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From: gnu@sun.uucp (John Gilmore)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: What is Mac good for?
Message-ID: <443@sun.uucp>
Date: Tue, 7-Feb-84 05:27:02 EST
Article-I.D.: sun.443
Posted: Tue Feb  7 05:27:02 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 21:54:25 EST
References: <5396@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Lines: 27

If I was going to college I'd love to have a portable word processing
type system which I could write papers on, use as a very smart terminal
into my University computer network, and could plug in to the laser
printer down the hall in the dorm for high quality output (if I
couldn't afford the cheap dot matrix printer or share it with my
roommate).  While it wouldn't be my machine of choice for developing a
large programming system, still, I got an awful lot of work done on a
1MHz Apple ][ with 40x20 char screen, 8K "hi res" mode, upper case
keyboard, 80K floppy, and 300 baud modem.  I have no doubt that big and
little 3rd party types can come up with compilers, debuggers, modem and
lan networking, CAI, disks, color, accounting, amazing sound & video
games, videotex, BSR interfaces, Usenets, and suchlike.  Look what they
-- we -- did on that godawful 6502 and stop doubting; at University
prices this thing is cheaper than a retail Apple ][!  It won't run
Unix, but that's not the requirement.  What it does provide can't be
duplicated at its price -- an excellent user interface and fast
communications to machines that provide what it can't.

Supposing that bigger disks, printers, and such are run off the 1MB
serial port, a well-defined remote procedure call protocol could let
them use it as a simple hardware expansion port, a network interface,
or both at once.  How can it tell if its "Read N bytes at offset X"
command was executed by a local disk or a remote server?  

Anybody want to bet how long before they have a portable (battery) version?
My guess: as soon as they can junk the CRT for a volume produced flat panel.
Makes your TRS-100 look like a four function calculator; Dynabook here we come!