friedber@convex.com (Don Friedberg) (03/14/91)
I just talked to the people at Brown Waugh publishing (the people who advertise the Soundblaster) abouth the Microchannel version and they gave me the following information: 1) It will be available at the end of this month. 2) Because of the smaller card size (their words) it will not have the built- in amplifier or the CMS sockets. 3) It will retail in the neighborhood of $349.95. (I am not exactly sure of this price since I was so in shock when I heard the first number was a 3 that I may have mixed up the rest of the digits slightly). What exactly do the CMS sockets add to the regular soundblaster? Does anyone else think that charging more for a card that has less function is crazy? Don
hh2@prism.gatech.EDU (HAAS) (03/15/91)
In article <1991Mar14.155003.4119@convex.com> friedber@convex.com (Don Friedberg) writes: >I just talked to the people at Brown Waugh publishing (the people who >advertise the Soundblaster) abouth the Microchannel version and they >gave me the following information: > >1) It will be available at the end of this month. Yeah! About &^%() time . . . . >2) Because of the smaller card size (their words) it will not have the built- > in amplifier or the CMS sockets. No problem there . . . > >3) It will retail in the neighborhood of $349.95. (I am not exactly sure > of this price since I was so in shock when I heard the first number was a 3 > that I may have mixed up the rest of the digits slightly). >Does anyone else think that charging more for a card that has less function >is crazy? Ouch. Oh well. Yes, I think it's crazy. The most an MCA adapter should cost over an AT bus card is $40.00. There are QUITE A LOT of MCA interface chips that make it an absolute SNAP to build cards for the MCA bus. The addition of a couple of interface chips (which actually ease the design process) should easily offset the cost of an on-board amp; The boards SHOULD cost the same. Ny guess is that there are three reason why the price is higher. 1.) They don't think they'll sell as many. 2.) They don't like IBM. 3.) They think that people that buy IBM products are millionaires or Government offices :=) and don't CARE how much the thing costs. I.e., they think they can get more, so they're gonna try to. . . Only # 1 is a lagit reason. The problem, is that it's a no win situation. If we protest by not buying it, they'll say "Ah-HA!! we were right. The IBMers don't WANT a soundblaster." If we BUY it, we loose bucks. I guess it's time somebody designed and sold a Soundblaster/Adlib clone just for MCA. :=)))) >Don hh --- Harry Haas GTRI/RIDL/EB | Georgia Tech Research Institute Research Engineer II | Georgia Institute of Technology 404-528-7679 | Atlanta Georgia, 30332 hh2@prism.gatech.edu | "What makes it DO that?!" - Bones
martyz@ted.cs.uidaho.edu (03/16/91)
In article <1991Mar14.155003.4119@convex.com> friedber@convex.com (Don Friedberg) writes: >I just talked to the people at Brown Waugh publishing (the people who >advertise the Soundblaster) abouth the Microchannel version and they >gave me the following information: > > .... >Does anyone else think that charging more for a card that has less function >is crazy? > Apparently IBM doesn't. They've been charging more for a machine that has less function ever since the PS/2 line came out! (0.5 :-) on this one)
kluge@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Oliver Kluge) (03/18/91)
Hi!
I have just come home from the Hannover computer trade fair CeBIT.
The German distributor of Creative Lab's Soundblaster - CPS -
told me that the Microchannel version is ready and in stock and will
ship this week. The card was sold on the trade fair for about
$400, but this may be a German price, US price supposedly much
cheaper.
So long ... Oliver Kluge
--
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"Why stop now just when I'm hating it?" Marvin, the paranoid androidong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) (03/20/91)
From article <1991Mar18.104758.1490@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE>, by kluge@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Oliver Kluge): > Hi! > > I have just come home from the Hannover computer trade fair CeBIT. > The German distributor of Creative Lab's Soundblaster - CPS - > told me that the Microchannel version is ready and in stock and will > ship this week. The card was sold on the trade fair for about > $400, but this may be a German price, US price supposedly much > cheaper. Well, I was told there are already a few of the production version microchannel Sound Blaster in the US, with the packing, shrink-wrap, instruction book, and everything. Mass delivery will start soon. How many exactly you ask? TWO! Ha, ha, ha. Sorry to get you hopes up high. But the masses is enroute.
tmottonen@cc.helsinki.fi (03/29/91)
In article <1991Mar19.214242.29332@d.cs.okstate.edu>, ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) writes: > From article <1991Mar18.104758.1490@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE>, by kluge@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Oliver Kluge): >> Hi! >> >> I have just come home from the Hannover computer trade fair CeBIT. >> The German distributor of Creative Lab's Soundblaster - CPS - >> told me that the Microchannel version is ready and in stock and will >> ship this week. The card was sold on the trade fair for about >> $400, but this may be a German price, US price supposedly much >> cheaper. > > Well, I was told there are already a few of the production version > microchannel Sound Blaster in the US, with the packing, shrink-wrap, > instruction book, and everything. Mass delivery will start soon. > How many exactly you ask? TWO! Ha, ha, ha. Sorry to get you hopes > up high. But the masses is enroute. I called Brown Wagh Publishing at (408) 378-3838 and got the following info: SoundBlaster for MicroChannel is similar to the ISA bus model, except that it has no stereo amplifier on board. CMS chips are not included. MIDI is still non-standard (they called it "the UART standard" :-)). The list price is $349.95. Preorder price is $250 (offer will last until the thing actually ships, which is maybe a week from now). BTW, I heard that Hercules is finally shipping a MicroChannel version of their Graphic Station Card. Anyone have more info on that ? Teemu. -- _________ Teemu Mottonen | | internet: tmottonen@cc.helsinki.Fi University of Helsinki | | bitnet: TMOTTONEN@FINUH Dept.of Computer Science |_________| decnet: HYLK::TMOTTONEN
weir@husc9.harvard.edu (Robert C. Weir) (03/30/91)
In article <1991Mar29.001743.5756@cc.helsinki.fi> tmottonen@cc.helsinki.fi writes: >In article <1991Mar19.214242.29332@d.cs.okstate.edu>, ong@d.cs.okstate.edu (ONG ENG TENG) writes: >> From article <1991Mar18.104758.1490@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE>, by kluge@Informatik.TU-Muenchen.DE (Oliver Kluge): >>> Hi! >>> >>> I have just come home from the Hannover computer trade fair CeBIT. >>> The German distributor of Creative Lab's Soundblaster - CPS - >>> told me that the Microchannel version is ready and in stock and will >>> ship this week. The card was sold on the trade fair for about >>> $400, but this may be a German price, US price supposedly much >>> cheaper. >> >> Well, I was told there are already a few of the production version >> microchannel Sound Blaster in the US, with the packing, shrink-wrap, >> instruction book, and everything. Mass delivery will start soon. >> How many exactly you ask? TWO! Ha, ha, ha. Sorry to get you hopes >> up high. But the masses is enroute. > > I called Brown Wagh Publishing at (408) 378-3838 and got the > following info: > > SoundBlaster for MicroChannel is similar to the ISA bus model, > except that it has no stereo amplifier on board. CMS chips are not > included. MIDI is still non-standard (they called it "the UART > standard" :-)). > > The list price is $349.95. Preorder price is $250 (offer will last > until the thing actually ships, which is maybe a week from now). What exactly does a SoundBlaster card do? Does it allow you to write polyphonic music on a PS/2? How many voices? Do you need special software, or can it be directly programmed? Do you need a MIDI keyboard? If this is common knowledge, please reply by mail. Rob weir@husc9.harvard.edu >