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From: stefan@yendor.phx.mcd.mot.com (Stefan Loesch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Buying an ST in Europe for US  - should I?
Message-ID: <11490@yendor.phx.mcd.mot.com>
Date: 22 Aug 89 16:36:54 GMT
References: <959@pedsga.UUCP>
Reply-To: stefan@yendor.UUCP (0000-Admin)
Organization: Motorola Microcomputer Division, Tempe, Az.
Lines: 45

In article <959@pedsga.UUCP> mikes@pedsga.UUCP (Mike Shulman,SPCSYS,7586) writes:
>I've heard that ST's are MUCH cheaper in Germany then in US. Is that

Don't know about that, maybe.

>true? If it is, would it take much to get a German-made ST to work in US?
>Would it simply involve moving some jumper on the mother board from 50
>to 60 Hz? What about the monitor (color and mono)? I presume all the docs
>will be in German, but I guess I could photocopy them from somebody here
>in US. What about OS prompts, error messages, etc. Will they all be in
>German as well? Can that be changed?

Don't worry about hertz -> they don't count. Docu, system prompts and so
on will be (partially as far as I remember) in German, but it shouldn't 
be to difficult to understand them. You always can ask somebody on the
net (me, for example, I'm German ).

>  Is there anything else I am missing? Does anybody know what's the

Sure is. You forgot the different voltages and power connectors.
I moved to the US a year ago from Germany, and brought my (German) 
1040 Atari with me. What I did was quite simple: 
I ran a power line from my 220 V power outlet for the dryer to my
office. There I connected a multi outlet box. Then I bought some
cables in a hardware store (I had to look a little to find them)
which have the US power plug on one side (the side that goes into
the multi outlet box), and a special female connector on the other side,
where the German plugs of 1040 , harddisk, printer and monitor fit in.
I'll give it a try on a drawing (with sizes about right, view from the
front):

		/--------------\
		| ( )      ( ) |
		\--------------/

I understand, that this connectors are used in the use for some to me
unknown purpose. The German plugs fit in, not exactely, but rather good.

I had no problems with that setup ever since.

Hope that helps

Stefan
stefan@mcdphx
mcdphx!motpdq!stefan