tgsmith@sundc.East.Sun.COM (Tim Smith - Consultant Sun Baltimore) (01/01/90)
Well after all of my whining about my Z-248 I have decided that I will get the current ROMs and MS-DOS 3.3+ and give my Z another shot at life. As an aside to those of you who have sent me mail telling me how wonderful your 12 Mhz, 0 wait state, Z-248s are- I do not have the same machine as you. I have an older 12 Mhz, 1 wait state, slightly funky ZFX-248-50 which is the government issue machine. The government issue machine is, as I said, slightly older and also known to be "mostly" compatible. I seem to recall hearing that the newer Z-248/12 (as the 0 wait state machine is called) was a cleaned up, improved version of the older Z-248 and did not suffer from as many problems as the original. First Capitol Computer in MO has been suggested as a source for the ROMs ($29 in a semi-recent price list) and MS-DOS 3.3+ ($109). Anyone else have a better suggestion for a place to try? I also would be interested in hearing from anyone who can shed light on any of the following: 1) Has anoyne installed a reasonably large disk in a Z-248. I currently have a (promise not to laugh) ST-225 and would like to get something larger and faster. I would like to know what others are using and where they got their disks and at what price and if there were any hassles with getting SETUP to talk to the disk. 2) Anyone using SCSI devices with a Z-248? If so what controller are you using? I was never able to get a SCSI controller to work with the Z-248 and have heard the same from others. I have heard a rumor that there will be a new set of ROMs released soon that will make it easier to use SCSI devices and third party disk controllers and disks not supported by SETUP. How about regular (ie MFM or RLL) non Zenith supplied disk controlers? Have you removed the disk controller supplied by Zenith? Did you have any trouble getting SETUP to understand your drive. 3) My disk controller is described in the "Z-200 Series Technical Reference Manual" as the "Floppy, Winchester, and Tape Backup Controller Card"- anyone have anything good or bad to say about it? Does anyone know of a tape drive that is compatible with this card? Does anyone have a reccomendation for a tape backup to use with a Z-248? 4) Is anyone using a CD-ROM with a Z-248? What drive and controller are you using? Where did you get yor hardware? How much did you pay? Once again, thanks in advance for any and all information, --tim Std. Disclaimer: If I were speaking for sun you would be getting billed for hearing from me.