Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/13/84; site intelca.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!decwrl!sun!idi!intelca!cem
From: cem@intelca.UUCP (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: what's needed for a home pc
Message-ID: <86@intelca.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Sep-85 12:19:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: intelca.86
Posted: Thu Sep 12 12:19:55 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Sep-85 17:08:17 EDT
References: <944@qumix.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
Lines: 72

[Slightly spaced out for clarity, not me!, the text. ]

> Has anyone done market research on what's needed for a HOME pc?  My
> feeling is this:  
> 1. Built-in printer and display, both quality, 

Built in printer? I think the needs of various home users are diverse
enough the merit different types of printers. People who use a home
computer for correspondence and writing would most likely want a 
small LQ printer, like the Atari one or one of the Silver Reed types,
whereas people who only rarely print things out would probably want to
save the bucks and get a thermal or ink-jet dot matrix printer.

> 2. Canned programs in ROM -a. Word Processing, b. Data Base Management, 
> c. Spreadsheet financial planners, d. Other?  

This works Ok for the most part except on new machines or new programs.
A lot of software houses still have problems with writing "ROMmable"
code. Some of it is programming style, some of it is due to the compilers
they are using. Either way this would/could limit your options. [You 
will note the number of cartridges available for the PCjr] 

> I don't see the need for a disk drive or tape storeage but would 
> use eeprom for storeage. 

Hmmm, you don't write many documents do you. If you look at your 
applications above, each manipulate data structures that can be several
thousands of bytes long. Since the only production EEPROMs around seem
to be 2K X 8  (there are some 8K but they aren't very stable yet) you
will need a LARGE number of them for your mass storage. You would be 
better off using Epson's technique of battery backed up RAM for mass
storage. You should also consider that as a general rule of thumb the
minimum amount of mass storage provided for a system should be 10 times
the amount of main memory. And at least 5% of that should be removeable
(although this is not always the case) So for your 128K system (see
below) you should have 1.2 Mbytes of storage, that's 640 2K EEPROMS
or 160 8K EEPROMs. Some of which should be removable (programmable
cartridges?)

> 128k of Ram should be adequate.  Cost should be around $500.  Decent 
> keyboard and portable, using minimum desk space.  

Using current technology you could build this sort of system (sans 
EEPROMs) into a large keyboard enclosure. Since single sided disk
drives are about $25 around here you could save some money by putting
two of these in a box at either end. It probably wouldn't run on 
batteries but it would be portable. The Sept Byte has an article on
a single board computer that you could build into a "lunch box" with
two 3.5" floppies and a mode, but you would still need a terminal.
That system would cost ~$500 after integration. RCA has a complete
terminal in a keyboard called the APT, you still need to add a monitor
and now we are up to three pieces so it has become less portable. 

> What's out there now that meets the bill?  I think anything more 
> than this is Marketing hype.

Nothing "off the shelf." A PCjr with a floppy meets most of your
requirements but lacks the small footprint. A grid Compass meets
all of your requirements but comes in at over $7000. If you hadn't
guessed, a system that meets your mass storage requirement would 
probably be unusable. Might as well go with a floppy or two. (The
3.5 " ones are really small, and better protected against the
environment too. I would be interested to here if you find such
a system. 

--Chuck

-- 
                                            - - - D I S C L A I M E R - - - 
{ihnp4,fortune}!dual\                     All opinions expressed herein are my
        {qantel,idi}-> !intelca!cem       own and not those of my employer, my
 {ucbvax,hao}!hplabs/                     friends, or my avocado plant. :-}