Tiger Learning Computer

From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_crl.com>
Date: Mon Jun 2 01:00:11 1997

On Wed, 28 May 1997, Jim wrote:

> And now, in the "the more things change, the more they stay the same" category,
>
> By now most of you have probably heard of the Tiger Learning Computer. It's
> an apple 2E clone that plugs into your tv and has rom carts for its programs.
>
> Let's see. Color, plugs into a tv, can be cartrige driven, less than 200
> bucks US. *sigh* I think Commodore died too soon. The 64 was all this and
> more. Now if I could just find one of the little beasties... (the TLC,
> not the C=64 - it wouldn't be the same as the one that was MINE.)

I've been wanting to get one of these really bad. They kinda sorta
decided to scrap the whole idea (they=Tiger). I guess JCPenny has an
exclusive distribution but everytime I checked their catalog during
christmas they didn't have it in there. If somebody knows where I can
buy the Tiger Learning Computer from, by all means speak up.

I was reading an issue of BusinessWeek that had an article on commercial
product design awards. Awards are given out each year for industrial
design of various products. This year a couple computers, which are
surely to become classic 10 years from now, won awards. I was thinking
about other systems that will be classic collectibles 10 years from now.
So allow me to propose this list of computers that will be so:

The Psion Series 3 (3, 3a, 3c) and Psion Siena - awesome palmtop
computers with multi-tasking operating system and integrated applcations
(I have one and swear as well as live by it).

Any PalmTop - HP OmniGo, Casio Cassiopea (with Windows CE), etc. Also,
some of the personal digital assistants like the Sharp Zaurus.

The Apple Newton and the Sony MagicLink.

The Apple eMate (one of the industrial design winners). It has a
touch-screen and is basically a Newton but has a full-sized keyboard and
is smaller and lighter than a laptop. It has no disk or hard drive.

The Philips VELO1 - a palmtop running Windows CE (also a winner in the
BusinessWeek article).

The Samsung NETboard computer - another winner, you have to see this one,
it is truly awesome. I wouldn't mind collecting it right now.

The IBM Aptiva which puts the CPU, CD-ROM and disk drive in a slim
console and the hard drive and expansion chassis in a seperate box (I
assume connected by a bus cable). Again, this was another industrial
design winner.

So anyway, this is just my speculation. I think what makes these systems
stand out from the rest of the crap you have today is that they are
unique or have special features about them that set them apart from the
Wintel clones (which is I guess to reiterate they are unique).


Sam
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Received on Mon Jun 02 1997 - 01:00:11 BST