Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!wasatch!cmos.utah.edu!jacobs From: jacobs%cmos.utah.edu@wasatch.UUCP (Steven R. Jacobs) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Possible cheap next machine for students Message-ID: <673@wasatch.UUCP> Date: 3 Dec 88 21:00:30 GMT References: <8798@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> Sender: news@wasatch.UUCP Reply-To: jacobs%cmos.utah.edu.UUCP@wasatch.UUCP (Steven R. Jacobs) Organization: University of Utah, Computer Science Dept. Lines: 17 In article <8798@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> woolstar@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (John D Woolverton) writes: [stuff deleted, re: making a cheaper version of the NeXT box] > 1. It cost ~$6500 > 2. It includes a optical drive even if you don't need it. > [ stuff deleted] >So for the student who wants a $4000 Next machine, who can get >a network feed to boot off of, could just buy the Next machine >and sell the optical drive for ~$2500 to someone. (look in ca.wanted, >post in ?.forsale, etc... We could even create a group >comp.next.optical_for_sale :-) The tricky part is ripping out the VLSI chip (a very large PGA) that controls the optical disk, and using it to make a controller board for the buyer's machine. NeXT will sell a second optical drive for about $1500, so selling a "used" drive for $2500 would also be difficult. Steve Jacobs ({ihnp4,decvax}!utah-cs!jacobs, jacobs@cs.utah.edu)