09-02-13 13:04 mark lewis wrote to Ed Vance about Backup software   
      
    ml> @MSGID: <52250CBA.831.windowsb@capcity2.synchro.net>   
    ml>  On Fri, 30 Aug 2013, Ed Vance wrote to mark lewis:   
      
    EV> I then remarked, does XT stand for eXpired Technology?, he never   
    EV> thought of that before, but he would tell that to all of his   
    EV> friends who were still running XTs.        
      
    ml> hahaha... XT was eXtended Technology IIRC... it was a step up   
    ml> from the plain original PC... the addition of the HD and the   
    ml> necessary BIOS modification to boot from it were one of the   
    ml> main extensions... also there were more slots (8) on the XT but   
    ml> they were spaced closer together than in the PC... the XT also   
    ml> allowed for more memory on the motherboard (256k) than the PC   
    ml> (64k)... the PC was limited to a maximum of 256k memory whereas   
    ml> the XT could handle up to 1M but only 640k of that was usable   
    ml> by the user... the BIOS, adapter ROM/RAM and video RAM filled   
    ml> the inaccessible 384k of that 1M space...   
      
   Mark,   
      
   I remember seeing the advertisements of those HUGE PC Boards that   
   plugged into the slots.   
      
   You could add RAM (if you had the $$$$$$), and even have a BATTERY   
   POWERED CLOCK! on those early PC's.   
      
   The Motherboards (mb) were HUGH too!, when I saw the "Tiny" (to me)   
   Shuttle HOT 409 mb the guy put in the 486DX33 he built for me,   
   it made my eyes pop out.   
      
   The computer Case was made for the earlier mb's, so I don't think   
   I have any cooling problems in that box, there's pleanty of room   
   for air to move around in it.   
      
   Now if I could figure out a way to reduce all the HOT AIR coming   
   from ME, things would be better off around here.   
      
    EV> That AT of his must had been a 286, I guess.   
      
    ml> yes, ATs were introduced with 6mhz 80286 CPUs in them... they   
                                Typo  ^  16?????     B4 I got a 486 in 1994, I learned from reading messages on BBSes,   
    EV> and later on, on a ITT XT at work by typing in the Example Programs   
    EV> from the Manuals that came with the XT.   
      
    ml> i started off on a TRS-80 and their BASIC... then later i was   
    ml> downloading BASIC programs from a system up in michigan when i   
      
   A friend got a TRS-80 but I never got interested in them after   
   reading that they switched a couple of leads around to make   
   the TRS-80 EXCLUSIVE to TRS-80 Hardware (That's right isn't it?).   
      
    ml> was in oklohoma... i already knew some BASIC so i set about   
      
   The guy that built the 486 for me had worked for a place called   
   OKLA Data Systems back in Oklahoma and he covered the area where   
   the LED (Speed) numbers on the case with a Black Square Plastic   
   Emblem from the company that he had worked for.   
      
   His name is Randy Bradshaw, ever heard of him?   
      
    ml> modifying those downloaded programs to add color since i was   
    ml> working on a PCjr with color monitor... later a friend turned   
      
   I loved Tweaking BASIC Programs too!   
      
    ml> me onto PASCAL and ASM and i never looked back... BASIC's PEEKs   
    ml> and POKEs never made sense to me but i knew and understood what   
    ml> they were doing... i was just never able to figure out where   
    ml> folks got those lists of codes from and what they actually   
    ml> meant... it wasn't until i got into ASM that it struck me as to   
    ml> the OPs codes they were using...   
      
   I got the Commodore 64= Programmer's Reference Guide to help unTwist   
   all of that PEEK and POKE stuff, and also got the Guide for the VIC=20.   
      
   The book called Mapping The Commodore 64 by Sheldon Leemon really   
   helped me learn too!   
      
    EV> That ITT with DOS 2.11 was a real good PC, in fact when it was   
    EV> replaced by a Zenith 286 I thought the XT worked better than the   
    EV> 286 did.  But what do I know???????????   
      
    ml> the 286 was plagued by a few problems but those were HD   
    ml> based... once the HDs were replaced, they didn't have any more   
    ml> problems...   
      
   Yes, it did seem like the Zenith 286 20MB HD took a long time   
   processing the River Data we sent to the Ohio River Division server   
   each day compated to how FAST the 10MB HD in the ITT XT box would   
   do it.   
      
   Here all the time I thought the Zenith 286 was a pile of junk and   
   now I learn it was just the HDD causing the slow down.   
   I had always liked what I saw in the stores that Zenith made,   
   even Heathkit was connected with Zenith for some items.   
   Thanks for straightening me out that Zenith wasn't the fault,   
   it was the Hard Drive Manufacturer who made that 286 look bad.   
      
      
    ml> FWIW: the 32bit 80386 was brought out by COMPAQ in 1986 IIRC...   
    ml> this was the first time that the (de facto) PC Compatible   
    ml> standard was updated by a company other than IBM...   
      
   About a year ago I read about how COMPAQ got their start.   
      
   ... Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.   
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