Date: Sat, 23 Jul 88 10:29:44 EST From: Dwight D. McKay (The Moderator) Reply-To: Suns-at-Home@mckay.UUCP Subject: Suns-at-Home Digest V1 #20 To: Suns-at-Home-List Suns-at-Home Digest Sat, 23 Jul 88 Volume 1 : Issue 20 Today's Topics: 3/50 Peripherals In Re: Sun 3/60 add ons query +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Submissions: suns-at-home \ @ea.ecn.purdue.edu | | Requests: suns-at-home-request > -- or -- | | Archives: suns-at-home-archives / ...rutgers!pur-ee!mckay!... | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Jul 88 14:39:00 edt From: pur-ee!umix.cc.umich.edu!oxtrap!rsj (Rick Jaffe) Subject: 3/50 Peripherals To: suns-at-home@ea.ecn.purdue.edu I'm about to order a 3/50 for home use, and want a disk and tape. My impression from following the literature is that there are _NO_ third party products that work with the same or less trouble than do the Sun products. Can anyone talk me out of ordering a 3/50 packaged with a tape unit and 140 Meg drive? I'm price sensitive, but I'm even more "trouble sensitive". ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Jul 88 11:48:04 EDT From: pur-ee!djinn.bellcore.com!perry (Perry Metzger) Subject: In Re: Sun 3/60 add ons query To: Suns-at-Home@mckay.uucp I might be able to be of a bit of help in this regard. I maintain 9 of them at work, and have been keeping them healthy and well fed through the DRAM shortage and other similar disasters. 1. SIMMs. I know I might be crazy, but my basic technique for getting these babys was to call up big chip distributors and ask about buying them or plug replacements. You know, just get the part number off of the back of Mr. Toshiba SIMM and then ask who has parts. Now, being with a big company, they may have been more willing to deal, but even without it I am sure they will sell you small quantities. How does everyone think Clearpoint gets their memory, eh? Its not like they own Toshiba or something. Even with the lack of big company discount you will probably save bucks. 2. Disk drives. Don't buy from anyone packaged; its outrageous. Right now you can get CDC Wren IV's that store 344 megs without any real trouble from folks like Arrow-Kierulf. Now, admittedly, it is hard to format these suckers short of Sun OS 4.0 because before 4.0 there wasn't even token support (unless, like me, you had other machines to format them) and you will have to blow a couple of hundred on your own power supply and cables. But if you are technically inclined, you will find that it is well worth it and half the price of sun stuff that stores half as much (we are talking thousands in savings here). And if you can't afford the 344 Wren's, get smaller ones. You will still save. And if you are a real space hog, try the Wren V that weighs in at 630 Meg (availability quoted as a few months from now. They are shipping, but demand is higher than production for the moment). Arrow quotes bellcore a few hundred more for that Wren V than for the 344 Wren, so the price to you is unlikely to be more than 700 more, for something that in all likelyhood stores more than the eagles you have at work. Now, these two tips assume that you have bucks to spend and that you know what you are doing technically. But if you are asking about expansion memory etc for your 3/60 (the thing comes to bellocore HEAVILY DISCOUNTED in the $8000 range with color) and you have one AT HOME, you should be able to apreciate the savings and be able to handle the work. Perry PS given the volume, isn't it time this list became a mail reflector? [At the moment Suns-at-Home is run from a Sun 2/120 in my house. It's fed ] [from pur-ee nightly by UUCP. A mail reflector in the current setup would be] [an overnight affair at best and not cheap (I'm not a local call to work). ] [I'll check and see if I can host a mail-reflector at work. Are other ] [Suns-at-Home folks interested in a quick turn-around mail-reflector instead ] [of the weekly digests? --ddm ] ------------------------------ End of Suns-at-Home Digest ******************************