*BSD News Article 4268


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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!network.ucsd.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ucla-cs!ucla-mic!MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU!CSP1DWD
From: CSP1DWD@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (CSP1DWD)
Subject: Re: 386bsd on notebooks?
Message-ID: <19920828224800CSP1DWD@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU>
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References: <1992Aug26.130133.26565@noao.edu>
Date: 28 Aug 92 22:48:56 PDT
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In article <1992Aug26.130133.26565@noao.edu>, on 26 Aug 92 13:01:33 GMT,
rstevens@noao.edu (W. Richard Stevens) writes:

>But, beware of network connectivity with a notebook.  That's the
>real problem.  SLIP works so-so, mainly due to silo overflows,
>and it's usually pretty hard to just swap in a 16550 in a notebook

IBM notebooks all seem to have 16550A uarts, at least in my school
the IBM PS/2 Model N45SL with 2Meg of RAM (expandable to 8Meg) and
including a 120Meg HD can be had for under $1900.

Zeos, I understand, has a notebook with 10Meg of RAM, a 16550 uart
and a 180Meg HD for about $3K.

The issue of FIFOed uarts for notebooks is critical, manufacturers
must be told in the strongest of terms that it only takes a few more
pennies to give us 16550 uarts, they are all resisting so far...
I look to the day when our notebooks come in with built ethernet,
a FIFOed uart and a high-speed bi-directional parallel port.

-- Denis