colin@vu-vlsi.UUCP (Colin Kelley) (02/26/86)
I just helped a friend of mine get a Z148 with 20M hard disk. The
details:
- single-floppy 148 from Zenith
- 512K extra RAM (768K total)
- 8087
- Phoenix 'daughterboard'
- Seagate 20M hard disk
- US Robotics 1200 baud Password modem
and all this for ~$2000 even, not including sales tax...I think that's
a great buy! The basic computer was $850 through special university
pricing, but a local dealer agreed to match the price (and deliver immediately
rather than in one month)...I used to work for him, though, so I know his
profit on this deal is very low...
I like the Zeniths a lot because they run at 8 rather than 4.77 MHz, and
because they have a really nice keyboard...
The big decision was whether to get a 148 or a 158. The 158 was advertised
at almost the same price after discounts, and has 6 slots rather than 1 or 2,
and has a bigger power supply. Unfortunately, the 158 is back-ordered about
4-6 months right now, and we all know 6 months may well drift off to infinity
in the computer world!
The two drawbacks of the 148 are: (1) power supply, and (2) lack of expansion
slots.
The power supply is only 65W, and therefore not recommended for hard
disk drives. The problem is with the 12V supply. It is rated at 2 amps max,
and the hard disk drive may well draw more than that on startup (the Seagate
may draw up to 2.2 amps). My dealer says that MicroScience specializes in
low-power drives, so that may be the type of drive that Priority One and
other mail order outfits are using. At any rate, it is a very simple
exercise to build an external supplementary 12V supply to be used by the
hard disk drive only.
I recommend getting the Phoenix daughterboard rather than Zenith's. It
comes with one full-height and one half height slot, and a battery-backed-up
clock (hurray!). The full-height slot is used by the hard disk controller,
but that still leaves you with a half-height slot which could be useful
later...
I definitely think this is one of the best PClone deals going. I feel much
more comfortable with a large manufacturer like Zenith rather than one of
those mail-order companies (like PCs Unlimited, for instance) which buy
parts from all over creation and then just assemble the PC themselves (I
get particularly nervous about BIOS compatibility!)...
BTW, my friend finally came up with the cash Thursday (2/20/86) morning,
and was picked up his computer yesterday (Monday, 2/24/86). Not bad!
He's only had it up for one day now, but no problems yet! I'll
be sure to post if something goes wrong because of some miscalculation...
-Colin Kelley ..!{psuvax1,pyrnj}!vu-vlsi!colin
PS: I'd like to hear (by mail) of others' experiences with 148 with hard
disk...simon@simon_pc.UUCP (Simon Shapiro) (02/28/86)
To add to your comments; I use the Z-148 with the Microscience 20Mb disk drive and have no problems at all. I use it with a Western Digital controller and it boots at the 8mhz speed (unlike the xebec sold by Heath some time ago). The only problem I encounter is with FastBack. It tries to grind down the floppy disk drive after a disk or two, sleeps for several minutes and then reports that an imaginary hard disk sector is bad. It does it on or near sector 30 if the floppy, strange. Otherwise, I am quite happy with it. The only other point of complaint is the choice of the volor graphics mode. The resolution (compared to the AT&T 7300 that sits next to it) is, well, not very good. Simon.