A couple of updates.

> This sounds like the IBM 5100 desktop computer. It was "portable" with a
> special leather carrying case, but weighed 55 lbs. You could drag it about
> 100 ft before collapsing. It had a 16 x 64 screen and a 3M tape drive. You
> could get either an APL or BASIC version, or one with both. It was based
on
> a proprietary IBM 8-bit microprocessor. This was the product that first
> brought be into contact with IBM as a technical consultant. I finalized
> some software and documentation on a prototype in the Rochester, MN,
> factory.

That sounds like the same beast.  I don't remember ever seeing it carried
(it was always on a truck).  I never saw a BASIC version - I wonder if that
was 5100 and the APL version was 5200.

> At 01:04 AM 4/22/01 -0500, Dale wrote:
> >Myke, maybe you'll remember what I have forgotten.  I used to take field
> >service calls on one back in the early to mid-80s.  I think it was 8085
> >based, used what I believe was something *very* close to the PC bus --
> >same connectors and similar layout.  It was available in two versions,
> >"Data Processing" and "Word Processing".  The WP version ran OS/6
software
> >from ROM, the DP version ran BASIC.  It looked to me at the time like it
> >had been the test bed for PC technology.  My customers were havig one
hell
> >of a time finding software support, as IBM had pretty much orphaned the
> >product and didn't seem to want to admit it existed.  Do you remember
this
> >animal?  Some salesdroid in the Cleveland area sold a bunch of them, I've
> >never seen them anywhere else but a few small manufacturers and one
> >synagogue there.
>
> There was an IBM word processing computer powered by the 8085 in this time
> frame. Actually, it was reasonably popular and predated the IBM PC. I
can't
> recollect the name. Wang also had a competing system at the time.

Wasn't it called the "DisplayWriter"?  Sorry I can't remember the model
number.  I seem to remember that it had an 8086 in it, not an 8085.  I also
remember that the display was turned 90 degrees ("Portrait" for Windows
users) so you could also see the entire page and used 8" Floppies.  It was a
strange beast and I remember it being pushed mostly by the typewriter
marketeers.

The word processing software ("DisplayWrite") was ported to PC-DOS by IBM
and was reasonably successful.  I also think that the software port killed
the DisplayWriter because there was no reason to buy the much more (closed
design and software) expensive word processor.

myke

--
http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads