Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU!GTHEALL
From: GTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (George A. Theall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: RE: Questions
Message-ID: <8910291321.AA12779@remote.dccs.upenn.edu>
Date: 29 Oct 89 14:00:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 35


  Let's start with the easy question first. Code Blue is a commercial
program from Intersecting Concepts that provides a degree of PC
compatibility for Rainbow owners. I'm almost certain you can run it
with DOS versions below v3.10; however, Code Blue together with the
more recent version (v3.10b) offers near complete compatibility. You'll
even get a character ROM that displays the PC's character set! You can
find Code Blue advertised in any recent issue of _Rainbow News_; or you
could call Suitable Solutions (who markets it for Intersecting Concepts)
at 1-408-727-9090 or as 76666.3003@Compuserve.Com.

  As for hard disks and power supplies, do you have a 100A or 100B?
The 100A has a weaker power supply which was not intended to be used
in a machine with a hard disk. When DEC sold hard disk upgrade kits
for the 100A, they also included a beefier power supply. This doesn't
mean you won't be able to run a hard disk in an A - I had a 20MB
LaPine Titan drive in my system (TRUMPed up to a B motherboard but
with the 100A's original power supply) and nary a problem for ~3 years.
Further, disk size and power consumption do not correlate well: early
models (eg, 5MB and 10MB) were much less efficient than more recent
ones.

  Although I'm not knowledgeable enough about hardware to give a "yes/no"
answer to your question, it does seem likely that the power supply's to
blame for your problem here. I mean, at boot power consumption is the
highest, right? Perhaps you could expand on what's happening when
you say "it shuts the whole system off". Do you get any error messages?
What about the diagnostic LEDs on the Rainbow's back?

George

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BITNET: GTHEALL@PennDRLS               Dept. of Economics
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