From: blbates@aero36.larc.nasa.gov (Brent L. Bates ViGYAN AAD/TAB)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re:  Third party recommendation <**********
Date: 17 Dec 92 13:47:21 GMT


   HARD DRIVES

   We purchased a 1.6Gb 5.25" external Micropolis drive from Falcon.  After
the 4th drive failed to work, they sent us a Seagate Wren and we haven't had
any problems with it.  The Seagate also appears to be an over all better
drive too.

   Here are some 3rd party disk suppliers:

     ARROW/KIERRULFF Electronics
     ATTN: Bruce
     8300 Guilford Rd.
     Columbia, md 21046  (301) 995-6002
        5.25" SCSI and were about $2,700.00 each for 766 Mbytes. (July '90)

     Mid-Atlantic Data Systems, Inc.
     ATTN: Paul Hoy
     847-A Quince Orchard Blvd.
     Gaithersburg, Md 20878 (301) 590-0666
        ESDI

     CITA Technologies, Inc.      Contact:Jeff Thomas
     860 Broad Street
     Emmaus, PA  18049
     Phone: (215) 965-3552
        CITA has disk drives for the Indigo, including the mounting
        hardware.  Brackets alone $452 list ($294 discount?) (Sept. '92)
        520Mb (formatted), 5 year 24 hour replacement warranty,  $1,475?
        (January '92)

     CompuPlus
     (303) 666-8300, FAX: (303) 666-8306
	1.05G internal disk for Indigo		$2,150 (July '92)

     Impediment Inc.
     333 Duxbury, Ma 02332
     (617) 837-8877
     Attn: Alex.
        5.25" 780 Mb SCSI $1600, 1.6 Gb SCSI $2700 (Sept. '91)

     Falcon Systems Inc.          Contact:John Tibbitts
     5816 Roseville Rd.
     Sacramento, CA 95842
     (800) 326-1002
        SCSI, SMD and ESDI disks too.
        Falcon has disk drives for the Indigo, including the mounting
        hardware.
        520Mb 3.5" (formatted)			$1,590 (Jan. '92)
	1.2Gb internal disk for Indigo		$2,280 (July '92)
	5 year 24 hour replacement warranty,

     R Squared
     11211 E. Arapahoe Road
     Suite 200
     Englewood, CO  80112
     Phone:  (303) 799-9292/(800) 777-3478
     Contact:  Dave Lovell

   MEMORY

   Here is a list I have compiled from info-iris mail.  All comments are
from the original poster.  I don't know how good or bad most of them are,
but we bought 64Mb of Kingston memory from Impediment in April for our
new Indigo and everything seems to be working AOK.

   ClearPoint
   35 Parkwood Drive
   Hopkington,MA 07148
   (800) 253-2778, (508) 435-2000
   (A distributor: Dick Smith, Software Associtates: (916) 344-5558)
      Memory for 4D 20's, $76/Mb (GSA pricing) (late February '90)
      1Mb sims, $100/Meg (80Ns)
      Memory for 4D/25, 4Mb sims 80ns,Part #:SNX-SM/L4-80 $154/4Meg (April '92)
      Memory for SPARCstation 1+, 4Mb sims 80ns, $520/4Meg (mid April '90)
      (Life time warranty.)

   CompuPlus
   (303) 666-8300, FAX: (303) 666-8306
   32MB Indigo/R3000 RAM is $1598.00, (July '92)
   also hard disks

   Dataram Corp.
   1100 Jorie Blvd.
   Suite 118
   Oak Brook, IL  60521
   (708) 574-3710
   (A distributor: Jim Rizzicci: (313) 647-8660)
      4Mb Memory Module for SGI Personal Iris 4D/20
      Product Number #D/SIMM/4/9LP-8: $188/4Mb (April '92)
      (Life time warranty.)

   Datarep Co., (408) 730-2121, David M. McWalters, Chip Meyers
      100ns Piiceon, Helio: $575(/4Mb ?), 80ns: $625 (early March '90)

   Falcon Systems Inc.
   5816 Roseville Rd.
   Sacramento, CA 95842
   (800) 326-1002, (916) 344-1221, FAX: (916) 344-1292  (October '91)
      SR4-25 4Mb  memory upgrade for PI			$  175 (April '92)
      16Mb for 4D/20,25 (Toshiba/Hitachi 4Mb SIMMS)	$1,500
      32Mb for 4D/20,25					$3,000
      32Mb for 4D/35, Indigo/R3000			$1,760 (July '92)
      4Mb  for 4D/50,70,80,85GT,Turbo 12&16		$  295
      8Mb  ECC add on for 4D/120,200,300		$1,150
      24Mb ECC add on for 4D/120,200,300		$3,500
      54Mb ECC add on for 4D/120,200,300		$6,800
      32Mb High Density add on for 4D/120,200,300	$6,200
      32Mb High Density with board for 4D/120,200,300	$8,500

