sung@mcnc.UUCP (Wayne Sung) (09/01/87)
In response to the posting of the availability of these computers I called USL Data and ordered one. My primary need is for a portable terminal and I expected this to do the job. There are some unexpected things, though. The screen defaults to 53 columns. It can be set up for 64 or 80 columns, however at 80 the readability is not good. There are not enough points on the screen to do a fixed width 80 coulumn font. For my purposes 64 will do. The keyboard is full size, and with the additional "CODE" key allows a large number of keys defined. Some soft keys come pre-defined, and in the VT100 terminal mode the keypad is predefined. However, the keys have a mechanical snap which unfortunately cannot be turned off. At least there is not also a beep to go witheach key. The built in modem works well. The external port is another story. This has a 19 pin connector in a shell the size of a DE-9. Apparently it corresponds to the 25 pin connector from pins 1-18 and then 19 is DTR. Both 1 and 7 are connected to chassis ground. I didn't get the adapter cable (didn't know!) so I had to rig up something to test it with a direct connection. At 9600 the host had better be able to support XON/XOFF. The display action is rather strange - it seems to want to buffer a large burst of incoming data before showing very much. On a micro system where you know the response should be immediate this takes some getting used to. The internal speaker which works with the modem has a high background noise level. Their idea of a low level on the speaker (an option on the dial menu) seems to me to be rather loud. You would not want to use this as a laptop. The power consumption of the unit is stated to be 75 watts and the back part of the machine gets warm quickly. The manual states that the unit should be propped up with its fold-out leg to provide air circulation. Also the readout is not latched when open, which means be careful moving the thing around when it is open. Since the case is metal, if it snaps shut on you it will hurt. I did not get the disk unit at first and that was a mistake. There are no programs in rom, everthing is in the bubbles (there are three of them). Thus although the editor and database are available on disk I have not been able to use them. GridOS is totally menu-driven. I did not find a command line mode anywhere. They use a rather different way of identifying things (device, program, title and kind) but at least it is possible to set a startup file so that all the selections can be bypassed. Oh yes, the peripheral port is a GPIB port. Phoenix is already all out of 1101's and Dave Lucas at USL is on vacation this week so no orders are being taken until he gets back. Had I paid full price for this unit I would have expected better. For the price though, it sure beats my last unit (an NEC 8201) to pieces.