merchant@dartvax.UUCP (01/24/87)
I am considering buying a Zenith AT (I believe it's magic number is the Z-241), the same type that is used at the Navy and Army Academies. Does anyone know of any compatibility problems with software, add-in cards, or any other pitfalls of this machine? How about with their portable? Mail replies, if at all possible. -- "When it gets too much, Peter Merchant I need to feel your touch." merchant@dartvax.UUCP
jabusch@uiucdcsb.UUCP (01/29/87)
I recommend the model 248. I'm not familiar with the 241, but the 248 has a 20MB hard disk, 360KB floppy, and an EGA-compatible graphics adapter. The monitor is extra cost. We have some of these at this site, and they're great. The motherboard is basically a bus. The actual CPU sits on a expansion-type board, which means that it can be replaced by a '386 configured for a 16 bit bus any time. The machine seems faster than the Compaq 286 that sits on my desk. It has a ROM-based monitor system that keeps track of system configuration, can force boot off a hard disk, ignoring any floppy, can control the active disk partitions, memory sizes, and general system configuration. It's all called by pressing Ctl-Alt-Ins, which is an easy combination to remember, being close to Ctl-Alt-Del. (don't mix them up!) I wish I had the money to buy one now. The Army contract lists them for $1600 for the machine w/512K RAM, the hard disk, floppy, and graphics adapter, and the the monitor costs an extra $300! That's a GSA price, of course, but it's indicative of the general pricing strategy. The machine runs all DOS software that I know of so far. It has run several networking systems, including Banyan and 3Com, and I imagine that it will also handle the Sun/NFS, Novell, PC-Net, and others equally well. It also feels good: very solidly built, as Zenith always does. John Jabusch USA-CERL-FS