Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!helios!daugher From: daugher@cs.tamu.edu (Dr. Walter C. Daugherity) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Using the old 68030 board Keywords: 68030, board, diskless workstation Message-ID: <8673@helios.TAMU.EDU> Date: 1 Oct 90 19:39:12 GMT References: <448@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU> Sender: usenet@helios.TAMU.EDU Organization: Texas A&M University Lines: 46 In article <448@kaos.MATH.UCLA.EDU> dgc@euphemia.math.ucla.edu (David G. Cantor) writes: >Could one use the old 68030 board in a cube, along with the new 68040 >board, by >1. Cutting its traces to the internal scsi bus, Except for power :-). [lines deleted about hooking the ethernet ports together to make the 68030 a diskless NeXT] Actually this is a brilliant idea, but why stop at one 68030 and one 68040? Why not have THREE 68030's and one 68040?!!! There is one "minor" detail to be resolved: will NeXT require the 68030 board (minus RAM) to be returned to get the 68040 RAM-less board for $1300 list plus $195 list for Software Release 2.0 Extended? (You keep your RAM to put in the new board.) I was led to believe that you would have to "trade in" your old board, but I have just reread both the May 9 press release and the new "Fall 1990 List Prices" booklet, AND NEITHER ONE MENTIONS RETURNING THE 68030 BOARD!!! In a previous posting I suggested NeXT could make a lot of friends and get a lot of positive exposure by repackaging returned 68030 boards into a single- board enclosure a la NeXTstation and selling them VERY cheap to universities. Once they've actually used a NeXT, they'll be eager to buy 68040 NeXT's. This would be a dandy way to buy market share in the bulk of universities which haven't received any penetration from NeXT. This would benefit NeXT much more than desoldering the old boards to salvage the chips. Now I think maybe I can keep the 68030 board after all, buy another B&W display ($995 list) and keyboard and mouse ($225 list) and some RAM, and make a great two-fer (ya know, one fer you and one fer me--if you haven't heard the NeXT country and western song, it's a scream). Just as long as your desk is no more than three feet away (unless you want to design your own display cable repeater :-)). As always, educational discounts apply. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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---