Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#1

Post by goldenskye » Sun, Mar 31, 2024, 5:41 AM UTC

Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)
oldvcr.blogspot.com

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#2

Post by le-mark » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 12:18 AM UTC

For anyone who hasn’t read “Soul of a new machine”, Data General was the company featured. This book by Gary Kidder is a great read, and an insight into the computer era of the time.

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#3

Post by ghaff » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 1:04 AM UTC

Tracy Kidder. The DG/One was a bit later but the LCD was before the tech was there. Various other problems as well both tech and go to market.

But the book is a great read. I was a product manager there for about 13 years shortly after the events of “the book.”

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#4

Post by classichasclass » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 1:38 AM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #3

Tracy Kidder. The DG/One was a bit later but the LCD was before the tech was there. Various other problems as well both tech and go to market. But the book is a great read. I was a product manager there for about 13 years shortly after the events of “the book.”

What did you work on? Any of the micro stuff or mostly on the mini side?

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#5

Post by linsomniac » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 2:06 AM UTC

This machine reminds me of the HP 110, which I had a hand-me-down of as a kid. I had a lot of good times with that quirky little laptop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_110

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#6

Post by classichasclass » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 2:09 AM UTC

linsomniac wrote: post #5

This machine reminds me of the HP 110, which I had a hand-me-down of as a kid. I had a lot of good times with that quirky little laptop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_110

Definitely some similarities. The DG-1's main advance was the full LCD panel (looks like this one also was 80x16 similar to the Visual Commuter).

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#7

Post by ghaff » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 2:24 AM UTC

classichasclass wrote: post #4

ghaff wrote: post #3

Tracy Kidder. The DG/One was a bit later but the LCD was before the tech was there. Various other problems as well both tech and go to market. But the book is a great read. I was a product manager there for about 13 years shortly after the events of “the book.”

What did you work on? Any of the micro stuff or mostly on the mini side?

Mini. I was on the MV side and then mostly rolled out the NUMA servers after launching the initial AViiONs.

Re: Refurb weekend: Data General/One (and the worst LCD in the world)

#8

Post by throwaway-blaze » Tue, Apr 02, 2024, 4:27 AM UTC

le-mark wrote: post #2

For anyone who hasn’t read “Soul of a new machine”, Data General was the company featured. This book by Gary Kidder is a great read, and an insight into the computer era of the time.

Tracy Kidder