Hyperion (was: Re: This Week's Haul)

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Mon Aug 17 01:55:02 1998

On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, Doug Yowza wrote:

> On Sun, 16 Aug 1998, Doug Spence wrote:
>
> > While I would definitely classify it as an MS-DOS machine rather than an
> > IBM-PC compatible (because it isn't very PC compatible), I don't know why
> > you specify DOS 1.x?
>
> Because that's what mine came with. The Hyperion was intro'd at the
> Spring 1982 Comdex, which I think beat Compaq's intro, so natch the
> world's first portable DOS machine is going to come with MS-DOS 1.x.

OK. I wasn't aware of the exact timing of the machine's introduction, nor
do I know the timeline of the various DOS versions. I suspected a 1982
date for the Hyperion, though, because there was a blurb about it in the
April 1983 issue of Computing Now! magazine, where they compared 50
systems.

Somebody's web page had a "late 80s" date which I knew to be bogus.

Did the Hyperion beat Compaq's intro? And if so, how come Compaq
generally gets the credit?

> > No software I've tried so far (admittedly little) has seen the Hyperion's
> > internal modem or serial port. What do I have to do to get these to work?
>
> I take it you don't have the original docs or software? Mine came with
> some software called IN:TOUCH that uses the modem.

I bought both units at the Salvation Army, for $10 CDN each. As you know,
the Salvation Army is very bad at keeping bits and pieces of systems
together, even if they do arrive at the store together. So no, I don't
have docs, disks, or the carrying cases, I only have the machines
themselves.

> I don't see a lot of technical details in the manual, but here are a few
> tidbits: there's a built-in RAM disk (C:);

Do I need to specify something in the config.sys to get this running?
Just booting up bog-standard MS-DOS and typing "c:" doesn't get me
anywhere.

> the connectors in the back from left to right are: composite video, phone,
> line, optional accoustic coupler, serial, parallel, expansion;

I had figured as much from the pictograms on my second Hyperion unit. The
first one had labels that were off-center and didn't really look the way
they were supposed to (the picture for the composite video had three
circles and I took that to mean RGB, and there were three unlabeled phone
jacks beneath that, so I thought they might be for some bizarre RGB
monitor connection).

How fast is the modem? 300 baud?

> display modes: 320x200, 640x200, 320x250, 640x250.

Are the x250 modes normal for the PC?

> -- Doug


Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
Received on Mon Aug 17 1998 - 01:55:02 BST

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