From broadley@neurocog.lrdc.pitt.edu Thu Apr 3 13:38:20 1994 Received: from neurocog.lrdc.pitt.edu by SunSITE.Unc.EDU (5.65c+IDA/FvK-1.07) with SMTP id AA01142; Thu, 31 Mar 1994 18:38:22 -0500 Message-Id: <199403312338.AA01142@SunSITE.Unc.EDU> Received: by neurocog.lrdc.pitt.edu (1.37.109.4/16.2) id AA22016; Thu, 31 Mar 94 18:38:20 -0500 Date: Thu, 31 Mar 94 18:38:20 -0500 From: Bill Broadley To: riscy@sunsite.unc.edu Subject: (fwd) DEC's Alpha board!!! Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.sys.dec,comp.sys.dec.micro Organization: Learning Research and Development Center at U. of Pittsburgh Path: birdie-blue.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!netnews.upenn.edu!newsserver.jvnc.net!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!news.lth.se!news.lth.se!dat93rra From: dat93rra@bach-3.ludat.lth.se (Ronny Ranerup) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.sys.dec,comp.sys.dec.micro Subject: DEC's Alpha board!!! Date: 31 Mar 1994 15:37:29 GMT Organization: Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden Lines: 40 Distribution: world Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: bach-3.ludat.lth.se Xref: birdie-blue.cis.pitt.edu comp.arch:1300 comp.sys.dec:1309 comp.sys.dec.micro:235 I would like to know if anyone has information about the PC board from DEC that I read about in the March number of BYTE? In case you missed it here's a recap of my wet dreams: - A 'complete' board for AXP 21068 or 21066 (up to 200Mhz (CPU not included)). - Fast SCSI-2 on board. - 4 ISA slots. - 2 PCI slots. - Parallel port. - 2 serial ports. - 1 IDE interface. - Keyboard and (optional) mouse connections. - Cache up to 1 Meg (no mem. incl.) - 4 SIMM sockets (no mem incl.) - and more.... ------------------ PRICE: < 500 $ !!! ------------------ Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............. So all you have to do is ?: - Wait until May (when it's supposed to be available). - Connect a hard drive, keyboard, terminal (or graphics card and monitor), powersupply and fan.... - Install CPU, memory and cache.... - Do a mighty hack to get a useful OS (UNIX of course). .... and you're raring to go !!!!!!!!!!!!!! So do you now anything that could wet my apetite a little more? -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ronny Ranerup I 'A content person Lund University, Dept. of Computer Science, SWEDEN I is email: dat93rra@ludat.lth.se, ronny@loglady.df.lth.se I a useless person' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- Bill Broadley@{neurocog,schneider3,lrdc5}.lrdc.pitt.edu (in order of preference) Linux is great. Bike to live, live to bike. PGP-ok From reedv@rpi.edu Sun Apr 10 18:41:03 1994 Received: from mail1.its.rpi.edu by SunSITE.Unc.EDU (5.65c+IDA/FvK-1.07) with SMTP id AB04280; Sun, 10 Apr 1994 22:41:07 -0400 Received: from localhost (reedv@vccnorth22.its.rpi.edu [128.113.69.132]) by mail1.its.rpi.edu (8.6.7/8.6.4) with SMTP id WAA13914 for ; Sun, 10 Apr 1994 22:41:05 -0400 Received: by localhost (AIX 3.2/UCB 5.64/AIXV3-SUB16); id AA21621; Sun, 10 Apr 1994 22:41:04 -0400 for riscy@sunsite.unc.edu From: reedv@rpi.edu (Vince Reed -- "Sub Zero" ) Message-Id: <9404102241.ZM21363@vccnorth22.its.rpi.edu> Date: Sun, 10 Apr 1994 22:41:03 -0400 X-Mailer: Z-Mail (2.1.5 20sep93) To: riscy@sunsite.unc.edu Subject: Something to stir up conversation... ACER BUILDING POWERPC/PENTIUM-SWAPPABLE PCS Taiwanese computer manufacturer Acer is designing machines with swappable processor boards that will allow PowerPC, Pentium and perhaps other processors to be swapped into same machine. UK marketing manager David Tanner told PowerPC News that the company should have the motherboard ready during the next quarter, and a range of swappable processor daughter-boards will follow in the third quarter this year. Tanner says that the company has yet to decide how the new machines will be marketed: both OEM and end-user options are still available. Likewise cost of manufacture and preliminary pricing has yet to be pinned down. Until now most PC manufacturers, including IBM have said that swappable PowerPC/Pentium boxes would be difficult to produce at realistic prices, however Tanner characterises the problems as "fairly trivial, to be honest". He points to the company's ability to design and manufacture its own application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) as one factor which will help Acer along. Moreover the company is apparently aiming at PReP compliance. A population of PReP-compliant machine that can have Pentiums slotted in would, paradoxically, be a blessing for the PowerPC industry. Currently, betting on PowerPC requires a major commitment from a manufacturer, while the ability to build a single chassis with support for alternative processors would lower the stakes. So who will end up buying these boxes? "I think the answer is that we don't know" Tanner admits, likening the move to Acer's initial adoption of Windows NT - ship it and see who buys it. *Meanwhile Zenith Data Systems, owned by Compagne des Machines Bull says that it has PowerPC laptops at the "very early" design stage. From edmund@electxt.co.nz Sun Apr 10 23:01:09 1994 Received: from st-james.comp.vuw.ac.nz by SunSITE.Unc.EDU (5.65c+IDA/FvK-1.07) with SMTP id AA07156; Sun, 10 Apr 1994 23:01:09 -0400 Received: from electxt.co.nz (electxt@localhost) by st-james.comp.vuw.ac.nz (8.6.8/8.6.6) with UUCP id OAA26551 for sunsite.unc.edu!riscy; Mon, 11 Apr 1994 14:29:34 +1200 Received: by kulgan.electxt.co.nz; Mon, 11 Apr 94 13:11:52 NZS Date: Mon, 11 Apr 94 13:11:52 NZS From: Edmund Stephen-Smith Message-Id: <9404110111.AA04759@kulgan.electxt.co.nz> To: riscy@sunsite.unc.edu Subject: New r4400 m/b A company here (Omicron) has started manufacturing r4400 machines. The specs are: r4400 67/133 (or 50/100 or 75/150) 512k cache S3 928 video w/ 2MB 32 bit ethernet (AUI) fast SCSI-2 2 serial/1 parallel on motherboard (not sure if 16550 or what) 5 ISA slots -------------------- 16 MB DRAM SCSI-2 1 GB disk SCSI-2 double speed CDROM microsoft mouse 101 key keyboard 15 inch MAG monitor Tower case Windows NT The whole system costs ~NZD 10000 (say USD 5400). The motherboard only (with CPU) costs NZD 3500 (say USD 1900). The M/B price is "dealer", I think. Programming information (for a linux port) would be made freely available. This isn't a lot cheaper than Andreas' board, but DOES include CPU. The marketing droid is verifying that a r4200/r4600 will function as expected, and will ring me later with a price for the board sans CPU. Comments anybody? Edmund. -- Edmund Stephen-Smith (3 kyu) edmund@electxt.co.nz