gst@talcott.UUCP (Gary S. Trujillo) (02/25/86)
Apologies if this question has been asked before recently... I need to purchase a PC soon, and have developed an interest in the "Turbo PC" advertised in just about every issue of Infoworld and Byte. The ad claims the machine (which has 640K on motherboard, floppy drive, AT keyboard, and 130W power supply, and runs either at 4.77 mHz or 6.66 mHz) "runs all major software for the IBM PC". When I called their sales line recently, they expressed complete confidence in its compatibility, but would not offer a money-back guarantee if I found any incompatibilities. (However, they will take back any merchandise for refund less a 10% "restocking fee".) I took a look at the machine a friend ordered for his company, and it looks real nice. I especially like the keyboard, since the left shift key is reasonably placed, and they've moved the <print screen> key over to the far side of the keypad where you can't hit it by accident. The CTL key is right next to your left pinky, and the return key isn't too far from your right one. Also, the keys don't have what I find to be the annoying feel and sound of the IBM PC keyboard (sorry, Charlie). They've moved the ESC key to the near side of the keypad, but there's a switch on the bottom that allows you to move it back to where it ought to be! [ :-) ] Anyway.... I would like to hear what anyone who has used the machine or has one thinks and feels about it, especially as regards IBM compatibility at the ROM BIOS level. The PC's Limited people claim they wrote the BIOS themselves--which makes me a bit wary, especially after what I read here recently about what an accomplishment it was for the people at Phoenix. (By the way, does anyone know whether they sell the ROM as a plug-in replacement for clones that don't quite make it BIOS-wise?) Thanks for reading my rambling question. You can post replies here if you like, or e-mail directly to me (I'll gladly summarize and repost any such responses). And, thanks in advance for your help. -- Gary Trujillo (harvard!talcott!gst)
dollas@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (02/27/86)
I had a similar scepticism before I bought one in November. The machine
is nice and has caused me no problem in compatibility of hardware or
software. The extra 'goodie' of the soft-programmable clock comes handy
often. The one thing I do not know is what is the company support in case
of a failure (service, reliability, time, cost, etc), but I am quite pleased
that so far there was no need for it.
The keyboard layout is nice, but not the keyboard itself; in fact the
space bar is so bad (only one switch close to the center) that if you do
not hit close to the center it does not register the space!!! Anyway, for
the price it still is a nice machine, and the keyboard is not that atrocious,
in fact it's better than the h1500 that I use right now at my office (enter
usual gobs of disclaimers).
The monochrome card that I got, the monitor, and a 300/1200 modem were from
another company, not PC's Limited.
The BIOS seems fine; before switching to another BIOS check about the
capability of switching the clock with that (the one that comes with the
machine uses Alt-Ctl-(minus) for that).
One thing that I would like to see in the market is a real-time
clock/calendar w/ battery backup, which does not come with assorted memory,
I/O, etc.
Apostolos Dollas
USENET: ...!{pur-ee,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!dollas
CSNET: dollas%uiuc@csnet-relay.arpa
ARPA: dollas@uiuc.arpa
(These are my opinions, and maybe one day they will be written in the
Encyclopedia Brittanica).nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) (03/02/86)
In article <5100125@uiucdcsb>, dollas@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU writes: > One thing that I would like to see in the market is a real-time > clock/calendar w/ battery backup, which does not come with assorted memory, > I/O, etc. Microsync makes the "dClock" which is a clock/calendar with battery backup that fits on the motherboard of a PC, XT, Compac etc. and does not take up a slot; they advertise in Byte magazine. Costs $60. We use many and have yet to have one fail. -- Ed Nather Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather nather@astro.UTEXAS.EDU
naparst@cartan.BERKELEY.EDU (Harold Naparst) (03/04/86)
In article <570@talcott.UUCP> gst@talcott.UUCP (Gary S. Trujillo) writes: > >I need to purchase a PC soon, and have developed an interest in the >"Turbo PC" advertised in just about every issue of Infoworld and Byte. >The ad claims the machine (which has 640K on motherboard, floppy drive, >AT keyboard, and 130W power supply, and runs either at 4.77 mHz or 6.66 >mHz) "runs all major software for the IBM PC". > >Anyway.... I would like to hear what anyone who has used the machine or >has one thinks and feels about it, especially as regards IBM compatibility >at the ROM BIOS level. The PC's Limited people claim they wrote the BIOS >themselves--which makes me a bit wary, especially after what I read here >recently about what an accomplishment it was for the people at Phoenix. >(By the way, does anyone know whether they sell the ROM as a plug-in >replacement for clones that don't quite make it BIOS-wise?) > I bought the PC's Limited Turbo clone last week, and it works fine. The main problems are not with the hardware, but with the support from PC's Limited. First, you have to call them long distance, wait on hold for fifteen minutes, and then some of the tech support guys have the attitude that "We just sell the stuff and expect you to experiment." The monitor is VERY nice, a Princeton Graphics monitor for $159. I would get the Universal Graphics Adapter if I were you, since you can do color graphics programs on a monochrome screen this way, and it is only $259. I am sorry that I have no more data about the BIOS and such, but all my programs seem to work OK and the turbo feature even works ! Harold Naparst ucbvax!brahms!naparst Harold Naparst/UCB Math Dept/Berkeley CA 94720