Paul.Birkel@cmu-cs-a.ARPA (03/18/86)
I've received a number of responses to my query last month, and made a number of phone calls. Here's what I found out: There are three and two-halves solutions to my problem. As you would expect, functionality is proportional to cost. The first solution, and the most cost-effective one, is a piece of software which NBI had Microsoft write about two years ago. It took a little while to figure this out, but it's called: OASys 4000SC MS-DOS Conversion Utility This assumes, of course, 5 1/4" disk drives. This package allows you to read and write such disks (DSDD - 48 tpi) plus it allows some mapping between WP tokens and ASCII characters. The mapping is limited but does take care of things like CR/LF, tabs, backspaces and form feeds so that your ASCII files will be in a readable "generic" form. There is no "format code/command mapping". It runs on all MS-DOS machines (NBI has their own clone, the 4100PC), and costs $200. One caveat on the AT is that you have a problem with the 96 tpi drive since the 4000SC is (typically, unless you have the "high capacity" drives) equipped with 48 tpi drives. The solution is to buy a second 48 tpi drive, about $100 additional plus your effort in installing it (easy). That totals $300 and buys you a simple, direct file transfer not dependent on physical proximity. For a CP/M'er use a similar transfer program (Media Master, Uniform, etc.) to go from CP/M to MS-DOS first. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any software supporting a direct CP/M to 4000SC route. Sigh. Solution one and one-half is a NBI card known as the M-400. It costs $700 and buys you a 68B00 (remember the Commodore PET?)-based co-processor running an early version of WP called "Docu-Writer". It also reads and writes NBI disks and resides on the PC bus. Although "Docu-Writer" is less powerful than WP, it offers the same interface as WP so that your word processing skills transfer easily. It runs in most (all?) PC/PC-XT clones. It DOES NOT run in the AT/AT-clones due to the higher system clock speed. It appears likely that it never will as NBI has other plans for AT owners. If you don't have an AT-type machine and you would like to leverage your WP skills then this card may be for you since you still get the MS-DOS conversion utility functionality discussed above. The other solution one and one-half, is a commercially available box for disk conversions: Keyword Office Technologies, Inc. 2816 11th Street NE Calgary, Alberta, T2E 7S7 (800) 227-1817 x825A Two US (West Coast) offices: 649 Mission at New Montgomery San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 543-5426 Contact: Deborah McAfee 2047 E. Hamilton Ave. San Jose, CA 95125 (408) 371-7770 The list price for the Keyword 7000 is $7996 (US). Solution number two is based on a serial link between the NBI and the target machine. This requires the NBI ASYNC/BISYNC Advanced Communications package which will run you $2500, plus the cost of an external modem and installation. All told you're touching $3,000. What you get is the ability to do terminal emulation-like things and serial file transfers. You also get a software package called TAILORS that lets you do very reasonable (but apparently not complete) mappings between the file formats on each end. You use your own word processor on the PC-DOS/MS-DOS or CP/M or what-have-you end and one of the commercially available communications packages. Of course you may need either two modems, or proximity in order to run a cable, but you get added flexibility. Like to take your dBase or 1-2-3 file and ship it over to the NBI to put into a document? Well, TAILORS is supposed to make that possible. But it's not cheap. Solution number three is the Rolls-Royce of systems; the System 64, or OASys. It'll run you upwards of $15,000 and more depending on configuration. What it buys you in this context is: 1) A star-organized LAN with a PC-DOS 8086 central processor, hard disk, and 6809-based channels. 2) Transparent file access from any "device" where "device" may be an NBI machine, or a PC-class machine, including file format conversions. 3) The ability to run WP through your PC-class machine (actually on the 6809 <I think>). You can even run WP from home over a dial-up line. This is only a brief description, but you get the general impression. Slick, but a rather expensive for my needs. This investigation has been an education for me. Although I still think that technically the 4000SC is not impressive for the price (one can go buy a PC plus a major word processing package for less), what you do get is hand-holding and a clear upgrade path: a networking solution. Although I won't pay that much for the hand-holding, many office automation managers will (and perhaps reasonably so). My problem in initial NBI contacts was probably due to too much knowledge and too little understanding of the NBI philosophy/market-place on my part. I've had many contacts with NBI personnel, and all have been pleasant and helpful, but it was a user of NBI equipment on this net that actually pointed me to the disk conversion solution. While I'll probably never buy NBI equipment, if I were responsible for automating a large word processing environment I'd certainly consider NBI, especially since they appear to be offering a reasonable LAN solution while IBM is still (basically) dithering. So . . . back to the beginning: Can anyone tell what the actual format of a 4000SC 5 1/4" floppy is so that I can roll my own CP/M conversion utility? Paul A. Birkel Dept. of Computer Science Carnegie-Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412) 628-3074