john@actrix.gen.nz (John Vorstermans) (02/14/91)
Could anyone please help by forwarding me the international phone number of a supplier of 4MB 32bit Ram simms for the Zenith 386/33. I have the numbers of a few suppliers in USA but they are either 800 numbers (no good internationally) or are no longer at the number given. Any help would be greatly appreciated...... I just cannot afford to buy them from Zenith. :-( -- john@actrix.gen.nz Actrix Networks. P.O. Box 11-410 Wgtn New Zealand
barryf@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Barry B. Floyd) (02/14/91)
john@actrix.gen.nz (John Vorstermans) writes: >Could anyone please help by forwarding me the international phone >number of a supplier of 4MB 32bit Ram simms for the Zenith 386/33. >I have the numbers of a few suppliers in USA but they are either 800 >numbers (no good internationally) or are no longer at the number given. >Any help would be greatly appreciated...... I just cannot afford to buy >them from Zenith. :-( >-- >john@actrix.gen.nz Actrix Networks. P.O. Box 11-410 Wgtn New Zealand I had the hardest time even finding Zenith compatible SIMMs (Why can't they use standard SIMMs?...) then I looked in my own back yard. In Rensselaer's "incubator company" building "Advanced Idea Mechanics" resells KTZ 1000's, SIMMs compatible with Zenith's newest systems. I got 1M SIMMs for $105.00 last November. Prices may have come down a bit (no pun intended) since then. They were just starting to sell the 4M SIMMs at a premium price (but still a third of Zenith's prices...). 4M SIMM prices might have drop a byte (pun intended) since then. Advanced Idea Mechanics Rens. Poly. Inst. - J-Building Troy, NY 12180 (518) 271-6685 good luck, barry -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Barry B. Floyd \\\ barry_floyd@mts.rpi.edu | | Manager Information Systems \\\ usere9w9w@rpitsmts | +-Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute--------------------troy, ny 12180-+
mandell@mozart.helios.nd.edu (Dan Mandell) (02/15/91)
Do the newer Zeniths require special Simms? What's different about Zenith's memory access? Dan Mandell (mandell@bach.helios.nd.edu) Saint Mary's College, Computer Services Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 - Phone: (219) 284-4610
GR.MRB@isumvs.iastate.edu (MARK BERAN) (02/16/91)
In article <1991Feb15.020037.29706@news.nd.edu>, mandell@mozart.helios.nd.edu (Dan Mandell) writes: >Do the newer Zeniths require special Simms? What's different about >Zenith's memory access? > > Zenith machines do not use any SIMMs that could be called unusual. I did read an article in some journal or other that listed Zenith amoung a hand-full of companies who used non-standard memory in an attempt to keep selling their own over-priced memory. That just isn't true. The Zenith 248/12, 286LP/8, 286LP/12, LP+, 386SX-16, and 386SX-20 all use common 256Kx9-bit and 1Mx9-bit 80ns SIMMs, available from literally thousands of sources. Be careful though. Some of those sources really aren't very good. I generally recommend purchasing what is called 'major-on-major' brand SIMMs unless you know and have tested SIMMs from the source you are buying from. The term 'major-on-major' simply refers to major brand chips (ie: Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi, Okidata, etc) mounted by and on SIMM boards of the same make. The boards vary wildly from other sources. The Zenith 386/20, 386/25, 386/33, 386/33E, and I believe the new 486/25 all use what are becomming very common, 256Kx36-bit (1M) and 1Mx36-bit (4M) 80ns SIMMs, available not from thousands of sources, but certainly from hundreds. They are basically the same SIMMs which IBM, HP, AST, and others are using. The only known catch is that they really should be purchased as 'major-on-major' yet since the technology seems somehow to have eluded many of the local SIMMs assemblers. Prices have been higher, but even that has changed so that they are very near the price of 9-bit SIMMs. The nice thing about them is that because they are 36-bits wide, they can be added in onesies instead of 2 or 4 at a time as is required by most 16-bit and 32-bit machines. In 386 Zeniths, the first 4 SIMMs must be of the 256Kx36 variety. The remaining 4 can be either 256Kx36 or 1Mx36. In the new 486, it is recommended that the SIMMs be installed in pairs of 2 to maintain the memory interleaving. Mark
GR.MRB@isumvs.iastate.edu (MARK BERAN) (02/18/91)
In article <9102162212.aa03099@mc.lcs.mit.edu>, STEPHEN@RPIECS.BITNET writes: > >>From: MARK BERAN <GR.MRB@isumvs.iastate.edu> > >>Zenith machines do not use any SIMMs that could be called unusual. >>I did read an article in some journal or other that listed Zenith >>amoung a hand-full of companies who used non-standard memory in an >>attempt to keep selling their own over-priced memory. That just >>isn't true. > >Mark's list did not include the 386/16, Zenith's original 386, which >does seem to use some kind of non-standard SIMMs. Who knows their >motivation for configuring the machines this way. Perhaps it wasn't >to sell their own over-priced memory. Perhaps they just aren't very >good at design. The reason that I did not include the original 16MHz Zenith 386 is because the topic was SIMMs. The 386/16 did not use SIMMs. Instead it used proprietary 32-bit memory cards. At the time this machine was being developed, SIMMs were at best a new idea in micros. So in order to produce a machine with full 32-bit memory, and do this using 256Kx1-bit and 1Mx1-bit chips which were available, Zenith developed the proprietary 32-bit bus extension and cards to go with it. Amoung those cards were a 1M card fully populated with the requisite 36 256Kx1-bit chips, and the 4M card fully populated with the requisite 36 1Mx1-bit chips. The remaining chips are memory support logic, decoders, refresh circuitry, latches, etc. On this point, Zenith did very well for the time. They did drop the ball however on owners of these machines, as they held the price of these cards high even though memory prices continued to fall. Then recently Zenith discontinued the 4M card. There is no good reason other than marketing that Zenith has not come up with a memory card which would hold a useful number of 9-bit or 36-bit SIMMs. They have such a card in the ZA-3600-MQ (not sure about the MQ) for the newer series of 386 machines, but it doesn't work in the old one. I have and will continue to encourage Zenith to come up with a solution for persons who own these machines. But in the meantime, standard 16-bit AT memory cards can be used, with the obvious side effect of being much slower than those designed for the 32-bit architecture of the machine. Do I now of which I speak? I hope so. I am writing this response on my own 386/16 at home, and have another one on my desk at work. Not so quick or easy to upgrade as the 386/25 I use but hey. Mark.
