On Wed, 26 Dec 2001, John Allain wrote: Totally untutored guess: A "noticably warm" bulb is fairly likely to shatter when a glob of snow falls on it. Doc Remember, I'm a roughneck. :)

Thanks. My criteria for noticeably warm and uncomfortably warm (for an LED) was about <5degF and <20degF respectively. I know you can get more, heat, but that always seemed to not be the thing to do with LED's. The specs don't seem to balance.. the 4cd doesn't come at 20ma. It's like 4cd/5degF at 180ma, 5cd/20degF@250ma, 0.5cd/+0degF@20ma. So, less light, or more current? John A.

It looks like this is going to do the trick. I may have to throw out the ammeter on my el cheapo power supply. (And subconsciously I may still be not accepting that its possible to get so much light from so small a wattage.) Thanks! John A.

Thanks all for the suggestions. I've decided to go with a spare IBM 8580 I have. They're built like a tank and could survive the rigors of a machine shop. Also I don't want to part with a precious Commodore xx02 monitor. :^) In looking at the current crop of Shop Management programs they all seem to be simply upgraded Doze programs using things like Paradox. And also very expensive. Using the 386 would also expand his options to include an accounting program, as well as other discontinued business programs with invoice printing, etc. I have a raft of old W3.1 and Doze software so I have to get creative on what I put on it's 2 small ESDE drives, keeping in mind that he is basicly computer-illiterate and that this is a small, self-supporting operation out in the boonies. Any guidance would be welcome. Kind of an "if you were setting up a small business PC in the late 80s what would you put on it" project. I find it humorously ironic that I made a decision between machines like the C-64 ( around $400) and an 8580 ($10k w/o any peripherals). Kind of a pay- back for the snub of a Mac salesman in the early 80s who coldly responded to my questions by quickly moving on to other customers after deciding I likely didn't have the $3000 outlay for an early Mac. He looked at me as if I was diseased. BWAW, HAAW. HAW, HEE HEE. Lawrence Reply to: lgwalker(a)mts.net

Well I have to go with what I have excess in my collection. Since I don't have any MCA SCSI cards much less SCSI drives I can spare I'll go with the ESDE's that came with it. His shop is a large shed he built himself 10 yrs ago, with a little nook he uses for his records and paper work. It might be advisable tho to reverse the fan and rig up a filter of some sort as you point out. This is strictly a gift so I don't want to install stuff which I would pay for out of my limited resources, and I doubt he would have monies available for what might be considered not a priority as compared to a new set of wrenches. Thanks Lawrence Reply to: lgwalker(a)mts.net

Thought much into a smaller, more compact version of the 80 - the P70 or 75 portable? They;re also 386DX and can be carried from site to site, used with it's plasma display or an external VGA monitor, and can use up to a 120mb ESDI (or SCSI or IDE if you put a small controller card in) and can accept a regular long 8mb memory card. WAY smaller and easier to work than an 80 and it can be closed up when not in use. I have mine running Win95 with Quickbooks 5 for Windows. They go on ebay from $40 to $140 dependant on included items and come complete with keyboard, video, etc, you normally add a mouse. They also have a standard paralle port and 25 pin serial (for modem and printer of course). I'll be putting mine on ebay this week but I expect to get a lot for it since it's in collectable condition and I have a carry bag, original mouse, 120mb drive, 16mb ram, external floppy cable, etc and it's in like-new shape so for a GP machine I wouldn't suggest waiting for it. I've seen a few good condition machines selling for under $50 but they always have at least 10 bids for them. Also a model 70 desktop might fit t he bill as a lighter/smaller sub for the 80 - it might actually be a better choice, unless you can locate a 386 version of the model 25 - full vga color and ISA slots, uses about any HD/controller combo you want to throw in it. All the ones I have left are 8086 and 286, the 286 being DOA for parts. -----Original Message----- From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Lawrence Walker Sent: Monday, December 31, 2001 1:22 PM To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: OT: Older inventory programs for home computers Thanks all for the suggestions. I've decided to go with a spare IBM 8580 I have. They're built like a tank and could survive the rigors of a machine shop. Also I don't want to part with a precious Commodore xx02 monitor. :^) In looking at the current crop of Shop Management programs they all seem to be simply upgraded Doze programs using things like Paradox. And also very expensive. Using the 386 would also expand his options to include an accounting program, as well as other discontinued business programs with invoice printing, etc. I have a raft of old W3.1 and Doze software so I have to get creative on what I put on it's 2 small ESDE drives, keeping in mind that he is basicly computer-illiterate and that this is a small, self-supporting operation out in the boonies. Any guidance would be welcome. Kind of an "if you were setting up a small business PC in the late 80s what would you put on it" project. I find it humorously ironic that I made a decision between machines like the C-64 ( around $400) and an 8580 ($10k w/o any peripherals). Kind of a pay- back for the snub of a Mac salesman in the early 80s who coldly responded to my questions by quickly moving on to other customers after deciding I likely didn't have the $3000 outlay for an early Mac. He looked at me as if I was diseased. BWAW, HAAW. HAW, HEE HEE. Lawrence computers. He if I serve 386 and don't track The Reply to: lgwalker(a)mts.net