Sb: #I WANNA ULTRASOFT LAPTOP Fm: Clyde C. Price,Jr. 76616,3452 To: SANTA CLAUS Dear Santa Claus, I heard that Ultra-Soft Innovations is thinking about producing its own notebook computer, and I've decided that I want one. I have here a couple of lists of things that I'd like to see in a really nifty portable computer: I. First list, a portable MS-DOS compatible-- 1. Something with two 3.5" drives about the size of the Toshiba 1000 series with MS-DOS, GW-BASIC, LAP-LINK, and something like Tandy's DESKMATE package all on ROM, with a battery backup on RAM storage so that stuff would stay in memory like on my Model 100. 2. A built-in modem with an on/off switch to save power, 3. and the ability to use standard (rechargable) batteries would be convenient, 4. as would a special package discount on the Portable Hard Disk. II. My other version of the ideal notebook computer varies on my beloved Model 100, but with 1. two RS-232 ports 2. and internal 300/1200/2400 baud modem with separate internal circuitry, 3. larger memory (Why not half a meg?), 4. an easy and reliable bar-code system, 5. a BASIC chip with guidlines for adapting existing programs for the new machine, 6. and a ROM-software package that included word-processing/outlining/printing, schedule, file/database, spreadsheet and a GOOD, FLEXIBLE telecommunications program. I'm really thinking about something the size and shape of the M100 with an 80 X 10 or 13 screen with updated Model 600style software, BASIC, and much more memory, 7. and a WELL WRITTEN, EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE MANUAL. (Hey, maybe I could write the manual FOR them! Ya think you could put in a good word for me, Santa?) 8. I'd really like to have a 3.5" or 5.25" external portable IBM-format disk drive governed by a control program through an RS-232 port like the P.H.D. Hey, having BOTH sizes would be even better! And once UltraSoft has the RS-232-disk drives out, maybe they'll let some bright M100 programmer loose with the control codes and we can use the external drives with our beloved old M100's! They'd really have a ready-made market for 'em! Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Clyde C. Price,Jr. 76616,3452 Can't provide any info on the proposed MS-DOS laptop, but as for the notebook model, that's not all that difficult to fulfil. The two RS-232 ports is available now to those who can build their own hardware devices; there was an article in 80-micro over a year ago that told how to do it. For those who'd rather buy, there's a different model becoming available, which will be advertised in Portable 100 in upcoming issues. There is an internal 300-1200 baud modem now. Considering the screen scroll problem, which can't be fixed by add-on's, 2400 baud seems unnecessary, but undoubtedly it could be worked out too, if there was a real demand for it; and I haven't seen any evidence that there is such a demand, or it would be on the market now. The technology is already available. Larger memory? Traveling Software has offered up to 2 megabytes for about three years. It may be slipping into non-availability due to lack of sales. Read: folks don't _really_ want that much memory in a portable. You can get about 256K for about $250 from Node. Easy and reliable barcode system is available now as an alternate ROM product, for about $200. Runs rings around the Tandy products, I'm told. BASIC is already built-in to the existing portable. A conversion program would be a good idea, and undoubtedly could be written by anyone with the interest in doing so. I would imagine that conversions from GW BASIC would be the most useful. There are already ROM-based word-processing, outlining, printing, file and database, spreadsheet, etc. programs available. What would be your definition of a good telecommunications program? The XMDPW5/6 programs already available, in machine language, offer the most bells and whistles of any COM program ever developed for the portable. Free for the cost of downloading. Somehow I see something in your description of "flexible". What would you consider important that isn't already available. You can have a 60x10 screen now, which is the most the pixel design can accomodate. Don't understand your reference to a well written manual... the manual for the Model 100 was one of the plainest, most direct manuals ever written. You can have an external MS-DOS disk drive NOW that uses 5.25 or 3.5 inch disks, and reads or writes files directly from the portable. Costs less than $400 and there is no big demand for them. Or you can have a 20 megabyte hard disk for about $600 that works with direct commands from the portable. For about $700, you can have the hard disk plus your choice of 5.25 or 3.25 inch disk, too. - Within a year, you could also have direct download to disk through the portable; to either a TDD, or one of these new MS-DOS compatible's. It may cost about a hundred bucks, but is it worth it? Would the public buy it? Is there really a demand for such a product? Given enough interest, it's only a few months from market. The problem I see with your wish list is that all this stuff already exists, or is readily available, or nearly available, and folks are not buying it, not making any mad dash to get hold of these products, or indicating there is a viable market for portable products any longer. That's why the big three are discontinuing their product lines, instead of developing new product. There are a number of folks willing and able to develop such products, but no clamoring market waiting to buy. So while we _say_ this is what we want, we arent' willing to pay the price to get it. Some of the obvious rationaliz- ations include "it's too high priced", or "I'll wait to see if they are a stable company", or "I'll wait to see what other buyers say about it". These generalizations lead to delay in purchasing the product, and almost surely lead to discouragement among the designers and developers, leading to withdrawal of product. The "high price" is based on economy of scale. If it's cheaper to build in quantity, it's also more costly when there isn't the demand to justify the quantity. Development costs must be spread among fewer units sold, so each unit costs more. Similar products for other computers can be sold for less because there are