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How about this one?

http://www.sinasohn.com/cgi-bin/clascomp/bldhtm.pl?computer=gridcs3

That's the mfgr, and that particular model looks very much like mine. The model number is 1520, with the 286 chip instead of the 8088.

Other, similar models pictured here: http://www.pd.com/GRiD.html I see no external difference between my 1520 and the 1530 shown there. Apparently, the 1530 came with either a 286 or a 386.

Long ago, I had several sites bookmarked with info on GRiDcase machines, but I've lost them all.

These machines were originally engineered specifically for the DoD, and as I recall, the Army, Navy, and Air Force had exclusive access to them for quite some time. Only near the end of their "support life" did they become available people outside the DoD.

At least, that's what I read.

I concur. This is a good list of the dawn of personal computing. I disagree with other posters about vintage mainframes and minicomputers (such as PDP/11) since they were not widely accessible. For those system not available, emulators are a good choice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulator
http://www.emulator-zone.com/

These sites have good descriptions of the history and the classics (my favorites at top):
http://oldcomputers.net/
http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp
http://www.vintage-computer.com/
http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/
http://www.computercloset.org/
http://www.sinasohn.com/clascomp/

It is important to keep the history alive. Although for us old timers, it just seems like yesterday, many youngsters do not realize the history of their shiny new laptops, etc.

We had two of these quite lovely machines in 1984: 256kb memory, two 5.5 floppy disk drives, 8 mghz processor, dos 2.11 (a vintage release) and wordperfect 4 (iirc). Built in Kanata, Ontario by Dynalogic.

You could max out the memory to 640kb (and no one would ever need more we were told).

There was a even a guy in Toronto who put together a hard drive that you could plug into the expansion port. What a bargain: 20 megs for $700.

Had an Osborne before that too. Like an idiot, I sold the Osborne but still have the hyperions. For some more info on this negelected classic, see this site.

The Data General One was only mentioned on the "worst" page and I don't agree at all.

It was ahead of its time - 1983, when Compaq was still shipping 30 lb briefcase systems.

See:
http://www.sinasohn.com/cgi-bin/clascomp/bldhtm.pl ?computer=dg1

Unisys didn't build the first ones. A company called Cemcorp (Canadian Educational Microcomputer Corporation) did, using the resources of a couple of other companies. Cemcorp's parent company was a holding company called Meridian Technologies. At the time, Meridian also held MicroDesign (which did the hardware for the Icon, and eventually became part of Cemcorp) and Jutras Die Casting, among other companies. (Now Meridian does only light metal diecasting.) The first two series of Icons were manufactured in Brockville, Ontario, by a company called Microtel.

The processor was the Intel 80186, as an earlier poster noticed. The reason was simple: it was effectively an 8086, and it was available. But with other Canadian companies like Dynalogic/Bytec-Comterm (makers of the Hyperion) wanting 8086s, and Canada being a single distribution region as far as Intel was concerned, there weren't enough 8086s to go around. But nobody else (except the odd controller manufacturer) wanted 80186s. The QNX C compiler had flags to enable '186- and '286-specific instructions, but Cemcorp never used the '186-specific functionality.

The Ontario Ministry of Education provided the seed money for the project. They mandated mostly Canadian content, so QNX was chosen for the operating system. The Waterloo microlanguages, already proven on the Commodore SuperPET were ported for teaching programming, and QNX's own C compiler was included if students wanted to write their own system stuff. It also had a bug-compatibile version of Logo. The Ministry of Education contracted out the development of a graphical shell called Ambience that had three levels of access control: the administrator, teacher, or student. Teachers had access to students' files; the administrator saw everything. There was shared space for showing off good stuff. It was a great concept. But execution was, well, part of the reason the Icon didn't really succeed, because it didn't work like an Apple, and it didn't work like DOS.

So where'd Unisys come in? Well, in 1983 or so when this was getting started (I did co-op stints with Cemcorp from 1984 to 1987), the guys at Cemcorp didn't have the ability to support or market the product. They contracted with Burroughs for support, quality assurance, and marketing. Burroughs and Sperry became Unisys in 1986, and took a greater interest in promoting the Icon, just as the government subsidy was running out. Unisys had taken over all but the design and integration of the product by the time I did my last work term with Cemcorp. With the dropping of government funding, the demand for DOS compatibility, and competition from Apple, the Icon ceased to be viable.

Take a look at the Vintage Computer Festival. There are a lot of people who are working hard to preserve the history of the computer industry.

Keep in mind that it's also important to show people that what they think is new just might not be.

P.S., You can check out my collection too.

At times, Raisethefist.com has recieved over 100 hits from the U.S Department of Defense in a single day. The FBI, police department, NSA (and who else) continuesly monitered the site on a daily basis.

Yeah, so? What's the biggest single entity connected to the internet in the US? I'd guess it's the government. And within that, I'd further guess that the DoD is the biggest department. So, of all the employees of the DoD, there have been 100 hits from them in one day? Big whup. If the guy had 10 pages on his site, that could be as few as 10 distinct users -- I could see someone stumbling on the site, e-mailing a few coworkers, and suddenly there are 100 hits from .gov or .mil or .whatever tld's -- all of them laughing their arses off.

This is verging on redundant, but was any of this monitoring done with a warrant? Is the US Government allowed unfettered ability to monitor (or intercept!) network traffic?

One doesn't need a warrant to view a publicly available web page. (Heck, go take a look at mine if you want.) Intercepting implies preventing something from reaching its destination. I seriously doubt that happened -- perhaps he simply hit his bandwidth cap for the month? I mean, cracking those sites and all must have used some.

Show me some proof that something wrong was done and I'll get upset. Until then, this is some little punk that wants to be able to ignore the rules of our society while still being protected by them. If you ask me, anyone who thinks our laws and constitution should be eliminated should start by waiving all of the rights afforded to them such as the right to a fair trial, the right to privacy, etc. If you want true anarchy, then anyone can do anything they want, including walking into your house, bashing you on the head, and taking your computer. Put up or shut up.

