Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!nuchat!texbell!bigtex!milano!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!ukma!rutgers!att!ihlpm!njd
From: njd@ihlpm.ATT.COM (DiMasi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: Re: DataQue Turbo-816
Summary: socketing parts for h/w upgrades
Message-ID: <2533@ihlpm.ATT.COM>
Date: 2 Nov 88 19:30:56 GMT
References: <8811010302.AA03304@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <7004@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois
Lines: 32

In article <7004@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, c91a-ra@franny.Berkeley.EDU (john kawakami reader) writes:
> ...
> "COMPETITIVE"?!?!  give me a break!  Since when would a somewhat faster 130XE
> be competitive with an ST?  I feel Atari is being foolish for not helping 
> this product along.  This could give another boost to XE sales in new foriegn
> markets, where the C64 is king.  One feasable possiblity would be to socket
> any parts that would have to be moved to install this upgrade, then give a
> discount if you buy the Dataque and the  8-bit at the same time.
> 
I agree with John - a Turbo-816  upgraded  130XE  would  not  be  very
competitive  with  an  ST.   Not  without a lot of s/w that would take
advantage of the 16-bit mode.  And even then, the  68000  would  still
prevail.   (With the T-816, 8-bit progs. would see only enough speedup
to make a perceptible difference, unless they do a  lot  of  floating-
point  calculations.   Chuck,  if  you  are  around, correct me if I'm
wrong.)  I was in the 8-bit conference on Delphi last night, and  Matt
Ratcliff  pointed out that the T-816 has another problem:  it requires
h/w hacking.  It takes special skill and/or tools  to  remove  a  chip
from  a  130XE  board and install a socket - I know, I tried it myself
and burned the board.  (My 2nd XE went to a repair  shop,  where  they
had  no problem socketing the OS ROM.) It would be nice if Atari would
socket the 6502 and OS ROM, but I don't think they could be  convinced
to  do  this.   Sockets  cost  extra,  and  they  are  extremely cost-
conscious.  Chips sometimes come loose from sockets.

But if my XE had the 6502 in a socket, I would seriously consider  the
T-816.

Nick DiMasi                      njd@ihlpm.ATT.COM     ...att!ihlpm!njd
Uni'q Digital Technologies (Fox Valley Software subsidiary;
   ^          working as a contractor at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL)
(  | this is an accent mark, supposed to replace the dot over the 'i')