SPGJAF@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (Joseph A. Faracchio {415} 642-7638 {w}) (05/17/91)
I have not gotten to a showroom yet to put my hands around one of these
and give it a test drive but here goes. Some of my questions can be answered
but some again are rhetorical and/or not permitted (future enhancements?).
I'd like to compliment Lotus and HP on this product. Although not perfect
its a big jump in this area. I would characterize it as a thousand-fold
jump over the Wizard, et al. And a healthy competitor for the Poquet.
But ... I'm confused. It takes only 1 Ram/Rom card and you can only get 512K
max on it. And you can't do 640K Dos and 384K for data/prog. The card is used
'like a floppy' meaning data is saved? (Like the Wizard where you can walk
around with any number of 32/64/128K cards 'like floppy disks'.)
If keept at 512K/512K makeup can the card be pulled out without losing data?
If it can work with a 2 meg card why isn't one offered?
I'm not thrilled with having 123 at my fingertips but then I've just never
gotten around to learning it and taking advantage of it. I might now.
Is there no password capability? I'd like to lock out people from some/all
the data for security reasons. (if I leave it unattended etc)
This one point would keep me from buying it or recommending it. Any thing
I could leave / misplace and have compromised must be password capable or else.
I really like the Wizard for this capability.
The screen management. Ideally I envision a situation where there is an 80x25
display buffer always present and if my application doesn't know any better it
can write to this 80x25 buffer and I can use special meta-keys (unknown to the
application) to page left-right/up-down to see the whole screen. Is that
the way it works? The descriptions talks about 'rewriting' an application to
understand the HP95LX screen setup - Yuk! I doubt I'll be able to get my
favorite (mom and pop) software from going out of their way just for me. This
is definitely a hardware need and a device driver in config.sys won't do it
(and a real drawback.)
Can any non-graphical software work right out of the box? I'm asking in fact:
is it true XT-compatible or more like the PortFolio : an MS-Dos lookable.
I want to run my own comm prog and Mansfield Software's Personal Rexx (300K).
If I overcome the space limitations (512/512) will they work??
So basically what I'm saying is: I like my Wizard. I work within its limit-
ations. If you give me a replacement for it that is "XT-compatible" then it
better be. NOW, I want to run my limited XT applications 'on the go' with the
95LX. If I can't, then why bother? Why go to the trouble of making it
XT/MS-Dos/8088 compatible if I can't transfer the (non-graphical) utilities
on my XT desktop to the 95LX? Its like putting a really sporty car frame
over a VW-bug chasis. Its interesting and looks racy but if I can't 'race it'
then I'm not interested.
.. joe.f.erich@milton.u.washington.edu (Eric Horst) (05/17/91)
SPGJAF@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (Joseph A. Faracchio {415} 642-7638 {w}) writes: >Is there no password capability? I'd like to lock out people from some/all >the data for security reasons. (if I leave it unattended etc) I you leave it unattended you are likely not to have to worry about password protection of your data. Eric
"Michael Graff" <graff@mlpvm2.vnet.ibm.com> (05/17/91)
SPGJAF@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (Joseph A. Faracchio) writes > But ... I'm confused. It takes only 1 Ram/Rom card and you can > only get 512K max on it. And you can't do 640K Dos and 384K for > data/prog. The card is used 'like a floppy' meaning data is saved? > (Like the Wizard where you can walk around with any number of > 32/64/128K cards 'like floppy disks'.) If keept at 512K/512K > makeup can the card be pulled out without losing data? If it can > work with a 2 meg card why isn't one offered? The RAM cards have a lithium battery to retain their data. The 512K max DOS memory isn't as bad as it sounds since the built in programs run directly from ROM, taking no DOS space for themselves. 2M RAM cards simply aren't available yet. I'm sure they'll be offered when they exist. They'll be expensive. > Is there no password capability? I'd like to lock out people from > some/all the data for security reasons. (if I leave it unattended > etc) This one point would keep me from buying it or recommending > it. Any thing I could leave / misplace and have compromised must > be password capable or else. I really like the Wizard for this > capability. According to talk on the HP forum on CompuServe, there is a password feature for the system. It can work automatically (enter password every time you turn it on) or manually (lock the system by turning it off with Alt+Off). > The screen management. Ideally I envision a situation where there > is an 80x25 display buffer always present and if my application > doesn't know any better it can write to this 80x25 buffer and I can > use special meta-keys (unknown to the application) to page > left-right/up-down to see the whole screen. Is that the way it > works? Yes. You can scroll it manually or have it track the cursor. > The descriptions talks about 'rewriting' an application to > understand the HP95LX screen setup - Yuk! I doubt I'll be able to > get my favorite (mom and pop) software from going out of their way > just for me. This is definitely a hardware need and a device > driver in config.sys won't do it (and a real drawback.) The advantage of rewriting software is to save you from the tedium of scrolling the 40x16 window over an 80x25 