To see why it's very handy, check out this article about why someday there will be a headstone with my name on it and a little black antenna sticking up out of the ground in front of it.

You can check out some suggestions for what I'd like this solstice on the web -- I thought everyone did that?

In the "the sky's the limit" category, add guitar lessons from B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Mark Knoppfler, a Delorean, and a Buick Reatta. Oh heck, throw in a 1975 Land Rover 101 FC "Vampire" FFR.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning an Apricot Portable, Ampere WS-1, Canon FlatCat, STM Systems Baby! 1, Xerox NoteTaker, Sol-20, and a host of other really cool computers I'm looking for.

You can check out some suggestions for what I'd like this solstice on the web -- I thought everyone did that?

In the "the sky's the limit" category, add guitar lessons from B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and Mark Knoppfler, a Delorean, and a Buick Reatta. Oh heck, throw in a 1975 Land Rover 101 FC "Vampire" FFR.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning an Apricot Portable, Ampere WS-1, Canon FlatCat, STM Systems Baby! 1, Xerox NoteTaker, Sol-20, and a host of other really cool computers I'm looking for.

The history of computers is an interesting topic isn't there a project cataloging all the different parts of computer history going on?

There most certainly is! Perhaps you missed the story on the Vintage Computer Festival the other day? There are a lot of people involved in preserving the quickly disappearing history of the computer industry, including myself. Check out some of the others, such as:

• Blinkenlights Archaeological Institute
• The Computer Museum of America
• Retro-Computing Society of Rhode Island
• The San Francisco Computer Museum
• and even the Microsoft Museum

or, for a more international view, try:

• Ullrich von Bassewitz's Collection of Old Computers (Germany)
• Silicium: Le musee de l'informatique (France)
• National Archive for the History of Computing (England)
• Bletchley Park (England)
• Australian Computer Museum Society
• The First Computer Museum of Nova Scotia
• Belgian Microcomputer Museum

For tons more, check out the links page at the Vintage Computer Festival, or better yet, come to the VCF at the end of September and experience history in person!

Being somewhat involved in the computer history field myself, I know several people who have made a few bucks off their knowledge -- through providing that knowledge to legal firms for use in patent cases. Prior art is a very big part of proving a patent should not have been given, and having the obscure knowledge of old systems that might have had a particular feature can be very valuable.

And if you'd like to pick up some of that knowledge, check out the Vintage Computer Festival!

Such as Paul Ceruzzi, who works for the smithsonian, and has written several books on the subject. He's also involved with SHOT, the Society for the History Of Technology.

You might also be interested in the slightly less formal Vintage Computer Festival, taking place at the end of September. There will be plenty of history and historians there. The VCF web site also has a long list of links to museums, collectors, etc.

And, of course, I would be denying my own conceit if I did not mention my own collection of classic computers.

Computer history is a growing field, but not one that I think you could ever get rich in, any more than any other similar field. Certainly it is fascinating to look back and see just how far we've come.

Something I've been wanting to try is my Palm III with a Ricochet (sp?) wireless modem. I know they work together (with a little serial adaptor).

A Ricochet modem looks just like a regular modem to the computer. For internet access via ppp, you just have your dialer call a slightly odd looking number and voila, you're online.

So, the issues you face in doing this with a palm is the serial port, the ppp dialer, and the e-mail/web/etc. client. Those may be easily solvable; I haven't looked into them.

Another option is to use a terminal emulator on the Palm and use the Ricochet to dial into a system where you have a shell account. You can then use whatever e-mail/browser/etc. you want on that system. Note that this costs an extra $5/mo (to cover their costs for modems and outgoing lines) but can be well worth it in some situations.

I absolutely love my Ricochet modem and will always have it.

I know of one guy who has his hooked up to a (iirc) a psion handheld and telnets to his linux box to read e-mail and surf the web. Personally, I prefer a real laptop, but I have big fingers.

So, if you're in one of their covered areas, I strongly recommend them.

I absolutely love my Ricochet modem and will always have it.

I know of one guy who has his hooked up to a (iirc) a psion handheld and telnets to his linux box to read e-mail and surf the web. Personally, I prefer a real laptop, but I have big fingers.

So, if you're in one of their covered areas, I strongly recommend them.

But not everyone does that. There are a lot of people who need a portable computer, but don't need to pay for, or carry, a relatively large laptop just so they can have a screen and keyboard.

They drive to and from work, don't lie in bed ignoring the beautiful woman next to them while they read Slashdot, maybe don't even turn on a computer at home if they don't have to. (Deviants!)

My client has a bunch of "support notebooks" that people carry home to be able to dial in if necessary when they're on call. Something like this would be much better -- they could take one of these home in their pocket and connect it to their own monitor and keyboard when necessary.

There are huge advantages to being able to have the same setup at home and at work -- having your e-mail, your bookmarks, various files, etc. -- but if you only ever work at your desk (at home and at the office), why not just set up a monitor/keyboard/mouse at each location and shuttle the CPU back and forth?

No, it's not a replacement for a laptop for those who use a laptop creatively and in varying locations, but it is an alternative for those who simply need their data in more than one regular location.

P.S., this isn't a new concept. Going back about 8-10 years, there was a computer called (iirc) the Brick sold by (iirc) Ergo (if you've got one, I'd love to have one in my collection!) that was basically the same thing, albeit much larger. And going back even further, computers such as the Apple IIc were touted as "portables", but you needed a monitor at each location.

But not everyone does that. There are a lot of people who need a portable computer, but don't need to pay for, or carry, a relatively large laptop just so they can have a screen and keyboard.

They drive to and from work, don't lie in bed ignoring the beautiful woman next to them while they read Slashdot, maybe don't even turn on a computer at home if they don't have to. (Deviants!)

