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id AA17941; Mon, 20 Feb 84 10:50:12 pst [message #62337] Tue, 14 May 2013 17:10
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Message-ID: <5709@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Feb-84 13:50:21 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.5709
Posted: Mon Feb 20 13:50:21 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Feb-84 04:36:49 EST
Sender: root@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Western Research Lab, Los Altos, CA
Lines: 42

Message-Id: <8402201850.AA17941@decwrl.arpa>
Date: Monday, 20 Feb 1984 10:54:30-PST
From: gigi::fleischer  (Bob Fleischer 231-2132 MRO3-2/E7 ECS)
To: net.micro
Subject: Re: request for info on the Rainbow 100



The Rainbow 100 (and its hard-disk version, Rainbow 100+) is the
"industry standard" personal computer from Digital (DEC).  It
provides both the 8088 processor (as used in the IBM PC and clones)
and a Z80.  With those it runs MS-DOS (generic version of IBM's
PC-DOS) and both 8 and 16-bit CP/M.  Thus it runs or can easily
support almost all non-Apple personal-computer-type software.

Some opinions (from an admittedly biased point of view):  almost
everything about Rainbow is at least a little bit better than you
find on your average (can you guess what that is?) pc.  The keyboard
is quite a bit better.  Dual floppy disks, at 400KB per disk,
are standard.  The standard character video supports 80 and 132-column
modes.  The color graphics option is faster, provides more colors,
and has higher resolution than the IBM PC.

Terminal emulation (in ROM) is standard.

Drawbacks?  It is not an IBM clone.  IBM software that makes direct
hardware access will require modification to run on it.  Mitigating
that problem to a great extent is the fact that Digital has fostered
the conversion and development of software for it to the point that
over 1000 titles, mostly business and personal productivity products,
are available for Rainbow.

Check it out.  I'd like to hear other opinions as well.  Thanks.

			Bob Fleischer
			Digital Equipment Corp.
			2 Iron Way	(MRO3-2/E7)
			Marlboro, Mass  01752
			(617) 467-2132

		...decvax!decwrl!rhea!gigi!fleischer
		...ucbvax!decwrl!rhea!gigi!fleischer
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