Date   : Tue, 15 Sep 1987008:32:00-MDT
From   : w_smith%wookie.DEC@DECWRL.DEC.COM (Willie Smith, LTN Components Eng.)
Subject: Spending for S-100 boards

Ken Wallewein - "kenw%noah.arc.cdn%ubc.csnet%RELAY.CS.NET@SIMTEL20.ARPA"
writes:
 
> Is it really nothing special for the average
>hobbyist to spend $500 or so on a new board? I guess what I'm
>wondering is, how many of the people who read this list are purely
>hobbyists in regards to CP/M, as apposed to being able to justify
>their expenditures business-wise? Businesses can't afford the time a
>hobbyist can spend.
 
 I don't know that I'm an 'average hobbyist', but with a few exceptions,
all of the boards in my system cost multiple hundreds of dollars.  My
boards range from a memory mapped video board (many thanks to the net for
the help in figgereing out how to make it work!) that I got for $10 at
a hamfest to an $1130 Macrotech ADIT board (16 serial ports, DMA, onboard
intelligence, probably the most frustrating purchase I ever made, and I'm
still fighting with Macrotech to try to get them to fix the firmware!).
I have found that Compupro (with the exception of the SPUZ) makes quite
nice hardware, though you do have to pay quite a bit, and you are pretty
much on your own for software (in the CP/M world anyway).  However, you
get what you pay for, and I wouldn't have been able to build the system
I have today (or learn as much as I have building it) unless I was
willing to shell out the cash for the hardware.  That's what credit
cards are for, right?  :+) 
 However, there's no business involved, so since it's just for my own
personal enjoyment, I guess I do qualify as a hobbyist.
 
Willie Smith
w_smith@wookie.dec.com
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