Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!masscomp!peora!tarpit!bilver!bill From: bill@bilver.uucp (Bill Vermillion) Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy Subject: Re: Advanced Systems Message-ID: <1991Apr2.171206.12184@bilver.uucp> Date: 2 Apr 91 17:12:06 GMT References: <1991Mar29.162359.2428@pdn.paradyne.com> Organization: W. J. Vermillion - Winter Park, FL Lines: 103 In article haroldt@paralandra.yorku.ca (Harold Tomlinson) writes: >In article <1991Mar29.162359.2428@pdn.paradyne.com> roth@pdntg1.paradyne.com (Mike Rothman) writes: > Why is it that 90% of the people who 'sound off' don't know what they are >talking about. > 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. Hm. I'd go along with the "90 % of the people who 'sound off' dont know what they are talking about." The 5000MC is >>**NOT**<< the ONLY non-IBM Micro-Channel machine on the market. I seem to remember at least 10 or so. One of the more interesting telling points of the MC architecture shows up in the ALR machines. Take a look at the specs for the '486 25MHz machine. The MC based machine is twice as fast in some areas as their EISA machine. They are almost identical except for the bus. Then you see that the MCA machine is doing 64 bit xfers as opposed to the 32 bit on the EISA. And I seem to remember that NCR and WYSE are also using MCA archictecture. > >(Flame off) > Okay, I feel better now. I worked for RS and get really sick of people >knocking stuff they don't even know. > 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? Uh - sorry. But the Radio Shack model 16 as NOT Tandy corporations first 16 bit computer. That honor goes to what I thought was called the Tandy Model 10. But I can't find reference to that. However in the 1978 Tandy Computer catalog (page 12) I shows the computer with a Tnady Computers logo on it, and describes it as the "Naked MINI-4 System". Obviously re-labeled but it DID have Tandy's name on the front. In the description paragraph is the following information " Inside the NAKED MILLI card cages is the LSI 4/10, a complete, 16 bit printed circuit board that contains a high-speed processor iwht and 85 instruction set, 4K RAM and four Distributed I/O channels. .. THe floppy disk congtroller used in the system included automatic error detection and Direct Memory Access. .... The NAKED MINI-4 System can support a floppy disk system for 1/2 megabyte low-level storage - you get up to 10 megabytes withe hard disk access storage! Let our sales staff help you choose peripherals to fit your particular needs! ...." (In one place it is reffered to as the NAKED MILLI and another as the NAKED MINI - don't know if that was a typo or the NAKED MILLI was part of the NAKED MINI - anyone else know?) And on page 22, with a "call for price" opposite the 89-1205 catalog number is the "Tandy Floppy Disk Operating System". Part of the description id " a comprehensive collection of system routines and file management utilities for standard and mini disk systems. It was written for Z-80 systems with the non-technical hobbyist and consumer in mind. ... The advanced concept of completely dynamic disk space allocation is used within this system in order for file to be efficiently manipulated withoug regard to the actual amount of disk space used ..... TOPS system provides the sophisticated user ..... " Same page also was selling CPM Basic Disc Operating System, CPD DOS-A utilities (for use with IMSAI FDC systems) and "ICOM's New FDOS-IIR for Microcomputers" The latter has a line that says "you can virtually elminate the need for paper tape or cassete storage handling. Program storage and backup is now on low-cost, reusabe, compact and reliable diskettes". This catalog was published just a few months after the introduction of the Model I. And the picture of the Model I in this catalog shows a floppy disk drive that was NOT the ones shipped in production. When I went to get this, I found the "12 page" manual for TRSDOS 2.0 with a June 7, 1978 date on the cover. My disks had hand written labels. The first printed TRSDOS lables were shipped with TRSDOS 2.1 if memory serves. Tandy Computers was selling about 15 different brands and parts to build your own. They closed it out later that year when the Model I became a great success and the Model II was introduced about that time. >Do you realize that Tandy has Never built a disk drive? What about the Tandon / Tandy joint venture called Texas Peripherals. Made a lot of 5" disk drives that were a slightly modified Tandon drives. Does this put me in the remaing 10% ? :-) bill -- Bill Vermillion - UUCP: uunet!tarpit!bilver!bill : bill@bilver.UUCP