ftp.barnyard.co.uk/2015.02.ftp.barnyard.co.uk.tar/ftp.barnyard.co.uk/cpm/walnut-creek-CDROM/CPM/BONDWELL/BW2UTIL1.LBR/BONDWEL2.RZW/BONDWEL2.RVW

Text File | 2000-06-30 | 15KB | 236 lines

                            BONDWELL 2 REVIEW

For well over a year I seriously considered getting a portable computer as a
companion to my Kaypro 1.  Since I am firmly committed to CP/M, I did not
seriously consider purchasing the Kaypro 2000 or any other MS-DOS portable.
While the Radio Shack 100 was attractive, its memory limitations (8K upgrad-
able to 24K) were too severe for any practical purposes.  The first CP/M
portable that I considered purchasing was the Epson Geneva.  This comes with
64K of memory, which is respectable, and had WordStar to boot -- or what they
called WordStar-to-Go.  Since WordStar is my oldest computing friend, that was
great.  However, the version of it for the Geneva turned out to be severely
trunucated.  Many aspects of WordStar were dropped for lack of space --includ-
ing the file directory! That did it -- if I couldn't know what files I had and
had to guess at their names, it was useless.  End of Epson Geneva fantasy.

Some of my friends, equally intrigued by portables, purchased the NEC port-
able, also CP/M, and gave it good reviews.  However, it too, came with Word-
Star-to-Go, so I let it go.

About six months ago I first learned of the Bondwell 2 portable from a mailing
sent out by Peopletalk, who offered it at $995 (plus various accessories).
The fact that it had a built-in disk drive with 360K sounded almost too good
to believe, as did the fact that it came with an 8 hour rechargable battery.
To top it off, it came bundled with WordStar and other Micropro programs
(Mailmerge, CalcStar, DataStar, and ReportStar.)  In fact, it sounded much
like a portable clone of my Kaypro.

Not long afterward, an ad in Computer Shopper offered the Bondwell 2 for $859,
including a 300 baud modem, one of the accessories that sold for $130 by
itself.  Now I finally got into gear to purchase it.  A call to the company
listing it brought assurances that it would be available for that price the
next month, along with the modem.  When the next issue of Computer Shopper
came out, however, no ad for it was to be found and a call to the company
brought the news that they no longer carried it.  Why not? The profit margin
was too small.  (The moral here is to move quickly when a bargain rears its
head in Computer Shopper.)

Somewhat abashed, I called Bondwell directly in California.  They told me they
had cut the price for the Bondwell 2 to $795 -- this explained why the other
company had dropped it -- their price of $859 was no longer a bargain.  Bond-
well gave me the name and phone number of the Midwest representative in Kansas
City, and I called him, intending to hesitate no longer.  He confirmed the new
$795 price, and we completed an order for the computer plus two cables at $30
each (necessary because the Centronics and RS232 ports are smaller than nor-
mal), and the carrying case ($40 -- originally $79).  The price, including
taxes, came to $940, and the dealer gave me $100 off.  So the total cost was
$840.  I sent a bank check that day, and UPS delivered a large box of equip-
ment one week later.

As portables go, the Bondwell is a bit heavy at 12 pounds.  (The NEC Starlet
weighs only 6 pounds, but it also doesn't have a disk drive.)  The size is
quite small, however, 11.2 by 12.2 by 3.1 inches.  It does have a fine handle,
and is easily carried that way or in the carrying case, which, like the
cables, seems to be pretty much of a necessity (the case also has room for the
recharger and the optional second disk drive.)  The screen folds over the
keyboard and locks securely.  However, it is also easy to open.  My initial
reaction was a combination of delight and despair.  Delight that the keyboard
was as fine as it is (the cursor keys form a square that seems so natural it's
hard to know why every computer doesn't have them that way.)  At the same
time, the fact of life of a LCD screen was inescapable -- it is simply hard to
read.  That is, until you get it in the right light.  The best light is
outside, where it is possible to find an angle clear enough for even the
crankiest user.  The next best light, when indoors, is directly behind or
above the screen.  The key point is that the LCD screen does not emit any
light of its own, and it is therefore totally dependent on reflected light.
Fortunately, the screen can be adjusted to take the best advantage of the
available light.  On the other hand, those used to working in half-dim rooms
will have to give that up fast. (I have heard recently of a firm called Axonics
that offers a backlit screen for all LCD portables.  Although it would use
more of the battery, I would be happy to trade an hour or two off the eight
available for a little light that would illumine the screen better than the
way it is.  Note that the MS-DOS version of the Bondwell portable does have a
backlit screen.)  However, it should be added that the LCD screen, whatever
its limitations, does fit 80 X 25 characters on the screen, which makes it
identical to the amount present on the Kaypro.  This is very important.  Also,
the LCD resolution is about the best available, with 640 X 200 pixels.

