Date   : Wed, 16 Sep 1987 09:09:49
From   : hanscom@lll-es-s05 (Roger Hanscom 423-0441)
Subject: 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 probably shouldn't consider myself "the average hobbyist", but $500 is
an EXCEPTIONAL amount to pay for an S-100 card.  I once bought a 32K
memory card new for about $350 (4k x 1 statics), and that almost broke
the bank.  Since then I picked up a set of 3 Cromemco cards (Z80, 64k
and 16 FDC) for $80, and added a new TUART for another $99.  Now that's
more my speed!  These are true hobby systems.  There's lots of hardware
out there that's tempting, but life is too short to be in debt to it.
BTW, I believe that this is where most vendors go wrong.  If it's good,
AND AFFORDABLE, they can sell all they want to.  If one looks at the
harware success stories of the last ten or fifteen years, this is the
common pattern.  When a 68000-based computer falls into this category,
I'll be first in line.