10 Nov
1998
10 Nov
'98
1:16 p.m.
It is slightly more collectible than a PCJr. Even EPAY isn't likely to
get up to your $25K asking price :-)
It's a little too heavy for the soft handle that they used, and the
length of travel of the keyboard latches was WAY too little, causing a
lot of keyboards to get knocked loose on airport escalators, etc.
But it was a reasonable early compatible, and helped define the term
"luggable". Not the first.
There was also a "Portable 286" with an almost identical case, and a
"Portable II" with a similar but slightly smaller case. Then they
started making "lunchbox"es. I'll be parting with a few of each in the next
wave.
A little known fact is that the internal monitor was EGA capable. Compaq
normally shipped them with a CGA card (recognizable by the extra
connector in the middle of the board.) But they also sold an EGA card
(with that same mid-board connector), and there was an add-on daughter
board for the ATI "Ega Wonder"? to provide Compaq capability.
Compaq was one of the first to use IDE drives - watch out for some
minor incompatibilities.
--
Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com
XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
2210 Sixth St. (510) 644-9366
Berkeley, CA 94710-2219
On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Russ Blakeman wrote:
I have recently obtained a machine that when carried
resembles a sewing
machine in a carry case, marked Compaq Portable. It has a built in CRT
and is evidentally an 8088 or 8086 machine judging by the 8 bit slots.
Anyone have any info on it, and is there any collectability to these?
I'm in the process of cleaning and repairing it but I will inevitably
NOT keep it for myself due to space limits and am putting out feelers on
the list first for possible buyers/traders. I don't expect a lot out of
it, mostly what I have in it ($25) unless I have to put a lot of parts
or work into it, which I doubt since it appears to be semi-working at
the moment.
I'll probably put it on ePay around the 20th once I get it functional
and get no apparent responses.
Any info or prospects appreciated.