My client has a bunch of "support notebooks" that people carry home to be able to dial in if necessary when they're on call. Something like this would be much better -- they could take one of these home in their pocket and connect it to their own monitor and keyboard when necessary.

There are huge advantages to being able to have the same setup at home and at work -- having your e-mail, your bookmarks, various files, etc. -- but if you only ever work at your desk (at home and at the office), why not just set up a monitor/keyboard/mouse at each location and shuttle the CPU back and forth?

No, it's not a replacement for a laptop for those who use a laptop creatively and in varying locations, but it is an alternative for those who simply need their data in more than one regular location.

P.S., this isn't a new concept. Going back about 8-10 years, there was a computer called (iirc) the Brick sold by (iirc) Ergo (if you've got one, I'd love to have one in my collection!) that was basically the same thing, albeit much larger. And going back even further, computers such as the Apple IIc were touted as "portables", but you needed a monitor at each location.

You can always kill external frames on your website with some javascript.

True, but I don't like to use JavaScript if I don't have to -- especially since a lot of people have JavaScript disabled (or, and this is especially poignant for a classic computers site, can't run JavaScript.) I prefer to limit my JavaScript usage to stuff where the page is demonstrably better for it.

So, as far as I'm concerned, I shouldn't have to increase my file size and put in unnecessary complexities just because ask.com wants to make money at my expense.

But silly me, I'm one of those weirdos who resents having to put bars on my windows, not being able to walk downtown at night, and having to learn about firewalls.

I know its not ideal, but it hardly seems worth the trouble too sue them,

And therein lies the rub. That's why I haven't done anything about it (except recommend against using AskJeeves to my clients, friends, family, etc.)

The big guy always wins, because the little guy doesn't have the time or the resources to fight it.

and as other posters have pointed out, deep linking is legal, and its not like they've skipped an outer frame that identifies what site it is, or the copyright information.

The issue here is not deep linking; I don't mind (for this site, especially) deep linking. If someone is looking for information about the Sharp PC-5000, the Radio Shack Model 100, or the Iasis Computer in a Book, they should be able to find it directly. I just don't want them to have to put up with an annoying banner ad (that isn't helping to support the site even!) while they get it.

You can always kill external frames on your website with some javascript.

True, but I don't like to use JavaScript if I don't have to -- especially since a lot of people have JavaScript disabled (or, and this is especially poignant for a classic computers site, can't run JavaScript.) I prefer to limit my JavaScript usage to stuff where the page is demonstrably better for it.

So, as far as I'm concerned, I shouldn't have to increase my file size and put in unnecessary complexities just because ask.com wants to make money at my expense.

But silly me, I'm one of those weirdos who resents having to put bars on my windows, not being able to walk downtown at night, and having to learn about firewalls.

I know its not ideal, but it hardly seems worth the trouble too sue them,

And therein lies the rub. That's why I haven't done anything about it (except recommend against using AskJeeves to my clients, friends, family, etc.)

The big guy always wins, because the little guy doesn't have the time or the resources to fight it.

and as other posters have pointed out, deep linking is legal, and its not like they've skipped an outer frame that identifies what site it is, or the copyright information.

The issue here is not deep linking; I don't mind (for this site, especially) deep linking. If someone is looking for information about the Sharp PC-5000, the Radio Shack Model 100, or the Iasis Computer in a Book, they should be able to find it directly. I just don't want them to have to put up with an annoying banner ad (that isn't helping to support the site even!) while they get it.

You can always kill external frames on your website with some javascript.

True, but I don't like to use JavaScript if I don't have to -- especially since a lot of people have JavaScript disabled (or, and this is especially poignant for a classic computers site, can't run JavaScript.) I prefer to limit my JavaScript usage to stuff where the page is demonstrably better for it.

So, as far as I'm concerned, I shouldn't have to increase my file size and put in unnecessary complexities just because ask.com wants to make money at my expense.

But silly me, I'm one of those weirdos who resents having to put bars on my windows, not being able to walk downtown at night, and having to learn about firewalls.

I know its not ideal, but it hardly seems worth the trouble too sue them,

And therein lies the rub. That's why I haven't done anything about it (except recommend against using AskJeeves to my clients, friends, family, etc.)

The big guy always wins, because the little guy doesn't have the time or the resources to fight it.

and as other posters have pointed out, deep linking is legal, and its not like they've skipped an outer frame that identifies what site it is, or the copyright information.

The issue here is not deep linking; I don't mind (for this site, especially) deep linking. If someone is looking for information about the Sharp PC-5000, the Radio Shack Model 100, or the Iasis Computer in a Book, they should be able to find it directly. I just don't want them to have to put up with an annoying banner ad (that isn't helping to support the site even!) while they get it.

You can always kill external frames on your website with some javascript.

True, but I don't like to use JavaScript if I don't have to -- especially since a lot of people have JavaScript disabled (or, and this is especially poignant for a classic computers site, can't run JavaScript.) I prefer to limit my JavaScript usage to stuff where the page is demonstrably better for it.

So, as far as I'm concerned, I shouldn't have to increase my file size and put in unnecessary complexities just because ask.com wants to make money at my expense.

But silly me, I'm one of those weirdos who resents having to put bars on my windows, not being able to walk downtown at night, and having to learn about firewalls.

I know its not ideal, but it hardly seems worth the trouble too sue them,

And therein lies the rub. That's why I haven't done anything about it (except recommend against using AskJeeves to my clients, friends, family, etc.)

The big guy always wins, because the little guy doesn't have the time or the resources to fight it.

and as other posters have pointed out, deep linking is legal, and its not like they've skipped an outer frame that identifies what site it is, or the copyright information.

The issue here is not deep linking; I don't mind (for this site, especially) deep linking. If someone is looking for information about the Sharp PC-5000, the Radio Shack Model 100, or the Iasis Computer in a Book, they should be able to find it directly. I just don't want them to have to put up with an annoying banner ad (that isn't helping to support the site even!) while they get it.