huon@tasman.cc.utas.edu.au (ZENITH Z-386 PCNFS) (02/18/91)
mandell@mozart.helios.nd.edu (Dan Mandell) writes: >Do the newer Zeniths require special Simms? What's different about >Zenith's memory access? > After battling to find compatible SIMMS for a 386/20 I was told that Zenith SIMMS are 36 bit SIMMS. They use 4 bit for error correction. Other SIMMS are 32 bit. Can anybody confirm this? Cheers.. _______________________________________________________________________________ John. B. Miezitis. University of Tasmania Computing Centre email: johnm@diemen.cc.utas.edu.au | Belgium man Belgium!!! _______________________________________________________________________________
kent@wasp.eng.ufl.edu (Kent Phelps) (02/18/91)
In article <9102162212.aa03099@mc.lcs.mit.edu> STEPHEN@RPIECS.BITNET writes: > >Mark's list did not include the 386/16, Zenith's original 386, which >does seem to use some kind of non-standard SIMMs. Who knows their >motivation for configuring the machines this way. Perhaps it wasn't >to sell their own over-priced memory. Perhaps they just aren't very >good at design. The 386/16 does not use "non-standard SIMMs", it uses regular 256k or 1M DIP chips on a ZDS memory board that fit into ZDS' proprietary 32 bit slot. The 386/16 was ZDS' first entry in the 386 market. It was based on their old backplane configuration. When ZDS introduced the 386/16 SIMM's were not the standard, DIP memory chips were. In fact if ZDS had chosen to use SIMM's people would have called it a non-standard design. The reason you have to buy the ZDS board for the 386/16 is that there was no standard for a 32 bit bus back then. This machine was introduced before EISA was even concieved. -- Kent Phelps | Internet: kent@wasp.eng.ufl.edu University of Florida | kent@digital.ufl.edu Digital Design Facility | Phone:904-392-2464 ***** Just say Yo ! *****
bdahlen@zephyr.cair.du.edu (Robert L. Dahlen - U. of Denver USA=) (02/19/91)
In article <1991Feb15.175232.13497@news.iastate.edu> GR.MRB@isumvs.iastate.edu (MARK BERAN) writes: >In article <1991Feb15.020037.29706@news.nd.edu>, >mandell@mozart.helios.nd.edu (Dan Mandell) writes: >>Do the newer Zeniths require special Simms? What's different about >>Zenith's memory access? >> >> >Zenith machines do not use any SIMMs that could be called unusual. >I did read an article in some journal or other that listed Zenith >amoung a hand-full of companies who used non-standard memory in an >attempt to keep selling their own over-priced memory. That just >isn't true. > >The Zenith 248/12, 286LP/8, 286LP/12, LP+, 386SX-16, and 386SX-20 >all use common 256Kx9-bit and 1Mx9-bit 80ns SIMMs, available from >literally thousands of sources. Be careful though. Some of those >sources really aren't very good. > >The Zenith 386/20, 386/25, 386/33, 386/33E, and I believe the new >486/25 all use what are becomming very common, 256Kx36-bit (1M) >and 1Mx36-bit (4M) 80ns SIMMs, available not from thousands of >sources, but certainly from hundreds. They are basically the same >SIMMs which IBM, HP, AST, and others are using. We have had very good luck with SIMM's and prices from two companies: South Coast 800-289-8801 5 Yr. Warranty (best for 36bit) Technology Works 800-688-7466 Lifetime Warranty (best for Mac) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert L. Dahlen - Director, Information Systems & Technology University of Denver - Denver, Colorado 80208 (303) 871-4385 INTERNET:bdahlen@du.edu BITNET:bdahlen@ducair -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Robert L. Dahlen - Director, Information Systems & Technology University of Denver - Denver, Colorado 80208 (303) 871-4385 INTERNET:bdahlen@du.edu BITNET:bdahlen@ducair