C70:info-cpm (07/29/82)
>From w8sdz@BRL Thu Jul 29 01:34:06 1982 This one sure is newsy. Replies to address below, not me, please. ----- Forwarded message # 1: Date: 28 July 1982 01:12-EDT From: Charles F Von Rospach <CHUQUI@Mit-Mc> Subject: Superbrain Reputation To: Heiby at Hi-Multics cc: info-micro at Brl Via: Mit-Mc; 28 Jul 82 1:11-EDT Via: Brl; 28 Jul 82 1:18-EDT Via: Brl-Bmd; 28 Jul 82 1:23-EDT While I have not used the Intertec Superbrain, I did work for a company at one time that used the Intertube II. I ran into the following problems with the terminals at one time or another: 1) Intertec has a policy of warranties from manufacture date, not purchase date.. This means that most if not all of your warranty can be used up while the terminal is on the manufacturers shelf (I found that 25-40 days of actual warranty was typical). 2) Intertec seems to have a policy of shipping DOA's. Fully 30% of the terminals did not function on initial delivery. Intertec was VERY slow in repair. I found that we could easily rely on them taking 3-5 months to repair a DOA (not replace it), therefore removing any warranty left over when we got it (since they did not extend or renew warranties on repair). 3) When we finally got fed up with their service, we ordered a set of schematics from the company (for something like $125<!>) so that we could hire someone locally to fix them. There were four different revision levels of schematics on various pages for the SAME board. After doing some research, we found out that NONE of them came close to matching the terminal we really had. Upon discussing this fact with Intertec, we were told to return the schematics for replacement/refund. This we did, by certified mail with a reply letter. To date, Intertec has not admitted receiving them, telling us to return them, or mailing them in the first place. 4) Our final order of Intertube's was for 12. 11 of them arrived DOA. We notified Intertec that they were not acceptable, we were returning them, we would NOT pay for them, and that we would not order any in the future. We also asked for return instructions (since we were not returning them for repairs which we had memorized by that time). Their reply, through their lawyers, was that if we didn't pay within 30 days, they would seek payment through small claims court. We replied, to their lawyers, that we would be MORE than happy to return the terminals (with our reasons) and that as soon as the lawyers approved, they could expect the terminals in their law offices via UPS. We have not yet received a reply for that (its been about 2 years). 5) All the above is mainly about the company, which I have heard has not changed much. As far as the actual terminal (which may or may not relate to the Superbrain): The user manuals were unreadable, incomprehensible, and usually incorrect. the cursor controls documented rarely matched the way the firmware implemented them. 6) The firmware was unbelievable buggy. The hardware was under-designed and prone to failure. It generated spurious characters, had a tendency to lock its keyboard, and generally made life miserable. The fastest we could reliably run the terminal with minimal cursor controls (XY and Form Feed) was 1200 baud. One of its best features was that it was possible to change the internal clock speed to match 50Hz or 60Hz from the keyboard. It also seemed to like to generate that code spuriously, causing some of the most interesting screen graphic displays I have ever seen (on a non-graphics terminal. They might have changed the way they do things since then. I don't know. >From what I have HEARD, the only way to buy a Superbrain is to find a reliable dealer who will ship you the unit directly from the factory (rather than his stock), and will extend the warranty from his own pocket. From the track record I have had with the firm, I would not be caught DEAD with anything by the company, and you could not give it to me. chuck (chuqui at mit-mc) ----- End of forwarded messages