psuvm%cjs@psuvax.UUCP (10/21/83)
IBM announced on October 18 a number of products of interest to PC users. I'm surprised I haven't seen anything on the network about them yet, so here is a brief summary. Dates are first exepected shipments. A 3278/79 Emulation Adapter and software makes the PC a 3278-2 or 3279 display terminal, capable of file transfer with a host computer when attached to the proper control unit. Display terminal emulation and local DOS may be active at the same time. Hardware $905. Software $235. April 1984. The Personal Computer XT/370 is an extended XT that operate as a 3277-2 display terminal, a 3101 terminal, or a System/370 machine running CMS. Many unaltered VM/CMS prgrams can be executed. 4MB virtual memory supported. There are 3 XT/370 cards that provide these functions, a processor card, a 512KB memory card, and a 3277 emulation card, in addition to the adapter cards normally in an XT. 640B memory is available in Personal Computer mode, 480K in System/370 mode. $8995 or $6720 without hard disk. Kit to upgrade an XT to the XT/370 is $3790. VM/PC software is $1000. Second quarter 1984. Another computer, which I've nicknamed "LISA KILLER", is the 3270 Personal Computer. Information from seven different sources -- host mainframes and PC software -- can be displayed at once. The "windows" have an effect similar to the windows on the Apple Lisa. Data can be transferred between windows. Cost is $4290 to $7180 depending on features. A color display is $995. First quarter 1984. The PC Junior or Peanut is expected to be announced on November 1.