Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!nac.dec.com!plouff
From: plouff@nac.dec.com (Wes Plouff - NAC LAN Engr 226-7423)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: CSA Comments on Amiga World Review
Message-ID: <8804132025.AA08587@decwrl.dec.com>
Date: 14 Apr 88 00:16:00 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 47

[Second posting... didn't see this show up on the net.]

A couple of months ago, _Amigaworld_ reviewed the CSA Turbo 020 
accelerator for the 2000 in a very screwy article.  In particular, the 
reviewer claimed that the 68020 ran slower than a vanilla 68000!  I then 
wrote a note to this conference titled "Still More 68020 Questions," 
trying to find out how the operating system treated the '020, and what 
the reviewer might have done wrong.

Well...  At the Motorola "Imaginology" seminar just completed in Boston,
a CSA marketing guy was showing off their Over 030 platform board in an
A2000 running an animation demo, and in a Mac II with the cover off. 

When asked about the review, he stated, "The author was running version 
1.1, which turns the cache off."  Actually, it never turns the 68020 
cache on, but the result is the same.  He continued, "We have asked 
Amigaworld several times for a correction or retraction, but so far have 
gotten no response.  Look for our new ads which say, yes, the turbo 
board really _does_ speed up the Amiga."

Remember the AW editorial saying that their technical content was "just 
right?" :-)

When asked about problems operating with the A2090, he said something 
like "mumble, mumble... early Commodore production run has problems." 
Not knowing all the facts, I didn't pursue it. 

BTW, CSA's 68030 and 68882 platform boards are priced at $495 and $295 
respectively, without the processor chips installed.  Moto says that the 
68030 at 20 MHz is over $500 in small quantities right now.  In contrast 
small quantities of the 68020 and 68881 at 12 MHz are $152 and $129
respectively, with 16 MHz versions at $218 and $172. 

(Anyone who wants to know more about 68020 accelerator or platform
boards should read Motorola Ap Note AN944, "MC68020 and MC68881 Platform
Board for Evaluation in a 16-bit System."  This is available from your
local Moto sales office or by calling 1-800-521-6274.) 

Happy hardware hacking,

-- 
Wes Plouff
Digital Equipment Corp.		Internet: plouff%nac.dec@decwrl.dec.com
Littleton, Mass.		UUCP:     ...!decwrl!nac!plouff

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
 Let the rich man live and the poor man burst"  -- The Oyster Band