eric@topaz.ARPA (Eric Lavitsky) (06/26/85)
Hi,
Just got back from Videotex '85. Lots of nifty stuff and big names
there including Commodore. Since the show is an international
exhibition, they had a PC-10 and a PC-20 there. These machines are
IBM compatible PC's being sold in the UK. They had Prestel decoders
running on them at the show. It's probably good that Commodore isn't
trying to market the things in the US (though a year ago it may have
been a hit). It's still probably a much betterdeal than a straight
PC from IBM. They have 8088's in them running at 4.77 Mhz (yecch!),
a compatible keyboard, 5 full expansion slots and run MSDOS 2.11.
Also displayed at the show were Commodore 128's and the new 1200
baud modems. They were running a new package from Quantum computer
services called Quantum Link. Commodore plans on charging a straight
monthly fee of $9.95 to access their network - no subscription fee
or connect time fee (interesting). They will preview new software
on the network along with SIG's, shopping, education, USA Today(tm)
news, games (some liscenced from Playnet) and a nifty interactive
chat facility. I saw the system at work - you could chat with
several people at once, start up a game with a remote user, and
continue monitoring the chat window at the bottom of your screen.
The system works on the C64, C128 and supposedly on the Amiga, which,
unfortunately, they did not have at the show.
The service is slated for release in the fall. The modem/1200, which
is fully Hayes compatible is slated for release in 1 to 1-1/2 months.
It should retail for about $199 initially - supposedly Commodore
already has a 1200 baud modem ready to market with the Amiga. It
seems that Commodore intends to make telecommunications another big
point with the Amiga (aside from it's graphics). Several companies,
supposedly, are developing communications packages for it.
Eric
--
ARPA: LAVITSKY@RUTGERS
UUCP: ...{harvard,seismo,ut-sally,sri-iu,ihnp4}!topaz!eric
SNAIL: CPO 2765, CN 700
New Brunswick, NJ 08903