I would concur with the various comments about why terminals are better
in a number of places.

As a provider of HP3000 Manufacturing Applications for many years I have
found many organisations much prefer terminals on the Shop Floor and
Goods Inwards, as much for their ease of use as for their durability.

I know one company in the UK that went around buying up any old 2624
they could get their hands for their receiving dock, they had virtually
a lifetimes supply in the warehouse last time I had contact with them.
It was the fact that they didn't stop when they became full of flour,
the keyboards could be hit about as hard as you liked. But most
importantly as the users only ever used two or three screens in the
application and were not the most computer literate folk, they never got
any support calls. The guys in the dock even knew that if one went
wrong/got hit just a bit too hard :-) they just went over to the rack,
lifted another one down, plugged it in and were up and running again.
This was especially important as they were keying hundreds of
transactions a day as lorries came and went.

It is also one of the reasons that when I was working on the Design of
the ScreenJet GUI product for the 3000, that I new we had to have a
solution that would allow the same application to run unaltered on
terminals as well as providing a full GUI interface elsewhere.

I personally think there will be a requirement for a simple terminal
device for as long as there are harsh environments combined with low
levels of user sophistication. In fact I would make a bet that if HP
stopped making terminals for the 3000, soon someone would be producing a
simple terminal and selling it at a premium over the price of a good PC.



In article <[log in to unmask]>, Paul Rose
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>In some of the shop environs I worked, the PC tended to grow legs and walk
>away from the job site.  Terminals tended to stay on the job for a long
>time!  DTC's did the trick for us...
>
>Paul Rose
>HP 3000 System Administrator
>IBM Global Services
>t/l 378-9793
>330-764-3390
>
>
>Wyell Grunwald <[log in to unmask]>@RAVEN.UTC.EDU> on 02/19/2001
>11:01:55 AM
>
>Please respond to Wyell Grunwald <[log in to unmask]>
>
>Sent by:  HP-3000 Systems Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>To:   [log in to unmask]
>cc:
>Subject:  Re: DTC Education
>
>
>
>I can answer this one !
>
>Most of the places I have worked have terminals out on the manufacturing
>floor ON PURPOSE.  A PC cannot take the abuse, extreme temperatures, dust,
>etc that a terminal can.  In one place I worked, they went through a dozen
>keyboards a week because hot metal was splashed on them.  It is a whole lot
>cheaper to replace terminals than PC's, and a whole lot more cost
>effective.  Also, some floor workers are very computer illiterate, and
>teaching them how to run a PC is a monumental task.  Handling a terminal is
>enough of a challenge.  And finally, the security is so much better - no
>access to floppies or hard drives.  (Remember the hard drive that contained
>weapon information that "disappeared" behind a copy machine ?)
>
>
>  /~\/~\/~\/~\/~\/~\/~\/~\/~\/~\/~\
>[]  Wyell Grunwald
>[]  Geisinger Health System
>[]  Information Technology
>[]  Mail Code 30-33
>[]  100 North Academy Avenue
>[]  Danville, PA  17822
>[]
>[]  Phone:  570-271-7342
>[]  Fax:  570-271-5162
>[]  E-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>[]  Web:  www.geisinger.org
>  \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/\_/
>
>>>> hf <[log in to unmask]> Friday, February 16, 2001 3:19:00 PM >>>
>If you want to stay with a DTC there is still a newer model with 16 ports
>and one with 72. I know that it was an upgrade from 16iX to 16MX before.
>Don't know if thats still around.
>
>But the question is. What's that used for. Terminals can be replaced with
>PC
>with any term emulator. And many printers can be placed on the network with
>JetDirect boxes. Also there is also some programs (like Minisoft  NP92)
>that
>can send spoolfiles to your NT or Unix system.
>
>hf
>
>
>"Tom Hula" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
>news:t8qvfhephk1f8d@corp.supernews.com...
>> Is there a place I can go on the Web to research DTCs? Models, features,
>> availability and such? I just learned (I know, a little slow) that my 2
>> DTC16iX DTCs had an end of support as of 12/1/2000. I am seriously
>> considering replacing our 927LX with an A Class computer, but will need
>to
>> be able to use my DTCs on the new box for an indefinite period of time.
>So,
>> if I need to replace the DTCs, I would like to have a better idea of what
>I
>> need and what is available. TIA
>>         Tom Hula
>>         Victor S. Barnes Company
>>
>>
>

Alan Yeo
[log in to unmask]    Just because you're paranoid
Phone +44 1684 291710   it doesn't mean someone isn't!.
Fax   +44 1684 291712