Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!arisia!sgi!decwrl!nsc!grenley
From: grenley@nsc.nsc.com (George Grenley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Re: 32K "do-it-yourself" kits...
Keywords: The Ultimate Scrooge...
Message-ID: <7532@nsc.nsc.com>
Date: 4 Nov 88 22:59:55 GMT
References: <2613@sultra.UUCP>
Reply-To: grenley@nsc.nsc.com.UUCP (George Grenley)
Organization: National Semiconductor, Sunnyvale
Lines: 25

In article <2613@sultra.UUCP> dtynan@sultra.UUCP (Der Tynan) writes:
>OK, so I've been following all these postings about so-and-so who makes an
>"ultra-cheap" 32K experimental system.  Well, so far, 'ultra-cheap' has been
>open to varied interpretation.  

I still maintain that if cheap is your primary goal, you can't beat the 532DK,
at a whopping $532.  Yes, half a k-buck is not trivial, but you have
something which, with work, can be a real OS9/Minix/GNU/whatever system.
Starting with 016/032 based hardware means, when you're all done, it will be
out of date.

Would you build an 8088 based box?  No.

>  I mean, when you take manufacturing costs out of the equation, it
>should be possible to produce a simple 6MHz, 512K RAM PC board, with a UART
>and space for the TDS PROM's for less than $100.  Batteries not included.

Der, the realities of corporate bookkeeping are such that we can't do
ANYTHING in low volume for $100.  Of the $7800 list price of the VME532,
for example, the manufacturing labor is significantly less than 10%.

So, if you want to have fun building a machine you'll find useful when
you're done, buy a 532DK.

Regards,
George Grenley