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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

2920.0. "UK. Good news, dealers, parts, prices, etc" by SUBURB::MCDONALDA (Old Elysian with a big D.I.C.) Fri Sep 15 1989 13:15

    Some good news, finally. Commodore UK appear to be getting thier
    act together. They are setting up 'properly' trained dealerships;
    currently 40.
    
    First a Commodore dealer in Reading, who is easy to get to. NAV PLC, are
    currently located behind Millenium!! They are moving, just up the road, 
    today, to Unit 6 in Britain Road (trading estate). Directions, from 
    Deathpark 1: head up the Basingstoke Road to Reading, turn left at the 
    Zenith Garage, and Britain road is the 2nd on the right. 
    
    They have gone through the Commodore training course; whatever that
    may be. After a little teething problems, they appear to be doing
    well. Ask for Mr Edwards - who is also the MD.
    
    An interesting thing he told me, was that they now have a
    communications route set up with the States such that they are
    guarenteed a response to a query within seven days (C.B. to comment?).
    
    There's another in Aldershot.
    
    Commodore also gave the name of a parts distributor: H.R.S (tel
    021 789 7171). I rang them up for prices of KS 1.3 ROM and Fatter
    Agnus. The prices are:
    
    KS 1.3 ROM   �19.40 + VAT  Part No. 31509302
    
    Fatter Agnus �49.08 + VAT  Part No. 31806902
    
    I think these prices compare favourably with the US; however, none
    in stock. When I contact them next week, I shall find out what other
    goodies they stock - though they said they stock all Commodore parts.
    
    Unfortunately, the only dealer authorised to fit KS 1.3 ROM into
    my machine and not void the warrenty is Granada Computer Services
    (Tel 0952 290488). 0952 seems along way from Reading, so I think
    I'll be reaching for our group's anti-static mat and chip extractor.
    
    Is KS 1.3 ROM difficult to find and fit? 
    
    Angus
    
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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2920.1Maybe, maybe not... ;-)FRAMBO::BALZERChristian Balzer DTN:785-1029Fri Sep 15 1989 13:2513
    
    Well, that seven day response time definitivly depends on who you
    want to reach at CBM headquartes in West Chester. If it's something
    that regular customer support can handle, then I have no doubt that
    this is possible. But taking into account the number of "professional"
    Commodore dealers worldwide, I very much doubt that this time frame
    for every question that may arise...
    There's still only a 1-2 dozen "real" experts over there...    
    
    Regards,
    
    <CB>
                                                               
2920.2Granada is NOT a Dealer...!KERNEL::TRAVELLJohn T, UK_Remote_Services_SupportMon Sep 18 1989 18:2521
re .0,

>    Unfortunately, the only dealer authorised to fit KS 1.3 ROM into
>    my machine and not void the warrenty is Granada Computer Services

	Granada Computer Services is a third party maintenance company, they
are an amalgamation of most of the old T/P maint companies of a few years ago,
with service offices scattered over the UK, and for a suitable fee will offer a
maint contract on most computers (possibly even Amiga's!).

	They are NOT a Dealer...

	Presumably the bigger they get the better their support _should_ be,
but I have no info on how good they really are. 

	The one minor problem with our using them is that they are competing
with DEC for hardware maintenance contracts on DEC products, and are reported 
to be constantly looking for information about DEC customers, so if you do use
them, don't tell them who you work for.... 

				John Travell. 
2920.3HRS look good.SUBURB::MCDONALDAOld Elysian with a big D.I.C.Fri Sep 22 1989 05:2017
    Well, I must say, I am very impressed with HRS.
    
    I ordered a 1.3 KS ROM, over the phone, at about 11 am Wednesday. The 
    part arrived, first post, Thursday.
    
    The price: �14.69 + VAT, plus 2.00 P&P and insurance. If the part
    had been more than �15, then P&P and insurance would have been free.
    
