
                  Seven Year Test Results: The Tandy 102 Reduces Levels of Portable Computer Anxiety and Violence
                                                                 
   by Bick Truet, Senior Partner, Technologies Research Group, Inc.
   
   Physical acts of violence between portable computers and their users are rarely covered in the news media. Sometimes
   portable computers injure their users. In other cases, frustrated users strike back at their machines. For the human
   victim or aggressor, these incidents are personal confrontations and generally embarrassing to share with others. After
   completing a seven year experiment with portable computers that included elevated levels of fear, anxiety, and violence, I
   am now in a position to tell my story. It's only one man's story but I've learned my lesson well: Don't go on the road
   with anything other than the Tandy 102.
   
   The notebook sized 102 is ideal for people who make a living writing and traveling. I bought mine in 1986. The notebook's
   reliability and ease of use outshines its high-powered and high-priced counterparts. I've tested five other "road ready"
   portables and laptops over the years including a MacPlus (1986), Toshiba 1000 (1987), Tandy 1000 LT (1989-90), Tandy 1000
   FD (1991), and the Magnavox Professional (1992). These machines were frustrating to use and many were dangerous. The Tandy
   102 is my sole travelling companion today.
   
   As a market research consultant and free lance writer, I spend well over half the year on the road. I report on dozens of
   focus groups and hundreds of personal interviews with executives annually. Taking good notes and expanding them into easy
   to read documents for clients and editors pays the bills.
   
   A serious computer related injury prompted my purchase of a 102 in February, 1986. In those days, the only portable
   computer available to me was the Mac. Remember the MacPac? The MacPac was a large back pack that housed a MacPlus,
   keyboard, cables, mouse, and disks. It weighed about forty pounds. I carried one of these around for a year and, I must
   admit, I haven't been in better shape since. Forty pounds strapped to your back while racing between airport gates had
   remarkable cardiovascular and weight loss effects. People thought I was a rock climber in a suit and tie. I would perspire
   heavily by the time I got on board resulting in locker room aromas and increased odds for gaining an open center seat. The
   MacPac fit in less than 50% of airliner overhead bins.
   
   My MacPac related injury occurred at midnight out in front of Newark Airport's Terminal C. Two weeks earlier, I parked my
   car in front of Terminal A. It was cold (28 degrees), and damp as I waited for the an airport bus to shuttle me back to
   Terminal A. The bus arrived marked "All Terminals". I bounded on the bus after a few other travelers. I asked the driver,
   "Will this bus stop at Terminal A?" "No," he said surprisingly, "all Terminals but A."
   
   I turned around with that forty pound back pack and a big suit case full of clothes and files. While turning, my right
   foot was planted on the bus's rubber mat flooring. Due to all the weight on my back and attached to my right hand, my body
   turned but my right leg didn't.
   
   I felt a tear in my leg as I lost my balance and fell, MacPac, suitcase, and all down the steps of the bus. "Ah!," I
   screamed. My thigh was pointed in one direction and my calf in another. While falling, I realized that the Mac would hit
   the concrete outside of the bus first so I turned my body. I landed on my left arm, leg, and waist. Think about it, I
   placed my body at greater risk than my Mac! The bus pulled away as I lay on the ground in pain.
   
   I visited two places the next day. At the doctor's office, I was diagnosed with a severely twisted knee. On crutches, I
   visited a Radio Shack and bought a 102. I never carried the MacPac again.
   
   My initial impressions of the 102 still stand as the key benefits of the machine. It's light weight, durable, easy to use,
   runs on AA batteries, and loads text files easily into DOS and Mac desktops.
   
   Since 1986, I've tested a four other portables. Each professed a higher level of functionality than the 102. Some had hard
   drives. All weighed more. The ones with hard drives lost power too quickly. They died whenever I used them where AC
   doesn't exist: on planes and trains, in cars, and in other peoples' offices.
   
   Early laptops without hard drives like the Toshiba 1000 sold well but raised expectations beyond what they could deliver.
   How many programs can you run with two 3 1/2 inch disk drives? After some effort and experimentation, I found that two
   disks could handle DOS, a word processing program, and maybe a communications program. But that was about all. The machine
   delivered little more functionality than the 102 while weighing substantially more. Additionally, the Toshiba 1000 was too
   large. It didn't fit in my briefcase like the 102.
   
   Between 1989 and 1990, I arm wrestled with a Tandy 1000 LT. I liked the 1000 LT screen but lost some hair over the
   Deskmate interface. Deskmate is a wonderful GUI when accompanied with a hard disk drive. But, with two floppies, you would
   wind-up with diskette burns. "Can't Find IXCD.PDM. Please insert disk," and similar difficult to interpret commands would
   sadly interrupt simple operations like saving a document. Forget using the machine in front of someone else. It makes you
   look like a perpetual disk swapping machine.
   
   As far as I know, my Tandy 1000 LT is still smashed to pieces in the parking lot behind Room 315 of the Creve Coure,
   Missouri Courtyard by Marriot hotel. Fresh from a 6am flight from Newark, I booted-up the 1000 LT in my hotel room to
   finish a report with a 3pm deadline.
   
   After booting-up, I discovered that drive B was malfunctioning. "Abort, Retry, or Fail!" My system was configured with
   Microsoft Word 4.0 on drive B, and, DOS and my working documents on drive A. Without drive B, I was in big trouble. I
   rummaged through my diskette case to see if I brought along an ASCII editor or a scaled down word processing program. No
   luck.
   
   Frustrated, I smashed the 1000 LT keyboard with my fist. Then I paced around the room like a trapped animal. After cooling
   down, I thought, "Heck, I know that there are machines that work with one disk drive. Maybe I could create a single disk
   with just the critical DOS and Word 4.0 files. It could also hold the document I was working on. Hey, there might even be
   10 or 20 K left over for my work!"
   
