Re: ZIP-GS ACCELERATOR: Questions

[bazyar@netcom.com (Jawaid Bazyar)]

sebugg@presby.edu (Stephen Buggie) writes:

>                       QUESTIONS ON ZIP-GS
>                       ===================

>After much consideration, I am thinking of buying a ZIP-GS accelerator board
>new.  I bought a used Transwarp-GS last year, and it arrived dead-on-arrival.
>The ZIP-GS seems to hold its value in the ads and I have always been outbid
>on the used ones.  (Used seem to sell for about half the new price of $189,
>which must make this the champion A2 product for holding its value.)

>If I buy this item new, it will be the most expensive computer item I've
>_ever_ bought new (previous high item: a Unidisk 3.5 new from Alltech @
>$159).  Thus, I want to shop carefully to get the correct model and the
>best available price.

  Whoa. You are a master shopper, sir. :) And I thought I'd done well
when I picked up 16MB of 70ns DRAM for $430 :)

>If you are familiar with ZIP-GS, please send me comments!  E-mail appreciated
>but other readers may be interested in a public reply.

>QUESTIONS:


>1.   Is ZIP still in business?  I heard rumors that they quit.
>     Is the ZIP-GS still in production?   Will a factory warranty be
>     available on ZIP-GS?

  Yes, wrong, yes, and yes. Obviously, "factory warranty" depends
on whether the company stays in business, but Zip has a decent
track record and while they're not actively marketing the board
any more, they are still selling and working on them.

>2.  What is the difference between the 16K cache and the 32K cache?
>    Do you just add RAM chips to increase the cache?  How do they
>    perform differently?

  There are four cache sockets. You use 8K SRAMs for 8K (2 chips) or
16K (4 chips) cache, and 32K SRAMs for 32K (2 chips) or 64K (4 chips)
cache. Cache makes _all_ the difference. Get as much cache as you
can afford. And then get some more.

>3.  Is the 8MZ version highly reliable?
>        (I bought a used Transwarp GS that was dead on arrival).

  The 9MHz jobs are generally rock-solid, and 8's are even more so.
When you get to 10's is where sometimes problems begin.

>4.  How COMPATIBLE is it with other IIGS items?
>        Here is my system:
>        ROM 01 CPU
>        Apple Rev. C scsi card with 40 meg SCSI external HD
>        Two 5.25" drives plus two 3.5" grey drives
>        Sonic Blaster AE card
>        AE Heavy Duty IIGS power supply
>        parallel printer card
>        AE Datalink 2400 modem
>        RAM 4000 4 meg memory card

  100% compatible with all of the above.

>5.
>Is it compatible with the RAMFAST scsi card (am considering getting one.)

  Yes. 100%.

>I have installed 8 but 8 MHZ ZIP chips in two of my apples
>so I am experienced with chip insertion.

>6.  What sellers have ZIP-GS?   (I have a quote from one seller of
>$189 for the 8 MHz/16K cache model)

  GS+/EGO Systems is selling it.

>6.  CPU CHIP model vs. Interface Card model:  In the Fen 1991 issue of
>Incoder/A+ there is an ad showing two versions:  A CPU Chip model (actually
>a tiny card that plugs into the CPU socket) and a full sized interface
>card.  Which model is preferred?  Does the interface card model consume
>more power???    [If the power demand is the same, I would go for the
>interface card model, based on tricky pin-insertions with ZRAM boards
>in my IICs]

  They never came out with the "CPU CHIP" model. Only the card.


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