root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) (10/07/89)
In article <283@nikhefh.nikhef.nl>, n62@nikhefh.nikhef.nl (Klamer Schutte) writes: > In article <3540@ast.cs.vu.nl> ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) writes: > >I think that the number > >of floppy-only users is rapidly decreasing, as hard disks keep coming down > >in price. > > Are they? OK, I just looked at some current prices: 20 MB 65ms Seagate US$196 66 MB 23ms Toshiba US$400 80 MB 28ms Seagate US$546 That's down _a_lot_ in a year or so. You can't pick a single vendor whose prices are out of line to use as a basis for arguing against this. If all vendors prices are higher there maybe you should be attacking that problem (importer rip-off or government manipulation?) I also just saw an announcement (not an ad) for a 386sx based replacement motherboard for AT class machines for US$454. Whether this is worthwhile with 386dx motherboards going for US$750 or so is arguable. Then there is the lowest price I have seen on 386 architecture in a ready-to-run system: ECI 386SX 16MHz cpu 80386SX 1MB RAM Std (expands to 4MB on board) 6 16-bit + 2 8-bit slots 80387SX socket 1:1 interleave HD/FD ctrlr 40MB 28ms Hard disk 1.2MB floppy drive Monochrome monitor & card with parallel port AT style case, 220W power supply 101 key keyboard MS DOS 4.01 included US$1250 Add 2400 bps modem US$99 Only missing a serial port card as far as I see Yes, the prices are coming down. The box above is chaeper than my 640k 8088 XT clone with 20MB hard disk was (4? years ago) and less than a 10MHz 80286 with a 30MB disk was 2 years ago. As I had previously pointed out (and did I get mail!) you can now convert an XT type machine to 386 operation for about US$600 (includes 1MB of 32bit wide memory). That's today. What do you think will happen to these prices when 486s are generally available? Is it really worth while to target development of anything which won't be out this year for a less capable architecture than the 386? Thos Sumner Internet: thos@cca.ucsf.edu (The I.G.) UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos BITNET: thos@ucsfcca U.S. Mail: Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA I hear nothing in life is certain but death and taxes -- and they're working on death. #include <disclaimer.std>
root@cca.ucsf.edu (Systems Staff) (10/10/89)
In article <2473@ucsfcca.ucsf.edu>, root@cca.ucsf.edu (Thos Sumner) writes: > > I also just saw an announcement (not an ad) for a 386sx based > replacement motherboard for AT class machines for US$454. > Whether this is worthwhile with 386dx motherboards going for > US$750 or so is arguable. > I have been receiving queries about my reference to "386dx" in the previous posting. The Intel 80386dx or iapx386dx or ... is the version of the standard (32 bit data path) 386 which contains the fix for the bug in handling DMA + 387 + Interrupt situations. I believe it also contains a few other fixes. It is later than the double sigma revision. I believe all the 33MHz chips and maybe all the 25MHz chips are dx's -- I haven't seen any that weren't. Thos Sumner Internet: thos@cca.ucsf.edu (The I.G.) UUCP: ...ucbvax!ucsfcgl!cca.ucsf!thos BITNET: thos@ucsfcca U.S. Mail: Thos Sumner, Computer Center, Rm U-76, UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143-0704 USA I hear nothing in life is certain but death and taxes -- and they're working on death. #include <disclaimer.std>