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From: etxtomp@eos.ericsson.se (Tommy Petersson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: HAM-E WARNING !!! (mostly for overseas customers)
Message-ID: <1990Dec6.173548.11452@ericsson.se>
Date: 6 Dec 90 17:35:48 GMT
References: <1990Dec4.201207.22116@ims.alaska.edu>
Sender: news@ericsson.se
Reply-To: etxtomp@eos.ericsson.se
Organization: Ericsson Telecom AB
Lines: 56

I read about the HAM-E on the net and faxed my interest to Black Belt. They
sent me a nice-looking colour flyer, and since it was available and should
be working on a PAL machine, I ordered one.

The flyer told me:
What You Get:
The HAM-E itself...a three foot cable...a "wall-wart" type power supply...
a disk containing the paint and rendering software...a short manual

When I got the unit, there was not a power supply, but a note:
"When the HAM-E device is exported to many foreign countries, the power
supply that we have available here in the United States is not appropriate
for use. This is due to either the line voltage being different, or the
power line frequency being different.

In order to use HAM-E overseas, the user must provide their own power supply."

Further down:
"If either DC power is applied to the unit in reversed polarity or an AC power
supply is attached at all, the unit will be DESTROYED immediately and this is
not covered under warranty."

Great! For no extra charge they remove the promised power supply, since the
only available in US can't handle 220V 50Hz! You will have the oppurtunity to
decide for yourself exactly which PS you want (flexibility), and you also
have the added extra possibility of a "create-your-own-smoke-cloud".

I have two "wall-wart type" power supplies at home, but one is 15V only 
(HAM-E needs 8-12V, otherwise it will likely start an atomic reaction) and
the other PS can't give as much as 1.25 amperes.

There ARE certainly power supplies that can handle 100-220V, 50-60Hz, which
is enough for most of the Amiga community, even in a seemingly outback
country as the US! If they at least had informed people in the flyer, or
given something off the price (which is anyway not so good for me, since
accessories are expensive here).

They let people send the goods back (for a refund, I hope), but I would
have to pay their and my shipping - $100...

I thought I at least should look what was included on the diskettes, and
look at a test picture to see how it looked without the HAM-E. I clicked
on a Icon, and got "You need Arp.library v39+"...

Seems like they are selling a kit, more than a product...

I will get in contact with them and keep You posted (as if You were
interested:-). Maybe Black Belt will read it here - they use to brag
about their product here (which may be a good product if I get all of it).

The free source codes for the programs were impossible to get on a disk
("Get a modem!"). I wonder how much that trans-atlantic down-load will
cost, especially since they seem to come out with new software revisions
twice a day...

Tommy Petersson