Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!know!login From: Eric Edwards Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: More A500 HD questions Message-ID: <23347@know.pws.bull.com> Date: 11 Apr 91 06:12:33 GMT Sender: login@pws.bulL.com Lines: 48 In Message-ID: <1991Apr9.210135.17082@sbcs.sunysb.edu> dtiberio@eeserv1.ic.sunysb.edu (David Tiberio) said: >In article pk1s+@andrew.cmu.edu (Paul A. Ka >>I have lots of information to sort through, and I'd like to thank all >>of you who responded so far, but I definitely do not have all I'm >>looking for just yet. >> >>First of all, I have NO information on the Dataflyer 500. Has ANYONE >>seen or heard of this controller?? > > I have yet to see it, but I know that it is supposed to match the height >of the a500 case, so it will probably look like the supra drive. It has an >8 megabyte expansion board, and a power supply. It is also one of the >least expensive. It is made by Expansion Systems. I called severl mail order places yesterday and asked about this board. It's slimline box similar to a GVP or supra in form. I didn't ask whether the price included a power supply. I rather doubt it. Inside is a non-DMA HD controler. For what it's worth, the driver software supports Syquest removable hard drives. There is a slot for a special memory board that holds up to 8 meg of ram. Unfortunately, this board is not yet available. There isn't even a release date. One place stated that "they haven't built it yet" I don't know whether that's true or not (surely they have some kind of prototype) but at this time I concidder the memory expansion capablility of this box as vaporware.` > >> >>Finally, someone (whose name escapes me at the moment -- sorry) >>mentioned a new, not-yet-released controller called the Starblazer >>500. Does anyone have any info on it? From what I have heard, it >>sounds very nice. > Features look nice but I received a couple of strong warnings to stay away from Mast products. One stated that the documention for an earlier controler (Tiny Tiger) was very bad. Another was going to buy the StarBlazer but gave up when it seemed like it was never going to be released. I.e. It was always "2 more weeks". One thing to make sure of. If you're planning to add memory to a HD controler at some point, check into the cost of this before you buy. The memory modules used by the StarBlazer are $200 for 2 meg, $120 above the market price for 256K x 4 drams. The best price I have found for the Meta 4 board used in the Trumpcards is $139 from Computablility. A completely seperate Supra 500RX populated with 1 meg of ram can be had for $137. Eric Edwards: c506634 @ "The 3090. Proof that by applying state of the Inet: umcvmb.missouri.edu art technology to an obsolete architecture, Bitnet: umcvmb.bitnet one can achieve mediocre performance."