🚀 go-pugleaf

rochester!rit!ultb!clf3678@rutgers.edu  (C.L. Freemesser) disagrees with
my statement that Apple (specifically Mac) peripherals are not limited to
the Apple brand and that the prices are comparable to those for the ST.


 "Find a 3rd party Apple floppy drive that is totally compatible with
  the Apple drives, and I'll show you a snowball that survived a trip
  through hell.... "


I don't have personal experience with third party Apple floppy drives so I
can't argue this point.  I'm only familiar with the Mac line, and have spe-
cifically limited my comments to this.  Are you referring to Mac or Apple
II drives?  What are you basing this statement on?

 "Sure there are alternatives to the Imagewriter, but the I-writer
  is the most used.  Ergo, it is the most supported by software."

Third party Laserprinters and imagewriters do work with the Mac.  There
are software around to make these compatible.  My point is that it is there.

 "Tell that to my friend who bought a new 3.5 inch Apple drive.  The
  retail price is $400!  I spent about $100 building one for myself.
  As for hard disks, I built one for my father's 1040...a 20 meg Seagate,
  Adaptek, and ICD host adapter for $350.  Beat that on a Mac."

I didn't say peripherals from Apple are cheap.  I said 3rd party peripherals
are as cheap as those for the ST.  All the prices you mentioned are for
"hacked" units.  I'm sure if I had enough technical info on the Mac I
could build floppy drives and hard drives that cost the same as "hacked"
ST drives.  The OEM's for the mech are the same.  In fact, I know I can
easily beat $350 for a 20 meg hard drive:  A SCSI 20meg mech (ST-125N is
advertised by JDR for $299 and I can just drop it in to an SE or a II.)
I don't know for sure if this would work, but it looks reasonable.

BTW, did your $350 include a new drive, cables, casing and power supply
in addition to the Adaptek and ICD host adapter?  (ICD host adapter: $136.,
Adaptek controller: $90-140. = >$226 leaves $124 for 20 Meg mech,
power supply and case.)

I'm not going to comment on the last paragraph of you message.  The direction
it's headed makes me uncomfortable.  My purpose in posting my
original reply was to argue with kclenden@silver.bacs.indiana.edu >
kevin Clendenien's statement on the high prices of Apple peripherals and
the lack of 3rd party source compared to the ST.  I'm not making any
claims on which computer is better.  I really don't care.
I only care on whether they can do the job I bought them for.  And so far,
both of them have been very satisfactory.  If only I have more of my own
money, then I can enjoy and make more use of this 1040ST.

Regards,
Marcelino Bernardo
mbernar@erenj.bitnet