Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!sjsca4!poffen
From: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: the death of the All Charge Card
Message-ID: <1990Jun28.154213.29802@sj.ate.slb.com>
Date: 28 Jun 90 15:42:13 GMT
References: <1990Jun26.212154.2980@amd.com> <11102@netcom.UUCP> <1990Jun27.215008.3927@amd.com> <11175@netcom.UUCP>
Reply-To: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger)
Organization: Schlumberger Technologies, San Jose, CA.
Lines: 64

In article <11175@netcom.UUCP> ergo@netcom.UUCP (Isaac Rabinovitch) writes:
>In <1990Jun27.215008.3927@amd.com> phil@pepsi.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes:
>
>>Maybe you don't realize this, but the ACC requires you to take out
>>the processor chip, which in my expert opinion (20 years of hardware
>>hacking) is MUCH more likely to get a user in trouble than a simple
>>motherboard swap.
>Huh?  I've taken the 286 out of my machine, just because I was curious
>about what it would look like.  It's just a little flat package with
>leads on the surface, held to its contacts by a little metal plate.  I
>understand some 286 packages are a little more complicated, but it's
>hard for me to see how you can say pulling a chip could be as hard as
>installing a new motherboard!
>
>>|my Zenith machine (very idiosyncratic, physically).  Zenith sells a
>>|386 replacement motherboard, but for proprietary prices.  And could I
>
>>Gee, a new box is about $50. What more do you need?
>The expertise to put it all together without frying it or myself.  Get
>it through your nerdish head that there are people, of quite adequate
>intelligence, who lack your skill with a soldering iron and
>screwdriver.
>>|go on using my 16-bit extended memory cards?
>
>>Depending on what kind of memory you have, you'd be better off moving
>>them onto the motherboard. If you can't you can always use your
>>memory cards but your performance would be lower.
>
>But your argument was that getting a 386 would speed things up.  Which
>is it?
>
>>|Also, you're comparing the list of the ACC with the street price of a
>>|386SX motherboard.  The street price of an ACC is about $100 less.
>
>>I didn't know discounts on the ACC were available,
>So get on some mailing lists, and read some magazines.  Where do you
>think I got my "street price"?
>> it's certainly
>>a much lower volume, harder to find, device so discounts are probably
>>not as good in any case.
>Blah, blah, blah....


There are things a 386 can do that a 286 can never do. Such as virtual 8086
and such. The memory management on a 386 blows away any combination of 286
and the ACC or anything else.

A Motherboard swap is very simple. I did it myself in about 10 minutes. No
soldering or anything else. All connections are done with standard connectors.
If you get a decent manual, it is very easy.

Yes a motherboard swap may be more expensive, but I would rather pay $400 now
(or maybe a little later) than $200 now just to realize that it isn't every-
thing I need and have to spend $400 anyway to get a 386 later on.

For some, the ACC may be the right thing to do (is it compatible with Windows
3.0?). But for most, saving a little more money and getting a 386 is far
better.


Russ Poffenberger               DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies       UUCP:   {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
1601 Technology Drive		CIS:	72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110             (408)437-5254