This pisses me off, since people then assume they're looking at content owned/developed/posted/etc. by ask.com. They, of course, don't pay me for this, nor have they asked permission. What makes it worse is that they have their banner add on top, and I certainly do not want unrelated banner ads "on" my site.

Wasn't this (wrapping someone else's content in your frameset so it was unclear where the content came from) ruled illegal (I seem to remember a case involving the New York Times having its content web-napped by another site.)

Anyway, the conceit on the part of Ask.com -- to think that they can just slap their name on someone else's carefully crafted site design -- is incredible. Almost as outrageous as my own. And don't they owe me at least a portion of the revenue they've generated by adding banners to my site?

Am I alone in this, or does it piss others off too?

Personally, I'm more into classic computers.

The boxes themselves looked.. unconventional.

Actually, there are those who say its appearance was derived from the (for the time) nearly ubiquitous IBM terminals that littered desks throughout corporate america. This was to make sure it was "immediately recognizable as a computer."

Furthermore, there was no real standard for microcomputer appearance at the time -- the IBM PC slab was not yet universal -- many businesses had Apple II's, Radio Shack Model II, III, and 12's, and Sol-20's, none of which were necessarily computer-ish looking. (Most people in the early 80's thought of computers as huge things (PDP-11, HP-3000, IBM 360) with spinning (reel-to-reel) tape drives.)

In terms of functionality, the Lisa lacked alot of commonly desired features which were in demand at the time (heh, like color)

Um, the target market was Business. It has only been in the last 10 years that color has started to become an important part of business computing; hard copy is still mostly black and white. Perhaps you are thinking of video games?

I know that at the time, I was recommending avoiding color monitors (CGA) for business use as the resolution was terrible (320x240, iirc) as compared to Hercules monochrome (720x?)

Whatever you _could_ do with one often took a great deal of time to accomplish, and the box itself would crash fairly frequently.

Sure, it was slow, as were most personal computers then. The Lisa was trying to do an awful lot with the limited hardware available. And yes, like the rest of the personal computer industry in those days, it was not the epitomy of reliability. (Like that has changed much...)

Above that, it wasnt abundantly clear to the first-time user how to go about operating one,

Excuse me, but do you expect a first-time user to be able to do anything at all with Unix/Linux the first time they sit down in front of it? With a GUI, the user can at least move the mouse, notice a correlation between its movement and the movement of something on the screen. When the Lisa was introduced, most people had no experience with a computer at all. The Lisa was intended to get them up to speed in the shortest possible time. The first 10 minutes might have been sheer hell, but after that it would make sense.

(This, of course, is where the MacOS succeeded and Windows failed -- there is one key combination, for example, that will close any program on the Mac. (Command-Q, iirc) Under Windows, you might have Ctrl-Q, Ctrl-X, Alt-F4, or something completely different. On the Mac, once you knew one program, you kinda knew them all. Not so under Windows.)

and why this sort of design was better than the conventional command-line driven concept used in personal computers in common usage at that time.

For new users, there was nothing to remember. No secret incantations to be typed. Click on a menu, then select a option. Click on icons. It's all there. With CLI's, you need to remember the commands, the options, etc. Much more efficient in the long run, but not easy to use at first.

I think Apple's main motivation for killing the Lisa was that it would have been a public-relations disaster anyway. Better to drop the curtain on a bad product than to have the public drop the curtain on you.

We'll never really know for sure, but the reasons I've heard (with reasonable credibility) include internal politics and competition with the Macintosh group.

But yes, many were scrapped, by Sun Remarketing, on Apple's order, iirc. They still sell Mac parts and used to have some Lisa stuff.

wasnt even a processor powerful enough to make all the pretty widgets work.

The Lisa was based on the Xerox Alto (See here, here, here, and here) from the early 70's, so it was certainly doable, although perhaps not with the single-chip-CPU concept that seems to be the only thing the kids of today can conceive of.

And no, I don't have one in my collection. Yet.

Translation 1: I'm too lazy to learn how to do anything -- someone do my work for me.

I didn't say I (or anyone else) couldn't write code; I said that our strengths lay elsewhere. You must be a true newbie if you've never run across someone who really just wasn't such a great programmer, no matter how hard they tried, or how much they studied.

And of course, when you want to see a movie, you go film/act/direct/produce it yourself. And you do all your own cooking (you never eat in restaurants since you've yet to find someone who can cook as well as you do.) You don't bother to play any video games other than the ones you developed, since you're the best game designer there is. You write your own novels, too. Naturally, you do all your own auto repairs, and home repairs, and you take your own trash to the dump, and you only listen to music you've written/performed/recorded.

My, my, aren't we the Heinleinesque ideal?

Translation 2: I'm best suited for telling others what to do.

Well, not me personally, but yes, there are those whose strengths lie in managing projects. They know how to motivate people, and can effectively run interference between the people that do the work and those whose job it is to prevent them (upper management). Generally, they aren't what would be called a geek, but the better ones (in the high-tech industries, anyway) are at least technologically aware.

But of course, you're the ultimate superman, doing everything yourself because your the best person for every job.

As for me, personally, I've been told that I'm really good at designing usable interfaces and explaining things to the non-technical. So I've done some teaching, a fair bit of tech support, a lot of specs, and quite a bit of coding. (Mind you, I wouldn't bet I was coding before you were born, but it wouldn't surprise me.)

Oh, no, wait a sec -- I've got a list of nifty ideas for projects right here. As soon as I dig 'em up, I'll expect you to get to work...

Thanks, but no thanks. I'm currently working way too much, and have a ton of projects of my own, ranging from writing documentation, to rewriting a couple of systems in Java, to finishing a number of web sites, to getting the stupid computer in the bedroom to see the network again, after swapping ethernet cards.

