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From: davewt@NCoast.ORG (David Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: AMIGAstation...
Summary: A3000 dlots don't add to the price
Message-ID: <1991Feb16.062147.24843@NCoast.ORG>
Date: 16 Feb 91 06:21:47 GMT
References: <1991Feb11.005426.24174@sugar.hackercorp.com> <12013@helios.TAMU.EDU> <1991Feb12.053906.10441@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu>
Organization: North Coast Public Access Un*x (ncoast)
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In article <1991Feb12.053906.10441@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu> mitroo@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Varun Mitroo) writes:
>Now imagine a lab full of A3000UX.  Every one of them has empty slots - maybe
>one is used for ethernet.  All these slots are doing nothing, except driving
>the cost of the machine up.  NeXT realized this with the cube, and very
>efficiently pared down both the hardware and software:  no expansion slots but
>lots of internal memory and hard drive capability, no Lisp (removed from the
>included software), no Mathematica (except for higher ed.) - software licensing
>can be expensive!  If you need expansion or need a server, buy a cube.
	This is silly. The "slots" on the 3000 do not add to the price
basically at all. The "slots" are on a daughterboard, which is removeable,
and has little (if any) support circuitry. I suppose it might be possible to
run without ANY slots, but why? When the board the slots are on is basically
dirt cheap, and any hard drive will cost your at least 10 times as much,
if not more, why leave it out? In fact, if someone wanted a REALLY
expandable 3000, they could design up a new case, and replace the "dumb"
board with the slots with one with MORE slots (say to add 8 or 9 ISA
slots instead of the 2 you get on a normal 3000).
>
>It's wonderful that each and every one of the Amiga3000UX can run AmigaDos,
>and each could have many serial ports, and each could have a Video Toaster,
>but of what use are these for unix boxes?  The important thing is that they
>are well-integrated, have nice clear displays, and are FAST.
	Well that's good, because the 3000 DOES and IS.
>
>The 3000UX does make a good unix box, but there is no reason to drive up its
>cost with those unnecessary options:  expansion slots, AmigaDos, etc.  Maybe
>Commodore should realize this and come out with an AMIGAstation: 100 meg drive,
>high res monitor, ethernet, no expansion.  They could probably shave off over
>$1000 from the price and have a nice fast integrated unix box.
	And AmigaDOS does not add anything to the cost. The 3000UX is
exactly the same hardware wise as the 3000, so you would have to do something
extra to REMOVE AmigaDOS compatibility, which would ADD to the cost.
	Now if they came out with a 500 with an '030 on it, the same RAM
expansion, and the video board built in, that might cost less, if you
could get people to buy it. Those wonderfull SparcStations you talk
about cost as much as a 3000, which CAN be expanded.


			Dave