#ATOP BB Extender
37 messages in this thread
Marion,
What have you heard about this new board from a company called ATOP that
promises to turn your Bridgeboard into a 20 MHZ 386SX for only $449?
Lee
Lee,
I talked to the people distributing (or making the board.) Not
from Germany. It is a module which plugs into the CPU socket on the AT2086
bridgeboard. Will not work on the XT bridgeboard. Installation appears to
be very simple from what he explained to me on the phone. The product is
available now, not vaporware. However, to put the price in perspective.
You can buy a SOTA 386si card which will work with either bridgeboard to
provide a 20 Mhz 386. The SOTA card is available mail order for $299, but
will use a slot. The ATOP module does not take up a PC slot.
Got a possible dealer to order the SOTA card from?
David – via Whap!
David,
I have not found the $299 list price for the 386si, but the September
BYTE does have an ad from ET VALUELINE at (800)395-1000 in 7350 North
Linder Avenue, Skokie, Illinois 60077. The ad lists the SOTA 386si at
$359. They take Visa and MasterCard. But $60 difference is worth waiting
for!
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
I would do as I did, check Computer Shopper or Byte magazine.
Steven, do you have the phone number for ATOP? Since all of my 6 slots are
currently filled, installing the extender right onto the bbd would be a
good solution.
Ken Cooper – Vancouver
Ken,
ATOP lists two numbers in their AMAZING COMPUTING ad. VOICE: (216)
352-8471. FAX: (216) 354-0075.
Lee
216-352-8471
Steven,
But if I remember correctly there ARE some incompatibilities with the SOTA
board, like not being able to use the mouse? The clock? Something else?
My memory is fuzzy here. If the ATOP truly would save me a slot, and WAS
compatible with the MS-DOS software I need to run, I'd consider it a
bargain.
Lee
I use the SOTA 386si with a XT BB. I had probles using the mouse driver
utill I tried the AMOUSE comand for the SideCard, works fine now. ATIME
doesn't work at all, but fix that using a little date copy routine. By the
way the 386si comes in at 5.1 speed rating from Norton.
Fred E.
Fred,
Thanks. I have an AT BB. And I really have no slots to spare, so if the
ATOP board will do what they claim, it might be a good solution for me. At
least until the 386 BB appears over the horizon.
Lee
I doubt that Commodore is working on an 386 BB. Is this a
3rd-party product?
I had asked my dealer about Janus software support for DRDOS 5.0.
He seemed to indicate that Commodore was not interested in a 386 BB. They
appear to have no plans to support compatibility with any DOS other than
MSDOS 3.3.
Oh well, time will tell.
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
Gayle,
There have been many rumors about Commodore's working on a 386 BB. But when
or if we'll see it, I don't know. That's why I placed it over the horizon.
Geographically that's just this side of over the rainbow.
Lee
Lee,
My dealer didn't give me any encouraging words about a Commodore
386 bridgeboard. I believe it's very much up to us and 3rd-party people
either to make one or to find a 386 accelerator.
Anyway, the Amiga is a nice machine in its own right! 🙂
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
A Commodore employee stated publically at AmiExpo Oakland that folks
waiting on a 386(SX?) Bridgeboard from CBM shouldn't have to wait much
longer at all… Now, he wasn't in sales, so that implies that the hardware
exists, but gosh knows when the US sales dept. will get around to shipping
it.
…Denny Atkin
Denny…
The SX portion of your message is correct. It's not a full blown 386.
Jim
\ \ \
\__\__\ h a p !
I've heard many times that the 386sx bb exists. And now that 2.04 is out
they OUGHT to have staff available to finish it and the probably needed new
version of Janus.
Ron
That's good news Denny. Now let's hope the 386 BB becomes a reality, and
not just a prototype. Also I hope they can keep the price somewhat
reasonable. I was glancing through Computer Shopper today and the average
price for a 386-33 (NOT SX) with 4 megs, 105Meg IDE HD, Super VGA card &
monitor, Mouse & Window's 3.0, Serial/Parallel cards was $1800.
