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Model 100 here I come!

wow! what a well designed computer. no wonder people still use it quite a bit.

i am getting a null modem cable on monday, and i have been poking around the term app. to get used to it, and it seems really easy to send text to other computers.

found out how to delete files as well.

and thanks to your suggestion of trying to get right under the key caps with compressed air, Terry, i have managed to get all keys except 'z' to work fairly well.

the 'd' and 'n' work all the time now!

i hope i am successful in uploading .bas files to it as well, since i found a nice archive of games and apps. for it :)

chris
 
Yr gonna love it for practicing your BASIC on. It'll save all yr lil' programs without external mass storage.

--T
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you are not kidding Terry!

i am loving coding on this puppy.

it is very similar to CMB basic 2.0 (no coincidence!)

so basically, (no pun intended) the model 100 is becoming my portable vic 20, at least for coding.

it freaks me out that you can just turn off the computer, and my program is saved!

i have also noticed, that the keys that were not working well, tend to stop working well again, after i have not used the computer for a few days. i am taking this as a sign that the model 100 wants to be used every day, so i am obliging :)

i am just about to send away for a phone and printer cable, from the model 100 site, run by rick hanson.

seems like a really nice guy
 
Yeah, Club100 is the source for all things Kyocera. They have a great file library too. Oh, yeah...[Hint:] if you have an old connection cable around from an old PC case, the cable that goes from the mobo to a D-shell connector on the outside of the case, just use that, along with an ordinary printer cable. The 24-pin header connector that jacks-in to the PeeCee's mobo is the same as the printer port on the 100. Total cost--nothing, if ya have that stuff laying around anyways. (If ya don't someone here might be happy to provide one)...

--T
 
thanks, i will look around in my basement, and see what i can come up with.

if i can't find anything, i will post again asking :)
 
Terry Yager said:
Well, I've never been able to grok BASIC much at all (or Pascal, or C or...). Assembly language comes much easier to me. What does that make me, an Uber-geek, or what?

--T
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That depends. I went from BASIC on the IBM PC to 8088 Assembler and found it made way more sense to me. Now-a-days I tinker around in C and Perl mostly, with a bit of Java and Bash shell thrown in for good measure ;-)

Howard
 
Terry Yager said:
Yeah, I fooled around with shell scripts for a while (about 5 minutes), running bash under linux. Kinda like DOS batch files.

--T
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But Bash shell scripts are MUCH more powerful than DOS batch files.

There are also other options, namely Perl, Python or Ruby. These are nice little scripting languages that are supprisingly full-featured. I've been working in Perl since 1998, and it is still my favorite language to use when I need to crank-out a quick program. Mainly for one-off programs.

I refer to it as my Swiss Army chainsaw!
 
Not too bad or what?

I just changed the batteries for my model 100 last week.

That is after almost daily use, for on average about 30 minutes, since August some time.

God, I love this computer!

Chris
 
Wow! That's pretty good. I don't recall ever getting that kinda mileage outta my ol' Model T's. I never did get the full 20 hours like Tandy used to advertize. I do recall that the more memory you have the more the batteries drain, i.e., a 32K machine sucks down the juice a lot faster than an 8K machine. Also, if you keep a lot of files in memory, it'll drain the batteries faster than an empty machine. If you use the serial port a lot, that'll kill the batteries too, so if possible, use an adaptor when transferring files between the Mod 100 and your PC.
OTOH, I charge the batteries in my Epson PX-8 about once a month, behind about an hour a day of use. That's only about 30 hours to a charge, not the 50 hours the manufacturer used to claim. (This is on a brand-new set of Ni-Cads, replaced last May). I'm not complaining tho, I wish I could get that kinda battery life from all my portables.

--T
 
I never thought about how doing different things would affect the drain on the batteries.

I wonder if batteries today last longer than when the model 100 first came out, and thus people don't have to change batteries as often now, as compared to 20 years ago.

Man, you really seem to like that Epson!

Chris
 
vic user said:
I never thought about how doing different things would affect the drain on the batteries. [
Click to expand...

Yeah, on the Mod 100, the biggest drain on batteries is that pesky RS-232C port. On my Epson laptops, the built-in tape drives are also a serious battery killer.
I wonder if batteries today last longer than when the model 100 first came out, and thus people don't have to change batteries as often now, as compared to 20 years ago.
Click to expand...
I'm sure some advancements in battery technology have been made in the past 20 years or so.
Man, you really seem to like that Epson!
Click to expand...
I'm not ashamed to admit that it's my favorite.

--T
 
I've wondered about these AA size batteries. Before they used to be 1.5V, but today at least the rechargeable ones are marked 1.2V. I don't understand how this works, if the voltage on a recharged battery is higher than the specified one and 1.2V is as low as it ever will go (if voltage drops during time - I thought only the Ah would drop). The other solution is that most gadgets are not so picky if they get 1.2 or 1.5V per battery.
 
Batteries work differently depending on the type.

The old battery testers checked voltage, since a carbon-acid or alkaline battery's voltage decreased as the cell was used. People who design battery powered equipment use a nominal voltage of 1.2 for AAA, AA, C and D cells although the original voltage will be close to 1.5 and the final usable voltage may be as low as 0.9 volts. Most "portable" computers actually operate on 3-ish volts internally, so brand new alkaline batteries will provide approximately 6 volts, which pass through a voltage regulator inside the computer to provide the operating voltage to the chips. Assuming that a computer requires 3.15 volts to power the voltage regulator (5% higher voltage input than output is conservative) then four AA batteries will provide the appropriate voltage until they can no longer supply the needed current.

The voltage curve on Ni-Cad, NiMH and Lithium batteries is much flatter, but as they reach the end of their charge they too drop voltage.

Tachyon
 
Terry Yager said:
Bad news, the keycaps don't come off easily without breaking them.
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not true! mine were a snap (pun intended) to get off! use your prybar of choice (small flathead screwdriver, swizzle stick, finger) to pry the keycaps up off the microswitches. they will take a bit of effort, but not so much that you should be at all worried about breakage.
 
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