Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!cs.utexas.edu!helios!daugher From: daugher@cs.tamu.edu (Dr. Walter C. Daugherity) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Upgrade Policies? Summary: expect them to be fairly reasonable Keywords: NeXT upgrades Message-ID: <7852@helios.TAMU.EDU> Date: 30 Aug 90 20:42:10 GMT References: <298@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU> Sender: usenet@helios.TAMU.EDU Distribution: na Organization: Texas A&M University Lines: 53 In article <298@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU> barry@pico.math.ucla.edu (Barry Merriman) writes: >Any word on the upgrade policies associated with NeXT's new product line? [lines deleted] >As I see it, though, there are 3 upgrade issues: The color monitor, >the 68040, and the 2.88 Mb floppy drive. >The 68040 and Color monitor---being the type of upgrades >we all foresaw---should be offered at a low-profit price, as >a favor to loyal NeXT users. These are simple amenities that >add to the system capabilities. (I've heard talk of a $1000 >figure---does that cover just the 68040, or does it >also turn the 2 bit greyscale into 24 bit greyscale? I doubt >it covers the Color Monitor, but we can alway dream...) The $1495 (suggested retail, educational discount applies) upgrade will be to swap main CPU boards. You pull your memory chips, send in the 68030 board and $1495, and they send you the 68040 board. It cannot include 24-bit grayscale (as there's not enough room on the main board for the additional video RAM) or a color monitor (as you'd have trouble finding just a mega-pixel Renderman color monitor for $1495, not to mention the price of a 68040). >However, I think the floppy drive should be offered as a _free_ >upgrade, or at worst, at cost---because its likely to make our >optical disks useless for software distribution, and we'll all >be _forced_ to fork over ~$500 for a floppy drive if we plan on buying >any software. Since NeXT is essentially changing their >mode of software distribution under us, I think they >should give us a freebie so we can all join in. Not impossible. 1.44 MB floppy drives are available for under $100 mail-order, so NeXT could bundle a 2.88 MB floppy drive pretty cheaply. >On a related point: what is a 2.88 Mb floppy? I've never >heard of that size. I hope it also reads the standard >sizes (and formats---I've heard IBM, but not Mac?)---otherwise, >whats the point of having it if it doesn't broaden >the file transfer options. A 2.88 MB floppy is just a quad density IBM PC 3.5-incher. The first one (e.g., PS/2 Model 25) was 720 KB, and then came the double density 1.44 MB. MS-DOS and Mac formats are different, but under software control, so look for some enterprising third party to support Mac format. It should still handle 720 KB and 1.44 MB diskettes for PC interchange. P.S. All of the above is rumor or my opinion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walter C. Daugherity Internet, NeXTmail: daugher@cs.tamu.edu Knowledge Systems Research Center uucp: uunet!cs.tamu.edu!daugher Texas A & M University BITNET: DAUGHER@TAMVENUS College Station, TX 77843-3112 CSNET: daugher%cs.tamu.edu@RELAY.CS.NET ---Not an official document of Texas A&M---