But sure, e-mail me with your list of projects. If any of them have merit, and I can find the time, I'll work on them, and make the money from them. I'm not too proud to think that others may have good ideas (perhaps even better than my own) and put them to use.

Which leads me to the point I made originally (and that you missed) -- when someone offers a suggestion in an area that is not your area of expertise, take advantage of it.

Did anyone notice that the article said that it was PORTABLE?! HAH! Has anyone seen the PET 2001? Its portable if your definition of portable is neither bolted to the desk or chained to alarm system!

Portable had a different meaning back then. IBM called their 5100 a "portable" computer as well, causing some to (mistakenly!) consider it the first portable computer. (It's not, that's most likely the STM Systems Baby! 1).

Today, people think of a "portable" computer as one that you would normally take with you during the everyday course of business, to be used in many different locations. These can range in size from wearables to Handspring Visors, to notebooks, to lunchboxes, all the way up to the sewing-machine-sized osborne 1 and similar.

But back then, "portable" would have meant a computer that didn't need to be in a specially-built, air-conditioned, extra-clean room, and you didn't need to hire a team of specialists from the manufacturer just to move it to another part of the office. You could unplug it, put it on a cart, wheel it over to where ever you wanted it, and plug it back in. It was relatively portable.

These were not something you would move around all the time; they were something you could move when you had to.

Later, a new level of functionality began to emerge -- computers designed to be taken with you and used in multiple locations, perhaps even during the same day. "Portable" computing took on a new meaning, fostered by such innovative or popular computers as the Osborne 1, GRiD Compass, Sharp PC-5000, Panasonic HHC, Epson HX-20, TRS-80 Model 100, and of course the Compaq Portable.

You can see more venerable portable computers in my collection, or elsewhere on the web. You can see many of them in person at the next Vintage Computer Festival.

Did anyone notice that the article said that it was PORTABLE?! HAH! Has anyone seen the PET 2001? Its portable if your definition of portable is neither bolted to the desk or chained to alarm system!

Portable had a different meaning back then. IBM called their 5100 a "portable" computer as well, causing some to (mistakenly!) consider it the first portable computer. (It's not, that's most likely the STM Systems Baby! 1).

Today, people think of a "portable" computer as one that you would normally take with you during the everyday course of business, to be used in many different locations. These can range in size from wearables to Handspring Visors, to notebooks, to lunchboxes, all the way up to the sewing-machine-sized osborne 1 and similar.

But back then, "portable" would have meant a computer that didn't need to be in a specially-built, air-conditioned, extra-clean room, and you didn't need to hire a team of specialists from the manufacturer just to move it to another part of the office. You could unplug it, put it on a cart, wheel it over to where ever you wanted it, and plug it back in. It was relatively portable.

These were not something you would move around all the time; they were something you could move when you had to.

Later, a new level of functionality began to emerge -- computers designed to be taken with you and used in multiple locations, perhaps even during the same day. "Portable" computing took on a new meaning, fostered by such innovative or popular computers as the Osborne 1, GRiD Compass, Sharp PC-5000, Panasonic HHC, Epson HX-20, TRS-80 Model 100, and of course the Compaq Portable.

You can see more venerable portable computers in my collection, or elsewhere on the web. You can see many of them in person at the next Vintage Computer Festival.

Did anyone notice that the article said that it was PORTABLE?! HAH! Has anyone seen the PET 2001? Its portable if your definition of portable is neither bolted to the desk or chained to alarm system!

Portable had a different meaning back then. IBM called their 5100 a "portable" computer as well, causing some to (mistakenly!) consider it the first portable computer. (It's not, that's most likely the STM Systems Baby! 1).

Today, people think of a "portable" computer as one that you would normally take with you during the everyday course of business, to be used in many different locations. These can range in size from wearables to Handspring Visors, to notebooks, to lunchboxes, all the way up to the sewing-machine-sized osborne 1 and similar.

But back then, "portable" would have meant a computer that didn't need to be in a specially-built, air-conditioned, extra-clean room, and you didn't need to hire a team of specialists from the manufacturer just to move it to another part of the office. You could unplug it, put it on a cart, wheel it over to where ever you wanted it, and plug it back in. It was relatively portable.

These were not something you would move around all the time; they were something you could move when you had to.

Later, a new level of functionality began to emerge -- computers designed to be taken with you and used in multiple locations, perhaps even during the same day. "Portable" computing took on a new meaning, fostered by such innovative or popular computers as the Osborne 1, GRiD Compass, Sharp PC-5000, Panasonic HHC, Epson HX-20, TRS-80 Model 100, and of course the Compaq Portable.

You can see more venerable portable computers in my collection, or elsewhere on the web. You can see many of them in person at the next Vintage Computer Festival.

Did anyone notice that the article said that it was PORTABLE?! HAH! Has anyone seen the PET 2001? Its portable if your definition of portable is neither bolted to the desk or chained to alarm system!

Portable had a different meaning back then. IBM called their 5100 a "portable" computer as well, causing some to (mistakenly!) consider it the first portable computer. (It's not, that's most likely the STM Systems Baby! 1).

Today, people think of a "portable" computer as one that you would normally take with you during the everyday course of business, to be used in many different locations. These can range in size from wearables to Handspring Visors, to notebooks, to lunchboxes, all the way up to the sewing-machine-sized osborne 1 and similar.

But back then, "portable" would have meant a computer that didn't need to be in a specially-built, air-conditioned, extra-clean room, and you didn't need to hire a team of specialists from the manufacturer just to move it to another part of the office. You could unplug it, put it on a cart, wheel it over to where ever you wanted it, and plug it back in. It was relatively portable.

These were not something you would move around all the time; they were something you could move when you had to.

Later, a new level of functionality began to emerge -- computers designed to be taken with you and used in multiple locations, perhaps even during the same day. "Portable" computing took on a new meaning, fostered by such innovative or popular computers as the Osborne 1, GRiD Compass, Sharp PC-5000, Panasonic HHC, Epson HX-20, TRS-80 Model 100, and of course the Compaq Portable.

