frameli@dpdmai.dec.com (Vernon Dale Frameli) (05/17/88)
hi, i saw lori's request for information regarding accelerators for the mac se. since i have a prodigy 4 se, i would like relate my experiences with it and then how the prodigy se compares to the radius accelerator. you guys with the radius accelerators be patient and feel free to correct me where i'm wrong. i bought my prodigy 4 se from levco last november. i got the 4mb version; the 68881 is standard issue on all prodigy's. the prodigy was extremely easy for me to install. i received all of the necessary tools required, as well as very easy to follow instructions for doing it myself. it took me less than 20 minutes from start to finish. since that time, i have received an upgrade from levco and once more i cracked open my mac se. i installed a new set of proms, pals, and gate arrays without a hitch. again the instructions where very easy to follow. to clarify things, i'm more of a programmer than a technician. i also received diagnostic software which will test the 68881, the 68851, and all of the onboard ram. in addition, software to create a bootable recoverable ramdisk is included. the diagnostics are nice to have, but i can't say enough about the ramdisk. if my system crashes for any reason, my ramdisk is preserved, and if a copy of my system folder is on the ramdisk, then my mac will boot from it. it's very fast, i'd say it takes less than a second to reboot. it's true that the radius is priced lower than a prodigy, but the 68881 math coprocessor comes standard on a prodigy; its a $295 option on most accelerators, i believe this holds true for the radius accelerator as well. it's also true because the radius doesn't provide any additional ram beyond the 32k cache it uses. in contrast, my prodigy has 4mb of fast ram. in addition, it also recognizes the ram you have on your motherboard. this gives your mac se the capability of upgrading to a total of 8mb, you can't do that with a radius. i'm not sure how all radius users feel about their accelerator's performance. i read in a note in the mac conference here that it was quite fast at refreshing the mac's screen, but that the owner was otherwise unimpressed. a prodigy, i my experience, is fast at everything it does, i can point to at least three different magazines which concluded that the prodigy was faster than any other accelerator on the market. it was faster than a radius. it was also faster than the mac ii in the cpu bound test performed. the benchmarks used where not whetstones, and dhrystones, etc... the writer's choose instead to use real world applications using actual products that are commonly available for the mac. they benchmarked with spreadsheets, database, word processors, etc... one nice thing about the prodigy is that the rom is copied into a protected portion of the fast ram. one of the most noticeable places you'll see a difference is in disk access times. reading from a floppy takes less than half the time it would in a non- accelerated mac se. programs which make use of the mac rom's also benefit from a big increase in speed, the more "mac-like" a program is the better. the prodigy has the same ability to re-route sane calls to the 68881 that the radius has. it will also allow you to turn the 68020 cache on and off, both can be done via the control panel. in addition, the prodigy has a sound patch which keeps music, etc... from sounding garbled when it's accelerated. it also has patches built into the firmware which allow you to run software which can't run on a mac ii in those cases where the programmer failed to follow apple's programming guide lines. the prodigy has an optional expansion slot, thus allowing you to further enhance your mac. unlike the radius which sits in a vertical position within your mac the prodigy mounts flush with the motherboard so that it won't get in the way of future enhancements. both accelerators make provisions for adding a large screen monitor, though i think the prodigy is compatible with more than one brand, thus giving you a choice. finally, there's something that you can do with the prodigy that you can't do with the radius,...you can turn it off. in the event that a piece of software won't run because of timing conflicts with the faster clock speed of the 68020, you can always turn the prodigy off, and run as a plain ole mac se. with the radius, you would have to physically remove it in order to turn it off. i know some of you out there are saying to yourselves that levco's not out there any more. that's simply not true. the same parent company that owns levco owns supermac. the parent company just decided to let supermac flex it marketing muscle while levco handles the technical end. if you want to buy a prodigy, you call your apple dealer, or supermac. if you want to get your prodigy repaired or upgraded, it goes back to levco. levco still designs the enhancements, and does the upgrades. it's all the same ball of wax. levco has been at this a long time, i believe that they where the manufacture of the very first accelerator for the mac. they introduced the prodigy series back in 84 or 85 near the time that the mac was first introduced. they've had time to develop a first rate product. what can i say, look at who's accelerator is shown in apple's own advertisements, it's a prodigy se. is that an endorsement or what? ok guys, you've held it in long enough, go ahead and let me have it with both barrels. i know the radius performs well. i know it's one of the most popular accelerators out there. i know it's one of the best buys you can get in an accelerator. still i also know i'll get flamed really good for this one no matter what i say now. dale dpdmai::frameli