Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!beowulf!root
From: root@beowulf.UUCP (pilot and all 'round good guy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: Advanced Systems
Message-ID: <1932@beowulf.UUCP>
Date: 1 Apr 91 06:17:06 GMT
References: <HAROLDT.91Mar30042508@paralandra.yorku.ca>
Organization: Function Consulting, Albany N.Y.
Lines: 45

From article <HAROLDT.91Mar30042508@paralandra.yorku.ca>, by haroldt@paralandra.yorku.ca (Harold Tomlinson):
>
>   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?
> 
        The Model 16 Was introduced in the fall of 1982. Xenix 1.0 (Unix V7)
        was released in the Summer of 83. 

> 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,

        Untrue. Tandy had, at least untill I left in 1985 their own 
        Floppy drive manufacturing facility in Ft. Worth. It was/is
        known as Texas Peripherials Inc, or TPI. They produced many of the
        8" floppies used in the Model II, and many of the 5 1/4" drives
        used in the Model 3 and 4. They were made under license from 
        Tandon (5 1/4's) and Shugart (8"), but they were built in Ft. Worth.

> 
>   Personally, I'd like to see Tandy come out with a true Unix machine, like
> a DecStation or -better yet- a Next.
> 
        They did. In 1983. It was Called the Model 16, it ran Microsoft's
        port of v7 Unix, and it was called Xenix. Later, it got a faster
        CPU (8Mhz vs 6Mhz), more memory (up to 4Mb vs max of 1Mb), and
        Microsoft's (actually it was SCO's first attempt....) port of
        the ill fated System III, precursor to SysV. That was 1985. 


        As for my qualifications....I too used to work there. But I was in
        Ft. Worth in Technical Support and later @ Business Products 
        Parts, buying disk drives, getting them fixed, and helping to
        support the customer as an engineer.

        This is certainly not meant to reflect the current views of Tandy
        Corp, or even their views @ the time. They probably don't corporately
        remember their 1985 views anyway....


        Bob Bownes.