Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!hplabs!hpcc01!hpcuhb!hpihoah!cring
From: cring@hpihoah.HP.COM (Craig Ring)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Additional Power?
Message-ID: <20700002@hpihoah.HP.COM>
Date: 14 Aug 90 21:55:49 GMT
References: <20700001@hpihoah.HP.COM>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 30


> ...I would like to know what you think about the Supra 500XP
> hard drive.  How much memory have you installed, etc?
> Thanks in advance.

I have been very happy with the 500XP so far. (I've only had it a week).  I
bought it with 512K installed, and added another 1.5 Mb myself.  The memory
board takes 256K x 4, 120 ns DRAMS in DIP packages.  Since I could get these
chips from a local store for $8 each, I chose to decline Montgomery Grant's
offer of $10 per chip.  If you want more than 2 Mb of memory, you have to 
purchase a separate memory board which will take 1 Mb x 4 ZIP's.  This board 
allows up to 8 Mb of memory.

The drive was very easy to get up and running.  It simply plugs onto the bus
behind the door on the side of the 500.  With Workbench 1.3 ROMS, simply turn
on the system and away you go.  The drive comes formatted with FFS, and with
the system and Supra hard drive utilities already installed.

The drive passes the 500's bus through to a door on its side so that it is 
possible to connect more peripherals to the drive.  The drive also has a
SCSI port on the back to allow connection of more SCSI drives, or other SCSI
peripherals.  A "game" switch on the back allows you to disable the hard drive
while keeping the RAM enabled.

The hard drive itself is made by Connor.  Connor hard drives are used in the
Mac portable, and they have a reputation for making good quality drives which
are fast, low power, and shock resistant.

I don't know how the drive is on long term reliability, but so far I am a very
satisfied customer.