FTWILSON@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Frederick Todd Wilson) (04/25/89)
I must sadly admit that the need for a portable has hit me before Apple's own is available. I need something in the sub-$1000 dollar range. A disk drive is not essential. Plain text WP is fine. Speed is not a problem. All of this has led me to consider the Cambridge Z88 'MacLite' deal. Does anyone out there have any experience with this package? Any better suggestions? Thanks. -FTW
Richard_Allen_Bretschneider@cup.portal.com (04/26/89)
> I must sadly admit that the need for a portable has hit me before Apple's own > is available. I need something in the sub-$1000 dollar range. A disk drive > is not essential. Plain text WP is fine. Speed is not a problem. > > All of this has led me to consider the Cambridge Z88 'MacLite' deal. Does > anyone out there have any experience with this package? Any better suggestions? I love my MacLite. I bought it at the MacWorld price of $650, which included the transfer cable/software and 128k RAM, and some fairly useless Hypercard software (before anyone flames, I am a Hypercard buff!) The main software is a program called Pipedream, which can be either a spreadsheet, or word document, or a mix! This is cute, but in practical transfering to and from the Macintosh, it's better to keep your documents one type or the other. The transfer utility also does conversions, so Pipedream documents can be translated on the fly (between the ML and Mac) to or from WKS (a format which both Excel and Full Impact support) or MacWrite 4.5 (Which both Word and Full Write support) format. This means that the same program that moves your files to and from your Mac also does the conversion. Makes for very clean operations. The keyboard is rubberized, and the keys don't "travel" the way most keyboards do. You have to get used to it, but it doesn't take long. An optional keyboard click sound makes this work easier, but you'll probably turn it off once you've gotten used to the keyboard. The screen is a very readable supertwist lcd. Six lines by about 9 1/2 inches wide (this is space used by a menu and an image of the document) sounds like it's cramped but works nicely. System operation is helped by a number of built in "pop up" utilities (read Desk Accessories.) There's an Index, which shows you active, but suspended, documents. These can be activated and moved in and out of in a couple of keystrokes. A filer lets you manage (copy, rename, delete, etc.) your files in memory. There are also scheduler, diary, calculator, terminal, alarm, BASIC, and a couple of other random utility programs included in ROM. I'm a professional writer and my use of the machine is specifically for writing. I use a Casio SF 7500 for most of my scheduling, and personal information management, so I can't speak to the usefulness of these utilities. I have a friend who also has a MacLite who keeps his life in it, and is very happy with its performance. I believe that Cambridge gives you 60 days to try the unit out, so your risk is low. My only advice would be to write every transaction you have with them down, as they aren't very organized. It was very helpful to me to be able to tell them exactly who I spoke with and when I placed my order each of the three times I had to call before I got my computer. (In all fairness, I ordered the machine the week they were moving, and during a period of time when they claim the machine was backordered.) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ric "To know him was to love him and to Bretschneider love him was to know him." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
nghiem@ut-emx.UUCP (nghiem) (04/27/89)
In article <17629@cup.portal.com>, Richard_Allen_Bretschneider@cup.portal.com writes:
1 I love my MacLite. I bought it at the MacWorld price of $650, which included
1 the transfer cable/software and 128k RAM, and some fairly useless Hypercard
1 software (before anyone flames, I am a Hypercard buff!)
...
1
1 I believe that Cambridge gives you 60 days to try the unit out, so your
1 risk is low. My only advice would be to write every transaction you
1 have with them down, as they aren't very organized. It was very helpful
1 to me to be able to tell them exactly who I spoke with and when I placed
1 my order each of the three times I had to call before I got my computer.
1 (In all fairness, I ordered the machine the week they were moving, and
1 during a period of time when they claim the machine was backordered.)
Hey! This product looks interesting. I would like follow up references.
Who sells it? Where can I see it? What is the address?
Please Post!
Thanks,
nghiemdavidl@intelob.intel.com (David Levine) (04/27/89)
Bob Sheckley, the SF author, lives near me. He uses a Mac. He says
he tried the MacLite and hated it, because the display was too small
and didn't tilt.
I use a NEC PC-8500 as the "portable terminal" for my Mac. It is a
folding clamshell-type unit, about the size of a three-ring binder
when closed. Open, it has a full-size keyboard and a nice readable
(but not backlit) 24 x 80 character screen. It has CP/M, WordStar,
CalcStar, Personal Filer, and a terminal emulator in ROM. No disk
drives; stores files in 32K of battery-backed RAM. "What, no disk
drives!" you say? But no disk drives means that it weighs only 9
(nine) pounds and runs for months on C-size flashlight batteries. It
should cost less than $1000 these days.
If, like me, you don't mind using WordStar, this makes an excellent
"notebook computer." I write up notes on the PC-8500 and then dump
them to the Mac through the serial port at 19200 baud (XMODEM
protocol) for editing, formatting, and printing. I'm the secretary of
the Portland Science Fiction Society and the Portland Westercon (1990)
and it makes my life MUCH easier.
David D. Levine BBBBBBBBB IIII IIII NNN NNNN TM
Senior Technical Writer BBBB BBBB iiii iiii NNNN NNNN
BBBBBBBBB IIII IIII NNNNNNNNN
UUCP: ...[!uunet]!tektronix!biin!davidl BBBB BBBB IIII IIII NNNN NNNN
MX-Internet: <davidl@intelob.intel.com> BBBBBBBBB IIII IIII NNNN NNN
ARPA: <@iwarp.intel.com:davidl@intelob.intel.com>simon@alberta.uucp (Simon Tortike) (04/28/89)
We picked one of these up in the UK in April last year. I figured out a cable to upload text to the Mac and everything went OK except for two, unfortunatuly crucial, problems. One, the batteries seem to run down very quickly (we have the basic model plus two RAM modules, no EEPROM), much quicker than the old Tandy 200s which we liked on the 'planes. Secondly, it occasionally resets itself when packed on long flights, which meant that it couldn't be relied upon. These points are a shame, because it has beautiful text processing on the supertwist LCD, with bold, underline, and altered faces. I am sure it is just our device, but I should like to hear from anyone who has had similar problems. One very good point I forgot to mention: it has an 8-bit ascii keyboard, unlike the old radio shack types---try writing C source code or TeX source on a Tandy 200! (I did, and made up all sorts of weird combinations). If you buy from a shop, watch out for cheap demo models that have been vandalised by low-lifes: a fingernail along the bottom can cut the rubber lining, similarly just under the screen. I saw several of these in the shop I got ours from. ------------------- Simon Tortike, Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineering, The University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, CANADA T6G 2G6. simon@alberta.uucp || simon@cs.UAlberta.CA || Tel. +1 403 492-3338
astieber@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Anthony J Stieber) (04/29/89)
In article <DAVIDL.89Apr27110204@intelob.intel.com> davidl@intelob.intel.com (David Levine) writes: [...] >I use a NEC PC-8500 as the "portable terminal" for my Mac. It is a Toshiba T-1000 >folding clamshell-type unit, about the size of a three-ring binder >when closed. Open, it has a full-size keyboard and a nice readable Mines about two inches deeper. >(but not backlit) 24 x 80 character screen. It has CP/M, WordStar, 80x24 640x200 graphics, MS-DOS 2.11 in ROM >CalcStar, Personal Filer, and a terminal emulator in ROM. No disk Comes with SideKick (calculator,editor,phonebook,appointment calendar) >drives; stores files in 32K of battery-backed RAM. "What, no disk optional 768K non-volitile RAM disk >drives!" you say? But no disk drives means that it weighs only 9 built-in 720K floppy disk drive (3.5 inch) >(nine) pounds and runs for months on C-size flashlight batteries. It 6.4 (six point four) pounds >should cost less than $1000 these days. $774.38 (+300 for the extra 768K) >If, like me, you don't mind using WordStar, this makes an excellent any MS-DOS WP: Word Perfect, MS-Word >"notebook computer." I write up notes on the PC-8500 and then dump >them to the Mac through the serial port at 19200 baud (XMODEM I dump files to floppy then read them on my main machine or transfer at 57K baud. > David D. Levine BBBBBBBBB IIII IIII NNN NNNN TM > Senior Technical Writer BBBB BBBB iiii iiii NNNN NNNN > BBBBBBBBB IIII IIII NNNNNNNNN >UUCP: ...[!uunet]!tektronix!biin!davidl BBBB BBBB IIII IIII NNNN NNNN >MX-Internet: <davidl@intelob.intel.com> BBBBBBBBB IIII IIII NNNN NNN >ARPA: <@iwarp.intel.com:davidl@intelob.intel.com> The T-1000 is just one of many other laptops available. I don't actually advocate getting an MS-DOS machine, rather I advocate getting a cheap, flexible laptop. For those who want to, a serial mouse could be added. DesqView can be used with or without a mouse to do windows and multitasking. MS-Windows is a true graphics enviroment but that it too slow anything less than a fast AT class machine. Sorry about mentioning MS-DOS :-). -- Tony Stieber astieber@csd4.milw.wisc.edu Nancy Reagan on the Mac ][ buss: "Just say Nu!"