redmond@pravda (Mike Redmond) (11/19/90)
********************************************************************** A college buddy called me up with a computer problem/question. Not being a computer person he didn't know that this was way out of my area. On the surface of it I think he's f*cked. Excuse me, I mean I think the vendor has him where they want him. They have an old system sold by Lanier. Apparently Lanier was recently bought out by Centrex. The problem comes in because their laser printer is beat. I think another part of the problem is that the secretary is tired of hand feeding envelopes. So they pick out an HP printer that they like and has dual trays so that both paper and envelopes can be fed automatically. Problem is, the old system runs Harris-DOS instead of MS-DOS. They're told that the only laser printer supported is this Lanier LS-6 which can't feed envelopes automatically. HP says their printer can't deal with Harris-DOS, so at least that seems on the level. Centrex wants them to buy a new system which does support the printer they want. My friend's company being a small company, they're not anxious to do that. The question is, might there be a third party company that might have developed support for that printer under Harris-DOS ? My suspicion is that the details of Harris-DOS necessary to do that are not available, and that nobody has the source code. I also suspect that there probably wouldn't be enough demand either :-) I told my friend I'd ask around but that I think they're in trouble. Well, they'll probably need to get a new system (I don't think it will be Centrex :-) ) If anybody knows of anything that might be helpful, please e-mail me at redmond@cc.gatech.edu Thanks, Mike **********************************************************************
redmond@pravda (Mike Redmond) (12/15/90)
********************************************************************** A while ago I posted a question to these groups. The excerps below give the gist of it. This posting is a summary of responses plus an update. > > They have an old system sold by Lanier. Apparently Lanier > > was recently bought out by Centrex. > > Problem is, the old system runs Harris-DOS instead of > > MS-DOS. They're told that the only laser printer supported > > is this Lanier LS-6 which can't feed envelopes automatically. > > Centrex wants them to buy a new system which does support > > the printer they want. My friend's company being a small > > company, they're not anxious to do that. > > The question is, might there be a third party company that > > might have developed support for that printer under > > Harris-DOS ? > > My suspicion is that the details of Harris-DOS necessary > > to do that are not available, and that nobody has the source > > code. > > I told my friend I'd ask around but that I think they're > > in trouble. Well, they'll probably need to get a new > > system (I don't think it will be Centrex :-) ) ********************************************************************** I got 4 helpful responses (Thanks !). In sum, the news doesn't look bad. First, there is the suggestion that the computer should be able to run regular MS-DOS (assuming that the computer is more or less compatible, with Harris-DOS just being a derivative (and assuming that Harris-DOS didn't violate important OS tenents)) This seems to be confirmed. A (dissatisfied :-) ) former user of a Lanier PC said that his machine was able to be booted with standard DOS, and that everything worked alright - hard disk, printer, communications. He did say that Harris-DOS has significantly different keyboard encoding and screen driver, so that standard programs that require a standard pc keyboard won't run. I guess this also means that Lanier software probably won't run under MS-DOS (since they probably require a Lanier keyboard :-) ) My friend's company is running standard word processing software (one of those names I hear all the time, WordPerfect, Microsoft Word ...) but some other programs from Lanier. I guess this puts them in a little bit of a hard spot. They may not be able to move completely over to MS-DOS. One person noted that WordPerfect includes drivers for interfacing to a large number of printers, so could interface regardless of whether the computer could. This is promising. He noted that other software includes drivers as well. Unfortunately, their programs from Lanier won't so that's still a problem. One person suggested that the machine might be basically a IBM clone that might be running Harris unique BIOS (speculation, not a known), and that replacing that might make the machine compatible. I don't know enough about PC's to know how the other information I have now (above) affects the likelihood of that. I guess given the above, it may not be necessary. The general feeling was pretty negative toward Lanier. 2 people with personal experience with Lanier, and one based on reputation. The feeling was that Lanier was purposely incompatible in order to force customers to buy their products once they had sold you once. I thought that the marketplace had already convincing shown that that was the wrong approach, but I guess Lanier doesn't agree. ********************************************************************** I foreshadowed some of the update already. Unfortunately my friend's company has nobody who knows much about computers. They have apparently been able to contact somebody who might be work out any problems cheaper than them buying several (not exactly clear how many, company is small enough that my friend is up to 3rd in charge at 30 years old and after only 5 years with the company) new IBM clones. But I think some of their software will be ok with MS-DOS, and the contact may be able to help with the other software. Unfortunately, they are in Southern Mississippi, so I haven't been able to see what's going on (though with my level of experience with PCs (I've used them, but not that much (well, I did write code in Modula 2 for a class project once), and not since 1987) I don't think I'd be much help). I guess things are a little in the air still, but things seemed promising when I called him last night. Thanks to those who responded !! Mike Redmond **********************************************************************