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From: wcs@ho95b.UUCP (Bill Stewart)
Newsgroups: net.college,net.cse,net.micro,net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Univ. of VT chooses AT&T pc's
Message-ID: <387@ho95b.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Apr-85 20:11:27 EST
Article-I.D.: ho95b.387
Posted: Tue Apr 23 20:11:27 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Apr-85 05:10:03 EST
References: <376@uvm-cs.UUCP> <285@h-sc1.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 27
Xref: watmath net.college:688 net.cse:360 net.micro:10121 net.micro.pc:3748

> > Burlington, Vermont; .... Incoming freshmen ...will be required to
> > purchase [AT&T 6300 PC] starting in the fall of 1985. Students will
> > be able to purchase their machines outright, or finance the cost over
> > their four years at the University. Maintenance is included in the
> > cost of the machines.
> What if they can't afford it?  
> 	marie desjardins

Requiring freshmen in technical fields to purchase PCs of one sort or
another is becoming increasingly common, and it's not a bad thing.
Back in the dark ages, when I was a freshman, a respectable hunk of my
tuition went towards 1/Nth of the IBM 370, 1/nth of a card punch, etc.
This makes the cost and value a little more explicit, but the student
probably pays an amortized $5-700/year, and gets to keep the beast when
he/she leaves.  Besides,

You can upgrade a 6300 to 640K by adding 256K memory chips to the
motherboard and setting the switches right!  If you buy offbrand chips,
this will cost about $100.  This is not on the documentation, but it's
been floating around the grapevine for a few months.  I have no idea
how it affects warranty (?it shouldn't?), but it produces less heat
load and uses fewer slots than buying the add-on boards that use 64K chips.

			Bill Stewart

DISCLAIMER! Of course I'm speaking on my own, and this in no way
represents policy of my company, management, or anybody who's anybody.