You can see more venerable portable computers in my collection, or elsewhere on the web. You can see many of them in person at the next Vintage Computer Festival.

Did anyone notice that the article said that it was PORTABLE?! HAH! Has anyone seen the PET 2001? Its portable if your definition of portable is neither bolted to the desk or chained to alarm system!

Portable had a different meaning back then. IBM called their 5100 a "portable" computer as well, causing some to (mistakenly!) consider it the first portable computer. (It's not, that's most likely the STM Systems Baby! 1).

Today, people think of a "portable" computer as one that you would normally take with you during the everyday course of business, to be used in many different locations. These can range in size from wearables to Handspring Visors, to notebooks, to lunchboxes, all the way up to the sewing-machine-sized osborne 1 and similar.

But back then, "portable" would have meant a computer that didn't need to be in a specially-built, air-conditioned, extra-clean room, and you didn't need to hire a team of specialists from the manufacturer just to move it to another part of the office. You could unplug it, put it on a cart, wheel it over to where ever you wanted it, and plug it back in. It was relatively portable.

These were not something you would move around all the time; they were something you could move when you had to.

Later, a new level of functionality began to emerge -- computers designed to be taken with you and used in multiple locations, perhaps even during the same day. "Portable" computing took on a new meaning, fostered by such innovative or popular computers as the Osborne 1, GRiD Compass, Sharp PC-5000, Panasonic HHC, Epson HX-20, TRS-80 Model 100, and of course the Compaq Portable.

You can see more venerable portable computers in my collection, or elsewhere on the web. You can see many of them in person at the next Vintage Computer Festival.

There is a lot of work going on to preserve the history of the computer industry, but there is still a lot that needs to be done. Much of our past is disappearing before our eyes as we continue to move forward.

(You can see part of my collection on-line as well.)

Maybe I'm just a female who could care less about playboy . . .

But maybe you should care a little bit more about your history.

The point is, if you don't know where you come from, you don't know where you're going. Do you know when and where computer-based video-conferencing was first demonstrated? (Try 30 years ago, Stanford and SF.) How about what the first personal computer was? (Guess again.) Can you identify the first clamshell-style laptop? (Or the second?)

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. If you want to learn more, check out the Vintage Computer Festival. (You can also check out my collection.)

Maybe I'm just a female who could care less about playboy . . .

But maybe you should care a little bit more about your history.

The point is, if you don't know where you come from, you don't know where you're going. Do you know when and where computer-based video-conferencing was first demonstrated? (Try 30 years ago, Stanford and SF.) How about what the first personal computer was? (Guess again.) Can you identify the first clamshell-style laptop? (Or the second?)

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. If you want to learn more, check out the Vintage Computer Festival. (You can also check out my collection.)

Maybe I'm just a female who could care less about playboy . . .

But maybe you should care a little bit more about your history.

The point is, if you don't know where you come from, you don't know where you're going. Do you know when and where computer-based video-conferencing was first demonstrated? (Try 30 years ago, Stanford and SF.) How about what the first personal computer was? (Guess again.) Can you identify the first clamshell-style laptop? (Or the second?)

Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. If you want to learn more, check out the Vintage Computer Festival. (You can also check out my collection.)

No mention was made regarding the connection to the Internet...that was just assumed to be there. But I have yet to hear about any affordable and sufficiently fast connection via mobile unit... How will they address this, or will they just leave it up to other companies to solve this general problem?

Transmeta is a chip company. They have come up with a innovative new chip for use in a mobile platform. How that platform will connect to the internet, is up to the companies that implement the chip in their portables.

The internet connection could be something as simple as an ethernet jack that you would plug an ordinary cat-5 cable into, or it could be an Apple-stype airport wireless LAN connection.

Personally, I'm going to use a Ricochet wireless modem.

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Help me switch to Linux!

No mention was made regarding the connection to the Internet...that was just assumed to be there. But I have yet to hear about any affordable and sufficiently fast connection via mobile unit... How will they address this, or will they just leave it up to other companies to solve this general problem?

Transmeta is a chip company. They have come up with a innovative new chip for use in a mobile platform. How that platform will connect to the internet, is up to the companies that implement the chip in their portables.

The internet connection could be something as simple as an ethernet jack that you would plug an ordinary cat-5 cable into, or it could be an Apple-stype airport wireless LAN connection.

Personally, I'm going to use a Ricochet wireless modem.

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Help me switch to Linux!

------------------------------------------
Help me switch to Linux!

I was actually looking at the Dell Inspirion since its upgradable to 512 MB ram and 75 GIGs of disk space. 15.4" monitor, DVD, lots of speed, and I like their touchpad's feel.

One thing I didn't mention was that with laptops, getting a good vendor is a little more important than with a desktop. If your video card (for example) goes bad on a desktop, you can chuck it and get a new one. Not so with a laptop. That's why I paid a little more for the Chembook name, rather than getting the ASUS version cheaper from some no-name little dealer.

512MB RAM seems like it's way more than anyone could ever need, but I seem to remember people saying that about 64K not too long ago... 8^) Same goes for disk space. In theory, though, disk space should only be limited by available drives -- is there an actual BIOS limit or something at 75GB?

A 15" monitor sounds dreamy, but be sure it's something you want to haul around. I'm 6', 280lbs, and use to carry one of those 40lb suitcase compaq-types, so it wouldn't bother me, but it's probably bigger than my wife. YMMV.

The touchpad is important, but 90% of the time my hands are on the keyboard (I do COBOL programming mostly) and most of the rest of the time I use an external Trackman Marble. My mobile work is mostly typing (web pages, journal, e-mail, etc.) so the keyboard is far more important to me.

I also want the ability to boot a Linux partition.

