What Classic Computer are All About - A Lovers View

From: Benedict Chong <bluesky6_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Fri Jul 11 19:24:26 1997

On Sat, 12 Jul 1997 00:00:40 GMT, you wrote:

%
%Nor me. One of the reasons I use classics is that they're so well
made and
%so reliable. A few weeks back I mentioned at a computer club that a
new
%hard disk that I'd run for less than 25 _hours_ was already giving me
trouble
%but that a 25 _year_ old minicomputer on the same desk was still
going strong.

It really depends. No doubt minicomputer HD were reliable, but the
early MFM stuff for PCs were shitty to work with.

%Err, don't forget the HP Saturn, which is used in almost all their
%calculators (including the HP48). That's a 4-bit machine at the
hardware
%level (and sort-of 64 bit at the software level - strange chip).

It's a pity that a lot of the custom uProcessors were never really
publicly documented. That includes the ones found in the Sharp Basic
calculators.

%Or an 8048, 8051, ST6, PIC, COP4, COP8, 7810, or something custom.

Or the F8 which later became the 3870 (I think).

Ben
Received on Fri Jul 11 1997 - 19:24:26 BST