edp (12/02/82)
A word about the new IBM Instrument Computer "UGLY". Take a look for yourself in Decembers BYTE on pages 440,441. If you are going to sink $6k into a computer it should at least be pleasant to look at and not resemble something from "Attack of the Power Cord People from beyond the Solar System". Shame on you IBM, at least the IBM PC is stylish. edp WH
DAN@Mit-Ml@sri-unix (12/04/82)
From: Dan Blumenfeld <DAN@Mit-Ml>
I went up to IBM Instruments with a professor here at UPenn to check the
ICS out. Well, it does indeed exist, and it does work. While I didn't
get alot of time to play with it, here are some initial observations:
1. The thing is EXTREMELY Ugly... in fact, it is uglier in person than
in the photos. For those of you who haven't seen what this beast looks
like, check out the December issue of BYTE, pp 410-411. Almost
indescribable... kinda a cross between an IBM PC, an IBM Banking
machine, and a cash register. To add insult to injury, the final
production verison doesn't have colored soft-keys on the main unit,
and there is a boom (similar to a camera tripod boom) sticking out
from below the monitor, which is used to position and tilt the screen
(hopefully this is an option which can be omitted). When I mentioned
to one of the people up there that the ICS really doesn't look like a
workstation, he informed me that the packaging was designed so that
it would look at home in a lab environment, right next to [their]
gas chromatograph. Maybe so, but I sure wouldn't want that box
on my desk.
2. The hardware in the main unit is nice, and it has a good collection
of communication ports, including serial, parallel, and IEEE-488.
The ICS is VERSABus, which is not the most popular bus around,
but I guess that it's better than some proprietary thing cooked up
by IBM. To add more than one extra board, you have to first install
an expansion backplane. For soft-key freaks, this is the machine
for you. There are just too many soft-keys: more than 50 on the
main unit, and 10 below the screen. The CRT has a sharp display,
and with 768 x 480 pixels (green on black), it can handle a number
of graphics needs. Unfortunately, its not enough to display a full
page of text. Also, don't expect to do flight-simulation on the
ICS... it can't update the screen very quickly.
3. Of course, everyone wants UNIX for the IBM ICS, and IBM realizes this.
However, its not clear if and when they will act on this, so don't
count on UNIX for the ICS in the near future.
4. The printer is OK, but its not letter quality. Fortunately, I think
that it is an option. They don't as yet have any networking capability
for this machine either, except if you want to cook something up using
the IEEE-488. Right now, the only other card that IBM manufactures
for the ICS is an Analog DAS, so you have to buy (expensive) Motorola
memory boards if you want lots of memory. However, IBM will be
manufacturing their own memory boards soon.
All in all, a usable system, perhaps more so for a lab than for a workstation
(eg Corvus Concept, etc.). The true test is in using it for awhile...
Dan