screen. It's not required if you can live with the scrolling. > Can any non-graphical software work right out of the box? I'm > asking in fact: is it true XT-compatible or more like the > PortFolio : an MS-Dos lookable. I want to run my own comm prog and > Mansfield Software's Personal Rexx (300K). If I overcome the space > limitations (512/512) will they work?? From what I've heard, any DOS program that works with a monochrome display and can fit in the available memory should work. It has real MS-DOS 3.22 and a V20 (8088-compatible) processor. People are reporting that it runs basically everything they've tried. For that matter, the Atari Portfolio really is DOS-compatible, it just has stricter limitations (128K memory, 128K "disk"). > So basically what I'm saying is: I like my Wizard. I work within > its limitations. If you give me a replacement for it that is > "XT-compatible" then it better be. NOW, I want to run my limited > XT applications 'on the go' with the 95LX. If I can't, then why > bother? Why go to the trouble of making it XT/MS-Dos/8088 > compatible if I can't transfer the (non-graphical) utilities on my > XT desktop to the 95LX? Its like putting a really sporty car frame > over a VW-bug chasis. Its interesting and looks racy but if I > can't 'race it' then I'm not interested. I think it'll do what you want, but there are, after all, going to be limitations (the smaller screen, the limited memory and "disk" space, the tiny keyboard). The key phrase is "work within its limitations". If you can accept those limitations, you'll be happy. ...Michael
everett@hpcvra.cv.hp.com. (Everett Kaser) (05/17/91)
SPGJAF@CMSA.BERKELEY.EDU (Joseph A. Faracchio) writes... >But ... I'm confused. It takes only 1 Ram/Rom card and you can only get 512K >max on it. And you can't do 640K Dos and 384K for data/prog. The card is used >'like a floppy' meaning data is saved? (Like the Wizard where you can walk >around with any number of 32/64/128K cards 'like floppy disks'.) >If keept at 512K/512K makeup can the card be pulled out without losing data? >If it can work with a 2 meg card why isn't one offered? The HP 95LX has 512K of RAM built-in. This 512K is split (in proportions specified by the user) into USER RAM and dirve C: RAMDISK. The default that the machine comes up at is about a 50-50 split. The plug-in card is treated as drive A:, just like a floppy on a desktop PC. The cards can be pulled and another inserted at any time. The HP 95LX was designed to accept cards up to 2M bytes in size, because ROM cards are already available in that size, and RAM cards will be available in that size easily within the product life-time of the HP 95LX. >Is there no password capability? I'd like to lock out people from some/all Yes, there is password security. This is documented in the manual. Once you've set a password, you can set AUTO-LOCK or MANUAL-LOCK mode. In AUTO mode, any time the machine turns off, the password will be required before access is allowed. In MANUAL mode, the machine is only secured when you turn it off by holding down the ALT key and then pressing and releasing the ON key. >The screen management. Ideally I envision a situation where there is an 80x25 >display buffer always present and if my application doesn't know any better it >can write to this 80x25 buffer and I can use special meta-keys (unknown to the >application) to page left-right/up-down to see the whole screen. Is that >the way it works? Yes, that is the way it works. All of the built-in applications have been adapted/designed to work on the 40x16 display, but when you go to the DOS prompt (and/or run other programs from the Filer), the display pans around on an 80x25 display. >Can any non-graphical software work right out of the box? I'm asking in fact: >is it true XT-compatible or more like the PortFolio : an MS-Dos lookable. >I want to run my own comm prog and Mansfield Software's Personal Rexx (300K). >If I overcome the space limitations (512/512) will they work?? Yes, it is "true" XT-compatible, within certain obvious limits. The BIOS is from Phoenix (with some HP modifications to fit the hardware), DOS is 3.22 from Microsoft (ROM executable, the DOS code doesn't load into RAM), and all of the PC "glue" circuitry (except the CPU, RAM, and ROM) is in a single ASIC chip manufactured by Intel, which includes the interrupt controller, timer, UART, CRT (LCD) controller, keyboard control, etc. The only programs we've had any problems with are ones that make assumptions about the hardware (or talk directly to hardware) that just isn't true for the HP 95LX. Examples are programs that talk directly to floppy and hard disk controller cards or parallel ports, CMOS setup RAM, require a DMA controller or require a CGA/EGA/VGA/Hercules display (the HP 95LX has an MDA compatible display, which had one page of text and NO graphics; the HP 95LX graphics are a non-standard proprietary design). So, as long as a program is text only, and talks to the display ONLY through DOS, the BIOS, or knows how to detect an MDA display and talk directly to its video RAM, then the program should work. Everett Kaser Hewlett-Packard Company ...hplabs!hp-pcd!everett work: (503) 750-3569 Corvallis, Oregon everett%hpcvra@hplabs.hp.com home: (503) 928-5259 Albany, Oregon
sanker@hpcvts.cv.hp.com (Greg Sanker) (05/17/91)
The HP 95LX *does* have password capability. Once a password has been specified, the user activates it by pressing alt-off. When the unit is turned on you will be asked for a password. The only way to defeat the password lock-out is to take the batteries out and completly reset the machine (lose memory). Greg