Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!voder!pyramid!octopus!vsi1!daver!bungi.com!news From: dlr@daver.bungi.com (Dave Rand) Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k Subject: Re: ET532 Message-ID: Date: 28 Apr 91 05:26:06 GMT Sender: news@daver.bungi.com Lines: 63 Approved: news@daver.bungi.com [In the message entitled "Re: ET532" on Apr 27, 20:42, Rick Rodman writes:] > The $550 SCSI/Ethernet adapters sound very expensive for what little > hardware. Perhaps you misunderstand. The *BARE BOARD* will be in this price range, for the first few units. The way things work is that the first run of boards (which we do as few as possible, in case of major failure) cost the most. The reason for this is the cost of photoplotting (at about $30 per sheet, 9 sheets required, plus negatives); the cost of tooling from the PC board house (about $350-400); the cost of digitizing the hole positions (another $200 or so); the cost of setting up the PCB test fixture (about $300-500). These are fixed, one-time (hopefully) costs - but they add up. The boards themselves will be 'respectable' in price, perhaps as low as $230 each. But the initial costs must be borne by someone... The first run of PCB's that George and I did cost over $2000 (if you include the first aborted photoplot job - not fun). This was why the first run of 'real' boards were only $200 (that, and the fact that we had enough orders to amortize the costs better, as we had to re-plot the board). It is for this reason that we want to have maximal functionality on each board that we do - the minimum hardware required to get the job done, but the maximum functionality. It doesn't really matter what the board size is, or how many holes are on it. Simple fact is that a small run of boards will cost $2000-2500 for 5-6 boards. > > myself. If all those who are interested would send me a note > > at loeliger@convex.com, I'll summarize and post the results > > to the list. Give me a confidence rate or a "I'll buy one > > (the board) for $300 but NFW will I get one for $350!" or some > > such willingness threshold. > As I see it, there is little likelihood of a complete ET532 being > constructed for under $800. That's a lot of money for an ethernet > board. (And why does it need all those serial ports and memory?) > If the hardware cost can be kept below $500 by not populating the > serial ports, using a PPGA processor group-purchased, etc., it would > be more attractive. But I wonder what the design criteria for the > board were. It doesn't matter what people will pay for the board in the long run, it is what it costs to get it done. Those costs have to be met, and we (George and Dave) can't prototype every board out of our pockets. Yes, it is a lot of money for an ethernet board (although I would be happy to sell you my Excelan EXOS-205T board that I paid $1200 for, just to get my PC on the ethernet!). It is not a lot of money for a 10 MIP processor with heaps of memory, a SCSI port, 16 serial channels, and an Ethernet. This board can be used with the PC532, or as a standalone system attached directly to a hard disk and console. It can also be used as a parallel processor with the 532 - up to 4 of them per system. It can also be used as a SLIP-to-ethernet packet router with up to 16 serial ports. It can also be used as a vegtable peeler (It slices! It dices! It holds your door open!). Thinking about things is easy; doing them is harder. Getting multilayer high quality boards done is one of the harder things to do today. You just can't do them in your bathtub, and cheap board houses cost MUCH more in the long run than they save you in the short run. -- Dave Rand {pyramid|mips|bct|vsi1}!daver!dlr Internet: dlr@daver.bungi.com