lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire) (09/29/85)
< this line intentionally left blank > A few months ago, I got something in the mail from a company in Washington (I think). They were offering Wordstar for the Apple for $165, and "throwing in" a 6MHz CP/M card complete with 64K RAM and a 70-column function on the same card. It sounded too good to be true, adn I was getting an AMIGA anyway, so I just filed it (not in the round file). Now, my mother wants a word processor, so I'm loaning her my Apple ][+. She needs all of the above. So... Is this company for real? I'm sorry I don't have the name at the moment, but hopefully someone will recognize this offer. Anybody order this? Thanks. Lee Grey
holly@dartvax.UUCP (Holly Cabell) (10/02/85)
> < this line intentionally left blank > > > A few months ago, I got something in the mail from a company > in Washington (I think). They were offering Wordstar for the > Apple for $165, and "throwing in" a 6MHz CP/M card complete with > 64K RAM and a 70-column function on the same card. > > It sounded too good to be true, adn I was getting an AMIGA anyway, > so I just filed it (not in the round file). Now, my mother wants > a word processor, so I'm loaning her my Apple ][+. She needs all > of the above. So... > > Is this company for real? I'm sorry I don't have the name at the > moment, but hopefully someone will recognize this offer. Anybody > order this? > > Thanks. > > Lee Grey I wasn't aware that Wordstar was a game .. -- --johnc at [the.world] ! dartvax ! holly
rbt@sftig.UUCP (R.Thomas) (10/04/85)
> < this line intentionally left blank > > > A few months ago, I got something in the mail from a company > in Washington (I think). They were offering Wordstar for the > Apple for $165, and "throwing in" a 6MHz CP/M card complete with > 64K RAM and a 70-column function on the same card. > > It sounded too good to be true, and I was getting an AMIGA anyway, > so I just filed it (not in the round file). Now, my mother wants > a word processor, so I'm loaning her my Apple ][+. She needs all > of the above. So... > > Is this company for real? I'm sorry I don't have the name at the > moment, but hopefully someone will recognize this offer. Anybody > order this? > > Thanks. > > Lee Grey Yes, they are for real. The company is Micropro International Corp. and they are in San Rafael, CA. Not Washington. Wordstar is a registered trademark of Micropro International Corp. The CP/M board is the so called 'Starcard', which is actually the PCPI Applicard. I can't validate the price, but it sounds like it is in the right ballpark. The 6MHz Z80 is as fast as the wind. I run Turbo Pascal on it and I am continually impressed with the speed. Wordstar is also quite sprightly. The 70-column function is implemented in software, and it is *not* useful as a replacement for an 80 column card. It is there so you can run wordstar even if you dont have a real 80 column board. You still need a hi-res monocrome monitor to read it, and the characters are displayed in a 4x8 dotmatrix. (Work it out: The Apple hi-res screen is 280x192. 280/70=4 and 192/24=8.) Not the sort of thing you would want to spend all day reading. However, if you get an Apple extended 80 column card to go with it (or a RAMworks from Applied Engineering) you can have a full, quite readable, 80 column screen, and there is a software package available (from Applied Engineering) that uses the extra bank of 64K on the extended 80-col card (or the extra up to a Meg on the ramworks.) as a RAMdisk. Now, talk about *FAST*! I have one, and I recommend it. Rick Thomas ihnp4!attunix!rbt PS while I am on the subject of RAMdisks, the starcard comes with a software driver that attaches to DOS3.3 and uses the 64K on the Z80 card as a ramdisk for the 6502. For an exorbitant price (a couple of hundred dollars) you can get a piggy-back card for the Z80 from PCPI that will expand the Z80 to a total of 192K, all of which can be used by the DOS3.3 ramdisk software. PCPI does not offer a PROdos version of this software, so I am working on writing one. If I ever get it finished, it will probably be available thru PCPI. PPS. The package from Micropro includes the hardware and instructions for installing the 'one-wire shift-key mod' on the II+ in case you haven't already done so yourself. Disclaimer -- I have no connection with any of the above companies. My employer and the owners of this computer undoubtedly have their own opinions, which may be different from mine.
lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire) (10/07/85)
In article <3658@dartvax.UUCP>, holly@dartvax.UUCP (Holly Cabell) writes: > > A few months ago, I got something in the mail from a company > > in Washington (I think). They were offering Wordstar for the > > Apple for $165, and "throwing in" a 6MHz CP/M card complete with > > 64K RAM and a 70-column function on the same card. > > I wasn't aware that Wordstar was a game .. > -- > --johnc at [the.world] ! dartvax ! holly Gees, are you guys strict! Actually, the cross-posting happened by accident. I used f (follow-up) to add this message, not realizing that the message I randomly picked to follow-up to had been posted to net.games as well as net.apple. My apologies to everyone who has lost sleep, money, pease-of-mind, or karma, due to my horrendous blunder. I am not worthy to lick the underside of a toad. Lee Grey Cross-Poster Extraordinaire
lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire) (10/07/85)
Bye thu whey, I no howe to spel "piece," as in "peace-of-mind."
lbg@gitpyr.UUCP (Lee B Grey, Programmer Extraordinaire) (10/08/85)
The response I got from about 20 different people amounted to this: The company (BroadReach) and the product are for real and excellent. The only problem is the 70-column feature which is apparently close to illegible, since everyone suggested getting an 80-column card to go with it. Thanks to everyone who responded. I'm going to go for it.
hestenes@sdcsla.UUCP (Eric Hestenes) (10/09/85)
> The company (BroadReach) and the product are for real and excellent.
Could you post an address or phone number of this place, if the price
is still just $165.
eric
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Eric Hestenes
arpanet: hestenes@nprdc.ARPA
other: ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcsla!hestenes or hestenes@sdcsla.UUCP