Check out the compatibility of the components -- video card, etc. I've not loaded Linux on my new one yet (where are those damn CD's?) but one of the reasons I picked this model was because of the Linux support available.

I really like your wireless modem, which sounds great, although not offered in my area and seems to only run under Win95/98 (which I will not stoop to running).

I've had it running under MS-DOS/Win3.11, Win98, GEM/TOS (Atari ST), and the MacOS. I'm sure I could use it with Linux if I had the time. I know of others who have used it with handhelds as well.

Basically, it's a hayes-compatible modem with a funny dialing string. The only problem I ever had was my Win3 dialer that didn't think "777**ppp" was a valid phone number. Note that for an extra $5/month, you can prepend a 9 and dial any landline modem. (I use this all the time to dial into client sites.) Check out some of my experiences with it.

Know of any other providers or hardware?

There are other, similar services, but most of them don't seem as simple or as well thought out as Ricochet. Check to see if a University in your area has coverage: I was travelling through Oregon one time and was surprised to get a signal. Turned out the hotel was right next to the Univ/OR which was wired for ricochet.

Failing that, get a bunch of your friends to send inquiries in the hope that there's enough potential business in your area to get them to set up a network.

I will have mine, btw, forever. When I die, there'll be a little antenna sticking up out of the ground by my headstone -- that'll be my Ricochet modem so I can update my web page from the other side... 8^)

I figured, get the fastest, strong, best now, and it'll take a little longer for it to be obsolete. But what about OS issues?

That's what I did 6 years ago. Six years was stretching it a bit, but you get the idea. My new laptop will hopefully last a while as well.

Personally, I would recommend focussing on (in order of importance):

• Keyboard -- If you are going to use your laptop with the built-in keyboard, make sure this works for you.
• Pointing device -- depending on your use, this may be as important as (or even more so) the keyboard. I loathe the erasers; mine has a trackpad.
• maximum possible RAM, preferably in a standard format -- you can never have too much, and it often makes a much bigger impact than processor speed.
• Screen -- very hard to upgrade, so get the biggest and best you can. Of course, you have to trade off the size of your screen versus the size of the screen. That is, a bigger screen is better, but it translates into a bigger overall laptop.
• Hard Drive -- it doesn't have to be huge, but make sure you can swap it out with another, standard drive. My last laptop started with 340MB, and has since had nearly a dozen different drives as big as 3+GB. My new laptop came with 6GB; I bought extra drive sleds for $20 each and have a 2GB loaded with DOS and a 10GB destined to get Linux.
• Battery -- If at all possible, have it be one of the more standard batteries. You'll need to replace it (or buy additional ones) so standard batteries are easier to find and cheaper.
• Processor -- I think processor speed is nowhere as important as available RAM. If it's upgradeable, that's great. If you've got the money, go for as fast a processor as you can, of course.

But what about OS issues?

Well, I went for a ChemBook 7400 which is one of the laptops that Linux Laptops used to sell. (Unfortunately, they stopped taking orders before I got mine.) There is also a page on running Linux on an ASUS 7400 (which is the OEM version of the ChemBook). For more general info, check out the Linux Laptop page.

I figured, get the fastest, strong, best now, and it'll take a little longer for it to be obsolete. But what about OS issues?

That's what I did 6 years ago. Six years was stretching it a bit, but you get the idea. My new laptop will hopefully last a while as well.

Personally, I would recommend focussing on (in order of importance):

• Keyboard -- If you are going to use your laptop with the built-in keyboard, make sure this works for you.
• Pointing device -- depending on your use, this may be as important as (or even more so) the keyboard. I loathe the erasers; mine has a trackpad.
• maximum possible RAM, preferably in a standard format -- you can never have too much, and it often makes a much bigger impact than processor speed.
• Screen -- very hard to upgrade, so get the biggest and best you can. Of course, you have to trade off the size of your screen versus the size of the screen. That is, a bigger screen is better, but it translates into a bigger overall laptop.
• Hard Drive -- it doesn't have to be huge, but make sure you can swap it out with another, standard drive. My last laptop started with 340MB, and has since had nearly a dozen different drives as big as 3+GB. My new laptop came with 6GB; I bought extra drive sleds for $20 each and have a 2GB loaded with DOS and a 10GB destined to get Linux.
• Battery -- If at all possible, have it be one of the more standard batteries. You'll need to replace it (or buy additional ones) so standard batteries are easier to find and cheaper.
• Processor -- I think processor speed is nowhere as important as available RAM. If it's upgradeable, that's great. If you've got the money, go for as fast a processor as you can, of course.

But what about OS issues?

Well, I went for a ChemBook 7400 which is one of the laptops that Linux Laptops used to sell. (Unfortunately, they stopped taking orders before I got mine.) There is also a page on running Linux on an ASUS 7400 (which is the OEM version of the ChemBook). For more general info, check out the Linux Laptop page.

I figured, get the fastest, strong, best now, and it'll take a little longer for it to be obsolete. But what about OS issues?

That's what I did 6 years ago. Six years was stretching it a bit, but you get the idea. My new laptop will hopefully last a while as well.

Personally, I would recommend focussing on (in order of importance):

• Keyboard -- If you are going to use your laptop with the built-in keyboard, make sure this works for you.
• Pointing device -- depending on your use, this may be as important as (or even more so) the keyboard. I loathe the erasers; mine has a trackpad.
• maximum possible RAM, preferably in a standard format -- you can never have too much, and it often makes a much bigger impact than processor speed.
• Screen -- very hard to upgrade, so get the biggest and best you can. Of course, you have to trade off the size of your screen versus the size of the screen. That is, a bigger screen is better, but it translates into a bigger overall laptop.
• Hard Drive -- it doesn't have to be huge, but make sure you can swap it out with another, standard drive. My last laptop started with 340MB, and has since had nearly a dozen different drives as big as 3+GB. My new laptop came with 6GB; I bought extra drive sleds for $20 each and have a 2GB loaded with DOS and a 10GB destined to get Linux.
• Battery -- If at all possible, have it be one of the more standard batteries. You'll need to replace it (or buy additional ones) so standard batteries are easier to find and cheaper.
• Processor -- I think processor speed is nowhere as important as available RAM. If it's upgradeable, that's great. If you've got the money, go for as fast a processor as you can, of course.

