🚀 go-pugleaf

Guy Ridley writes about having difficulty in getting chips for upgrading
his 520ST to 2.5 meg or so.

1)  Can the ease of upgrading the memory be dependent on which version of
    TOS I am running, or are these entirely separate issues?


   Entirely separate issue...  I've had a 520, 1040, and a a few
Megas upgraded.  These were our lab's units and there were no problems.
My personal Mega, a really near brain dead unit, was also upgraded.  These
units all span five years.  No problems at all on upgrades.

2)  One dealer says it will take three weeks, another says it takes an
    hour (and his cost is better too.)  However, after 6 weeks the chips
    are not in yet.  Other dealers confirm that the chips are hard to
  get.  There is no dealer in the S.F. Bay Area that can do the work
    *now*, mainly because the chips are not available.  Is this normal?


   This is definitely not normal.  See, folks?  We used to complain
about Atari's requirements for strong technical support in each store.


3)  One dealer said that in  January there will be a board that will
    accept plug-in memory chips.  Is this really true?  Will it really
    be in January (1990)?

   There have been boards since 1986 which allowed for the plug in
of memory chips.  I would suggest raiding the magazine racks of your
local book store and pull some ST magazines and scan the ads, but
ST magazines are all but impossible to find except through subscription,
at least in my area.  You might have better luck than me.  There are
several boards though, at least their ads seem to be numerous.

   What the SF Bay Area dealers are telling Guy astounds me and is
another sad testament to the 'quality' of many dealers.  My dealer in
Fort Worth is a very small store and yet, has the ability to do such
upgrades and OTHER modifications (rack mounting, acceleration, etc.),
without much delay.  His profit is up and he is quite happy.  However,
he hustles and keeps up on the detail of the product.  He is also
quite active in the local computer club.  I really wonder if many of
the dealers are really wanting to be spoonfed by Atari and the
enthusiasts.  It is just simply amazing to me that Guy's dealers are
telling him these things.
   I probably would not be reacting this way if it wasn't for the fact
that my equipment, including the shop's, was upgraded or given
an overhaul this month (December).  No waiting for chips, nothing.  He
has an ample supply of parts.  Ok, I quit.  No more rambling...!

Larry Rymal:  |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>