DAN@Mit-Ml@sri-unix (12/04/82)
From: Dan Blumenfeld <DAN@Mit-Ml> In calling MicroMint (which must be making a MegaMint for Steve Ciarcia), I found out that they left out one of the MPX-16 board options in the "Following items are available from" box. Besides a blank PC board, a fully stuffed and wave soldered board, EXCLUDING ICs, is available for $595. All capacitors, resistors, IC sockets, transistors, diodes, ribbon cable connectors, and five expansion I/O connectors are wave soldered into place. The board is also tested out to make sure it is in good shape. As with the blank board, you get the MPX-16 manual and the CP/M-86 BIOS in EPROM. Considering the hassle involved in ordering all the discrete components and sockets, and then having to solder them all in place, its worth the extra $300 to have it done for you. For those interested, the person that I spoke to said that they have the MPX-16 running with Xedex "Baby Blue" Z80 cards in their "Connecticut office" (which is probably Steve's house). In any event, its close enough to an IBM PC for me. It also seems that these beasts are popular, as they can't turn them out fast enough. I was told that an order placed next week would take about three weeks to be processed. Lastly, I'd like to talk to others interested in building MPX-16s. Since there are a few bipolar PROMs, 36 2164s, and an 8087 required for the full-blown machine, a group purchase of these (and/or other) components would result in a substantial decrease in cost. Anyone interested? (replies to me please, not to the list) Dan
Anderson@Cmu-Cs-C (12/04/82)
From: David B Anderson <Anderson@Cmu-Cs-C> In fact, I have heard that the bare board is no longer available - it is a 5-layer(?) board, and too intense for most hobbiests to do a good job with. David