Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!ists!yunexus!haroldt From: haroldt@paralandra.yorku.ca (Harold Tomlinson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy Subject: Re: Advanced Systems Message-ID: Date: 30 Mar 91 09:25:08 GMT References: <1991Mar29.162359.2428@pdn.paradyne.com> Sender: news@yunexus.YorkU.CA Organization: York Computing Services Lines: 83 In-reply-to: roth@pdntg1.paradyne.com's message of 29 Mar 91 16:23:59 GMT In article <1991Mar29.162359.2428@pdn.paradyne.com> roth@pdntg1.paradyne.com (Mike Rothman) writes: (FLAME ON) < Did RS ever come out with any 486 machines? If so, what prices, etc < Isn't it sad that RS (at least from previous experience) likes to incompatibalize (nice word) its systems with others. Case in point, PC-based Hard-drives! < Oh well, just sounding off.... Why is it that 90% of the people who 'sound off' don't know what they are talking about. Take a look at over 75% of the software out there. Most commercial products have labels that say "IBM, Tandy, and 100% compatibles". Take note also that IBM has produced non-"ibm compatible" computers. Take the IBM PC-Junior for example, most PC software will NOT run on the PC-jr. Now IBM has come out with the PS/2 line (and the PS/1, what a joke), which are backed by the glamour of the OS/2 capabilities of the model 50 and up machines. Anything below the Model 30Z (ie, 30, 25, 20, and PS/1) won't run OS/2 and are therefor NOT compatible any more than my Tandy 1000. On the other hand there is the Tandy 5000MC, (The MC "does not stand for Micro-Channel" according to Radio Shack.) the only non-IBM Micro-Channel computer currently on the market. It is not only software and hardware compatible to the PS/2-80, it out-runs it and looks just like it inside ;) right down to the cpu being on a separate board of the same size in the same place. (Flame off) Okay, I feel better now. I worked for RS and get really sick of people knocking stuff they don't even know. For example, the best batteries on the market are Eveready Energizers, which are Radio Shack batteries under a different label. The headphones are by Koss, one of the best. The speakers have always been built by the top manufacturers. As to the computers and cellular phones, the initial units were aimed at the military (now you know why your Tandy 1000 is built like a tank). The reason Tandy got a bad name in computers is because they built expensive but powerful machines. Lets face it, Tandy had the Model 16 long before I'd heard of the 80286. 16bit processing was not done by Joe- User at that time. Also, TRS-Dos was written by MicroSoft before they wrote MS-Dos, so who is compatible to who? As to the hard drive, what do you mean? Are you complaining about the IDE drives? If so, what do you think of SCSI? If not, then I am confused. Do you realize that Tandy has Never built a disk drive? Floppy disk drives are usually made by Sony. Hard drives are by Tandon, Miniscribe, or Seagate. The drive controller is a Seagate (I forget the number). There is no such thing as a "Tandy" hard drive. I found the Tandon's to be excellent, the Miniscribes to be quite good, and the Seagates to be as unreliable as the same drives in the IBMs. (I've seen them literally fall apart.) If you want to add a hard drive I can look up the controller number for you. I've never bought the drive from Tandy, I can get them cheaper from part shops. Another interesting note is the number of Tandy's I've looked into (electronically) that told me they were IBM's (Check the Roms, they should say Tandy but some say IBM.) Every big computer company experiments with their incompatibles. For example, I made the mistake of buying an IBM Inkjet printer. It's not IBM compatible. It cannot be controlled by any IBM software that expects an IBM printer. (Perhaps it can now, this was a few years ago.) Not even WordPerfect Supported it until release 5.1. My favorite Tandys are the Grid1400 (yes, Grid computers is owned by Tandy), the IBM PS/2 Model 80 (aka Tandy 5000MC), and the Casio Boss-nnnn (I forget Casio's number, but Tandy calls it the PC6). Personally, I'd like to see Tandy come out with a true Unix machine, like a DecStation or -better yet- a Next. One last piece of trivia, The 5000MC was unveiled a few hours BEFORE IBM unveiled their equivalent. :) And for thousands less.... :) :) Disclaimer: I've worked for IBM and for RadioShack (Intertan Canada) but I survived. That entitles me to something, but I'm not sure what. I don't work for the above companies, I work for the one in my signature, but it's not their fault. :) The above was an unpaid unpolitical (and probably unread) announcement at 04:27.... -- # Harold Tomlinson ## haroldt@paralandra.yorku.ca # # Computing & Communications Services ## (416)736-5257-33802 # # YORK UNIVERSITY, Ont, CANADA ## ########################### #