#Clone recommendations
22 messages in this thread
Can anyone suggest a 486 clone that Autodesk should buy to QA our
multimedia products? We're hoping to find a reliable clone that is
indicative of the machines that customers are using.
Thanks.
Nik:
Tri-Star. They sell heavily into the Autodesk user base.
Evan
Thanks Evan — got it.
Nik
Nik,
I can suggest a lot of them. Actually, it's the motherboard that concerns
you. Most motherboards seem to be based upon schematics provided by the
chipset supplier. Thus, if you get motherboards based on VSLI, C&T,
Symphony, Intel, etc., you should have a fair cross section of clones. I
usually see common problems with a given chipset/bios. With faster CPUs,
the actual board layout becomes a problem, so you can expect to see more
problems due to a spicific layout.
I'd ask Evan Yares about his observations. He sees more motherboards than I
do…
Ken ///
Thanks Ken —
Evan has given me a response too on this.
Nik
P.S. Hi!
Nik,
Tri-star would be good, but I agree with Ken Elliot about going for the
motherboard. I suggest a system based around a Micronics motherboard since
this seems to be a popular name-brand board and OEM to many clone
manufacturers – I believe Gateway uses them.
BTW, I have Tri-star's and Micronics based systems.
Martin, thanks.
I'll pass on these replies to our QA. Thanks for taking the time,
everyone!
Nik
>> motherboard
AMI is another safe-bet (atleast you can be sure that the BIOS is up to
date). Hot performers at a reasonable price. I've been also talking to a
company that was displaying at CAD Camp .. AMAX engineering, CA. American
made boards, integrated into complete systems at a real reasonalbe price.
Ang
Yes, that's a good suggestion. I'll pass it on.
Thanks, Angelo.
Martin:
The new Tri-Star 486DX2-66 machines are Micronics based.
Evan
Really? Well, that's a very good move on their part I'd say. Thanks for
that titbit of info. I have 2 of their 486/33's (different m/boards though)
and have been fairly pleased with them.
>> Tri-Star using micronics
As far as I know, the use of micronics motherboards was a "stop-gap" measure
until they finish development of their own (they make they other boards
themselves).
Ang
Angelo:
No – Tri-Star doesn't make their own motherboards. In the past, they have
used Free Technology motherboards – which are fairly common. In this class
of machine, the Micronics is a good choice. It includes on-board parallel
and serial interfaces, 2 IDE host adapters, and a *high* speed floppy
controller. All on a baby motherboard.
Evan
Evan,
But where does Micronics place the SIMMs on the Local-bus 66MHz –
next to the slots, or in front, blocking full-length cards?
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin-
I have a Micronics based Local-bus 66 ISA machine, and, yes you do block
full length board slots when you load up SIMMs. Luckily, I don't need all
the slots,…yet. I hear both AMI and Micronics are coming out with EISA
based boards with VESA Local-bus slots soon.
– Larry
Larry,
Thanks, I thought so. Darn those guys. I wonder why they have no
problem with a different layout for EISA (which I can't use).
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin –
Part of the problem is that my board is a "baby AT" form factor (small) so
there isn't a hell of a lot of real estate on the pyhsical board. I
suppose it's cheaper to make. Another concern I have is that some of the
other ISA slots line up directly over the 486 CPU with it's heat sink. I
worry about boards being so close to the frying pan. No problems so far
though. Incidently, this board has built in local bus IDE interfaces (2)
which don't use any slots (somehow built right in to the motherboard) , so,
you don't need any slots for disk interface boards,… unless you want
SCSI. I am using one ISA slot for a Turle Beach Multisound card, and
another for a Trantor SCSI board for my CD-ROM.
– Larry
Kevin:
They use 16 MB SIMMS, which block a few slots. But because there are 8
free slots, it generally isn't a major problem. Of course, there are
always exceptions.
Evan
Evan,
Do you offer clones to your customers? Are they a name-brand clone, or do
you have someone put'em together for'ya?
Ang
Angelo:
Our company is really moving away from hardware. In fact, we have a
relationship with Tri-Star – although the actual form of that relationship
is in a state of flux.
These days, the few clones we do sell tend to be 486DX2-66 machines based
on exactly the same motherboard used by Tri-Star. It's a dandy.
Evan
>> use Micronics based clones
Do you assemble the systems themselves or do you have a company that
puts'em together for'ya? I'm always looking to sources of high-quality
clones. If you do use an outside source, please send me some E-MAIL.
Thanks
Ang
Ang:
Sorry – I puts them together myself. Gotta stop doing that – it really
doesn't pay too well.
Evan