26 Dec
1999
26 Dec
'99
7:14 a.m.
Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 01:21:56 GMT
From: "David Vohs" <netsurfer_x1(a)hotmail.com>
Here is a varied list of computers (and computer-related things) that were
either famous or infamous for various reasons
First, the infamous ones
Computer with the worst keyboard: (tie) Sinclair ZX-81/Timex Sinclair 1000 &
IBM PC Jr.
I agree with the other respondents, the original PET keyboard is hard to type
on period. At least on the PC-jr you had decent spacing. Later pet keyboards
were a vast improvement but not the best. Atari 400 could also be on the
list, but the touch sensors were better then Sinclair's.
Computer with the slowest disk drive: Commodore 64(C).
A sad tale goes with that distinction, it is capable of much better speed but
certain marketing/design choices were made for the wrong reasons. :(
Most infamous computer by price: Apple Lisa.
I
remember seeing that in a computer store, $10,000, wow! had nice demos, though.
And now the famous ones
Computer with the best keyboard: (tie) Commodore 64(C), & TRS-80 Model 12.
Computer with the best speech synthesizer: TI-99/4A.
There are sooo many, I would
have to suggest the "Alien Voicebox" (Atari and
Commodore VIC/64) that sythesiser has (software controllable) pitch/speed and
is able to SING! ;) Amiga was good. As for Commdore 64 voice sythesisers I
can list SAM, Easy Speech, VoiceMaster, Votrax, Alien Voicebox, Commodore's,
and a couple magazine projects..
Most famous "vaporware" computer: Xerox
Alto.
Vaporware should reflect something that was promised but never saw the light
of day. I would put the Commodore 8-bit LCD in the running, man did I WANT
one of those!
Computer with the best sound hardware: (tie) TI-99/4A
& Commodore 64(C).
Yep, Amiga also should be on the list.
Computer with the coolest pitchman: William Shatner.
(VIC-20)
Even though I hate IBM I thought the chaplinesque hobo was nice.
Computer with the coolest case design: TI-99/4A. (The
case reminds me of a
Delorean. Remember those?)
I liked the Atari 800, pop open expansion bay, four
joystick ports (in the
front no less!)
Computer with the best introductory commercial: Apple
Macintosh. ("On
January 24, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you will see why 1984 won't
be like "1984"".)
I agree.
Here are some more:
Most imfamous sales life: Mattell Aquarius and Coleco Adam.
Most famous Sales life: Commodore 64(c) estimated 17 million sold for one model.
Least Innovative initial release: IBM PC (only really new features were the
price tag and the logo)
Most overrated antique: MITS Altair (surely not as unique as some, and way
more production than others)
Most infamous bug-box: TRS-80 (earned the nickname Trash-80 for all the
service work needed), second possibly the original PET (the original ROMs were
pretty buggy)
Most infamous Computer Monitor: Osborne 1 with it's 4" (?) black & white
display.
--
01000011 01001111 01001101 01001101 01001111 01000100 01001111 01010010 01000101
Larry Anderson - Sysop of Silicon Realms BBS (209) 754-1363 300-2400 baud
Commodore 8-bit page at: http://www.jps.net/foxnhare/commodore.html
01000011 01001111 01001101 01010000 01010101 01010100 01000101 01010010 01010011
26 Dec
26 Dec
8:09 p.m.
On or about 10:14 AM 12/26/99 -0800, Larry Anderson was caught in a dark
alley speaking these words:
Actually, re: Shatner's attitude, I'd rate him rather lower on the graph
than others have... (IMHO, of course)
> Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 01:21:56 GMT
> From: "David Vohs" <netsurfer_x1(a)hotmail.com>
> Computer with the best keyboard: (tie) Commodore
64(C), & TRS-80 Model 12.
Sorry, can't agree there either - I've logged lotsa hours on both a C64 and
my Tandy 200... my T200 whups it wholeheartedly. And my original IBM
101-key keyboards (found at a college "garage sale") are fantastic, and
heavy enough to defend a small country with them! ;-)
Computer with
the coolest pitchman: William Shatner. (VIC-20)
Even though I hate IBM I thought the
chaplinesque hobo was nice. Computer with
the coolest case design: TI-99/4A. (The case reminds me of a
Delorean. Remember those?)
I liked the Atari 800, pop open expansion bay, four
joystick ports (in the
front no less!) Here are some more:
Most imfamous sales life: Mattell Aquarius and Coleco Adam.
Most famous Sales life: Commodore 64(c) estimated 17 million sold for one
model.
Not to belittle the C64, but how about the Tandy CoCo1-2-3 series... Sold
from 1979 to 1992 - 13 years active selling for an
8-bitter.
Least Innovative initial release: IBM PC (only really
new features were the
price tag and the logo)
Most infamous bug-box: TRS-80 (earned the nickname
Trash-80 for all the
service work needed)
Erm... *which* TRS-80. There were *dozens* of different models...
Happy Holidaze,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
=====
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- zmerch(a)30below.com
SysAdmin - Iceberg Computers
===== Merch's Wild Wisdom of the Moment: =====
Sometimes you know, you just don't know sometimes, you know?
