In article <STEINMAN.92Sep14083148@hawk.is.morgan.com> steinman@is.morgan.com (Jan Steinman) writes:
>In article <1992Sep14.014021.4784@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> jmilhoan@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Jason T Milhoan) writes:
> In article <1992Sep11.201211.16429@Csli.Stanford.EDU> mmarx@Csli.Stanford.EDU (Matthew Marx) writes:
> >
> > PowerBook 100 2MB RAM/20MB Hard Disk $2,499
> >
> I got a mac 128k when the 512 was released... $2,495 for 128k,
> $3,495 for the 512k. We got a great deal on the 128k: $1700!!!
>
> 3.5 inch disks were 400k, and $4 each, of course they were hard to
> get. I had to mail order some and it took three weeks to get a box
> of 5, 400k BASF disks.
>
>Oh, jeez -- if we're going to start whining, how about my Heathkit H89
>that I paid $2000 for! Z80, CP/M, 16k RAM, 80k floppy, AND I EVEN HAD
>TO PUT IT TOGETHER!
>
>A little later, I added a second 80k floppy for $400!
>
>A year or two later, I put together a 4MB hard disk project that set
>me back another $2000!
>
>And I'm sure there are others who can top this, so quit your
>snivelling and whining and get back to work!
>
>(Oh, I almost for got the :-)
Ahh, Im glad you included the :-). I wasn't actually whining; I was... well, you know. :)
Anyways, to continue this thread, I'll add the little story about the Incoterm terminal... It had a neat keyboard with 8 little blue lights which could be programmed to light up in any pattern, and 4k of RAM (half of that went to video refresh). $6000. And, if you could afford it, you could buy an 8 inch drive for around the same price.
The neat thing about this drive was the fact it could hold around 100k I think. Doesn't sound like much, but with 2k of usable RAM, it was purdy good. The really neat thing was that the DOS commands were stored on disk... so if you didnt have the erase program, you were SOL. My drive died, so I took it to a local surplus electronics shop where they used to sell them. I asked what I could get for it, and he said he didnt really want it because not many people came in for them anymore. I thought he was
trying to get me to take a low price, but finally I told him, "You can HAVE it." He still didn't want it.
They were bought out by Honeywell, and last I checked, TWA STILL used them, only this time they had a brown case, and not blue (like the inky's color).
Makes me wonder, as I sit here typing on my trusty beige Mac 512 (enhanced, mind you :), will it eventually meet the land fill too? Probably. What about the newer ones, those I can only dream of affording? The same. But I could always use it to play games, or use it for primitive software, like Mathematica (speaking in terms of 15-20 years from now). But then again, that Incoterm SPD 10/20 had some neat games for its time too. :) / :(
