Size of A2620 board
18 messages in this thread
Is the A2620 a full board (ie; does it extend ALL of the way to the back
where the serial port, external, panel is) ?
– via Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Yes, it does extend all the way from the fron to the back.
Cheers, Paul (WA1OMM)
Hmmm – thanks. Methinks I will have to do something with my internal MIDI
interface (Golden Hawk, MIDI Gold Insider) since it has a ribbon cable in
the way of the co-processor slot. Oh well – squeeze a little, bend a little
– sigh.
– via Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Jim,
Yes, the A2620 is a full length board. It attaches to the rear of the
machine as well as plugging into the cpu slot.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Thanks for the info – I had a suspicion that it required a "knock out
plate" in the rear. Even with an A2000, I am beginning to need MORE
expansion board slots – SHEESH!
– via Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Jim,
The A2620 does NOT use a regular slot in the A2000. It uses the CPU slot
which is the one closest to the power supply. This slot has no ther use
other than as home for an accellerator card. Still it isn't that hard to
fill up an A2000. My A2500 at work has:
1.A2620 card in CPU slot
2.A2091 controller card w/40 meg HD
3.2meg ram card
4.XT Bridgeboard
5.PC HD controller with 50meg HD on card
6.PC Multifunction card with ram, par and ser.
7.PC Par/Ser card
Things are getting tight in this machine!
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
I oftentimes wonder how certain other models and platforms which have fewer
expansion slots manage to survive, over the long haul. Guess that's why
there are so many vendors in the messy-dos arena: you always need something
else to get that last little bit out of the stock machine.
Though the cost of the A2000 is steep when compared to the A500, the future
is easier to live with. Wonder what the "A4000" will be like (or will that
be A5000 – I thought I read something somewhere, perhaps it was just
somebody's speculation, about Motorola working on a 68050 chip) ?
– via Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
The A2000 is VERY expandable with all those slots. The 3000 looks less
expandable but most of the normal expansion stuff is built in like, HD
controller, space for 18meg of ram, FlickerFixer. Neither machine is
something to complain about. The A3000T has room for all the peripherals
you can think of.
I don't know if we will see the 68050. RISC technology is showing some
signs of taking over. Motorola has their own bid in that market with the
88000 series.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
I didn't really mean to sound like the A2000 is TOO small for expansion.
More like, I am GLAD it has the slots that it has cuz I wouldn't be able to
function without them. I was also thinking of other models and platforms
that allow for only a couple of additional boards and how I couldn't do
what I do today in those environs.
The 68050 will probably surface since Motorola is in big-time competition
with "it's inside" (INTEL) who doesn't appear to be slowing down their CPU
development despite their own RISC offerings. I wouldn't expect to see a
'50 for quite some time, however. But then again, who knows ? I think the
'40 is a nice enough CPU to produce some impressive machines that could
last as long as the 68000 series has (Commodore and Apple (and others ?)).
It would be interesting to see a CBM RISC, but then CBM may think that too
RIsC(k)y ?? If they COULD pull it off, they would be able to go head to
head with HP, Sun, and IBM in a smaller yet perhaps more lucrative
marketplace (than us non-RISCers). Again – who knows ??
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Do you really use all or most of your additional serial and parallel ports,
or do you just like having the back end of your Ami look like a heavy
weight in the networking world (see – I can connect to EVERYTHING IN THE
WORLD) 🙂
– via Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
An A3000 running UNIX can connect to 8 dumb terminals with the seven port
card and the standard serial connector. Instant minicomputer! But that is
not the A2620 card. The A2620 is the 68020 based accellerator card for the
A2000. The 7 port serial card is the ummmm…. some other number.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Oops. After replying to you I went back and re-read my message and yours.
You were talking about the PC type serial and parallel ports on my machine.
There are two printers, a modem and a local UNIX system to connect to. With
an A-B switchbox or two this all works together…usually. The on serial
port on the multifunction card is blown.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Hmmm – thanks for the explanation of what you use all of your extra ports
for. I was wondering since I work in a Big Blue "big-iron" and "messy"
(DOS) environment, and sometimes don't understand why some such users get
so excited about having "14 million" ports, not that all such users are
like that.
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Jim,
Most people don't have a use for more than one or two serial ports and
one parallel port. It depends on how many "toys" you want connect to. I
sure am glad I have a SCSI controller. By tomorrow it will have 4 devices
hanging on it.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Yes, it does.
–Ben
Jim,
Yes…it's a full width board. Requires removal of one of the
painted metal covers on the back of the 2000.
Don
Jim, Yes, the A2620 (68020 accelerator board) goes all the way from the
front panel to the rear panel. There is room to run cables over the top of
the board and even some room on the bottom.
73, Kelly
Room on the bottom – I hope so – I have a Golden Hawk MIDI Gold Insider
MIDI interface that connects to the serial port plate and has a short and
somewhat stiff ribbon cable going to the motherboard serial port connector,
and it is right in the way of the coprocessor slot, near the motherboard.
– via Whap! (from Southern Illinois)