    BTW. The part arrived on a piece of anti-static foam, wrapped in
    a bit of aluminium foil. It and the instructions were in a Ziploc
    bag. Is this Comodore's normal method of packaging? I know it keeps
    costs down, but I was looking for something a little more substantial
    - say a bubble Ziploc bag :-)
    
    I fit the part this weekend. We who are about to.....
    
    Angus
2920.4Into the land of the living.SUBURB::MCDONALDAOld Elysian with a big D.I.C.Mon Sep 25 1989 09:1616
    Well, after an hour, a pint of sweat, and a couple of moments
    of panic when the screwdriver slipped, I am now the proud owner of a
    KS 1.3 A2000 and hard disk. The A2090A, courtesy of the Software
    Shop, does its bit, whilst the cables that MAPLIN made for me work
    just fine (shame they don't do that service any more, they were
    very cheap and the cables well made and tested).
    
    Autoboot is a dream; apart from the 17 seconds the hard disk takes
    in spinning up and doing a self check; complaining already - 90
    seconds reduced to a mere 20 seconds from power on to fly, and I'm
    complaining :-)                 
    
    Now, about Fatter Agnus and the future KS 1.4; oh, and a good Database
    application...
    
    Angus
2920.5UK - shops and prices ?PILOU::BONGARTZHuckleberry Finn, I presume ?Tue Sep 26 1989 06:4448
	Hi all,

	I've  finally  made the move from my old Apple ][+ to an
	Amiga 500  (It's  my  little  brother's, actually, but I
	borrowed it for a year to see wether I'd like it - which
	I do).  After spending 3+ weeks browsing thru this notes
	conference,  I finally managed to upload things (started
	with NO comms  program  at all...), and have come across
	a  minor problem (no, not with the uploads) : I've taken
	PDC home (can't justify spending the $$ for Lattice yet)
	and  it  says  it  needs the file amiga.lib, which is on 
	some  kind  of developers disk or so. Ok, I said, no big
	troule, let's go and get it. But here in south of France,
	I couldn't locate any dealer that even heard about it.

	As I'm going to the UK for 2 weeks starting October 9th, 
	I hope I'll be able to find something over there (in the
	Reading/London area). Now, to the questions:

	What's the exact name of the disk holding the amiga.lib
	file, and how much will it cost ?

	Is  the  Sozobon C compiler better than PDC, and if yes,
	does  it  need any amiga.lib or so files ? Where to get
	them, and for how much ?

	Books:  I  thought  that  for a start, I'd need the Rom
	Kernel manual(s?) and the Intuition manual (No, I won't
	buy them here - French computerese is as bad as German).
	What will I have to shell out for them ? 

	Hardware: How much is a second 3�" floppy ? What about
	a 5�" ? (Got Lots of disks at home from my Apple life).
	What price can I expect for the memory expansion board
	(A501?). A hard disk ?

	Location: Where can I find all this stuff ?

	Pffew,  many  questions that were. BTW, if someone has
	any  of the above for sale, I'd be interested. (mainly
	the  books - hardware additions come as money and wife
	permits. ;-) )

			Cheers,
					 \|||/
				Marc.	 (o o)
					_\ v /_
2920.6It's here..if you can find it.PUERTO::ALVAREZSo much work to do...so little timeTue Sep 26 1989 09:4519
    
    
    >    	What's the exact name of the disk holding the amiga.lib   
>	file, and how much will it cost ?

    	I got the one for V1.2 directly from Commodore in U.S.A.. It
    was called the AMIGA DOS 1.2 Native Developer Update. I suppose
    the V1.3 must be already available. It's a four disk set and includes
    the "include" files for both 'C' and assembler, the 'Alink' linker
    and assembler ".fd" files. It also includes the V1.2 autodocs, which
    describe all the functions available to the programmers in the AMIGA
    libraries. 
    
    	Another way is to get a PD replacement of the amiga.lib file. It's
    found on one of the Fish Disks, and since TAPE has all of them you
    should be able to find it there. Sorry, I don't remember the name
    or the Fish Disk it's found on, hopefully someone else will remember.
    
