From: John Kim (jokim_at_CHS.CUSD.CLAREMONT.EDU)
Date: Mon Dec 13 1993 - 21:09:10 EST
I got the hard drive prices from IBM direct (their catalog). 170MB drive is
$649. 340MB drive is $1299. I exchanged some mail with Doug Haigh (the guy
on TP350 development at IBM who occasionally shows up on comp.sys.laptops)
and he verified the hard drive is a 2.5" IDE. I asked the tech support line
for more info but they said they don't have any more - I'd have to talk
with engineering (i.e. Mr. Haigh) to get more info on using a 3rd party
hard drive. I did find out that IBM has a testing process where 3rd party
manufacturers can get their products verified as "ThinkPad compatible."
There currently aren't any hard drives with that label, and they weren't
able to tell me if there were any hard drives being tested. The hard drive
can wait for now I guess.
In message Mon, 13 Dec 1993 16:33:45 -0600 (CST),
Sean Chou <ychou_at_uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> writes:
> I just called IBM again (they must know me by voice now) to get more
> specs. First, did you know we only have 16450s on our serial ports?
> How disapointing. It would've cost them about $10 to put a 16550 in
> there.
Heh heh. That's the FIRST thing I noticed. My friend bought a modem even
though he doesn't have a computer (the modem was on sale for a killer price)
so he's lending it to me until he buys a computer. It's a external 14.4 so
of course I hooked it up to the serial port. First time I tried it, I got
dropped characters. I eventually figured out FUELDOS.EXE was the culprit,
but when I checked the port with some FOSSIL drivers, it showed a 16450.
> At least we have EPPs. Also, the architecture is ISA, not
> micro-channel as some people have believed (myself included), which is
> good is some respects. Does anyone know if it's local bus?
The 700 and 720 were MCA, but 16-bit (kinda like the 386SX architecture).
The 750 is 32-bit memory access and 16-bit ISA bus (including the PCMCIA
slots, come to think of it, I think PCMCIA is a 16-bit standard). The MCA
multitasks stuff on the motherboard better (like the serial and parallel
ports), but the 750 came out ahead of the 720 in benchmarks so I think the
32-bit memory helps (the 720 is a clock doubled SLC2/50, and a DX2/50 will
blow away a DX/33). The video and hard disk (IDE interface) are on the
486SL's PI local bus.
As much as I'd like a 32-bit MCA notebook, I don't think there's any PC
notebook that's fully 32-bit in all respects. Even the Apple Powerbooks
have a 16-bit data path (again like the 386SX). Maybe the Sparc Tadpole
notebooks...
> Also, I have occasional problems when I first boot up, come out of
> suspend, or plug in the power cord where the screen will look like it's
> moving up and down. Has anyone else come across this? I think it's some
> sort of power feed corruption or something.
Mine's a mono, but while it's plugged into the AC adapter, a couple bright
horizontal lines will flicker across the screen every once in a while. I've
had no problems with screen movement, other than the normal mono problems.
> Lastly, even though MSD and other things report our video as XGA (try
> it if you haven't already), IBM says it's SVGA (but then you can't
> always trust a technician).
It's a Western Digital 90C23 (the "Rocket" chipset) accelerated chipset.
That's SVGA, not XGA. The OS/2 and Windows drivers are specifically made
for the 90C23, although I've noticed the Windows drivers support jump
scrolling and the OS/2 drivers don't. The VESA drivers under DOS let it
emulate a VESA chipset. Otherwise, it runs as a Paradise card (drivers for
the Paradise are not accelerated).
> About the pixels...they said 14 blown pixels on dark background and 7
> on light background. I have 1 red, 2 blues, and 1 green. What a
> bummer....
Gee, I wish I had blown red, blue, and green pixels. A color screen would
be awfully nice. :)
-- John H. Kim | "If you'd told me within one year of losing the jokim_at_jarthur.cs.hmc.edu | election I'd be sitting in my living room rooting This mail sent by NUPop | for Al Gore..." - Dan Quayle, on NAFTA debate
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