Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!Teknowledge.COM!unix!hplabs!hpfcso!hpfcmgw!hpfcse!hpuecoa!uswmrg2!james
From: james@uswmrg2.UUCP (James D. Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A590 Drive
Message-ID: <520001@uswmrg2.UUCP>
Date: 16 Nov 89 10:24:02 GMT
References: <1171@jtsv16.UUCP>
Organization: US WEST Marketing Resources Group
Lines: 69

/ uswmrg2:comp.sys.amiga / brian@jtsv16.UUCP (Brian A. Jarvis) /  2:41 pm  Oct 23, 1989 /

> 1)  How much does it cost in the U.S.?  Saturday, I was quoted $940 and
>     $899 Canadian ($800, $765 American, respectively).

	I just got one, and paid what seems to be an average price of $650
from Progressive Peripherals, here in Denver. Sorry, don't have the
address/phone info with me.

> 2)  How reliable is the thing?  After all, what good is a 20 Mb drive when
>     15 Mb are mapped out as bad blocks...

No errors so far, but I've only had it a week. I'm happy with it, and being
a PC to Amiga convert. I'm pleased with how quick it is considering the
life-threateningly slow speed of the AmigaDos file system.

> 3)  What sort of warranty is Commodore putting on the thing?  The usual
>     90 days?  Any other exceptional notations?

Yep, standard 90 day U.S. Warranty.

> 4)  A while ago, someone posted a note on exactly what kind (type, speed)
>     of RAM was required for the machine to bring it up to 2 Mb.  Could
>     some kind soul reiterate?

CMOS 256K X 4 RAMS, 120ns or faster.

> 5)  Has anyone heard if Commodore is planning a similar drive with a larger
>     capacity, say, 40 Mb?  It would seem to be the next logical step.

You can stick any 3.5" drive in the case. There are two ports in the case,
one for an XT (?) drive, and a SCSI interface. I may be too presumptuous,
but one might think that the XT port will support standard PC XT hard
drives?? (As I said, too presumptuous?) Also, the drive has a SCSI port
on the back, for you to add more drives. The installation software will
support 18 SCSI drives, though you are looking at a practical max of
probably 5 or so, just because of signal loss on the cable.

I've got mine maxxed out with 2MB of RAM, and all seems happy.

> I'm tentatively planning to do a little negotiating with the local
> dealers when they gather together for the World of Commodore Show at the
> end of November, so I'm scrounging for data now.  Any words of advice
> would be greatly appreciated.

I have not found dealers willing to bargain for Commodore stuff. From the
$599 price offered by the mail order houses, it looks like $600 is about
the lowest you're going to get. Can't hurt to try, though.

If you can get the A590 box without a drive in it, you can might be able to
get a better deal with a larger 3.5" drive (it comes with a Miniscribe drive).
I've seen 40MB XT drives for about $300. I haven't yet priced small SCSI
drives, though I know that big ones, like the CDC Wren V (300 MB) are
more than $1000.

Also, it looks like Commodore is no longer honoring warranties on merchandise
sold from mail-order places, it might be worth it to you to buy from a
local dealer.

James D. Brown
US West Marketing Resources Group, Inc.

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