[GreenKeys] Re: OT CP/M history -

[Randy or Sherry Guttery]

Roy Morgan wrote:

> I have a very old laptop here that apparently boots from floppy.  It 
> might be a radio shack one, but it got onto the truck yesterday. I'll 
> post in a few weeks for more  information, but I'm glad there are folks 
> who can advise me on it.
> 
> Most likely, I'll run TTY programs on it.

There are several RS portables that make neat "glass ttys", particularly 
the Model 100 (which doesn't have nor need a built-in floppy). The 600 
is the one I know the most about. It does have a floppy - but to call it 
a laptop is to abuse your knees - the thing is a concrete brick!

Anyway - I can probably help with any of those in that series - though 
it's been quite a while and I'm undoubtedly rusty. We developed the 
first version of MeterReader(tm) - our hand-held meter reading program 
on a 600 - the 100 didn't have enough memory.  The latest version of 
MeterReader is WindowCE - but one version back is still MSDOS...

Anyway - let us know what you have - and we'll see who knows about that 
particular one...

Another "mighty little" computer is the HP 100/200 series.  These are 
full blown MSDOS computers that fit in the palm of your hand. I've never 
tried a TTY program on one - but the have a serial port which is fully 
accessible - and a built-in terminal program - so it should be real easy 
to do.  I have one here somewhere - if I get some time I'll dig it out.

I know this is bordering on OT - but then again we are talking about 
using them to supplement our TTY addiction - er - hobby----  so two last 
comments:

People have been asking about a "black box" tty demonstrator - the hp 
100/200 would most likely be an ideal candidate for such...

The other is a "sea story" of sorts - how I came to have the HP200 I have:

One of our commercial products is WaterWorx(tm) - a program for (mainly) 
rural and small community water billing and management. MeterReader(tm) 
comes with it - to power as many hand-held data collectors as the 
utility needs to get their meters read (some of our larger systems have 
3-4 thousand meters). Smaller cities (like North Carrollton and French 
Camp, MS) have a few hundred meters - so can't afford $3000. Allegros 
like our larger systems use - so they use the HPs.  The Allegros (and 
Husky FS/2 FS/3s) are water proof - they float. The HPs - well... they 
don't - as one of our systems found out.

As small as the HPs are - they easily slip into a shirt pocket - so one 
day they are out reading meters - and the guy bends over a meter box 
opens the cover, and then bends over a bit more to dip out some standing 
water - when - you guessed it - the hp zips out of his pocket and tries 
a float test - which it promptly fails. They bring it to me - I flush it 
with distilled water, and bake it in the hot sun for a couple of days. 
Put a set of batteries in it - and it works!  I set it aside, then try 
it again - it works but says the batteries are very low.  I replace them 
- it takes it about 25 minutes to kill a brand new set of AA (normally 
good for a couple of WEEKS!). It works fine - just eats batteries like 
crazy.  So now I have it for testing MeterReader... and Toomsuba -- oops 
I mean that water system - now has radio read meters - they read driving 
by at 25 - 30 miles an hour.

best regards...
-- 
randy guttery

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