covert@ihuxq.UUCP (covert) (03/01/84)
Zenith Data Systems has announced a family of IBM PC-compataible computers. I have the following questions: 1. Did ZDS design the new computers or did Heathkit ?? 2. Are they going to sold as Heathkit kits?? 3. Are they using the 8088, the 8086, or the 80186 cpu?? 4. How 'PC' compatiable are they ?? 5. Is Zenith going to stop manufacturing the Z-100 line ?? 6. Assuming Zenith continues to build more Z-100s, is Zenith going to support the Z-100 in terms of upgrading MS-DOS, porting software, adding new hardware etc.??? My concerns are that Zenith will shift all or most of their manpower to the support and development of the ZDS computers and let the Z-100 die an unnatural death. Witness Heathkit's lack of support for their early line of compters and terminals. Mail any info and/or rumors to me or post if of general interest. -- Richard Covert AT&T Bell Laboratories ...ihnp4!ihuxq!covert (312) 979-7488
zrm@mit-eddie.UUCP (Zigurd R. Mednieks) (03/05/84)
The Army is buying more than $50 million worth of Z100s, so I don't think they're going to stop building or supporting them soon. Z100s are also nice for process control since they have an s100 bus. The new PC compatible machines are probably aimed at the business market, not the hobbyist, industrial, and military markets that the Z100 occupies. As far as I know, Zenith has no separate personal computer R&D setup apart from Heath. Zenith concentrates on color and monochrome monitors and other analog electronics like network modems. Cheers, Zig
pournell@sdcsvax.UUCP (03/07/84)
Add 5,000 machines that UPI bought to that Army order. If the Z-100 had a detached keyboard, I would not hesitate to recommend it against any other PCoid machine. Re: reliability: ours is over a year old and not one thing has ever gone wrong--except for the stupid door latch on the Tandon 5-1/4" floppy. This took some real pains to fix (though W&A, my company, now sells spares because of this) since Zenith doesn't stock the stupid things. The stupids at Tandon take 4 weeks to process spares orders, and though we're no more than 15 miles from their factory, they wouldn't let us will-call! As for the Z-100, though, it's worked juuust fine.
mce@teldata.UUCP (Brian McElhinney) (03/12/84)
Will the Z-100 ever have a detached keyboard? I heard a rumor about this
quite a while ago, and have been waiting ever since...
Has anyone tried running a master CPU off the S-100 bus?
--
Brian McElhinney
Teltone Corp.
{ihnp4,decvax}!uw-beaver!teltone!teldata!mcekeldsen@uo-vax1.UUCP (03/17/84)
A little info about the new Z-100 PCs (just got my HUG stuff for this month). The new Zenith machines are 'very' IBM compatible (compatible slots (8), 4 of which are used in a "full-blown" machine, and other claimed enhanced-but-compatible features). They have a separate keyboard (with a real return key, can't see much else in the photos) and graphics resolution comparable to the IBM (perhaps a little better, but THE GRAPHICS RESOLUTION IS STATED TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE THAN THE Z-100!) One of the machines is a desktop, the other is portable. General shape (front view): |------------------| | +--------+| | | || | | || | +--------+| |------------------| Notice the area bounded by '+'. In the desktop version, this has floppies in it. The portable version has the CRT there, and the (thin) floppies are in a pullout panel in the top (perhaps also for convection cooling?) More info. later . . . Also, Zenith has announced a Local Area Network card for the Z-100 and an 8087 piggyback processor card. Zenith claims that they will in no way drop support for the Z-100, and have a number of future enhancements in mind. I sure hope so. i Love my H-100! "Dak" Dave Keldsen {hpcvra,hp-pcd,tektronix}!uoregon!uo-vax1!keldsen
ras@rayssd.UUCP (03/19/84)
Sorry, this doesn't qualify as a rumor; but I have recent literature
from Zenith about it's followup to the Z-100; the Z-160.
This is a "IBM PC Compatible" portable with a detachable keyboard,
single or dual 5 1/4's, up to 320K of RAM, and weighs about 33 lbs.
I can't vouch for the product, but do note that the picture of a guy
carrying the unit either has had his legs sawed off below the knee or
is resting the case of the Z160 on a table (out of the picture). It
looks rather bulky, and his arm is in a very unnatural position for it.
--
Ralph Shaw, {allegra, decvax!brunix, ccieng5}!rayssd!ras
Raytheon Co, Submarine Signal Div., Portsmouth, RI