The one accessory I decided to skip was the modem, when the dealer assured me
that it was not needed in order to send files between two computers -- that
this could be done by linking the serial ports.  This, then, was one of my
primary concerns, since I wanted to make the many CP/M programs available in
this portable format.  Using the RS232C cable hooked to the serial port of the
Bondwell and the modem port of the Kaypro (which has another serial port for
printing), I studied the user's manual for ways to set up this connection.  In
fact, there were two methods available.  One was to use a program included on
the system disk called TRANSFER, and the other was to use MODEM 7, setup for
the Bondwell, which also comes with the computer.

Not being much of an expert on setting these things up, I sought help from two
friends in the St. Louis KUG, Bob Rosenfeld and Ken Seger.  We did spin our
wheels for a while, but once both machines had been set up identically it was
possible to send some programs across, while some others (including Newsweep)
refused to arrive.  (Proper settings are identical baud rates -- 9600 works,
so why not use it?--no parity, 1 stop bit and 8 bits.)  At last I succeeded in
getting MEX114 for the Bondwell 2 (which I had picked up in my modem wander-
ings) across the bridge, and then I switched from MODEM 7 to MEX, and from
then on it was easy sailing.  Working at 9600 baud, I simply used the S option
on the Kaypro (S FILENAME.EXT) and the R option on the Bondwell (R FILE-
NAME.EXT).  For sending a whole disk at one time, I used the batch option (SB
and RB).  It works great, and the speed of the 9600 baud is a sight to see.
Once MEX was set up properly, I cloned both the Bondwell and Kaypro versions.
I renamed the Kaypro version BW-MEX, and simply left it on my MEX disk along
with the regular MEX.  I also tried sending some files and programs the other
way, from the Bondwell to the Kaypro, and they went just as quickly and
arrived intact.  So on the issue of uploading and downloading between the
computers, the matter couldn't have worked out better.

Taking advantage of the batch mode, I made up a Kaypro disk of core programs
to load on every Bondwell micro floppy.  The idea was to make these disks
independent in themselves, so that I could write and edit using the single
disk.  Fortunately, the Bondwell comes with a first class single drive copy
program, called FILECOPY, and of course this went on every disk, as did MEX,
so that I would be able to upload the material written to the Kaypro (al-
though, to save space, it is possible to simply put MEX on one or two disks
and use the log A: command to log into a new disk.)

The other core programs I settled on are: AUTORUN.COM (comes with the Bondwell
and shows all executable programs; autoloads unless replaced with a new com-
mand line by COMLINE.COM); BD.COM, BK.COM, COMLINE.COM, D.COM, FIND.COM,
HRDSFT.COM, MAKBATCH.COM, N.COM (Newsweep), RECOVER.COM, VDO.COM, and VDO-
SAVE.COM.  MFT definitely seems to be the best single-drive filecopy program.
Using the SETUP program that comes with the Bondwell it is possible
to create a command file that sets the 8 function keys (which become 16 when
used with the shift key).  I made two such files, one for WordStar (WSKEY.COM)
and one for VDO (VDOKEY.COM.)  Then, using MAKBATCH.COM, it is possible to
create a submit file that runs as a command file to load WSKEY.COM along with
XTRAKEY and WordStar.  (I call this MENU.COM, and it consists of the following
sequence (the slash indicates a new line): X MY/WSKEY/BK/SAP/WS.  This, then,
loads the function keys and key redefinitions, deletes bak files, puts the
directory in alphabetical order and then loads WordStar.  Note that I chose
the ^ key as the supershift key on the Bondwell for XTRAKEY.  This is because
it is the farthest key to the right on the keyboard, is in the lowercase
position, and seems to cry out to be named the second control key.

It should be noted that this is the full implementation of WordStar and I was
able to speed it up using WSFST24.LBR as usual.  In addition, I was able to
set up Word Finder with one version of WordStar, although I chose to use the
short (90K) dictionary instead of the long (150K) one, so that there would be
some room left on the disk for the file being created.  Word Finder works just
fine, though, of course without the graphic effects of the video Kaypros.