28 Dec
28 Dec
2:19 a.m.
>> Computer with the best keyboard: (tie)
Commodore 64(C), & TRS-80 Model 12.
Sorry, can't agree there either - I've logged
lotsa hours on both a C64 and
my Tandy 200... my T200 whups it wholeheartedly. And my original IBM
101-key keyboards (found at a college "garage sale") are fantastic, and
heavy enough to defend a small country with them! ;-)
If you like the big thingys, the old PC (not AT) Keyboard was quite
ok (I'm using some still today on Pentium class machines :), but the
best of all times on a PC/ desktop machine is still the Siemens PC-D
keyboard - same low profile design as the (now old) 97xx terminals,
and durable for centuries. Second award goes for the Xerox - I'm
still a big follower of the idea of special desktop keys.
Computer with the coolest pitchman: William Shatner.
(VIC-20)
Even though I hate IBM I thought the chaplinesque hobo was nice. >> Computer with the coolest case design:
TI-99/4A. (The case reminds me of a
>> Delorean. Remember those?)
>I liked the Atari 800, pop open expansion bay, four joystick ports (in the
>front no less!)
The Atati is functional, but a good design ? I still think the most
inovative and most beautifull designs of home machines have been
made around the MSX systems. From strictly functional thingys like
some Phillips, over state of the art designs like Sony up to timeless
classics like the Yashica YC-64 (in my mind the most beautifull
homecomputer ever (Mine has been stolen last year :( )
Here are some
more:
Most imfamous sales life: Mattell Aquarius and Coleco Adam.
Most famous Sales life: Commodore 64(c) estimated 17 million sold for one
model.
Not to belittle the C64, but how about the Tandy CoCo1-2-3 series... Sold
from 1979 to 1992 - 13 years active selling for an 8-bitter. >Least Innovative initial release: IBM PC (only
really new features were the
>price tag and the logo)
Least innovative ? I'd still go for the C64 in this class. After the
V(I)C-20 a clear step back.
>Most infamous bug-box: TRS-80 (earned the nickname
Trash-80 for all the
>service work needed)
Erm... *which* TRS-80. There were *dozens* of
different models...
I guess he is going for the Model One.
Further:
Computer with the worst system architecture: TI-99/4A
(doubly interpreted BASIC? c'mon TI!)
System architecture ? Hardware or System related Software ?
If it is about the system hardware, I go for the Apple ][
(Don't get me wrong, I'm still some kind of Apple maniac,
just Woz did pull it over the line to save some gates when
he did turn down continous screen memory in favour for some
saved gates). The TI was a quite good hardware.
In case of system related software I still think the IBM BIOS
is rules the field. And the C64 goes second here.
Computer with the slowest disk drive: Commodore 64(C).
Do the Sinclair Microdrives count in here ? :)
Heaviest laptop computer: Apple Macintosh Portable.
There have been several heavyer and lesser usable products
than the Mac Portable. It was a complete and not a reduced
system - no smaller keyboard etc. And as the namy may imply,
it was ment as a portable, so going in a class with the huge
Compaqs, and not necersary as a laptop.
But Apple may bet a worst in class for the //c - the mounted
handle is maybe the only sign of portability. If one needs at
least one big cardbox (or 5 hands) to carry all the needed
pices around, and 5 minutes (and a minimum of two plugs) to
set it up, it's not portable at all.
Computer with the best sound hardware: (tie) TI-99/4A
& Commodore 64(C).
Come on, I'm not an Amiga follower, but this one is superior.
But most systems could compete with an C64 - even all the
MSXes could hold up.
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Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
6:52 a.m.
If you like the big thingys, the old PC (not AT)
Keyboard was quite
ok (I'm using some still today on Pentium class machines :), but the
Could you explain how you get around the incompatibilities of the pre-AT
keyboard circuit?
> >Least Innovative initial release: IBM PC
(only really new features were the
> >price tag and the logo)
Coming into a world of 64K Z80 machines, the PC
had an AVERAGE level of
innovation. Certainly not enough to be appropriate for a "new standard",
but hardly "least".
> >Most infamous bug-box: TRS-80 (earned the
nickname Trash-80 for all the
> >service work needed)
> Erm... *which* TRS-80. There were *dozens* of different models...
Although I don't AGREE with the original poster on this one, I must defend
his terminology. LATER models had sub-designations, and needed them. But
the original first model WAS simply called "TRS-80" (FSOT)
Later models, despite speculation by users that they would be called
"TRS-81" or "TRS-90", in an attempt by Tandy to piggy-back success
were
then called "TRS-80 [something]", such as TRS-80 Model 3 (FSOT).
The name "TRS-80 Model One" never existed until the development of the
model 2.
OT_analogy: If you were to search through the old archives of the New York
Times for the earliest occurrences of the phrases "World War 1" and "World
War 2", which one do you think occurred first?
ON-Topic_analogy: The phrase "SINGLE-Density" never existed until the
marketing people started calling MFM "DOUBLE-Density".
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com
8938
days inactive
8940
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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cisin＠xenosoft.com -
foxnhare＠jps.net -
Hans.Franke＠mch20.sbs.de -
zmerch＠30below.com