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From: root@sbcs.UUCP (Root)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: ETHERNET/IBM TOKEN RING
Message-ID: <609@sbcs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Sep-87 13:47:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: sbcs.609
Posted: Wed Sep 23 13:47:04 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 26-Sep-87 10:36:31 EDT
References: <YVIgHny00XM2c5Y05T@andrew.cmu.edu>
Organization: Computer Science Dept, SUNY@Stony Brook
Lines: 66

> 
> 
> I desperatly need to get either an Ethernet card or an IBM Token Ring card
> for my Amiga 1000 (512k, 2 drives, standard dreck).
> 
> CM(U) was nice enough to wire every dorm room with three stylish boxes which
> can handle Ethernet or IBM's Token ring setup. I would like to be able to set
> up my Amiga as a "host" on the network here to do the following:
> 
> The only information I could find in only magazines listed an Ethernet card
> for $800, which seems (silly me?) to be quite expensive. No mention was made

	The company is Ameristar; they can be reached at (516) 698-0834. I
	am surprised that they didn't answer their phone - perhaps you called
	their old number.  

	As for the pricing, well, I designed the card to be produced as 
	cheaply as possible, but the fact of the matter is that the Amiga 
	Ethernet market is simply too small to generate "economy of scale" 
	savings in hardware production.  I've tried to compensate for 
	this by persuading Ameristar to sell the software for less than 
	industry average for equivalent functionality:

	(PC)	Sun PC-NFS + brd:	$995 (= $395 software + $600 brd)

	(Amiga)	Ameristar brd + softw:	$899 (= $699 brd + $200 software)

	(MAC)	Kinetics Enet brd:	$799 (board only)

	Of course, the Sun (PC) price can be trimmed a bit by shopping around
	for the Ethernet board.  

> I would especially like to hear about performance problems or ways to get
> ethernet really cheaply. I have heard of a kludge where you can build a cheap
> IBM PC slot, and plug in a rather inexpensive PC ethernet board...

	I've covered the approach of PC Ethernet board in a 2000 slot before,
	but in summary, it will cost you more:

		A1000->A2000 backpl:   ~$700
		Commodore Bridge card:	$495
		Cheap PC Ethernet card:	$400 (or so)
		PD IP/TCP + work:	$XXX (what is your time worth)
					----
					$1595

	Plus, I think you'll find that the PD IP/TCP's don't do multiple
	rlogin's in windows, NFS sessions, have Berkeley socket interfaces, 
	and so on...  And of course, you'll probably have to wait even
	longer for PD NeWS or X window systems, but that's another subject :-).

> 
> 				-John Kalucki

	I used to complain alot about what things cost - used to say to
	myself: "Gee, I could build that and sell it for less than what
	they do".  Of course, the fatal flaw in my line of reasoning
	is that I was looking ONLY at quantity parts cost - I didn't 
	understand overhead, the effect of volume on retail price, dealers 
	wanting 30% to carry the card, assembly/test/packaging cost, telephone 
	support, the cost of money, etc.  IBM-PC Ethernet boards simply
	cost less because they are probably mass produced off shore,
	sold only through dealers (i.e. don't call the manufacturer with
	a question), and they sell a couple thousand or so a month..
	
					Rick Spanbauer