Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!sun-barr!newstop!sundc!sundc.East.Sun.COM!tgsmith From: tgsmith@sundc.East.Sun.COM (Tim Smith - Consultant Sun Baltimore) Newsgroups: comp.sys.zenith Subject: Re: Zenith Z-248 Serial & Disk & Compatibility info Message-ID: <10832@sundc.East.Sun.COM> Date: 26 Dec 89 18:18:22 GMT References: <10826@sundc.East.Sun.COM> <244@tnc.UUCP> Sender: news@sundc.East.Sun.COM Reply-To: tgsmith@sundc.East.Sun.COM (Tim Smith - Consultant Sun Baltimore) Distribution: na Organization: Sun Microsystems, Vienna, VA Lines: 80 In article <244@tnc.UUCP> you write: >The Zenith Z-248 model which was sold to the Department of Defense was >part of a contract for computer SYSTEMS, not 'IBM PC's or equivalents'. >The systems had to perform many functions required by the government, >and Zenith provided a very broad suite of pripherals and software to >satisfy these requirements. Being able to turn to a large list of >compatible items, government users found it extremely easy to configure >a SYSTEM to accomplish a need, with no worry about compatibility and no >need for a computer expert to study volumes of manuals to figure out how >to integrate peripheral equipment and software. The COM3 port on the >Z248 is a syncronous port which is used by a wide variety of communications >software provided to the government under that contract to allow terminal >emulations for attachment to various government owned mainframes and >minicomputers. The successs of the concept of a full suite of compatible >items can best be measured by the great numbers of computer systems ordered >from this contract during its three year life: over 400,000 systems. > >Complaining that COM3 is not equal to COM2 is moot. COM3 accompishes >its unique mission. Well that is an excellent explanation which actually makes sense and sounds completely reasonable. I know of quite a few people with the government who were never given a an explanation like this to explain why their Zenith's were not IBM compatible and would have loved to have it. The supply department at my former Navy employer REQUIRED that all IBM PC type machines be purchased from the Zenith contract. If the supply department had provided accurate detailed information to the people who they were supposed to be supporting maybe we things would have worked out better and I would not gripe so loudly. As it turns out the Zenith was "advertised" by management and supply to me and my co-workers as a "fully compatible IBM AT clone with superior performance at a significant cost savings to the Navy". If we had know that the Z-248 was not "compatible" we would have made damn sure we spec'ed something that was. Of course supply would not have let us buy anything not on the Zenith contract and we still would have been screwed but at least we would know why things did not work with the Z-248. >Curiosity: How did you, as a member of private industry, come into posession >of a government issue Z248? Your complaint of not receiving an upgrade offer >for MS-DOS 3.3+ -- Are you the registered owner of your DOS, did you mail >your end-user license agreement? As a former employee of the US Naval Academy I was given the opportunity to purchase a Z-248 through the Navy. Yep, I am a registered owner and as a matter of fact did upgrade to MS-DOS 3.21 via an upgrade coupon from Zenith. I had hoped that 3.21 would make life happier. I am still interested in hearing from anyone who knows how to make a SCSI interface card work with the Z-248. I want to hook up a SCSI CD-ROM to my machine. I have heard rumors that Zenith is readying a new BIOS for release sometime next year that will allow more disks to work with the Z-248-anyone out there able to confirm/deny this? Does anyone have a good source of tech info on the Z-248 (yes I do have the tech reference book)? BBS's? Anyone know of a dealer who will sell me stuff that they can guarantee will work with the Z-248? I would like to get the above mentioned SCSI interface card and would also like to see if new ROMS will help any of my woes but I would like to find someone who KNOWS the answers in advance instead of someone who has lots of things to try that may or may not help. Where is everyone getting their good technical info? --tim std disc: If the opinions above were not my personal, private opinions you would be paying to hear them. PS: Once again the net.world has had the answers for me. Even though I am a ~5 year net veteran I am always amazed at how great a resource the net is.