Msg: 6550 *Conference*
05-25-96 05:58:26
From: RICHARD HANSON
To : GARY WEBER
Subj: REPLY TO MSG #6542 (NEC 8201 AND RAMPAC)
Gary: Just thought I'd chime in on the RAMPAC discussion with some words of interest and facts. I was talking with Tracy Allen, EME Systems, Berkeley CA. Tracy has the licensing from Ron Alspaugh, Node Systems (...the inventor/engineer) and Paul Globman (...software engineer) to develop RAMPACs. I get RAMPACs from Tracy for resale through Club 100. Anyway, I was checking on availability, the other day. Tracy said he had 3 RAMPACs available and enough parts, except the metal cases, to make many more. Seems that the case is a big, expensive deal. The cases are made to spects. If he needs more cases he must order and purchase the entire production run. The minimum cost, I believe he said, is $800. I should also add, RAMPACs are so well engineered that their total cost is very close to their sales price. If it wasn't for the fact that Tracy uses them in some OWLs (Onsite Weather Loggers ... made with a Model 100 or 102 connected to data-sensing equipment ... used for data collection) for his clients, RAMPACs would be long gone, i.e. they are too expensive to build for the hobby market. On the flip side, if we could muster enough interest in RAMPACs, I feel we could raise the necessary revenue to cover the cost of another production run for cases. Well, that's my 2 cents on this subject. -Rick-