   The A: prompt stared me straight in the face so I typed "DIR" and hit return. "Bad Command or File Name," said 1000 LT. I
   tried again. "Bad Command or File Name." That DOS self-doubt crept over me like it does from time to time. "What's wrong
   with DOS now?" I thought.
   
   Closer examination of the screen left me both relieved and frustrated. DIR does list directories. That was the good news.
   But, D and R were the only characters appearing after my A: prompts. I tried again. On the screen, "Bad Command or File
   Name" appeared after my "A:>DR [Return]." My fist rendered half of the keyboard inoperable. That was the bad news.
   
   What occurred from this moment on is still a blur. It all went so quickly. What I did wasn't pre-meditated. It just
   happened. I pulled the power cord from the 1000 LT. Then I ran to the hotel room's sliding glass door and opened it. I
   returned to the portable, grabbed it, and hauled it back to the door. There was a balcony there. I stepped outside. The
   sun was bright and the air chilled. I looked down below. I was three stories up. All was clear below. Just a green
   dumpster off to the right and a Ford Taurus parked well out of the way to my left. With both hands, I catapulted the 1000
   LT upward and outward. And from here it was all slow motion: the machine zenithed ten feet above me, turned, twisted, and
   tumbled as it fell. I could have caught it as it descended just beyond the balcony railing, but didn't. It maintained its
   path falling end over end like a football headed for a goal post. The 1000 LT fell silently and slowly. It seemed like
   minutes.
   
   Finally, it slammed hard, screen side first, on the asphalt below. What a helacious noise as it made! It was gone for
   good. I felt much better.
   
   To complete my day's assignment, I used one of the Macs equipped with a Super Drive (it reads DOS disks) at an
   AlphaGraphics two blocks from the hotel.
   
   In retrospect, the other portables I've used deserved to walk the plank as well. Take the 1000 FD (1991). Aesthetically,
   it was a wonder. Tan and light weight with a beautiful display. Functionally, it was a disaster. With just one disk drive,
   there was even more disk flipping required than with the LT. However, Tandy did make it possible to rely on just one disk
   for Deskmate's word processing program. Toggling between word processing and telecommunications was another matter. My
   hotel phone bills skyrocketed in those days. Not because the files I e-mailed were any longer, but because two or three
   disk flips were required to read a text document and then send it.
   
   The 1000 FD didn't have a handle. If you worked on it and then had to carry it someplace, particularly after eating greasy
   food like cheese doodles or potato chips, you could easily drop it. This happened to me once in public. I was editing a
   document at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix while on stand-by for a flight to San Diego. The gate attendant called my name
   so I saved my document, pressed the power button, and closed the screen. I carried it over to the check-in counter and the
   gate agent handed me my ticket. I get nervous about flying so my palms started to sweat. While trying to put the ticket
   into the inside pocket of my suit jacket I dropped the 1000 FD.
   
   It landed on my toes. "Ouch!" I cried. I grabbed my foot and hopped around on the other one like people do when they stub
   their toe. The waiting area crowd burst into laughter. "Ha..ha..ha..ho..ha..ha..ha!" they chortled. I turned beet red,
   swallowed my pride, picked up the FD, and hunkered back toward my seat in the waiting area. "Damned FD," I mumbled to
   myself.
   
   After the FD, I bought a Magnavox Professional, a 286 laptop with a 40 MB hard drive (1992). This machine taught me about
   the "benefits" of using a hard drive on the road. These include shorter battery life, more weight, and more anxiety. "What
   if the hard drive crashes?" I asked myself all too often. Airport metal detectors, microwave ovens, bumpy taxi cab rides,
   uncaring sky caps, sudden losses of altitude in flight, and rough landings can set me off. The hard drive has held up well
   under these pressures, but personally, I can't take it any more.
   
   The rigors of travel have never affected my Tandy 102. In fact, it is ideal for airline travel. I don't worry about
   battery pack wear out. I don't worry about "shiptrack" issues like disk bounce since there are no moving parts. I don't
   even care I get a center seat. The 102 fits easily on the seat back tray and I don't have to elbow people to get it
   running. Try flipping open a traditional laptop computer under these circumstances.
   
   The 102 is also less obtrusive than a sharp screened laptop. The downside of a super-twist, back-lit screen is the fact
   that people next to you on an airplane can read it. I prefer the 102 screen in this regard. My contracts with clients
   generally call for a high degree of confidentiality. I can't fulfill this contractual agreement if I don't know who is
   sitting next to me, now can I?
   
   The main benefit of the 102 is its interoperability. I work in both DOS and Mac formats. DOS is generally used to generate
   documents and the Mac for desktop publishing presentable reports and articles. The 102 easily loads into both DOS and Mac
   Machines.
   
   Here's how. With DOS machines, I use LAPTAP.EXE which is a quick and easy to use program. It's also free. To obtain a
   copy, log onto CompuServe and join the M100 forum. LAPTAP is available in the M100's Libraries section. For Mac users,
   simply set your communications program to 19200 baud, Ignore Parity, 7 Bits, 1 Stop Bit, Full Duplex. Open your 102 text
   document and press F3. When "Save To:" appears at the bottom of the screen enter "Com:97I1E".. Your document will transfer
   to the Mac in lightning speed. Both approaches require a modem cord and a null modem adaptor which are readily available
   at Radio Shack stores.
   
   Fortunately this seven year experiment is over. After experiencing all of the anxiety and violence associated with laptop
   and portable computer use, I'm going to stick with my 102.
   
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