dpz@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (David P. Zimmerman) (01/07/86)
I am in the process of buying a Zenith Z-171, and I was wondering if
anyone on the net had any experience with or information/comments
about the following hardware and software products:
Zenith Z-171 portable IBM compatible
Turbo Pascal 3.0
Turbo Editor Toolbox
Turbo Graphix Toolbox
Turbo DataBase Toolbox
The Turbo Pascal BCD option - is it worth the extra money?
Turbo Lightning
PC-Write
Microsoft QuickBASIC
Maxell DDDS diskettes
Information on the compatibility of the software mentioned above with
the Z-171 would also be appreciated.
Thanx in advance for any responses.
Davidann
--
Arpa: dpz@Topaz
Uucp: ...{harvard, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4!packard}!topaz!dpzkdale@vaihingen-emh.arpa (Keith Dale) (01/09/86)
From what I can tell, the software that you mentioned will run without a hitch. A co-worker of mine brought his brand spanking new ZF-171 by the other day, and we performed an informal software test (I have *lots* of PC software - even use one or two programs (:-)) and found only one program that failed: PC/Intercom by Mark of the Unicorn. The reason is interesting -- it seems that many of the first units (ZF-171's) shipped had an incorrect keyboard ROM that some programs like to complain about. Zenith has promised to send the corrected ROM that will supposedly cure this compatibility problem (but you have to specifically ask for it). All in all, it seems to be a solid machine. In fact, it turned my head enough that I may get one, too! BTW, have you actually used Turbo Lightning? If so, what's your opinion of it? Thanks...Keith
dpz@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (David P. Zimmerman) (01/11/86)
In article <1382@brl-tgr.ARPA>, kdale@vaihingen-emh.arpa (Keith Dale) writes: > From what I can tell, the software that you mentioned will run without > a hitch. A co-worker of mine brought his brand spanking new ZF-171 by > the other day, and we performed an informal software test (I have > *lots* of PC software - even use one or two programs (:-)) and found > only one program that failed: PC/Intercom by Mark of the Unicorn. The Wow - another Z-171 user! Thanxs for the compatibility info - I have heard that the 171 is HIGHLY compatible, but never HOW compatible. It is quite comforting to know that *lots* of PC software runs ( I assume this to mean a wide spectrum of products that test a machines compatibility one way or another) on it. > BTW, have you actually used Turbo Lightning? If so, what's your > opinion of it? As far as Lightning goes, I have never actually used it. I have read glowing reviews of it in PC Magazine (cover picture too!) and if it is half as good as they say it is, then it really IS a revolution in information retrieval. Once my Z arrives, I intend to use Lightning inside and out - I don't doubt that I will be more than pleased. -- Name: David P. Zimmerman Graphic: S-} Nickname: "Davidann" (don't ask) Alt. nickname: "David Paul-Muad'dib" Cute quote: " (well, I think it's quite adorable!) Arpa: dpz@topaz Uucp: ...{harvard, allegra, seismo, ut-sally, sri-iu, ihnp4}!topaz!dpz
ral@pyuxqq.UUCP (R A Levenberg) (01/15/86)
I'm a registered user of PC-Write, a shareware editor/word processor
available from Quicksoft (they usually advertise in BYTE). As a screen
editor, it's very convenient, but it's currently limited to 64K byte
files (if that's a problem!). They are planning an upgrade to resolve
this. Some PC-Write human interfaces leave something to be desired
(HELP is pretty miserable, and a separate program must be invoked
to print what you've just edited). Changing colors or printer specs
requires quite a bit of numeric dabbling, but once done you'll find
it to be an excellent editor. If you like to sprinkle tabs in your
text, you'll find PC-Write expands tab characters to blanks when you
enter them, so C programmers beware.
It's great for editing batch files and simple text. If you have numbered
sections, you have to manually modify the section numbers, unlike
some other WPs that have number registers that will do this for you.
I guess the philosophy is WYSIWYG!
It's certainly worth the $75 registration fee, and copies can be freely
made (even the manual is on the distribution disk). Only your conscience
requires you to pay for using the package.
--
U. S. Mail: Ron Levenberg
Bell Communications Research
33 Knightsbridge Road
Room PY4 4A-314
Piscataway, NJ 08854
UUCP: ..!{ihnp4,allegra}!pyuxqq!ral
Voice: (201) 885-7831CC.GALVIN@r20.utexas.edu (Pete Galvin) (01/16/86)
A couple of comments on PC-WRITE: I use it all the time, and find it can do most of what I need done. I recommend it. If you want to try it out, you can FTP it from <CC.GALVIN.PUBLIC> (along with a bunch of other programs). Ron mentioned that the help screens were less than wonderful. Conveniently enough, the help screens are stored as an ordinary text file (and read by PC-WRITE at startup), so you can edit them to contan the information you'd like to see. The only limitation is that the help can only take up 7 screens (it uses the screen pages to store help, and allow quick display). Also, there's a switch you can set in your RULER files to make PC-WRITE keep tabs as tabs (but they are displayed on the screen as a graphics character, not as spaces). All in all it's a fine word processor, easily customizable and very fast. --Pete -------
dpz@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (David P. Zimmerman) (01/31/86)
Thanx to all the people who have sent me info about the programs/ accessories that I had asked about in early January (the Zenith Z-171, Turbo Pascal, the Turbo Toolboxes, Turbo Lightning, QuickBASIC, PC-Write, and Maxell disks). The replies were all helpful in my choice of hardware and software, and I think that I can now be classified as a happy, satisfied user. (In case anyone cares, I ended up getting the 256K Z-171, Turbo Pascal 3.0 [w/o BCD], the Turbo Editor Toolbox, Turbo Lightning, and 40 Maxell disks.) Davidann