From: skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls)
Subject: Re: COMMODORE - HERE'S A CLUE
Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 00:38:27 GMT

In article <gjlzq-m@rpi.edu> danaf@rpi.edu writes:
>In article <1992Sep29.021719.21084@ra.msstate.edu>, skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
>>Anyone know how much it would really cost to design, develop, produce, and
>>market the 020 or 030 base A600 that people seem to want?  I'm curious.
>
>Me too... I still wanna find out the real price of the chip! (I'm now 
>sticking my estimate for the '020 at $75 bulk, much more realistic...)

Around '88 or '89, I bought an 020 and 881 for ~$40 each from the Freddy
Kruger Company (or something like that).  The chips worked great in a
CSA Midget Racer system running at 7.16MHz and even worked at 14.32MHz
when the MR was piggybacked atop a CMI Processor Accelerator.  I believe
that the chips may have been some sort of reject, but the only defect that
I found was that the top was scratched and very dull.  I haven't priced 
the chips lately, but $75 seems a bit high.

>> The A3000 at $1499 is a great deal, even when compared to the hordes of
>> clones.  I used to wish that C= would can the A2000 and replace it with
>> an A3000 with no hard drive, one of the cut-down 030s, no 881/882, and
>
>AAAAUUUGHHHHH!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOO! We just got through this one! PLEEEZE don't
>listen to him! He's sick inna' head.
>
>(Can you *IMAGINE* a mid/high-end computer with a 68030 and no HARD DRIVE??
>
>AUGH.

Let me explain this a bit.  I'd like to see the machine unbundled so that
dealers can add larger hard drives and offer better deals.  Most clones 
come with a hard drive, but the customer has a much wider range of sizes,
brands, etc. to choose from.  I'm not advocating the removal of the hard
drive so that people would use one with a floppy only, rather I believe
that it would make the machine more desirable for folks who don't want
the small 50 and 100M drives that C= uses.

>(I could live with the no-math-chip deal... as long as they left a socket...)
>
>I've been pushing for Commodore to forget all along that you can BUY an Amiga
>without a hard drive. I think WB and a lot of the other Commodore software 
>would be a lot nicer if they'd just state outright "no, it doesn't run off 
>floppies" and then stop worrying about it...

I agree.  I took the plunge and bought a hard drive for my A1000 way back
in '88.  At the time, the $700 for a 33M SCSI drive and interface seemed
like an awesome deal.  :-)

I must have had one of the most orphaned computers ever made.  I had an
A1000, CLtd SCSI controller, Alegra 512k memory board, and a CMI Processor
Accelerator.  All of the companies except C= are dead, but all of the
products still work fine (although they aren't used so much anymore).

Am I bitter?  Hell no!  I long ago accepted the fact that nothing lasts 
forever, especially computers.  These things are just tools designed to 
make life a bit easier and possibly more fun.  

>/////////////////////////[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>(718)             (212)                        (516)             (518)
>=======Amiuser============Frank R. Dana, Jr.============Doc Ami=======     
>--------My opinions rarely reflect those of any sane person,----------
>	   living, dead, or undead... that's gonna CHANGE.


Skip Sauls
skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu