Lee Courtney wrote:
>
> Does anyone on the list remember, or have information relating
> to, a company called Basic Timesharing(?) that manufactured and
> marketed a Classic 3000 clone in the late 70s/early 80s(?)?

Hey!

I started programming on a BTI5000!

<fuzzy flashback mode>

The guy that owned the small time-share (CompuSolve in Sunnyvale,
CA) that I was working for thought that the machine was a re-
labeled HP1000 or HP2000(?)  That was 1982 (I think) and I was
laid off there, then started as an operator on my first 3000!
(actually two - a Series III and a Series 38 - for ROLM's MilSpec
Division, which was a teriffic place to work)

The BTI's operating system prompt was the BASIC interpreter --
type in a BASIC statement and it executed!  The '@' user was the
system superuser, and we wrote a small program to break the
password so we could make our own configuration changes (normally
BTI had to dial in and do them for you).

My parents were really impressed when I used a TV-based terminal
(does anyone remember what THOSE were?) to dial into work, where
I had written a BASIC program that used the terminal's escape
codes to paint random blocks of color on the TV screen - 12 rows
with 40 columns each.

</fuzzy flashback mode>

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  My mind is my own, as are my ideas and opinions.
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  Tim Ericson            tericson      DenKor Dental Management Corp.
  Sr. Systems Analyst     at denkor    503-526-4440 (my direct number)
    (& Systems Manager)     dot com         http://www.denkor.com
  Programming HP3000s since 1983!      Quality dental care since 1970!
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