[GreenKeys] GreenKeys Digest, Vol 110, Issue 72

[WA5CAB at cs.com]

Ed,

As anyone of our age will have at least heard of the P-1, P-II and P-III, I 
assume you mean the 3-Bay P-II, not just the P-II.  If not, the P-I is the 
same size as the IBM portable and uses the same 8086 CPU.  The P-II has the 
same proportions but is about 80% of the size and uses an 80286 and 80287.  
All of the Portable II's that were sold (at least so the Compaq employee I 
got it from told me) had two drive bays.  Into them you could put any 
combination of two of the 5-1/4" or 3.5" floppy drives or up to two hard drives.  
All half-height.  The 3-bay would hold three in any combination.  Mine has 
one of each type.  Apparently, the 3-bay hardware (metal frame and plastic 
front) was under development when the smaller P-III came out.  Mine was built 
up from prototype parts.  Other than three drives, it looks just like a 
regular P-II.

All of the self contained portable machines of this form factor eventually 
came to be known as luggables.  I had a total of six of them, Commodore 
SX-64, Bondwell CPM-2, Bondwell CPM-3, Bondwell MSDOS (a clone of the IBM 
Portable), and the two Compaqs.  I never liked the P-III, although I had one for a 
brief time.  Then the laptops appeared.  

In a message dated 03/20/2013 21:28:03 PM Central Daylight Time, 
COURYHOUSE at aol.com writes: 
> tell me about the Compaq Portable II   I have not heard of it  ed#
>   
>  In a message dated 3/20/2013 7:17:32 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, 
> WA5CAB at cs.com writes:
>  
> >> If anyone is interested in something just slightly newer, I have an 
>> original Compaq Portable I with carrying bag and a Compaq Portable II (the 
>> three drive bay one that was never marketed).
>> 
>> In a message dated 03/20/2013 16:00:52 PM Central Daylight Time, 
>> tim at newtek.com writes: 
>> >>> I am interested in Altair or other vintage home computers as well if 
>>> you 
>>> know of any. I already have a Kim 1,
>>> SWTPC 6800, Cosmac ELF, and a few others. I'd like to add to my little 
>>> collection.
>> 
> 
> 

Robert Downs - Houston
wa5cab dot com (Web Store)
MVPA 9480
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