X-Surf or Ariadne II?

[Gojirax]

I had an Ariadne II for my old A4000 and it seemed to work pretty good. I was looking on Software Hut or Amigakit for one now and it appears that nobody sells them.

I did however see the X-Surf on sale at Amigakit. It appears to be a standard ISA card with an ingenius adapter for a Zorro slot. Does it work pretty good or should I keep looking for an Ariadne?

[Gojirax]

doctorq wrote:
@Gojirax

The Ariadne can only be bought second hand, while the X-Surf can be bought new as you have already seen. Both are 10 MBit cards, so speed between the two will be the same.

Only reason speaking for getting a X-Surf would be the clock ports, otherwise the cards do the job equally well.

I was wondering if either card had better bus function or transfer rate or supported better multitasking mostly.

I'll look at the X-Surf again as I like to support existing companies.

Just looked at the Mediator 4000Di from Amigakit.com
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=517&osCsid=0473c8da5abc42a4f74888920d336b0b

WOW, that fits inside an A4000 desktop and allows the use of all those PCI cards? (Video, Sound, Network, USB?!?!)

Does that work with the Toaster 4000 too?

[Gojirax]

I don't have or plan to use a TBC anyway. If I actually DO wind up doing any work with the Toaster/Flyer it'll all be with digitized footage anyway.

http://www.softhut.com/cgi-bin/test/Web_store/web_store.cgi?page=catalog/hardware/pciexp/mediatorz3.html&cart_id=4553106_23114

Software Hut appears to have the Mirage case/Mediator system, I can't believe how much it costs, but the savings in expansion cards makes it worth it!

[Gojirax]

adolescent wrote:
Just to clarify: You can not use the Video Toaster on the Mediator 4000Di (because there is no video slot!).

Oh crud!

Ok, time to look at Mediator 1200 solutions for my PCI card enjoyment then...

Browse...browse....browse...

Looks like a D-Box 1200 and Mediator PCI 1200 LT4 is what I want... at least for PCI.

Still looking to upgrade the 4000 with (Zorro) Video and Ethernet.

[Gojirax]

I owned an AriadneII at one time on my last A4000, the performance seemed fine (And better by far than a direct PC link), I'm just wondering what's faster these days.