avsdS:nelson (03/22/83)
I'm unable to reply directly to JDOS@mit-ai.arpa who requested info on this cheap ($99) color computer. I saw it and it was running some shoddy demos. According to the price list you certainly could run CP/M with disk, 80x24 video and 64K ram for < $700. If memory serves me correctly, you could probably do it for less than $500. The disk controller was $70, and I recall nothing on the price list much over $100. But consider that its keyboard is a baby kb, and that its color graphics chip is the capable but uninteresting Motorola 6847 (256x192 b/w, 128x192 4 color, and something much less for 8 color). For a $100 computer this surely beats the Sinclair and the TI 99/2. But by the time you add various options I think you'd be better off with a C-64 or Atari. The real clincher was the quoted delivery: "3 to 4 weeks". These particular figures are an immediate warning flag in this biz. Furthermore, the salesman quoted 3 weeks for \everything/ on the list, even the software - and this after admitting that many of these items weren't even ready yet! \Maybe/ 3 weeks for the computer, but more like 6 months for the rest, I'd say. Glenn Nelson, Ampex, Redwood City