   Impediment, Inc.
   333 Franklin St.
   Duxbury, MA 02332
   (617) 837-8877, Alex Sunguroff (car phone): (617) 694-4488
   Fax: (617) 834-3666
      4D/20's, 1Mb simms, $45/Mb (Sept. '91)
      4D/25, 4Mb simms , $185 (Oct. '91)
      4D Power Series Hi $1425/32Mb (May '92)
      4D/3X & Indigo, 32MB Kit (KSG32/RPC) $1300 (Part #:KTM-32/MM3) (Oct. '92)
      Indigo R4000 32MB Kit (KSG32/R40) $1100 (Oct. '92)
      Indigo R4000 64MB Kit (KSG64/R40) $2300 (Oct. '92)
      (Have heard good things about this company, including
       Life Time replacement guarantee on memory, not 90 days like
       some companies)

    Memory X, Inc.
    3954 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite D 104
    San Diego, CA 92123
    (619) 292-1151; (619) 292-0774 FAX
        Gary W. Smith (April '92)
        MXD94000SM-80                   $169/4Mb (qty 16)
        MXD94000SM-80                   $165/4Mb (qty 32)

   Parity Systems Inc.
   504-B Vandell Way
   Campbell, CA   95008-9737;  John Miller?, Gene Krusche
   (408) 378-1000, FAX: (408) 378-1022
      1Mb 80ns SIMMS in Sun 3/x0's and SGI 4D/25's.  $66US. (mid Jul/90)
      4Mb 80ns SIMMS in Sun 3/x0's $400 (mid Jul/90)
      4Mb 80ns SIMMS in SGI 4D/25's. $136/4Mb (April '92)
      SCSI Disks 300Mb-1.2Gb and Tapes 8mm&1/4"; also available
      No problems, fast ship, life-time warranty.

   Pinacle Sales International
   2005 Hamilton Ave, Suite 220
   San Jose, CA 95125:   Jonathan Ward
   (408) 559-8544, FAX: (408) 559-8548
      4D/25, 1Mb Simms, $97/Mb; 4D/200 2Mb Simms, $315/2Mb (July '90)

   Sigma Data Inc.     (800) 446 - 4525
      2Mb strips, 80ns (KSG-8000 kit for 4D/XXX), ~$210/Mb (July '90)

   Sophisticated Circuits
   19017 120th Ave N.E.
   Bothel, WA  98011
   (206) 485-7172.  
      Memory for 4D 20's, 1Mb simms, $125/Mb (January '90)
      SGI-H4-C04X                     $169/4Mb  (April '92)
      SGI-HU-C16B                     $589/16Mb  $147.25/4Mb (April '92)
      "...about the 4th time I have bought memory from them.
       Last year I got a batch of bad chips and they promptly
       replaced them with no hassle.  The original memory I
       bought is still working fine, just about 2 years."


   South Coast Electronics, (213) 208-3260, Bob Rich
      SC94000/08: 4Mb Memory Upgrade, $1652 (Sept. '90)
      80ns Toshiba or Hitachi

   Systems Research, (415) 940-1890, Peter Kikos
      80ns Hitachi: $595(/4Mb ?)

   Technology Works, Austin, TX, 800-622-2210
      Memory for SPARCstation 1+, 4Mb sims 80ns, $520/4Meg (mid April '90)

   Note: Some one said they tried Hitachi SIMMS in a Personal and they
         didn't work.

     CD-ROMS

     I wouldn't bother with 3rd party SGI has made special enhancements to
the drives they sell to fully support multi-media applications.  From what
I've heard on the net, it just doesn't seem worth the hassle to try and find
a 3rd party drive that will work.

     DAT

     Don't know, maybe same as CD-ROMS.  But why use DAT?!!  This technology
was DOA.  I would suggest looking into Magneto-Optical Drives, you can almost
get 1Gb on them and you can use them like a slightly slower hard drive.
Tape technology is dead as far as I'm concerned.  Too many things can and do
go wrong with it.

     Hope this helps.

P.S. What happened to the info-iris-misc, info-iris-hardware, etc. mailing
     lists that were suppose to be created after the break up?!

  Brent L. Bates				Phone:(804) 864-2854
  M.S. 361			  		  FAX:(804) 864-8469
  NASA Langley Research Center
  Hampton, Virginia  23681-0001
  E-mail: blbates@aero36.larc.nasa.gov or blbates@aero00.larc.nasa.gov