But what about OS issues?

Well, I went for a ChemBook 7400 which is one of the laptops that Linux Laptops used to sell. (Unfortunately, they stopped taking orders before I got mine.) There is also a page on running Linux on an ASUS 7400 (which is the OEM version of the ChemBook). For more general info, check out the Linux Laptop page.

I'll go ahead and guess that laptops will start to die off by the end of the year.

Wanna place a bet on that? Portable computers have been around for over 25 years -- I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, my experience has been just the opposite -- they are replacing desktops like crazy.

I think the days of using your laptop for a primary system are over. (Not that they were ever really here to begin with) The high end desktop CPU's are already pushing 800mhz, 450/600 just doesn't cut it, especially considering they cost so much more.

Well, not everyone does 3-D rendering all day; you might be surprised to find that 90% of the population can get by just fine with a 450mhz processor. Meanwhile, portability -- being able to work where ever, whenever you want -- is far more important than cutting a few milliseconds off that spell check.

As for cost, the relative price of a laptop to its comparable desktop counterpart is much closer than it was 10 years ago, and it continues to drop. In a few years, the price will be very nearly the same (but your desktop computer will come with an LCD screen.)

Wander down to the airport some time and check out how many folks you see waiting for flights with their laptops out. Take the bus some time during the rush hour and look around. Have lunch in Palo Alto or Mountain View and see what's on the menu. Heck, take a look in a CompUSA ad some Sunday and count the number of laptops versus desktops shown! I think you'll find that laptops are definitely not disappearing.

...poor substitutions for the mouse, and a small screen, all hinder its usage.

My six-year-old laptop has a full size keyboard, as does my new one. Among the well over 150 portable computers I own, there are indeed some with very substandard screens, keyboards, etc. There are some with even worse features, though. You pick whats important to you when you pay your money.

on the train/bus/etc while commuting, in a restaurant on a lunch break, so on and so forth - a non-work environment.

My laptops work great in those situations, but I am not limited to "supplemental tasks" -- because my laptop is my main computer, I am fully functional where ever I might be. I don't have to worry about jotting down notes to update something later, I can update it right then and there. Heck, with my wireless modem, I can update a web page, upload it, and view it off the net without leaving the coffee shop.

When I get somewhere where I work a lot (such as my home office, or my main client,) I plug into a docking station connected to a MS Natural Keyboard, a Logitech Trackman Marble, and a 17 inch monitor. For trips, I have a bag packed and ready to go with a network card, serial card, another trackman, a ballpoint mouse, and various keyboard and monitor cables.

The point is, where ever I am, I don't have to sacrifice. I have the best of all worlds, instead of sacrificing for a good machine some of the time!

people are finding laptops unwieldy for anything more.

Again, I think you are flat out wrong. Perhaps you find them unwieldy, but from what I've seen, laptops are replacing desktops in the corporate world left, right, and center. Fifteen years ago, I was about the only person I knew who owned a portable computer. Today, it doesn't surprise me to see two or more other people on the train with me working on a notebook -- at 9pm, going against the commute.

I have no problem carrying a large laptop -- it beats driving somewhere to walk on a treadmill the way people do -- but there are smaller, lighter ones that still have full-sized keyboards and screens.

Of course, portable computers aren't for everyone. My wife doesn't use hers anywhere nearly as often as I think she should. But for an awful lot of people, they are the future.

Why bother engineering to take all that luggage with you, when we could just engineer to leave the luggage at home and just take a ... dare I say it ... "window" into that luggage on the road with us...

My question is why would you want to leave it at home?

I have a P2/400 Laptop and want it to replace my existing 486DX2-66. My laptop is my main machine; any non-portables I have are pretty much single task machines. (There's the web browser in the bedroom (IMDB!), the Quicken machine, the web browser/MP3 player at my desk, etc.) If it's important, it goes on the laptop, and it goes with me.

When I travel, I don't have to rely on some hotel's idea of a decent machine (win95/98), or what's available at a client site (not my files). My commute time turns into productive time. I can take my system, configured the way it should be, and set up in advance to demos and meetings.

Four to six miles might be adequate for some people, but it simply wouldn't work for me.

Why bother engineering to take all that luggage with you, when we could just engineer to leave the luggage at home and just take a ... dare I say it ... "window" into that luggage on the road with us...

My question is why would you want to leave it at home?

I have a P2/400 Laptop and want it to replace my existing 486DX2-66. My laptop is my main machine; any non-portables I have are pretty much single task machines. (There's the web browser in the bedroom (IMDB!), the Quicken machine, the web browser/MP3 player at my desk, etc.) If it's important, it goes on the laptop, and it goes with me.

When I travel, I don't have to rely on some hotel's idea of a decent machine (win95/98), or what's available at a client site (not my files). My commute time turns into productive time. I can take my system, configured the way it should be, and set up in advance to demos and meetings.

Four to six miles might be adequate for some people, but it simply wouldn't work for me.

Perhaps for the hearing on the 14th the 'our' lawyers should be provided with a linux laptop that plays DVD's thanks to DeCSS code to show the judge.

I really hope to be there on the 14th, and I have a relatively new laptop with a PII-400, 160MB RAM 14.1" Screen, DVD Drive, 8MB Video Ram, and a blank 10GB hard drive waiting to load linux on it.

If someone wants to give me a hand setting it up (I've been short of time lately) and getting DeCSS running, I'd be happy to bring it along to show on the 14th. (Along with the stack of (legally purchased) DVD's I got this solstice.)