From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!info-cpm
Newsgroups: fa.info-cpm
Title: Re: portables
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.292
Posted: Wed Dec  8 22:35:00 1982
Received: Thu Dec  9 19:46:06 1982

>From teklabs!tektronix!tekmdp!scotth@Ucb-C70  Wed Dec  8 22:29:19 1982
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To: azure!tektroni!teklabs!ucbcad!ucbvax.info-cpm@Ucb-C70
In-Reply-To: Your news article ucbvax.269 of Tue Dec  7 23:13:11 1982
Via:  Mit-Ai; 8 Dec 82 17:48-EST
Via:  Brl; 8 Dec 82 17:58-EST
Via:  Brl-Bmd; 8 Dec 82 18:15-EST

I hope this gets to Jerry Pournelle and others interested in portables--
I am a neophyte on the net, and am not sure just what's happenin' here...

Kaypro:

	The Kaypro screen flicker and terrible character set has
	a hardware solution (so I here from a friend that has one).

	The solution is a character ROM originally built for the
	BigBoard from Digital Research Computers (of Texas, not the
	folks of CP/M).  It's available from the folks at Micro-
	Cornucopia in Bend, Oregon.  $25.00 US price, or $5.00
	each if you send a fast ROM and prepaid return mailing.

	This ROM should get rid of the flicker and give a better
	character set (lower-case descenders, real semi-colon...)

	Their address:
		MICRO CORNUCOPIA
		PO Box 223
		Bend, Oregon 97709
	
	They also have a lot other neat things which go well with
	the KayPro, especially their magazine ``Micro Cornucopia--
	the Single Board Systems Journal'', which means Xerox 820, too.

Otrona:

	For a lot of people (I know at least five!) the Otrona screen
	is ``just right.''  The normal distance one sits from the screen
	makes the characters just a shade larger than what you see when
	reading the newspaper at normal distance.  For me, the only time
	I'll need a larger monitor is for demonstrations, and working with
	more than one other person.  The reason for the success of Otrona's
	screen is its high resolution.  The characters are clear (unlike
	some other 5" screens).  If the Otrona is called a
	``portable'', then anything else (I have seen) is merely
	``movable.''

	Does anyone else have a problem with the clips on the south
	corners of the keyboard (used to hold the keyboard in place
	when closed) ?  They dig into the fleshy parts below by little
	fingers when I place my hands on the keyboard in my usual way.