    Miguel A. Alvarez 
2920.7Forgot the costPUERTO::ALVAREZSo much work to do...so little timeTue Sep 26 1989 09:473
    Forgot to mention that the Native Developer Update cost was $20.00.
    
    Miguel A.
2920.8Here are a couple.SUBURB::MCDONALDAOld Elysian with a big D.I.C.Tue Sep 26 1989 09:5724
    Well, I'm not too aufait with the shops around here, but there are
    a couple.
    
    First of all there's the dealer I mentioned in the base note. I
    haven't been to them yet, but they are convenient as they are just
    up the road from DECpark.
    
    Then there is Computer Care (South) in Reading. They are on the
    Oxford road. I don't think that they are an authorised dealer, but
    they do have Amigas.
    
    Steve (Goldstein ?) mentioned a good shop on the Tottenham Court
    Road, in London. There are quite a few computer/electronic shops
    on that road. Foyles (the largest bookshop in the world - so they
    say) is also on the Tottenham Court Road, and they have an excellant
    technical section.
    
    Your best bet is to buy one of the Amiga mags that we have over
    here. This will give you a good idea of what to pay, before you
    go to places like Tottenham Court Road. BTW, be careful. Some of
    the shops on this road specialise in bankcrupt stock and seconds.
    So the bargain may not be so.
    
    Angus
2920.9PILOU::BONGARTZHuckleberry Finn, I presume ?Tue Sep 26 1989 10:0128
>    	I got the one for V1.2 directly from Commodore in U.S.A.. It
>    was called the AMIGA DOS 1.2 Native Developer Update. I suppose
>    the V1.3 must be already available. It's a four disk set and includes
>    the "include" files for both 'C' and assembler, the 'Alink' linker
>    and assembler ".fd" files. It also includes the V1.2 autodocs, which
>    describe all the functions available to the programmers in the AMIGA
>    libraries. 

	Miguel,

	Thanks for the quick reply.

	I'm  still at 1.2, and my little brother would probably kill
	me if I ever opened up his machine to swap Roms.. so I guess
	I'll look for these disks. (Unless you wants to sell yours ?)

	... .fd - that rings a bell. aren't these the files on the
	"Extras" disk ? they have things like "#BIAS 30" etc. in them,
	and contain the list of apparently all rom/dos calls, without
	doc  though  -  calling Debug() does something to my printer &
	then hangs...

	In the meantime, I'll start digging thru the fish disk lists...

		Cheers,
				 \|||/
			Marc.	 (� �)
				_\ v /_
2920.10small.lib, but it doesn't work.AYOV28::ATHOMSONC&#039;mon, git aff! /The Kelty ClippieWed Sep 27 1989 06:2035
    
    re: .5
    
�	a  minor problem (no, not with the uploads) : I've taken
�	PDC home (can't justify spending the $$ for Lattice yet)
�	and  it  says  it  needs the file amiga.lib, which is on 
�	some  kind  of developers disk or so. Ok, I said, no big

    1. The PDC on Fish 110 is quite incomplete (no preprocessor, no
       floating point) a new version has just been released (I've sent 
       away for it and I'll try to get it uploaded when it arrives) This 
       new version has its own include files and libraries.
    
    2. The "alternative" amiga.lib is called small.lib but is designed
       for use by assembly programmers and doesn't work well enough
       with either PDC, SmallC or Sozobon C. (It doesn't include
       things like _printf for example) It's on a fish disk around #92
       if you want to try it yourself.
    
    3. Remember, if you do get a version of amiga.lib, you still don't
       have any of the include files so I'd recommend getting the 
       autodocs anyway.
    
�	Hardware: How much is a second 3�" floppy ? What about
�	a 5�" ? (Got Lots of disks at home from my Apple life).
�	What price can I expect for the memory expansion board
�	(A501?). A hard disk ?

    I don't know the prices in France, but in the UK you should be able
    to pick up a 3 1/2 dive for between 70 and 100 pounds, a 5 1/4 for
    around 95 to 120 pounds, an A501 is expensive at around 150 pounds
    but third party equivalents can be had for between 80 to 100 pounds.
    
    
    					Alan T.