Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!well!dsmall
From: dsmall@well.UUCP (David Small)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Stacey Display
Message-ID: <15091@well.UUCP>
Date: 19 Dec 89 04:00:07 GMT
References: <7464@dime.cs.umass.edu>
Reply-To: dsmall@well.UUCP (David Small)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 79


The base message asks about the Stacy display, and if it's bad.

	I've been using a Stacy4 since Comdex 1989, a month ago. I've
put it to a variety of uses.

	The Stacy4 display is about the size of a Mac screen. It is backlit
and VERY usable in dim list (try that on Mac portable). The contrast
allows adjustment to extremely readable, and even side-to-side reading
has a nice, wide angle.

	Because LCD's aren't, it is not superfast, but that isn't a problem.
The much ballyhooed 'lose the mouse' is easily remedied by just wiggling the
mouse slowly and picking up the motion with your eye.

	On habit that you have to fix is while text editing. The temptation
is to move the cursor with mouse to the area to fix, then press RETURN,
instead of the mouse button, to set the cursor there. I don't know why--
I use a Mac all the time -- but I and one of the Codehead people ran into it
immediately. Still, it's training.

	I have the 4 meg RAM / 40 meg hard disk version. The hard disk is
a Conner and no slouch at all. However, frankly, don't run it off batteries;
this is dynamic RAM (Apple uses VERY expensive static) and dynamic is a power
hog. Atari is trying -- they have a utility that powers down the HD when it
is not in use.

	About the only peeve I have with the machine is the space bar requires
more effort that the rest of the keys, and when Sandy is asleep next to me,
I hate to whack it as hard as it needs. So sometimesmywordsruntogether.
This may just be this particular keyboard.

	In any event, I own both a Toshiba 1200 HB (backlit, HD, MS-DOS)
and the Atari Stacy. I find the screens equally readable -- thank heavens
for backlighting! -- and I am using the Atari more and more as I gain
confidence in it. It seems 100% compatible, with the exception of a now being
fixed HD bug (minor, and you won't see it), and while it's heavy, try the
twin floppy model -- not nearly as bad. And the best news of all, it passed
FCC as Class A, so you can buy it. (You might want to talk to a developer,
who gets them at half price .. hint hint.)

	The machine has been extremely reliable for me. I can't recall a
crash. It also works extremely well in Mac mode with the GCR; the drives are
Epsons and have no ringing problems we can see. Hence, any time I need to
shift to Mac mode, it takes 20 seconds.

	Internally, the 68000-CMOS is covered, after about 1/4" clearance,
by a power supply unit that mystifies me. A friend tells me that it's
necessary
to drive the electroluminescent display at higher voltage; I have no way to
tell if
that is true. I expect adding a T-16 is possible *barely*, but PC-Ditto II
might be
a real bear.

	Anyway, I've been typing and hacking and hammering on it for a month,
it's held up fine, and the display is as comfortable for me as the state of
the art in Toshiba. Furthermore, I was told the price of the 4/40 would be
$2500, so I can get around 3 of these for one Mac portable. I ain't
complaining.

	Now that the FCC hurdle is passed, I strongly feel Atari has a
real winner here. MIDI people are drooling at the prospect of a portable
MIDI driver/sequencer. The drive is rugged; by accident, I carried it 
through the airport on, and not a bad sector showed up. Try that on a 
Toshiba... :-).

	Well, enough rambling. I think it's a winner. Battery life is never
going to thrill you; I may research Gates lead-acid cells. Don't go 4 meg and
HD if you want to run batteries; they go flat in *15 minutes*.

	But in terms of an easy to use portable, I really like it.

	I've taken the time to ramble a little because many people have not
yet seen a Stacy and few people have posted any long-term impressions. If
I couldn't stand the display, I wouldn't use it, and I would call it very
usable.

	-- thanks, Dave / Gadgets