Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen
From: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 386 questions
Keywords: 386 ems
Message-ID: <1240@sixhub.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jul 90 20:35:28 GMT
References: <3698@bdt.UUCP>
Reply-To: davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Distribution: usa
Organization: *IX Public Access UNIX, Schenectady NY
Lines: 48

In article <3698@bdt.UUCP> doug@bdt.UUCP (Doug Asherman) writes:

| 2) The ad states that the motherboard has an "EMS Device On Board."
| I've heard rumors that these can cause compatibility problems that
| software memory managers won't, and that you can't disable them.
| Is this true?

  If this is the Chips & Technology "NEAT chipset" is does have EMS
support, it can be disabled, and it doesn't interfere with DOS or UNIX.
| 
| 3) I asked about replacing the hard disk (65MB) with a larger one
| (80MB), and was told that the 80MB drive the store had in stock was
| a Seagte SCSI drive.  I wasn't aware that there was such a beast (a 
| friend of mine says that there isn't, and the salesmen if proabably 
| mistaken.

  I can't find my list of Seagate drives right now (I just finished
repartitioning a hard disk), but there is one close to 80, in the
76-84MB range. Someone might have said 80 and had a little rounding
error.
|
| If there's anyone out there who knows of a reputable place in
| the SF Bay Area where I could get a decent 386SX for about two grand,
| I'd appreciate hearing about it.  It would be even better if it were
| in the East Bay.

  Computers are one of the things you should buy with an interest in
support. Getting one from a local guy who just assembles parts (even a
guy like me who uses the best ones he can find) is a risk compared to
buying from an established national firm who have been in business long
enough to have established a reputation.

  Two mail order firms I would recommend are "Gateway 2000" and "PC
Designs." I got my first 386 from PC Designs in 1986 (yes some of us
have had them a long time) and they stood behind it when it was damaged
in shipping then, and they supplied a new ROM set for the motherboard
this year, still at the same 800 number for tech support. Gateway also
has a good reputation for support, although they're only a few years
old.

  If you want to buy local, be *very* sure the parts are brand name!
That way you can probably get support from someone even if the dealer
decides to sell used cars next year.
-- 
bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen)
    sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
    moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me