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Re: ZIP GSX 1.0.1 vs 1.0.2
Henry S. Courbis wrote:
Hello Steve.
I have a couple of ZIP GSX boards that are version 1.0.1. Since i have
had them i had always wondered what the difference was between this
version and the 1.0.2 versions that came out later.
My question is what did the logic chips do?
Interesting. I just came into possession of Zip GSX 1.01 and noticed the
lack of those chips. Wasn't sure if it was practical to upgrade it or
not. Can anyone else provide some data points on this? Henry Courbis?
What's your experience with v1.01 vs. 1.0.2 Zips?
Well, I did notice a few differences between the 1.01 and 1.02. Thought I
had some pics of the 1.01 but it seems I don't. :-/
ZIP Technologies seemed to be one of those companies what never wasted
anything, including PCBs. Take the ZIP DRIVE for instance:
http://www.downloads.reactivemicro.com/Public/Apple%20II%20Items/Hardware/ZIP_DRIVE/Pics/DSCN0475.JPG
That was a completely different company. Zip Technologies went
bankrupt. The Zip Drive was made by iomega.
Why they wouldn't just redesign the PCB is beyond me. There has been some
speculation that they purposefully designed the PCB that way though. The
idea being that if the PLCC (square) chip becomes hard to find that they
could then build the board using standard logic ICs. Seems like an odd
strategy though to me.
When you are designing a product for a lifetime of over a year (so your
suppliers may change) and over a million units, you *really* try to
minimize SKUs and maximize supplier choice. Having a versatile PCB is
a sound engineering choice that is extremely common in high volume
electronics like Zip Drives.
Of course, for the ZipGS accelerator, volumes could never have been
projected to be very high, given the market conditions. (Unlike the
Zip Chip, where they pretty much sold everything they could make as
fast as they could get it from the factory!)
So what the difference is between the two ZIP GSX boards, or should I say
the ASICs (large square IC), really isn't know (at least to me). Maybe they
weren't sure about the ASICs ability to work and only has a small batch
produced. Being this was 1989 (?) it was in the middle of the 'custom
logic'
reevaluation where it was really starting to become 'cheap' to produce these
large ASICs. So if the 1.01 boards kind of worked, and worked good enough,
why not sell them? It's just a business decision at that point. Then maybe
they fixed a few minor reliability issues and produced a second batch,
v1.02. Of course I have no idea what the real story is and I'm just
speculating. In 1989-90 we all kind of knew that Apple II was on its way
out. So that's where I start to consider the 'small batch' theory.
There's my two cents.
Makes sense-especially since early production is a lot like extended
beta test... ;-)
-michael
AppleCrate II: An Apple II "blade server"!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."