AT&T 6300

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Tue Mar 3 22:28:16 1998

At 04:47 PM 3/3/98 -0800, you wrote:
>At 06:42 PM 3/3/98, you wrote:
>> They're not as common as PCs or Commodores but they're not rare. There's
>>several in a trift store here (Orlando) including one 6300+ (286 CPU
>>instead of 8086). There is also two complete sets of docs and software
>there.
>
>Pretty much true...
>
>> They are totally IBM compatable and most use 8086 CPU.
>
>I'll differ on this point. one of the primary things that killed the '6300
>was that it was NOT totally IBM compatable. The video subsystem (noted
>below) is a prime example.

  You're might be right about the video if you had a program that wrote
directly to the video memory since the AT&T did have a higher resolution.
However they are compatable at the DOS level. One friend of mine still has
two of these that he bought in 1986 (?) and he's has never found anything
wouldn't run on them. He's not the kind to collect every program that he
sees so that may not be a difficult test.

>
>The '6300 was Olivetti's (OEM'd by AT&T) take on a 'better' PC. It failed.
>
   Not necessarily. AT&T's marketing is what failed. That's what happened
to the 7300, 3B1 and the 3B2s as well.

>>Hard drives were optional in them and not very reliable IMO.
>
>The drives they used overall were not notably better or worse than most of
>the time. They did make some poor choices at times on who to buy their
>drives from.

   Well, I'll put it this way. Four of my friends bought these machines new
and none of the hard drives lasted a year. One lasted less than two days.
To me, that's unreliable. They all replaced the built-in hard drives with
hard cards and all lived happily ever after.
>
>>They use a special monitor and
>>video card and connector (DB 25). Color monitors for them are rare but the
>>color and monochrome monitors both use the same video card. The power for
>>the monitor is supplied through the video connector and they have a higher
>>resolution than standard CGA.
>
>(see note above)

   ???????

  Joe
Received on Tue Mar 03 1998 - 22:28:16 GMT