blk@mitre.org (Brian L. Kahn) (11/28/90)
While it is interesting to read stories of Unix-on-the-go, I subscribe to this newsgroup for articles lightweight, laptop computing. For me, a laptop is under 7 pounds or 3 kilos. Some may sit with 12lbs on their lap, but not me. I don't want to crease my pants, I want a computer replacement for the pad of paper and pen. I have several current questions: 1) What is the best word processing laptop (new or used) under $800? A machine that journeys to the woods or the coffee shop may get lost or broken. Candidates certainly include a used Toshiba 1000 w/ ram expansion and a new Panasonic-150/Tandy-1100. 2) What laptop has the best screen for less than the Toshiba 1000SE? I can live with an imperfect keyboard or various disk configurations, even slow processor. 3) How good is the screen on a Sinclair Z88? Equivalent in readability to an old Toshiba 1000? 4) Can the Z88 and/or the Tandy 100/102 exchange ascii files easily with an MSDOS desktop? I cable is fine, but converting CRs to LFs or whatever is a pain. ADthanksVANCE -- B< Brian Kahn blk@security.mitre.org "may the farce be with you"
cameron@kirk.nmg.bu.oz (Cameron Stevenson) (11/29/90)
From article <BLK.90Nov28094927@vanity.mitre.org>, by blk@mitre.org (Brian L. Kahn): > > While it is interesting to read stories of Unix-on-the-go, I subscribe > to this newsgroup for articles lightweight, laptop computing. For me, > a laptop is under 7 pounds or 3 kilos...... Yes, not a bad philosophy.. > I have several current questions: > > 1) What is the best word processing laptop (new or used) under $800? Hard to answer anything on pricing, being half way around the world, using different currencies :-) > 2) What laptop has the best screen for less than the Toshiba 1000SE? Same sort of problem.... > 3) How good is the screen on a Sinclair Z88? Equivalent in > readability to an old Toshiba 1000? I found the screen on the Z88 annoying, not because of legibility, but because of the 8 lines. I don't know about you, but if I am working on a large document, then seeing 8 lines at a time annoys me. The Z88 has a cute little diagrammatic representation of your document which it displays on the far right of the screen. It shows you where you are in the document. Like I said, cute; not sure how much use it is though... > 4) Can the Z88 and/or the Tandy 100/102 exchange ascii files easily > with an MSDOS desktop? I cable is fine, but converting CRs to LFs or > whatever is a pain. Yes the Z88 has file transfer programs that link it to MSDOS machines. It will go a little better (if my memory serves me correctly) than just transferring ASCII data; it is supposed to reformat it on the PC into MS Word format. If you are using the spreadsheet, it is supposed to send it out in Lotus format. I can't vouch for these capabilities, as I din't have a PC with MS Word to trial. The Z88 also has transfer capabilities to the Mac, and I did try that out. It worked, and the document appeared correctly in Word (on the Mac). It required considerable formatting, as the Z88 doesn't support things like justification, fonts, etc. Still the task was easy.. > B< Brian Kahn blk@security.mitre.org "may the farce be with you" Cameron Stephenson ph +61 75 951220 Bond University Gold Coast Australia