John – K7KB (via Whap!)
Denny,
With 386 chip prices going down, perhaps Commodore will do it! Who
knows?
Thanks for the information!
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
Supposedly, they have stopped shipping the 80286 bb given that a 80386sx
one is supposed to have been mostly finished at least in hardware terms. Or
so the rumors go.
Ron
Ron,
The rumors are flowing like the rain and snow.
When it clears, perhaps we'll know! 🙂
Sincerely (it's late!),
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
You're using a Janus 2.0 amouse with the 386si? Which file?
Ron
Ron it's still Amouse but there is a command just whent to BB the Comand
is:
Amouse.Com -x This alows Amouse to work with the timing problems of the
old SideCard 8^).
Fred E.
Lee,
The AST SixPakPlus has a clock that could probably be used with the SOTA
386si. There is also a serial port on it which could be used to support a
serial mouse.
I got mine from Bulldog Computer Products at (800) 438-6039. They are
in Evans, Georgia. It lists now for $129 with 384K. I moved the 256 DRAMS
to my Rambank since the XT bridgeboard (BB) only needs 128K to fill out
conventional memory. They take Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and Amex.
Have your salt and butter ready if you order! They pack their shipments
in popcorn out of concern for the environment!
Sincerely,
(Mr.) Gayle Lee Fairless
'Perfessor Fearless'
Gayle,
Geez, thanks for reminding me! I think I have an AST SixPakPlus in a box
around here someplace. I took it out of my PC-XT before I sold it a couple
of years ago…
Lee
You're welcome!
Yes, the SOTA apparently isn't compatible with mouse.com. However, if you
have a serial board you can use a serial mouse with it, which I heard does
work.
Steve, speaking of mouses, do you know if the use of a video card prevents
the use of the Amouse/mouse.com system. Some of my IBM software won't show
the icons unless you have VGA, so I bought a VGA card which now shows the
icons. Now I can't use my mouse on it though. Did I goof up.
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
Paul,
I'm sorry but I don't have much info on compatibiliity of video
cards. The few that were given to me for my bridgeboard compatbility list
didn't mention anything about mouse problems. I installed a SOTA 386si
accelerator board which won't work with the mouse, so I bought a serial
mouse to put on the serial port. I had two cards to provide serial ports
and tried to install the second card with the second serial port configured
as COM2:, but it wouldn't work. So I have only one serial port for either
the mouse or modem, but not both. Guess I need to find another
multi-function card or something.
So you have two mices hooked up to your mahine at the same time? Don't they
fight over who gets to sleep on the nice warm rug?
Paul
–pt–not seattle– 😉
One sleeps on top of one of my external hard drives where it's nice and
warm and snug. The other lolls around on a soft mouse pad and glares
jealously at the other one. Occasionally they squeak.
Hmm… The SOTA, a multifunction card, and a VGA card could make for a
quite decent (as far as PCs go 😉 setup. But I assume you'd still have the
BridgeBoard's conflict with Windows to deal with, which is a big minus.
(Windows stinks, but it's where the PC is going…)
…Denny Atkin
I've never had any experience with Windows so I don't know about its
problems, if any. However, Geos/Ensemble does work with BB. Maybe DR Dos
5.0 also works. Both are like windows in some respects, Dr Dos more than
Geos. I understand Dr Dos is hot. Geos is nice in that it works well with
slow processors and doesn't use much memory.
Lee,
I called ATOP the other day and inquired about the board. It works only
with the AT BridgeBoard and is supposed to work with existing Janus
software. The lady I spoke with said it's available now. They have an ad
in the latest Amazing Computing.
Darron
– via Whap!
Darron,
Yes, I saw the ad. I have an AT BB, so that's no problem. I'm just leary
of an ad like that. No address or anything. I plan to call, too, or send
a fax or something. Hopefully someone else will plunk down his money for
one, and give us a report. Or maybe Marion can wheedle one out of them to
write up a report in Crossings.
Lee