#386 BB good deal?
23 messages in this thread
I've been hearing that CBM's 386 BB is a good deal. Who has them and for how
much? I have not seen any advertising for these lately.
Creative Computers has them advertised in AW this month. I bought one
from them last month ($270) and was told that they had obtained some
from Europe. Mine came with no warranty/ registration card (as did
others here). Basically they are GONE. CBM has discontinued them.
They do show up here from time to time in the classifieds however.
PMJI, Why did C= kill the BB? So I guess the GG will be the only
option in the future if you need access to the pc slots.
Andrew,
I can't speak for CBM, but it could be one of several things.
1. the BB at its pre-closeout pricing was far too costly to
be competitive in the PC world.
2. CBM has cut back in its operation to the very bare bones
because of serious financial difficulties. It is also
beginning to out-source a lot of its stuff. Further, it
seems that CBM has formed some alliance with the makers
of Emplant which now emulates just a Mac but is supposed
to be able to emulate a PC (don't know what type/speed)
by late this year.
3. CBM may have an entirely new machine in the wings that
will include PC emulation in its native state. See the
thread about "New Amiga" in the News Section.
4. none of the above.
Thanks for your reply even though it was a silly question. All those
answers ran through my mind but I was wondering what the official
reason was.
Andrew… When I tried to get an official statement from CBM a
couple of months ago (when everyone was backordered for months), the
only thing they would say was that they were not developing the
Bridgeboard further. When I asked if they would continue to
manufacture them, they said they had plenty in inventory and didn't
need to manufacture any. I pointed out that everyone was backordered
and they said they had plenty in inventory and didn't need to
manufacture any. Etc., etc. Marion CROSSINGS Newsletter for PC/Mac
emulation
The infinite loop of Commodore, eh? That's to bad. On the plus side
I guess it will make future Amigas cheaper to produce because they
won't have to worry about the PC-ISA slots. Even laptops are cheaper
these days so it's probably best to spend the extra and go for
something that one can take with them. I guess without large
quantities C= can't produce the BB cheap enough. Oh, well.
Yes, but if they'd provided it at a better price from the beginning, and
better support and documentation early on, they'd have had the "large
quantities", because the vast majority of Amiga owners would like to have PC
compatibility if it didn't cost too much.
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsletter for PC/Mac emulation
Absolutely. But C= charged what the market would bare and then got caught
by surprise when the market wouldn't bare it any more.
BTW, I've seen ads for the GG486 at about have what they were before
($495). Have they been discontinued too or has the company realised that
if they want to sell anything they have to reduce the price. Do you know
anything about that?
Andrew
Andrew, I don't think the GG486 has been discontinued. I just received a
software upgrade from them a couple of weeks ago, and their US tech
support number is still open. So if they are selling them at a reduced
price, maybe they finally realized that they were overpriced to begin
with.
// John – (Flying via AutoPilot)
\X/
Well, that's great, then! $495 for a 486 is a good deal. How is the
compatibility for the GG? I read recently here that there are serial
port problems (which is at least better than the C= BB which doesn't
even have a serial port). Are there any other problems?
The compatability of the Golden Gate has been excellent Andrew. Nothing so
far has failed to run, and I'm using Window's 3.1 under DOS 6.0 with
doublespace, and Norton's Desktop 2.2. I just ordered Visual C++ so that
should be here next week.
Yes, there are some serial port problems, with the main problem being
it drop's a few characters once in awhile during a connect. I think
the main problem is that I'm trying to push it too hard with a Supra
14.4 modem. For one thing, the Amiga's serial transfer using the
Paula chip is not very efficient. Combine that with going through the
GG's serial emulation and operating under Wimpdows, well it's a
wonder it works at all <g>. I have a few ideas for speeding up the
serial port using the Baudbandit serial device, so I will give that a
try later.
No other problems that I can think of Andrew. I'm VERY pleased with it's
operation so far and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. I'm waiting for
the price of PC SIMM's to drop back down so I can afford to populate it
with some more ram. Operating Wimpdows with the virtual memory drive can
be a pain at times.
// John – (Flying via AutoPilot)
\X/
John,
Thanks for the testimonial! I'm going to seriously look into getting one
in the New Year.
I understand the GG provides VGA emulation? Is that so? If it is that is
a great benefit because of the shortage of slots. Is there an IDE
controller on board as well? How is the system for transfering data
between the Amiga and the PC?
So many questions and so few answers…8^)
Andrew
John,
Please let me know of your progress with Baud Bandit…
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsleter for PC/Mac emulation
Andrew,
It looks as if the serial port problems are reduced considerably if you have a
VGA card. It's the graphics crossing the bus that hangs up the processor (and
therefore the serial port).
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsleter for PC/Mac emulation
Marion,
That a good thing to know. I suspose with only mono VGA emulation it
probably advisable to go with a VGA card anyway.
BTW, I was wondering when I might expect the sample of Crossings? Have
you sent it yet?
Andrew
Andrew… Are you sure it was the GG486, not the 386? That's the
price of the 386 last time I looked. They are definitely not
discontinuing. Their price fluctuates a little depending on the going
price of chips. Marion CROSSINGS Newsleter for PC/Mac emulation
Marion,
Um, yeh, ah, well I thought I was sure but I misread the ad (AW,pg75).
Right below the 486SL listing, next to "$CALL" there is the 386 listing
with the price. I missed the $CALL and read the price as belonging to the
486. Oh well, sorry to get peoples hopes up.
Andrew
From what I have read (although I can't remember where), CBM have stopped
manufacturing PC's, full stop. Maybe that has something to do with it.
zzzzz…..
The Sandman…..
Ya, I heard that too. My first computer was a Commodore XT which was
how I became aware of the Amiga. Maybe I should have bought an
Amstrad instead. <GRIN>
What, and miss out on having to deal with Commodore? What a loss that
would have been <Bigger Grin>.
BTW, how is the big C over there in the States? As bad as here in
Oz-land, where the entire country has one office?
Actually, I'm in Canada and luckily our one CBM office is in the same
city; Toronto. Yes, C= is probably the same all over: you call and
get voice Hell. 8(
However, we seem to have a higher than average number of Amiga
dealers, about a dozen for the city. We have a couple all Amiga
stores, mostly are mixed PC/AMIGA and the remainder have an old 500
sitting in the back next to their obsolete clones (ie 286s etc).
There choice if you are willing to travel a bit. I don't know about
the States however.
Oh, we've got an office too–they just don't answer the phone! (Who invented
voice mail, anyway?)
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsletter for PC/Mac emulation