Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!unisoft!hoptoad!peora!tarpit!bilver!bill From: bill@bilver.UUCP (Bill Vermillion) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Who is Packard Bell and why are they making clones? Keywords: Packard Bell PC Clone Message-ID: <344@bilver.UUCP> Date: 4 Nov 89 21:12:11 GMT References: <1153@elmgate.UUCP-> Reply-To: bill@bilver.UUCP (Bill Vermillion) Organization: W. J. Vermillion, Winter Park, FL Lines: 45 In article khearn@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Keith Hearn) writes: ->In article <1153@elmgate.UUCP> frh@elmgate.UUCP (Frank Hubbell SOFT) writes: ->>Who is Packard Bell? Does anyone know anything about them? ->>I am thinking about buying one of their PC Clones. Any information ->>would be welcome. -> ->They used to make some of the best TV's and radios, back in the 40's and -> fifties. Back in the tube days (Or so my dad tells me). The Packard Bell that made the great radio and tv's of the past is NOT the company making Packard Bell computers. In the trades a year or so ago, when Packard Bell computers first came on the scene, the story went like this. A group putting together a clone company needed a name that had recognizability. Packard Bell was out of business, and the clone group bought the rights to the NAME Packard Bell to put on their computers. The only relationship to the TVs and radios of the past is the name. As your opening line of reply indicates, it was a very good choice for them. I have no idea of the quality and the longevity of the machines or company. The above is merely a point of information on the name only. -> I recently -> bought a Pac-Mate II, and I'm pretty happy with it. ... ..... ->As for the computer, it seems to be 100% compatible. Everything I've -> tried to run works just fine, an I've tried a fair amount so far. -> I've had two quality control problems. The first system I got wouldn't -> run more than 20 minutes at a time before hanging. Seemed to be heat -> related. I took it back the next day and exchanged for a replacement -> system which worked fine. last week my keyboard cable apparently -> went bad. I got a "Keyboard Data Line Failure" message when I tried -> to boot. Again, I simply took the keyboard back and exchanged for a -> new one.They have an 800 number for customer service that's open -> 7am to 6pm Pacific time weekdays, and some hours on saturdays. Doesn't -> seem to heavily staffed, though. I got busy signals quite a few times -> when I tried calling about the keyboard. -> ->Over all, I pretty happy with it, though. Quality doesn't sound quite as good as the old PB legends. Are there any other PB owners out there who would care to comment. -- Bill Vermillion - UUCP: {uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd}!peora!tarpit!bilver!bill : bill@bilver.UUCP