DEC at MIT - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

26 Jun 2004

At 0:07 -0500 6/25/04, Ethan Dicks wrote:
...
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On Thu, Jun 24, 2004 at 03:08:27AM +0800, Wai-Sun Chia wrote:
   I know what's a Rainbow, but what's a
Robin?
  It's a bit of a downer that the PDPs don't have cool code names like the
  VAXens. :-) 
The Rainbow was DEC's 8-bit competitor to the IBM PC.  It runs DOS, but
is not 100% compatible - more available DOS memory than the real thing,
which screws with some programs that depend on a precise memory map.  It
also has RX50 drives.  At least it can format blank media. 
True more or less, but sells the Rainbow a bit short. It has both 
Z-80 and 8088 (arguably 16-bit?) processors, runs CP/M-80 and CP/M-86 
as well as the DOS you described (and VENIX? Not sure that that is 
still resurrectable).

The "Rainbow" was (according to at least some of their literature) 
intended to be a bridge between the 8-bit and the 16-bit software 
worlds.
-- 
					- Mark
			210-522-6025, page 888-733-0967