On Sun, 22 Apr 2001, myke predko wrote:

> > 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.

Nope, I remember the DisplayWriter, which was (I think) a direct
descendent of / replacement for the OS/6.  This was a different box.  I
mostly worked on big iron and only occasionally took calls on Series/1 and
smaller systems.  I was working for a small 3rd party maintainer at the
time, then later for Sorbus.

> 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.

Yup.  I think the later DW systems were built in a worked-over 5251
cabinet, weighed a ton.

Dale
---
The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new
discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..."
                -- Isaac Asimov

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