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Re: IBM PCjr vs. Sanyo MBC555 [message #79140] Sun, 02 June 2013 23:11
indra is currently offline  indra
Messages: 46
Registered: May 2013
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Message-ID: <259@utai.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 10-Oct-84 16:48:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: utai.259
Posted: Wed Oct 10 16:48:31 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 10-Oct-84 17:42:06 EDT
References: <1147@eosp1.UUCP> <972@bbncca.ARPA>
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Lines: 87


	As a very happy user of Sanyo,  I can't let the article below go 
unchallenged:

 >  I am using this right now, and overall am wonderfully pleased.  As some
 >  of the readers of net.micro might know, I went out and purchased a
 >  Sanyo MBC555 a few months ago.  It is only semi-IBM compatible; pure
 >  MSDOS-only programs (compilers, assemblers, etc.) will work fine, but
 >  most other software which accesses the BIOS will simply not work.
 >  The documentation is atrocious, and not a single communications program
 >  I could find would work on it.  I still can't figure out how to do
 >  graphics (or even access the screen) from the lame documentation.


	I'm surprised that 'most software which accesses the BIOS will not
work'.  The video interrupts to do screen addressing are identical with the
exception of graphics stuff.  I purchased TURBO PASCAL and found that clrScr,
gotoxy, textcolor, window, all work fine.  These are the only stuff you need
to do non-graphics things.  In fact, most programs do not work because they
access memory directly.

	As to communications programs, hmm... at last count there were 5
packages for the Sanyo, I can only remember 4.

		1.  Sanycom	- Sanyo   US $99.00
		2.  Intellicom  - ??      US $70  (approx)
		3.  MiTerm      - Michtron US $70 (approx)
		4.  CopyLink    - US Digital.  ?????

	I'm sure that Sanycom and MiTerm offers VT100 emulation.  The only
truth to the 'non existence' of modem programs is the fact that the Sanyo
being new, does not have as many ahem 'free copies' of the above programs
floating around as the PC.  Besides, I was told that PC TALK will work fine
with certain 'minor' modifications.


 >  Anyway, I have found that the new keyboard and memory expansion make the
 >  PCJr a much more desirable machine than it was before.  It also enjoys much
 >  greater software and hardware support than the Sanyo, an equivalently
 >  priced machine whose only advantages are 8087 support and dual disk drives,
 >  both of which will surely be provided for the PCJr by the aftermarket.  I
 >  am not intent on damning the Sanyo excessively; it is a nice machine, but
 >  the hardware and software situation for it is simply nonexistent right now,
 >  or very immature.  And even the most ardent "roll-your-own" hacker who
 >  isn't interested in buying much software will be hampered by the
 >  intransigence of Sanyo in providing technical documentation on the hardware
 >  and software and the limitations of the current BIOS.  Having lived with a
 >  non-mainstream machine for quite a while (a Radio Shack Color Computer) it
 >  is refreshing to simply be able to buy what I need to get the job done.


	I' have nothing against the PCJr, but some things should be set
straight.  While the software situation is not too great,  I won't say that
they are non-existent.  A company called MICHTRON (formerly computer shack)
makes only SANYO software, and some of the stuff I've seen are far from
being 'immature'  The program PICASSO can be best described as MACDRAW in
color.  (PC draw is in cartridge, this is in a floppy).
It can be controlled via keyboard, joystick, touch pad etc. It can
be accessed in Basic to produce a 'Slide Show effect' believe me, it takes
3 seconds to read data to write an entire screen 640x200 in 8 colors.  Master
Graph is a graph drawing utility that allows pie charts, histograms, and
other boring stuff in any combination.  dBASE II, Friday!, CI C86, Lattice C
works without modification. Tk!Solver, MINCE (cheap emacs), Multiplan......


	At least 4 companies are offering hard disks for sanyo.  One claims
to be developing an external card cage that will accept some cards from PC.

 >  The PCJr suffers when compared to the PC, and those who feel that its
 >  limitations are unacceptable and who can afford another machine should
 >  buy another machine.  But I think that you get a lot for the $800/$900
 >  which the PCJr is selling for these days.

	I thought that one of the things that made sanyo attractive was the
bundled WORDSTAR, CALCSTAR, INFOSTAR, SPELLSTAR, MAILMERGE.  True enough,
free copies are floating around, but not everyone can copy enough stuff and
still sleep soundly at night.  How much will PCJr be with the *real* WORDSTAR?
etc ?

	As a parting shot,  I'll say that the sanyo is definitely not
comparable to the PC with added options, but it is preferable to the PCJr
anyday.

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