From: danaf@bray1a.its.rpi.edu (Frank R. Dana Jr.)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: A4000 case design (was Re: Top 10 reasons why ...)
Date: 11 Nov 92 07:02:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: rpi.+sp1s3l
Reply-To: danaf@rpi.edu
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.

In article <1992Nov11.015857.2731@ra.msstate.edu>, skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
|> 
|> >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)
|> 
|> My A1000 had the case off most of the time, but somehow I have managed to 
|> keep the case on the A3000.  Of course, I was constantly tinkering with 
|> the CSA Midget Racer that I had piggybacked atop a DMI Processor Accelerator
|> and stuff like that.  Somehow the A3000 just doesn't seem to be quite the
|> hackers machine that the A1000 was.

Yeah, well, Commodore built it for a "market" this time. They have a MARKET.
Oooh, look everyone, Commodore has a "mahhket"!

The A3000 is no fun.   8(

|> >The backplane is the rear view of the computer, where all of the ports are.
|> 
|> Okay, that clarifies things a bit.  I've also heard people refer to other
|> components as the backplane and wasn't sure what you meant exactly.

Really? What else is it used for? My reference for the term comes from a
photo caption in some magazine... possibly AmigaWorld, a dubious source to be 
sure...

(Not Amiga Sentry, tho... I'm positive!  8)   )

|> If there is a seal on the back of the machine, I'll have to void the warranty
|> as I am sure as hell not going to send it to a dealer to have the Ethernet
|> board installed.  The A3000 came with information on how to install boards
|> in it, implying that it was okay, but I've heard that new A2000s have a silly
|> seal warning you not to break it.  Sheesh, if the machine has slots, why in
|> the world would they have such a silly policy?  Can you imagine the reaction
|> if a Clone maker put such a thing on one of their boxes?  Even the expandable
|> Macs don't have warnings like that.

That is kind of... uhm... well... STUPID! Anyone ever hear of the term "open
architecture"????

|> The articles and pictures (what few there are) show the SIMMs on the left
|> front of the motherboard. The only thing that might get in the way are any
|> expansion boards that might be in the machine.  

Well, those come out.

Voids your warranty, tho!   }8)

|> >My A2000 is a single-screw case. The 4 side screws are in screw heaven, where
|> >they belong... 8)
|> 
|> Oh yeah?  Well my A1000 didn't have any screws and it was gouged on the sides
|> where I'd pried it open with a screwdriver so much!  :-)

OOOOh. Yeah? Well, my A2000 case is so warped from coming on and off, it just
pops right down from the top!   Plbbbbt!  8p

|> I've received email from another owner who was upset that a second HD drive
|> would be too tall for the extra bay.

What's the point of a drive bay that doesn't hold any drives?

Heat sink port? SIMM space for that extra 6 megs of CHIP RAM Dave's going to
get for us? Hmmm.... the possibilities are.....



...nil. This is Commodore we're talking here.

|> >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!?!?!?!
|> 
|> Hey, does anyone remember how the Atari TT was bashed for the very same
|> thing?  Oh well, I guess you could get one of those cheezy adapters used
|> by Clones to put 3.5" drives in 5.25" bays.  As if it isn't ugly enough
|> already...  :-)

Can't be much worse. I'm assuming, with the new case design and all those 
bays, that they reverted to the A2000 / PC-clone system of removable panels
in the faceplate, not the A3000 plate-switch crap?

|> >I'm still waiting for a MiniTower. Maybe the A5000... 8)
|> 
|> Well, the A5000 is going to be housed in a rather large box.  It will have
|> an 040 at first, but they want to be sure to leave plenty of room for the
|> extra large heat sink that will be necessary when Motorola reveals that the
|> 68060 generates more heat than originally expected.  :-)

And, of course, room for 20 megs of CHIP RAM..... <hint, hint>

|> >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.
|> 
|> No one else has suggested a resolution, but many have said that JPEG would
|> be better than GIF for a variety of reasons.

That would be good... also supported widely on UNIX. I'm just hoping for some
sort of multi-platform standard, not IFF (readable almost nowhere...)

|> Yeah, ADPro can work wonders, but it can't do much about something that is
|> not there in the first place.

Suuure it can! Generated a great background gradient for my workbench from 
no data at all!   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.
|> 
|> Yeah, me too!  I can't stand it when people go out of their way to deceive
|> others into believing something that isn't true.  :-)

Present company excepted, of course...

<Put down the hammer, Dan. He didn't mean it! No!!!! STOP!!!!!>




....EWWWWWWW.

Anyone got a mop?

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

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=======Amiuser============Frank R. Dana, Jr.============Doc Ami=======     
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