In 1988, meetings were in the NCNB building at 600 N Florida Ave., and the president was Steve Speairs

OS/2 is here and I wish to address the effect, at least how I see it, that it will have on our use of microcomputers. First, let us understand that OS/2 is not for everyone. The operating system alone demands a large investment in either new hardware or an expansion of that which we already have. An Intel 80286 or 80386 based PC with a 60 meg hard disk (or bigger) and 2 meg RAM minimum is a must. The operating system alone will take over 1 meg, not including any application which you intend to run. So we have an investment of $1000 to $2000 in memory and storage alone for the AT or PS/2 model 50/60 owner, and $8000 to $10000 for the rest of us. Just to run OS/2 and our existing DOS applications!

Similarly, we will need new versions of existing software and/or new products which will take advantage of the capabilities of OS/2. Our current DOS applications, while able to work under OS/2, will still be limited to the 640K barrier as always. While OS/2 is not multiuser, multitasking will still be available. Early users claim it is very slow when using disk intensive programs. Also, some early reports show that it is difficult to switch between protected-mode and real-mode operations (by some reports you have to re-boot the system). OS/2 may not be as transportable as DOS has been, allowing different versions of OS/2 to run on other vendors’ machines. Because of these problems it appears that OS/2 will not overtake DOS until sometime in mid 1989. By then we will be looking forward to OS/2 for the 80386 family of Intel processors.

After all the technical jargon and difficulties are cleared out of the way, I feel that it will be the users who will decide whether OS/2 will take over in 1989. DOS will not die quietly, it still has a long life ahead. EMS will take care of that. There are a large number of the users out there who will never need what OS/2 has to offer and who will never spend the required monies to upgrade hardware. Yes, OS/2 will open up a new era of microcomputing, but its impact is up the road a long ways yet.

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 President's Podium (February 1988)

It’s wonderful to see the good turnouts that we have been having lately at our meetings. I know that we can increase our attendance if we let our friends know about our group, the good information and the fellowship that is available here. Remember, the more people that we have attend on a regular basis, the greater the expertise that we have available to our group. Additionally, we are far more likely to attract the top software and hardware companies to give us demonstrations.

We want to extend our warmest thanks to Kathy Johnson and IBM for their excellent demonstration of the PS/2 Model 50 and a general discussion of the thrust of the whole new IBM Personal Computer Operations. The improvements in the video resolution and the new Micro Channel Architecture do show that these new machines are designed for the late 80s and early 90s when we can expect the software to match their capabilities. My only caveat on these machines is that the Models 50 and 60 are based on the 80286 chip which I regard as no more than a souped-up 8088 chip in capability. Personally, I would not plan on any purchases of these AT type machines if I needed true multi-tasking capability and could afford one of the new 80386 machines that are now rapidly entering the market.

Next meeting we will see a demonstration of the Quattro Spreadsheet and Paradox Database by a Borland Representative. We will have an overhead projector to make this demonstration visible to all.

We look forward to seeing you there. Bring a friend and have a good time!

Steve Speairs, President

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In 1989, the meetings were at GTE downtown, the president was Harvey Bruneau and the only current member listed as an officer then is Kevan Sheridan. However, current member Ed Buzza was also writing articles for the newsletter.
 

Baud Rate 300/1200
Number 239-3704

One of the benefits of being a member of the IBM PC Users Group is the Bits of Blue electronic Bulletin Board, and every member should learn how to take advantage of this valuable asset and its offerings. Unfortunately, many members do not understand what a RBBS is or how to fully use it. This month I want to introduce the BBS to you and encourage the membership to use and enjoy the Board.

Our Remote Bulletin Board System (RBBS) consists of a XT compatible with a 20M hard drive and a 300/1200 Baud modem. It is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It contains a variety of free public domain programs which include games, DOS tools, telecommunication packages, and much more. The Board also has a computerized bulletin board, an electronic mail system, a files system, and much. much more. And all of this is just a modem call away.

When you call the Board use your name to tell the system who you are. If you have not called the Board before it will ask you if you wish to register as a newuser. When you answer YES the system will then ask you about your "setup". For a simple first time use answer No or None to most of these questions. Later, when you learn what they mean you can change them with the utilities. From there remember to read the prompts. If you have trouble enter a question mark for further help. Once you have called the system once you can then "TURBO LOGON". By this you just enter your FULL name AND password when asked for your FIRSTNAME. If you have done it right you will see dots as you type your password. u

Editor’s Note: Our BBS has been replaced by our web site.