A Chicken in Every Pot

Alan Frayer, CNE, CNI, CIW CI, Net+, MCP

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It's harder than you think to write these few lines of wit and wisdom. Not only do I have to muse over a subject and agonize over the right words, but I have to wait for a chance to use the computer.

The wait is getting intolerable. Bocona usually awakens before I do, and on just about any given morning she can be found nursing her first cup of coffee and playing a game. When I come home from work in the afternoon, I can often expect to see Debbie on the computer, either playing games or typing her homework. Windows was a particularly bad investment because it lets her play games WHILE she does her homework. Then Bocona comes home from work and is more than ready to play some games, just to relax from the grind.

I have plenty of other computers around the house (mostly in the closet), but everyone wants to use the 386-25 with VGA and Windows. While many families would give up their pets for a computer (and at times I've been tempted to join THAT queue), my family won't be happy until I have a PC for each, and networked at that.

It must be my family IBM had in mind when they submitted the 386SX-based PS/1(a) for Novell certification. If memory serves me right, IBM threatened all kinds of grief for the dealer that knowingly sold a PS/1 for business use, and networking was a distinct no-no. Either my family isn't nearly as strange as I thought, or IBM has decided the PS/2 doesn't have enough competition as a network workstation.

Novell certification isn't enough, however. IBM is getting ready to pack some real punch with the PS/1 this year. Watch for a new model with OS/2 2.0 installed on a 129 meg hard drive. Just right for Debbie, the facetious part of my brain interjects.

While talking about network workstations, an advertisement I saw comes to mind. Remember when microcomputers were shipped with the CPU and keyboard one and the same? No? TRS-80 Model I or Commodore-64? Ah, I see some heads nodding, now. Well, Ultratek has turned back the clock, placing 286 and 386SX computers with up to 4 meg RAM, a Super-VGA adapter, and a 3.5" floppy drive into an enhanced-AT keyboard. Ultratek calls it KNS (Keyboard Network Station). Sure, it saves space, but with all the torture I've seen keyboards subjected to, I don't want to be the first on my block to send one in for service.

I wonder if I can get Debbie to forego her allowance for the rest of her life in exchange for a new computer. Somehow I doubt it.


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