1 Jun
2000
1 Jun
'00
9:05 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Coward <dcoward(a)pressstart.com>
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Date: Thursday, June 01, 2000 2:41 PM
Subject: Tech Rumors/Legends?
Hi All,
One the nice things about this list is the variety of
first hand experience that can be called upon to clear
up those nagging second hand rumors that you keep dragging
around for years, unable to track down a definitive answer.
Up for review:
1. "The person that designed the Mindset PC later designed
the Amiga." I realize that computers like the Amiga are not
designed by just one person, but does anyone know anything
about the people that helped design these computers?
I've never heard of the Mindset PC, but the Amiga story is very nicely told
at The Amiga Interactive Guide, at www.amiga.emugaming.com . Follow the
Features link, and see "Amiga History" and "The Amiga Corporation
1982-84".
Although a team of designers was involved, the person generally credited as
"the father of the Amiga" is the late Jay Miner, who came from Atari Corp.
via Xymos.
1 Jun
1 Jun
8:36 a.m.
On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Mark Gregory wrote:
Although a team of designers was involved, the person
generally credited as
"the father of the Amiga" is the late Jay Miner, who came from Atari Corp.
via Xymos.
When did Jay Miner pass away?
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a six in a pile of nines...
Coming soon: VCF 4.0!
VCF East: Planning in Progress
See http://www.vintage.org for details!
10:34 a.m.
Sellam Ismail
When did Jay Miner pass away?
1994. If he had lived he would have been 68 today.
--
Gareth Knight
Amiga Interactive Guide
http://amiga.emugaming.com
9:39 a.m.
On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Mark Gregory wrote:
From: Doug Coward <dcoward(a)pressstart.com>
http://www.byte.com/art/9509/sec7/art24.htm
Up for review:
1. "The person that designed the Mindset PC later designed
the Amiga." I realize that computers like the Amiga are not
designed by just one person, but does anyone know anything
about the people that helped design these computers?
I've never heard of the Mindset PC,
9:14 a.m.
On Thu, 1 Jun 2000, Charles P. Hobbs (SoCalTip) wrote:
Nice little summary article.
From that:
"Aquarius
Mattel
When Mattel demonstrated this computer at a trade show in 1983, employees
had to conceal one of the keys with masking tape. For some bizarre reason
known only to Matte l engineers, the Aquarius had a convenient key that
instantly rebooted the computer and wiped out all your data."
It was called the RESET key and I hated it. They at least designed a
little ridge around it so it was harder to accidentally press. However, I
remember you could do a CTRL-C or some other control key sequence and
"undo" the RESET (basially it would cancel the reset and put you back
where you just were).
When you first turned the Aquarius on, you had a little intro screen that
said whatever, something like "Mattel Aquarius" ... "Press any key to
continue". When you pressed a key it initialized BASIC and plopped you
into a prompt.
Pressing the RESET key apparently didn't erase the memory but just took
you to the initial startup screen, so it was made possible to back out of
a RESET using the control key sequence.
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a six in a pile of nines...
Coming soon: VCF 4.0!
VCF East: Planning in Progress
See http://www.vintage.org for details!
9:56 a.m.
On Thu, Jun 01, 2000 at 03:05:48PM -0600, Mark Gregory wrote:
I've never heard of the Mindset PC,
It was a wicked cool 80186-based PC, just barely PC-compatible enough to get
your hopes up but that's about where it ended. It had really snazzy (for the
time) graphics and sound hardware, weird keyboard (IIRC the power switch was
on it and actually sent scan codes rather than controling the PS directly),
and a timer which among other things could be programmed to turn the machine
on and off. Came out around '84 I think, and disappeared pretty quickly.
I remember seeing an ACP ad selling the bare boxes off for $200 a couple of
years later, still kicking myself for not buying one.
John Wilson
D Bit
8752
days inactive
8752
days old
5 comments
5 participants
participants (5)
-
foo＠siconic.com -
gaz_k＠lineone.net -
mgregory＠vantageresearch.com -
transit＠lerctr.org -
wilson＠dbit.dbit.com