Portable Collection

From: John Ruschmeyer <jruschme_at_exit109.com>
Date: Sat Dec 6 14:45:20 1997

> > >Can anyone else think of some I should be looking for?
>
> The military once procured a bunch of XT-like machines that were portable
> and keyboardless. Everything was done thru a touchscreen, including a
> virtual keyboard. About five years ago, there were a bunch floating around
> the hamfests in the Chicago area.

I can't speak for the other services, but the Army has produced a number
of portable computers under it's Common Hardware/Software (CHS) program.

CHS I systems included the Handheld Terminal Unit (HTU), an AT-class
system which looked (loosely) like a militarized TRS-80 Model 100.
These were manufactured by Miltope.

Miltope also produced the CHS I Tactical Computer Unit (TCU), a ruggedized
HP-9000. The 300 series-based units are starting to show up at the
military surplus auctions. Most were upgraded at some time to 9000/370's,
but you may still see some 350's and 330's out there. These look like
a rugged version of the original Compaq portable (but a *lot* heavier.

Associated with the TCU was the Mass Storage Expansion Unit (MSEU), a
ruggedized SCSI box which usually contained a 660MB MO disk, a CD-ROM drive,
and space for a removable 1/2 height hard disk.

Ruggedized HP monitors and Okidata printers were also available as part
of the CHS I contract.

The TCU, MSEU, and periperals were all ruggedized by Miltope.

CHS II was awarded to a GTE/Sun team. The TCU and better are ruggedized
Sparc 20's. The HTU is a pentium-based slate-like device with a fold
down keyboard (Manufactured by Litton).

Also part of CHS, but awarded under a different set of contracts was the
Lightweight Computer Unit (LCU), a portable 486 (later Pentium, etc). The
LCU comes in two varieties: the v1 and the v2. The early v1 LCU was a
Zenith Mastersport (?) 486 (the one with the ISOBar mouse) fitted with
a custom underbelly (looks like an oil pan) to give it 3 or 5 ISA slots.
Later v1's are pretty much off-the-shelf Compaqs. The V2 LCU is a custom
rugged lunchbox-style system with built in LCD and removable hard disk.
The earliest v2's were 486/33's with mono screens subsequent upgrades
have taken them to Pentium power and color screens. A special version of
the V2 LCU for the Army's Applique program has seperate screen/KB and
CPU sections, connected by cables.

The LCU SOW called for it to act as a general purpose PC, Unix workstation
(Interactive, later SCO), and also serve as a platform for test equipment.
Consequently, you can see LCU's fitted with cards such as DVM's, IEEE-488
cards, and ethernet cards, all available under the contract.

The LCU team is headed by SAIC.


<<<John>>>
Received on Sat Dec 06 1997 - 14:45:20 GMT