Author: Steve B
Date: 17:24:38 05/13/05
Perhaps one of the most desired Mephisto computers ever released but also the most inconvenient to use it was made especially to incorporate the use of the 68030 processor beautiful wood,auto-sensory and tournament sized it was able to accept only 5 programs the 1989 Portorose 030(2238 Elo) the 1990 Lyon 030(2251 Elo) the 1991 Vancouver 030(2227 Elo)..yes actually weaker then the Porto and Lyon 030 the 1993 Genius 030(2298 Elo) the 1994 Genius London 030(2316 Elo) a common misconception about the computer is that it had piece recognition like the Bavaria board,which it did not it had two cooling fans built onto the mother board to accommodate the 33-36 Mhz clock speed,much like the Tasc R40 (40 MHz) Why then inconvenient? well unlike other Mephisto computers where the programs were encased in separate modules and easily interchangeable,the Tournament Machine has a removable name plate,under which could be found the program Eprom this Eprom had to be physically removed to change programs not a simple task as the Eproms are very delicate with many metal leads one small break in a lead and the Eprom and of course the program read into it would be ruined most Collectors fortunate enough to have a Tournament Machine (there were less then 50 released)generally stay with one program (Eprom) and avoid changing them too often the Genius and Genius London programs were released in separate modules and could be used in the other Mephisto boards,however the other 68030 programs mentioned above were not released in separate modules so in order to play these programs you need the Tournament Machine the manuals for the 68030 programs mention that these programs were released in modules as well as for the TM but i know of no collector who has a 68030 module set for the Porto,Lyon or Vancouver or even one who has ever seen them the removable Name plate: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cpaa2@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=f650&.dnm=89e9.jpg&.src=ph the cooling fans: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cpaa2@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=f650&.dnm=a01f.jpg&.src=ph the Tournament Machine: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cpaa2@sbcglobal.net/detail?.dir=f650&.dnm=37c9.jpg&.src=ph
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