Although I was able to set up WordStar without any hitches, the role of VDO,
which has most of WordStar's primary commands, was very important, since the
WordStar files take almost a 100K in themselves, and not much room is left on
the disk when it has WordStar and all of the above utilities.  The Kaypro
version of VDO is only 6K (and the cursor keys work with it -- and on the
Bondwell as well) and thus it is perfect for first draft writing.  After that
HRDSFT (using the S option: HRDSFT FILENAME.EXT S) creates a WordStar file
that can be finished (and printed out) using all the luxuries of a full
implementation of WordStar.  Since VDO has fewer commands available than
WordStar, and most of these must be accessed through one of the two menus (^O
and ^Q) it isn't as useful to use it with XTRAKEY (although this can be done).
In fact, using the 8 Bondwell function keys seems to be about it.  I simply
load VDOKEY.COM before VDO, and the function keys are defined as follows: 1)
^O; 2) ^Q; 3) ^G; 4) ^T; 5) ^C; 6) ^R; 7) ^A; 8) ^F.  One minor disappoint-
ment: ^A^T, which works great to delete the word left in WordStar does not
work with VDO because ^A goes to the last letter of the word left instead of
the first.  I don't know why this is.

All together, these core programs (using VDO instead of WordStar except on
designated WordStar disks) come to around 100K.  Since the size of a Bondwell
disk is 360K (actually 346K after formatting), this leaves almost 250K for
files to be created -- more than enough space to get a lot of work done.

All of this is an attempt, of course, to get around the problem of using a
single disk drive.  One of the options offered by Bondwell is a second 3 1/2"
drive ($250) or a second 5 1/4" one ($300).  Both plug right into the second
drive port and do not require any extra battery or separate AC power.  I
assume they do shorten the 8 hour life of the rechargable battery somewhat.
(By the way, the standard equipment includes the AC hookup for the battery
recharger, and it can also be used to power the portable if the battery has
run low.)  Before I discovered how easy it was to transfer files back and
forth using MEX, the 5 1/4" drive, which comes with software to make just such
transfers, was very appealing.  But now that I have solved that problem, the
second 3 1/2" drive is much more attractive, and I may end up getting it,
especially for use with those programs that require two drives, including many
dBASE II programs.  However, the existence of VDO has made the one drive
option much easier to live with.

The only optional equipment I have not mentioned is a 256K ram disk which fits
into the same slot as the modem.  And there are two modems available, one for
300 baud and one for 1200 baud.

Once I had set up the Bondwell as described here, I found I had a portable
computer with all of the capacities of my Kaypro except for the second disk
drive (which can be added) and the graphics capacity.  However, the Bondwell
does have inverse video capacity, which can be accessed by using ESC I to
start it and ESC N to end it (this must be done before entering WordStar.)  In
certain light conditions these inverse characters are much easier to read, and
it is a useful capacity.  The cursor uses this inverse video, which makes it
quite easy to find.  It also pulses in a normal fashion.  Note also that the
Bondwell can be set up for several European languages.  All in all it is a
remarkable computer for the price, and the only serious failing is the lack of
a backlit LCD.

Howard Schwartz
St. Louis KUG

                                    ***


The BONDWEL2.REV file is excellent - as far as it goes.  My I
respectfully add my two cents.

One of the people in my office has a Bondwell-2, and we're now looking
at getting several more for "on-the-road" use -- configured with a
Travelcomm1200 (1200 baud modem the size of a pack of cigarettes).

I have managed to transfer information between the Bondwell-2 and
the Exec and the Vixen at 19,200 baud (twice 9600) by using a "null-
modem cable" and IMP on all machines and using the "Quiet" (RQ, SQ, SBQ)
mode on the Bondwell so that the slowness of the LCD display doesn't cause
time-out errors.

We have the RAM-DISK (--HIGHLY!!!-- RECOMMENDED) which I have upgraded
to 512K for the mere price of $20.00 in parts (8 IC sockets and 8
chips), as per the Bondwell BBS (818-788-0193) which is run by Jon
Bek - an employee of ServiceLand - the Bondwell authorized warranty
service station.  It allows two BIG advantages:  1.  Programs run
significantly faster (Wordstar, dBase, etc.).  2.  The use of the
Ram-Disk extends the battery-life significantly, as the disk drive
does not need to be accessed, except to save the final version of
the various work-files from the Ram-Disk.

If there is significant interest in the Bondwell, perhaps we could ask
Pete (SYSOP) to add a BONDWELL section, and we can upload a variety of
programs, etc. to make this the East-Coast (or at least non-west coast)
BBS for Bondwell stuff.

There is also a rather significant group of Bondwell-2 owners who gather
and converse (?) on CompuServe's CPMSIG Section 4 (Laptops).

Kurt M. Gebauer
FOG #49group of Bondwell-2 owners who gather
and converse (