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From: hammersslammers1@oxy.edu (David J. Harr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: MACH, magneto-optical drives, MAPLE
Message-ID: <17422@tiger.oxy.edu>
Date: 9 Feb 89 02:21:59 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA  90041
Lines: 36

I have some questions about two or three things I caught in passing the last
couple of months in this newsgroup, and I was wondering if anyone had any
more information on them.
    1) Someone mentioned that there was a group almost finished porting MACH
       to the Mac II (maybe it will be called MACH II?). Does anyone have
       any hard information on this or know who I can contact as regards
       availability, pricing, etc?
    2)There was mention of a 3.5" magneto optical drive that had only around
      125Mbyte capacity, as opposed to the 600+Mbyte capacity of the Jasmine
      and Pinnacle Systems beasties. The reason it looked interesting was
      because they mentioned that it was in the $1500-$2000 range as opposed
      to 6K plus for the Jasmine and Pinnacle models. Does anyone know
      anything about this, the company name that is producing it or hard
      information about the specs? A phone number will be sufficient to get
      me started.
    3) Because I am a poor-but-honest physics/math student, I would dearly
       love to get Mathematica for my Mac II. However, I am more than a
       little daunted by the $700+ price tag. It is frustrating to see a
       fantastic research tool like that priced out of the reach of all but
       the most wealthy faculty and students (especially when I've blown my
       budget for the next three years by getting a Mac II). Anyway, I am
       trying to evaluate the alternatives to Mathematica. Among the ones I
       have heard mentioned are MATLAB (which I have used on our school's
       PRIME) and MAPLE. Does anyone have information as to the availability
       pricing, etc of these things? Especially, how do they stack up
       against Mathematica?
Anyway, I am just trying to improve myself and my Mac a little at a time, so
I would be eternally (ETERNALLY adj. 1. A period of time stretching from now
until eternity, or a period of time lasting until tomorrow morning at 6:00am
whichever comes first.) grateful to you.

				 David

PS. Does anyone know where I can get old, burned out Mac keyboards? I need
the switches for the keys, as my keyboard has a couple of dead keys, and I
would like to replace them.