From: danaf@rs6405.ecs.rpi.edu (Frank R. Dana Jr.)
Subject: Re: A4000 case design (was Re: Top 10 reasons why ...)
Reply-To: danaf@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 01:12:50 GMT

In article <1992Nov10.195606.9751@ra.msstate.edu>, skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
|> In article <7qn1n-_@rpi.edu> danaf@rpi.edu writes:
|> 
|> >Well, I'm personally interested in seeing the internal architecture. 
|> >Aesthetics are secondary - exteriors (backplane excluded) are boring.
|> 
|> It's a good thing you feel that way because the A4000 is no beauty.  :-)

So I've heard. Hey, I'm working in a lab full of IBM POWERstations right now.
Great machines, but everything IBM builds looks **GOOFY  AS  HELL**! All
these bright blue and yellow buttons, the medium-grey casings... jeez. The
laser printers are the worst.

I'm not too worried about what it looks like. I get it dirty and messy within
a month, and half the time the case is off.... 8)

|> >A nice shot of the (real) backplane, as up-close-and-personal as possible, 
|> >would be really nice. But mostly, a LOT of shots of the interior, in every
|> >possible level of expansion. Some ideas:
|> 
|> What exactly do you mean by backplane?  The back of the computer where 
|> the ports are or the motherboard?

The backplane is the rear view of the computer, where all of the ports are.

|> >        1. An A4000 as empty as possible, with ALL daughterboards removed.
|> >           Maybe, if you need to take it off anyway, you could even get a 
|> >           shot with the power supply removed.... (maybe?)
|> 
|> I'll strip it as bare as possible, if the warranty is not too restrictive.

Absolutely, don't violate any warranties on a brand-spanking-new computer.

|> On the A3000, the custom chips are not the problem as much as the damn ZIPs
|> being in a silly place.  It is amazing how much they packed into the case,
|> but I'll settle for a bigger case if things aren't so hard to get to.

That __WOULD__ be nice... the screws on my A2000 drive bay are STRIPPED from
so much removing and re-inserting! Ugh....

|> Should be easy enough.  I'm curious as to how difficult it is going to be
|> to remove the case.  The 4 screws in the A3000 case aren't so bad, but it
|> is not nearly as easy as the single screw found on other modern designs
|> from Apple, IBM, and others.  If the A4000 does use this sort of case, I
|> hope it is easier to line up than the A3000 is.

My A2000 is a single-screw case. The 4 side screws are in screw heaven, where
they belong... 8)

|> I am definitely going to put an Ethernet card in it and could borrow an
|> A2320 genlock and A2086 from a co-worker to test how.  Hell, he even has
|> a Toaster that I would try out if I thought there was any hope of it
|> fitting.  Damn NewTek!

That'd be great... I'd love to see how the bridgeboard will fit in...

|> >        5. A head-on shot with the cover OFF, to get a good look at the drive
|> >           bays and their orientation.
|> 
|> Okay, I've also been asked to measure the height of the floppy drive.  It
|> appears taht the lower drive bay may not be tall enough for the special
|> drives that C= is using.

??????

I hope you're kidding.

I still think they're idiots for putting the lower 3.5" bay **DIRECTLY** in 
front of the keyboard! How much space do they think we HAVE!?!?!?!

I'm still waiting for a MiniTower. Maybe the A5000... 8)

|> >GIFs would be nice, most of us can view them on UNIX systems, or with Amiga
|> >viewers. (I just got a new one from amiga.physik... FastGIF10 or something...
|> 
|> Okay, what about size?  Cropped/scaled to a standard size?

Hmmmmm........ Well, this POWERstation has a resolution of something like 
1600x1280 or some sh*t like that, so I'm tempted to be biased in favor of 
massive screens... better get some other opinions on that one.

Altho, as with color, people can scale down... but blowing them up looks 
crappy.

|> It wasn't actually a review, more like a hoax preview.  It had an 030 and
|> a few new custom chips much like the real A3000 did, but in terms of audio
|> and video it blew it away.  1280x800 256 colors is still not quite possible
|> using stock Amiga hardware, but what the hell.

April issue?  }8)

Actually, one stupid game magazine did that to me once (forget what it was...)
and almost had me buying an Atari 2600 in the basis of their glowing review
of the game "Murder on the Orient Express". Needless to say, said game never
even came close to existing! I hate April 1 issues.

|> Skip Sauls, Amiga Advocate
|> skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu

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