014106@sheoak.bcae (James Nugent) (04/18/91)
I own a Rainbow 100(a) with 256K of memory, and using MS-DOS 2.05. Recently I obtained a copy of BinkleyTerm, and it states in the docs. that it needs DOS 2.10 at least. Does anyone have a copy they would be willing sell, as when we try to use Binkley it crashes. What is the name of the company that sells Code Blue and the later versions of DOS etc.? Could someone please also give us their (postal) address? A few other questions- The memory expander board in the RB is for a 100B. The chips are marked 4864. To upgrade the memory, do I replace these with 48256's? Also, can you just upgrade one bank at a time, or do you need to replace them all? I also am looking for a Graphics board, and for a Hard Drive controller. I have a 10Mb disk gathering dust, and I want to get it operational again. A friend and I a interested in setting up a BBS. We have heard that Fido and Opus will work on a Rainbow. Can anyone confirm/deny this? If it is true, then could you tell us if we need any extra software?
imp@Solbourne.COM (Warner Losh) (04/19/91)
In article <734@sheoak.bcae.oz> 014106@sheoak.bcae (James Nugent) writes: [Questions about DOS versions deleted. Someone else usually posts the right place (I don't have it in front of me now)] >The memory expander board in the RB is for a 100B. The chips are marked >4864. To upgrade the memory, do I replace these with 48256's? >Also, can you just upgrade one bank at a time, or do you need to replace >them all? Are the chips in sockets? If so then you may be in luck. The "good" memory board for the Rainbow 100B is the one that has sockets for the chips and a DIP switch that selects which memory configuration you have. If you have this board, then it is dead simple to change. I upgraded my card from 128K to 768K in less than half an hour. If you have a board where the chips aren't in sockets, then you lose. >I also am looking for a Graphics board, and for a Hard Drive controller. >I have a 10Mb disk gathering dust, and I want to get it operational >again. A graphics card can be had for about $50.00. More if you want all the cables and software drivers. I don't know if the drivers are needed under DOS since I don't have a Graphics card. Hard disk controllers are as rare as Hen's teeth. Usually the best way to get one is to buy a whole Rainbow that has one. There are places that sell them. These guys usually go for about $150.00 - $250.00, though you may have to do some dickering to get this price. A note about prices. There are some places (I can't recall the names off the top of my head) that have two prices. One is for buisness that must still support the Rainbow. The other price is for the hobbist. If you get quoted something that seems too high, offer about 25% of the price and many times the dealers will go for it. It doesn't always work, but there are still a few places to shop around. >A friend and I a interested in setting up a BBS. We have heard that >Fido and Opus will work on a Rainbow. Can anyone confirm/deny this? If >it is true, then could you tell us if we need any extra software? FIDO was written on a Rainbow. Don't let any of those nasty IBM PC biggots tell you different. :-) FIDO and OPUS both run just fine on a Rainbow with the Rainbow Fossils. Both of which you should have since you said you have Binkley Term. However, on the off chance that you don't have them, then can be had from drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu in [.info-dec-micro.comm] with the files VDEC_24.ZIP and ODEC_501.ZIP. The first one is the video fossil for Binkley, ODEC is the comm port fossil for everybody. Happy hacking..... Warner -- Warner Losh imp@Solbourne.COM We sing about Beauty and we sing about Truth at $10,000 a show.