 MHz part. MacEnvy recognized its presence so I am assuming ^ ^^ ^^^^^^^^ >all is well. ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ > >Caution - when installing (1) ground yourself and the Mac >(...further instructions follow...) >Good luck with your installation. I also received a PMMU (16MHz) --- thanks^2! After realizing what was involved in the installation (I have an 18-month old Mac II), I decided to let the on-campus microcomputer people put in the PMMU. (I readily admit to being a klutz.) They said that the installation would be done quickly and that the charge would be nominal. They phoned me later with the unfortunate news that the PMMU was failing the diagnostic program which they had received from Apple. I infer that the problem was somewhat subtle (conceivably non-existent) and that MacEnvy would have reported the existence of the PMMU. These on-campus people are an "authorized Apple dealer" and apparently spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Apple verifying that the PMMU was irregular and that there was nothing wrong with my logic board. They will return my Mac II with the PMMU in a separate box, and I will try to swap the PMMU with Motorola. Since most people with PMMUs are currently not giving them a workout, it would be useful to have a program which checked that a PMMU is flawless and correctly installed. The person I spoke with on campus claimed that he was absolutely forbidden by Apple to give me a copy of the application that he ran. The obvious solution would be for Apple to release whatever program was run on my machine. >Joseph Warden >Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ken Ribet, U.C. Berkeley Math Department ribet@math.berkeley.edu ...ucbvax!math!ribet