wh@houxz.UUCP (W.HEINMILLER) (11/03/83)
According to the New York Times of November 2, the IBM PCjr has a "chiclets" style keyboard. It is also limited to using a single drive. IBM specifically designed the machine to be non-expandable so it would not encroach on their PC sales. It will run some of the software for the PC, as long as it can be done with a single drive. Considering that system expandability has been a selling point for the small computers, especially the home machines, it will be interesting to see how this strategy fares. If the PCjr sells well, then it should generate a lot of PC sales as customers decide they want a real keyboard and multiple disk drives. Of course you'll have to find some way to get rid of the PCjr you outgrew! Wayne Heinmiller AT&T Bell Laboratories houxz!wh Holmdel, NJ
LTN%USC-ECL@sri-unix.UUCP (11/26/83)
I am trying to compile a picture of what the PEANUT (PC-jr) will look like. In looking through the newspaper type trade rags I find that for $700 you get: - An 8088 processor with 64K RAM (sockets for up to 128K RAM) - 2 cartridge sockets for PROMs (Anyone know amt of memory/prom?) - interface for 2 joysticks (joysticks themselves $40 extra) - cordless 62 key ASCII keyboard (with reports of a lousy feel) - light pen interface - rs-232 port - connectors for standard TV and color monitor (Confusion here. Some sources indicated there was an RGB output for color monitor and a composite video output which requires external RF modulater. Other sources said there was connection for TV, which implies internal RF modulator. anyone know? ) - disk controller with non-standard controller to disk interface (i.e. you have to buy IBM disks, 5 1/4 dual sided 360KB) - 1 slot for expansion - IBM will have a 300 baud direct connect modem later, which would fill this slot. Questions: Is there any PROM in the box, some articles imply that you need a cartridge to run BASIC. What kind of graphics? articles say a 40 column alpha display on home TV is standard. Color? What pixel resolution? How much memory per cartridge? I'd appreciate any answers. Tom Campbell
usadaca@uiucuxc.UUCP (12/02/83)
#R:sri-arpa:-1403900:uiucuxc:21900001:000:784
uiucuxc!usadaca Dec 1 13:29:00 1983
I don't have any answers to your questions yet, but an ad
appeared in the Indianapolis Star, 1 Dec. '83, for CompuShop,
(formerly Computer 1). The ad offers a free PCjr when you buy a
PC. The PC offered has 256K, 2 drives, monochrome display (IBM),
monochrome display adapter, parallel printer adapter, dos 1.1,
training in-store, and 90 day warranty. The PCjr has 64k memory,
12 months parts and labor warranty, serial port and training.
In small (VERY SMALL) print the following appears:
"The PCjr Entry Sysytem will be available in 1984.
PCjr Entry System price of $689 may be applied to the PCjr
enhanced version with a disk drive. Quantities will be limited.
The quoted price for all the above(PC + PCjr Entry Sysyem)
is $ 3801.
Any takers? Any comments?