Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Yeah, an LCD or Supertwist display would certainly eliminate hi-res
    flicker, but I'd sure miss my 4,096 colors and stereo sound.
    
    Maybe a combination Amiga-Ghettoblaster?
    

    Isn't the 500 a laptop now?  All you need is to hook up some sort
    of portable display to the monochrome composite port.  And somehow
    fit all that into a carrying case. (a couple amp/speakers could
    built into the carrying case)
                                 
    Are there any LCD etc. displays that can take monochome composite
    input?
    
    -dave

    Author 453.2 is right-on...  We'll always have business backing
    a workstation footprint as the smallest acceptable solution.  The
    500 should be used like a rock organ - small enough to be played
    where you are and leave the heavy amps/syn./visuals heavy stuff
    stationary.  After all, computer companies want to sell file servers.
    
    Just look at the discounted IBM laptops at ComputerWorld next to
    the new IBM PC2.  IBM is locking out the 30s and 50s from the high
    end and they will become the next PC Jr.  If a 500 could beam eighty
    column text on a nearby television would be enogh to start.
    
    % ^)  [Fiction is great!]... Paul
    

    I think you're overlooking a few things... most laptops use CMOS
    chips for RAM and the processor.  Is there a CMOS 68000?  More
    importantly, what about the Amiga custom chips?  They must fairly
    glow in the dark.  The 500 comes with a 35 watt power supply.  I don't 
    think any laptops come anywhere near that kind of rating.
    
    Also, the Amiga (or any Pee Cee, for that matter) is useless without
    a second drive.  I think we're talking a major re-design here.
    

    Digital News carries an Ad for a Desktop VAX that is portable
    (Even has a small women carrying it!)
    
    Now tell me, it that CMOS! [MicroVAX II].... Computer Industrial
                                                    Products
    
    I've got three one disk based systems...
    
    1. One disk Modula Development [editor in Ram Disk]
    
    2. One disk KickStart and Workbench combo from Fish Freeware!
    
    3. One disk Basic Extras
    
    4. One disk based Lotus look-alike
    
    
    Heck, Digital sells a PDP that runs on telephone 48 Volt power.
    If you are a true yuppie, take your Honda power supply with you.
    
    [Some people think only Radio Shack sells laptops...]
    
    P.s. That portable VAX is called "First 1 Mate"
                             

    Gee, I wonder how long the tiny battery pack lasts in a portable
    MicroVAX II?
    
    Famous laptop computers that the world never asked for (and never
    sold very well)
    
    *  Data General One (this was the first dual-drive laptop with a
       full 640 x 200, 80 character x 24 line display). Battery life
       was around 4 hours, depending on disk access.  The screen could
       only be seen with a police interrogation light pointed directly
       at it.
    
    *  IBM Convertible... same as above, but more expensive, and with
       an odd-aspect display.
    
    *  Wang Laptop... ditto, only more expensive still.
    
    There are some nice laptops, most notably the Zenith and Toshiba
    models.  Both are full featured with full displays & dual drives.
    I think you'll find that they use almost all Cmos components to
    get a reasonable battery life, & LCD displays.
    
    I agree that an Amiga laptop would be nice, but I don't think you'll
    ever see one.

    And then there's the laptop that isn't...the Apple //c with the
    LCD display.  Looks like a laptop, but surprise, it isn't.  The
    LCD display is one of the worst ones available.
                                             

About three months ago, *two* portable Macintoshes were introduced.

Price:  (drum roll and ENTER please)

$10,000.00


I wonder: A laptop with a mouse... I can see the guy in the airplane
seat next to you getting pretty upset as you roll the mouse along his
leg.  Maybe a trackball is needed here...

Limited viewing angles for aren't necessarily bad:  My Model 100 has
a pretty limited viewing angle, but is adjustable so that who ever is
using it can see what is going on.  This is sometimes a feature.  The
largest single user group of Model 100s is newspaper reporters.  In
the magazines covering the M100, you frequently see tips and anecdotes
from reporters.  My favorite story was from a reporter on assignment
in Russia.  He used the M100 to prepare all of his stories as he was
flying between different cities in Russia.  This drove the Soviet
Press Liaison (KGB agent) in the next seat crazy: no matter how the
agent twist and turned, he could not read what the reporter was
writing.

There IS a CMOS 68000, and the next rev of the Amiga chips will 
probably be in CMOS, since that's what everything else is built in 
these days.  A cheap laptop 68K machine may not be that far away, although 
it's more likely to be a Mac than an Amiga.  

Datavue had a nice solution in their laptop as to what to do with the
disks.  The heavy, bulky stuff in their machine can be detached and
left in your suitcase. The display, keyboard, and processor form a
nice, light little unit that fits in your lap on the airplane seat.
When you get to the hotel, you can plug it into the disks again. 

/jlr

    As of April 1, 1987 Amiga, Inc. no longer "really" exists.. the
    company has been fully absorbed into CBM land.  (The A2000, in
    fact was not even designed by any of the people from the original
    Amiga company.)
    
    With this in mind, one might be asked to recall the infamous Commodore
    64 portable computer (with built-in 5.24" color monitor, MODEM,
    and disk drive.)  It looked kinda like an Osborne done in plastic.  My
    *opinion* is that the thing failed misserably (sales wise) and flopped.
    They were discontinued shortly after they started selling.  (You could
    buy these things for $95.00 from consumer-liquidation houses on
    TV a while back!) 
    
    Technically, for the time, it was a decent deal, however, I think
    it will be a long time before we see another portable out of CBM.
    That market is pretty elite for a "toy company image."