many more units sold. Example: If your ideal machine were to be built, and the manufacturer knew, from previous sales information, that a maximum of 100 units would be sold, all the costs of developing, tooling up, and building those hundred units would have to be returned, along with profits, from the sale of just those 100 units. The price would have to be higher than if he were selling 100,000 units. So the question that I'm raising is, are we really willing to pay for what we say we want? I regularly operate with a Tandy 200 with 318K of RAM installed, connected to two disk drives and a 1200 baud modem. All I have to do is flip a switch and I have access to an MS-DOS 30 megabyte hard disk, as well as a standard 5.25 inch disk drive. Today's value, about $2300. You want me to put one together for you? Fm: Carmen Paone 72677,42 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 Tony, I saw in your reply to "I WANNA AN ULTRASOFT LAPTOP" that you have 318 K in your 200 and have it hooked to two disk drives. How are both things accomplished _ and how much will each cost? Thanks, #Carmen# Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Carmen Paone 72677,42 318K consists of three 24K banks (72K), plus a 256K Node RAMdisk Data Pak. That actually comes out to 328K, but I discounted approximately 10K, allowing for the 3K or so in each bank that is used as reserved memory for the system pointers, RAM directory and such. They're all off the shelf items. And the good news is that the Node RAMdisk is coming back on the market and will be available again. But as fickle as the market is, if I were interested in getting one, I'd snap one up right away, not wait -- we don't know how long Node will continue this ressurrection, or how long the product will be available this time. A dual disk drive interface, allowing you to use two TDD's with the portables, will appear in an ad in the next issue of Portable 100. Cost $179.95. You also need two of the disk drives; either 100K or 200K, but a "mix" is not recommended. Use of an alternate DOS is recommended, such as Power-DOS or Power-Disk (downloadable here) or TS-DOS or UltraSoft's Disk-Power if you go for the 200K models. -- You can build your own with relays, or use an inexpensive RS-232 switch box to expand your port from one to two, or three, or four... depends on what you want, and if you can think of other thins for those other ports. Fm: Carmen Paone 72677,42 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 Thanks, Tony I'm interested in the NODE pack and will probably buy one in the very near future. I'm not sure about the dual disk drives. What advantage do you get from having two drives hooked up? Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: Carmen Paone 72677,42 Are you pulling my leg? What advantage do two drives have over one drive? If there is no advantage, why do almost all computers have two drives instead of one? You can make backup copies of one file, or an entire disk full of files in a matter of minutes, and you don't have to swap disks in and out of a single drive. You never lose data, because you always have a backup. You can also automatically backup a working file to two disks, so if something happens to one, you have the other to fall back on. You can open a file on one drive, bring data into RAM, manipulate or edit it, and write it out to a new file on the second drive. You can "chain" files for unattended printing of long files or reports; with two drives, up to 400K of data - maybe a whole books worth on two disks. You can more easily arrange files on disks so that similar, or connected files are all in one place, all on one disk. You can move files you download to a disk where they can be archived, or used in conjunction with other, similar files or programs. Given the knowledge, and the hardware, you can copy TDD-1 files to TDD-2 disks, and vice versa; which means you can exchange disks, and files, with almost anybody, as long as they have either a TDD-1 or TDD-2. Disk "format" becomes less important. And on, and on, and on... Obviously it's not for everybody, and I'm not trying to sell you on the concept. But if the key to productive computer use is flexibility, then having two drives available gives you that much more flexibility. Like having two banks, or a modem with two speeds. Fm: Carmen Paone 72677,42 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 I could think of two or three advantages of dual disk drives and you gave me a bucketful of them. Thanks for the insights. #Carmen# Fm: Gene Nestro 73727,1015 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 You must be a mind reader!! See my msg to you. Was just thinkin of going to (2) TDD2 drives w both 'in line'!!! Fm: BILL BADGER 71310,705 To: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 Tony - RE: "an external MS-DOS disk drive NOW that uses 5.25 or 3.5 inch disks, and reads or writes files directly from the portable." Who sells this little gem? - Bill Fm: Tony Anderson 76703,4062 To: BILL BADGER 71310,705 You'll probably be disappointed in this... it's a stripped down PC clone from Hong Kong, put together from off the shelf items. It's in a PC-clone case, so it's nowhere near "portable". But it does make completely compatible disks that can be used on other PC's or clones. It's from Fantasy Marketing in Walnut, Calif. (714) 595-1160. Base price for the unit with a 5.25 inch drive is $369. That includes the basic bare bones XT clone operatable at 4.77 or 10 mhz, case, power supply, 360K disk drive with controller, 512K of memory, and a keyboard (which you won't need for this application). You can swap the 5.25 inch disk for a 3.5 inch disk at a small additional charge, probably less than $50. You may need a monitor board and monitor to set it up, but they are not needed after that. You could do the setup on another PC, and create a boot disk for the clone. After that, the clone never needs keyboard or monitor. For software, you download M100CO.EXE from our Library 9, set up the clone so that it boots and runs M100CO without keyboard or monitor, and the whole thing becomes a TDD that reads and writes MS-DOS compatible disks. You can commun- icate with it with FLOPPY, or any of the alternate DOS's, including Power-DOS and Power-Disk, available in Library 9.