patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (11/10/87)
Did this ever get through to comp.sys.apple? There apparently
is some problem on arpanet that's been impeding files coming this
way and possibly from here to there as well. I tried to send it
about 12 days ago, if you haven't seen it, possibly you can pass
it along to comp.sys.apple.
VAPORWARE
Murphy Sewall
From the November 1987 APPLE PULP
H.U.G.E. Apple Club (E. Hartford) News Letter
$15/year
P.O. Box 18027
East Hartford, CT 06118
Call the "Bit Bucket" (203) 569-8739
Permission granted to copy with the above citation
Macintosh II+.
Already a Mac II+ (to be followed by the Mac IIe and Mac
IIgs perhaps?) is in the works. Sometime next year the Mac
II will be "plussed" with the addition of the faster 68030
processor clocking at 18.4 MHz. Because the 68030 is a
"pipelined" processor, it will execute instructions
considerably faster than the 20 MHz 80386 chip offered by
the competition. - InfoWorld 21 September
Macintosh IIe?
Motorola has already delivered samples of the 68040 (yes
'40') processor, a 64-bit chip, to Apple. Engineers already
are said to be running this chip in a Mac II chassis with an
80286 (PC-AT) emulation as a subregister (that's right,
running Mac software and MS-DOS software simultaneously). A
Mac containing a 68040 should be able to run OS/2 operating
system software somewhat more rapidly than a PS/2 Model 80
(the 80386 machine) in addition to being a very fast
Macintosh. - PC Week 20 October
The Mac II for the Rest of Us.
A smaller (only 4 slots) Mac II code-named "London" with a
price tag somewhat more affordable than the present Mac II
configuration should be announced early next year.
Meanwhile, a 68020 accelerator card for the Mac Plus will be
introduced before this Christmas.
- PC Week 15 September and InfoWorld 19 October
Son of Word.
Microsoft is coming out with a new word processor for the
Mac called Write for the Mac. The program is based on the
low-end Windows word processing program offered for the PC.
This program is seen as an alternative to the bug-ridden
Word 3.1 for the Mac. - PC Week 13 October
Mac's Word Perfect.
Word Perfect for the Mac should ship this month (finally) at
a retail price of $395. The program resembles the IBM PC
version but is a completely new product that takes advantage
of the Macintosh's user interface. - PC Week 29 September
Alternate Laser Printing.
Tangent Technologies has disclosed plans to market a
Macintosh card which will enable Macs to print to IBM's
Postscript printer. - InfoWorld 28 September
HUGE Vacuum.
Candidates for H.U.G.E. Club officers for the 1988 calendar
year have been about as visible as Vice President Bush in
Doonesbury. Rumor has it that only one Club member has
reluctantly agreed to be nominated to the Board of
Directors. Your chance to take over has arrived!
Seriously, serving as a Club officer really isn't hard and
can even be fun. See any of the Club's officers and tell
them you are willing to help keep H.U.G.E. going for another
year. - H.U.G.E. Directors' Meeting 16 October
Oh Yeah? Take That!
Lotus has reacted to the introduction of Excel for the
IBM-PC by announcing Lotus 1-2-3 for the Macintosh (doesn't
that make your heart go pitty-pat?). Lotus promises more
details (including how long we might have to wait for actual
delivery) in the last half of 1988 (yes, that's not until
late next year). Lotus also plans to introduce an
integrated program containing a word processor, spreadsheet,
data base, graphics, form generator, and communications
under the name of Modern Jazz (Lotus's original Jazz was
something of a sour note). Microsoft's response to Lotus's
moves is Excel 1.5 which will support Macintosh color and
recalculate in "background" under MultiFinder on the Mac
II. Excel 1.5 should be available in the first quarter of
next year for $395. - InfoWorld 12 October
Systems Application Architecture.
In the wake of IBM's announced standards for cross-systems
programming compatibility, Apple and Digital Equipment (DEC)
plan to demonstrate a wide range of applications which will
run on both Macintosh and VAX computers.
- PC Week 20 October
A Toy No More.
When it first appeared in this column in May 1986,
"transputing" appeared to be one of those arcane bits of
technological trivia not likely to affect our daily lives
any time soon. Guess what (oh gee, you guessed it)? Atari
(you think I'm kidding about this, right?) is about to make
its first entry into the scientific workstation market with
a 10 MIP (about 1980 mainframe speed, or 40 times as fast
as the original IBM-PC) machine. The system is built
around the Inmos T-800 Transputer CPU which is designed for
parallel processing (just like IBM's latest "Sierra"
mainframes). Atari's target price for a "starter" system is
$5,000. The price for add-on boards socketed for up to 4
additional (parallel) processors hasn't been determined.
The Unix-like operating system will be Helios, under
development by Perihelion Software of the United Kingdom.
Helios's adds graphics support not available under Unix, and
Atari is working on proprietary coprocessor chips for music
and graphics as well as a memory manager to add a virtual
memory capability. The workstation will be sold with a very
high-resolution color monitor being made in the Far East
(which will also be compatible with the company's ST line).
- InfoWorld October 12
Color Basic for the Mac II.
True Basic 2.0 will be the first high-level language to
support color on the Mac II. The $99 program, to be
released in January, uses graphics commands that are
independent of specific graphic cards or displays.
- InfoWorld 21 September
Bored with Mac?
Borland is looking for buyers for its entire Macintosh
software line. Apple's Claris spinoff is one of the firms
that have been offered the programs. - PC Week 22 September
Power Up to 80386.
At Comdex, Intel will introduce a 16 MHz 80386 board for IBM
PC and XT machines (and their clones). The board will
include a Mbyte of RAM and an 80387 coprocessor socket. The
price will be a slim $825 to $1,100. - InfoWorld 12 October
PS/2 Clones (continuing saga).
Experts say that several companies soon will be announcing
components of IBM PS/2 clones such as BIOS products, but
full-fledged clones are at least a year away. However, one
rumor has it that Western Digital will soon announce a
motherboard that not only clones IBM's complete Micro
Channel bus and VGA support but also includes a 16-bit
(current) AT bus (a hybrid AT-PS/2 clone).
PC Week 22 September and InfoWorld 5 October
Laptop 386.
Toshiba has announced that shipments of an 80386 version of
the popular T3100 portable will begin in January. The 15
pound portable will include an 80387 coprocessor socket, 2
Mbytes of RAM (expandable to 4 Mbytes), a 40 Mbyte hard
disk, a 1.44 Mbyte 3.5 inch floppy drive, and an EGA gas
plasma display. The processor will run at 16 MHz, and the
whole package will retail for $6,499.
- InfoWorld 28 September
Another Unobtainable.
Once again IBM has an unavailable lightweight computer (see
the July and August 1986 Vaporware columns). IBM's Japanese
subsidiary is selling an 18 pound 80286 laptop with a 20
Mbyte hard disk. The machine is not built around the PS/2
Micro Bus and may never be offered in the US. If it is sold
on this continent, the price will be approximately $4200.
- PC Week 22 September
Personal 370.
Big Blue is rumored to be planning a coprocessor board for
the PS/2 Micro Bus system that will emulate native 370
architecture (the IBM 370 was a large scale mainframe in the
1970's). The board will run a fully formed version of VM
(Virtual Memory), IBM's most popular mainframe operating
system. - PC Week 13 October
---------------------
ARPA: sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@wiscvm.wisc.edu Murphy A. Sewall
BITNET: SEWALL@UCONNVM School of Business Admin.
UUCP: ...ihnp4!psuvax1!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL University of Connecticut
--
Patt Haring UUCP: ..cmcl2!phri!dasys1!patth
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