Re: Laser 128

[tombaker@world.std.com (Tom A Baker)]

In article <ao70201@pro-scat.cts.com>
 richards@pro-scat.cts.com (Richard S. Claudio) writes:
>What is the main differences between the Laser 128 and the Apple //eand
>//c.
>Just bought one and would like to know the difference.

Price, probably.  Get a good deal on it?

Nice machine, but there are two gotchas that you might think about.  One
is that the serial port is NOT wired up the same as Apple's, so a lot
of communication programs will just hang when you try them; other programs
will work just fine.  (One that won't is the America Online software.)

A second is the little switch on the bottom of the machine for Slot 5.
I *think* I might have this right (please someone tell me I'm wrong about
this) but the documentation seems to say that ...

    You can set the switch one way, and use Slot 5 to hold something like
    a meg of internal RAM, or ...

    You can set the switch the other way and use the external connector
    for a hard drive and a RAM card, both as Slot 5, ...

    But you can't do both.

Aside from those, the documentation is not as good, and the lettering on
the keycaps comes off more easily.  Also, Apple still supports the //e and
//c, while I get the idea that Laser wishes all its old Apple clones would
disintegrate and go away.

Last, though, I like my Laser 128EX/2 a lot and I expect it to number crunch
through the end of Clinton's first term and beyond.

tombaker