blee@plains.NoDak.edu (blee) (08/30/90)
I may be buying a 16b and 12 soon, and I would like to know of software that is available (via ftp) and what is a reasonably up to date release of xenix to run? What are these systems worth? I believe the 12 has a 15 meg drive attached. and the 16 has about 4 8inchers on it, but I am not sure about a hard drive...( can the 12's drive be put on the 16? ) Thanks!!! Blaine Lee blee @ plains.nodak.edu
ward@tsnews.Convergent.COM (Ward Griffiths) (08/31/90)
In article <5722@plains.NoDak.edu>, blee@plains.NoDak.edu (blee) writes: > > I may be buying a 16b and 12 soon, and I would like to know of software > that is available (via ftp) and what is a reasonably up to date release > of xenix to run? > The final release of Xenix for the Tandy 68k systems was 3.2, based on AT&T's System III. It's a reasonably stable OS and I've used it for many years. If you have the Development system add-on to the OS, many of the sources here on the net are just compile and run, plus a fair number of packages can still be special ordered through any Tandy Computer Center. > What are these systems worth? I believe the 12 has a 15 meg drive > attached. and the 16 has about 4 8inchers on it, but I am not sure about > a hard drive...( can the 12's drive be put on the 16? ) > What are they worth? In money, very little at this point in history. A pity, it was a damned fine product line, something Tandy could really be proud of: a single user 8-bit computer released in 1979 that could (as of 1983) be upgraded to a 32-bit multi-user system. I owned two Model 16's, since rendered not-worth-repairing by shoddy merchandise from SoCal Edison. What is their value? The Model 12, with it's Z-80, runs what I still consider the best damn general purpose word processing program around, Tandy's own Scripsit. No, it doesn't do proportional spaced justification. Who really needs it for manuscripts or business correspondence? The 6000 is a good machine for learning Unix, for doing light development, for doing heavy bookkeeping. Any add-in boards are interchangable between the 12 and the 6000, and that includes the hard-disk adapter. Any external peripherals are likewise interchangable. Heck, if you want, you can move the 68000 cpu and memory from the 6000 to the 12 and they totally swap places, as that's the only difference between them except the name-plate. Your best source for information on these noble beasts is on Compu$erve, the Unix Forum, the Tangent (Tandy Business User Group) section. Like how to add a total of about 2GB of storage or 7MB of RAM. -- Ward Griffiths [Judas] went and hanged himself. Matt. 27:5 Jesus said ... Go, and do though likewise. Luke 10:37 ======================================================================= This is your brain as part of this complete breakfast.
bill@bilver.UUCP (Bill Vermillion) (09/01/90)
In article <5722@plains.NoDak.edu> blee@plains.NoDak.edu (blee) writes: > >I may be buying a 16b and 12 soon, and I would like to know of software >that is available (via ftp) and what is a reasonably up to date release >of xenix to run? Last release date of Xenix 3.2 was just about 2 years ago. Updates to the latest version were $99. If you don't have the originals it will be more. The /dev/sys - which you will nedd to compile any software had the latest upgrade released about 18 months ago - that was a $250 upgrade to a $750 package. You need to find someone who has them and is selling them, in my opinion, because it doesn't make sense to put expensive software on an outdated machine. > >What are these systems worth? I believe the 12 has a 15 meg drive >attached. and the 16 has about 4 8inchers on it, but I am not sure about >a hard drive...( can the 12's drive be put on the 16? ) New ones, Tandy 6000s, in boxes, were being sold locally earlier this year at $250, including the Xenix 3.2 core package and Deskmate. Used units have been traded locally for $150. I am looking at a memory board from one of mine as I type. It has a foil copyright date on the circuit board of 1981. If you can get them cheap go for it. I just moved my local usenet node from a 6000 to a '386 machine. Difference is tremendous - I have owned a 16, 16B and a pair of 6000's since my first acquisition of a 16 in 1983. I am keeping the remaing unit only to do file xfers for a few local people that are still clinging to theirs. The local service tech's don't even know what you are talking about 1/2 the time, and I even had a tech call me to help out on a question he had. I would advise not trying to do any serious work on them, as the reliability is going down as time passes. -- Bill Vermillion - UUCP: uunet!tarpit!bilver!bill : bill@bilver.UUCP