Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!blake!djo7613 From: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) Newsgroups: comp.sys.zenith.z100 Subject: Re: General questions for Zenith users Keywords: Anyone have any answers? Message-ID: <2051@blake.acs.washington.edu> Date: 17 May 89 15:59:49 GMT References: <2319@infocenter.UUCP> Reply-To: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) Distribution: usa Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Lines: 63 *** Sorry, Mike, but my mail to you bounced. Here's a response... Mike: Congratulations on becoming a Z100 owner! There are a few tricks, but you've joined an avid group of diehards, now. One of my first recommendations is to spend the $30 or so to join the H/Z User's Group and get REMark magazine. There are still Z100 programming and general use articles published there, along with a new monthly column just for the Z100. Use your internet access to FTP files from the PD1: directory on SIMTEL20. There are 70 or so ARC files there with Z100-specific PD or shareware packages. Check out RHM (RightHandMan) for a nifty SideKick clone that works on Z100's as well as PC's. You can also FTP the most recent version (yes, someone is actually working on it currently, with improvements!) of Z100 Kermit directly from Columbia University. I have the Internet addresses if you need them. Your questions... 1) No, the Z100 is not truly PC-compatible. Screen displays are handled differently in that the Z100 is always in graphics mode: there is no "text" mode. Full-screen displays are not compatible between the two types of machines without extra hardware like Gemini boards or the UCI PC emulator. But is *is* a true MSDOS machine that supports a 768K memory space instead of 640 K! 2) I have dBase II on my machine, but I don't know if there's a Z-100 version of dBIII. 3) I have Lotus 123 Version 1A on my machine; again, I assume a Z-100 version is required, and maybe that's the problem. 4) Is it useful?? YES!! I use WatchWord as my word processor and programming editor, Microsoft Fortran, Turbo Pascal Version 3, and Kermit for 9600 baud communications with the mainframes (like this one) I use for large programming tasks and Internet access . 5) I have 768K memory, and use around 300-400K for a RAM disk, depending on my needs. You can add a lot more, but I'm not sure how much. I would check with Paul Herman, Inc. at 3620 Amazon Drive, New Port Richey, FL 34655 (813-376-5457) for information about prices and availability. Chips used are standard RAM DIP chips...no SIMM availability that I know of. 6) Well, we built mine from a HeathKit in 1983 and nothing has been replaced yet. Of the three machines I'm resposible for, we've only lost a single 5.25-inch drive (an old fullheight Tandon) and a single no-name (not H/Z) 8-inch drive. I expect these things to last forever. And why not? Best of luck to you with your machine. Questions? Keep asking!! -- "Moby" Dick O'Connor Washington Department of Fisheries Olympia, Washington 98504 Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu **************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself, not for the Department. Here, anyway! **************************************************************************** So long, and thanks from all the fish...