It seems to me that I have heard two lines of thought on this topic as
follows:

One group of people who want a "mini-3000" want it simply to get a lower
price point on a system.  These people are either developers or people who
want to provide a small system to a remote (home) office.  As I recall,
Harry Sterling's response to this group is to try to work out some form of
advantageous pricing for a system based upon a current platform (918).
Harry seems to reason that it would be cheaper for HP to work out a new
pricing package than to bear the cost of developing a new hardware package
which seems reasonable to me.  I suspect that the majority of requesters
fall into this category.

The other group of requesters truly want a "portable" system.  As Charles
Finley related, he actually prototyped a "luggable" system (917/918 based)
that fit into two sturdy suitcases.  I saw this system at Allegro on a
recent trip and it looked like it might fit some people's needs although
Charles indicates that he didn't get much in the way of interest.  Then
there are those of us who want a truly "portable" system which would
involve a new set of PA-RISC harware boards.  It is evident that these
boards exist in the hp9000 product line because the workstations are
physically smaller than a 917/918 board set.  The hardware side of a
"portable" is probably doable.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for the
majority), MPE doesn't use the same drivers as HP-UX.  This means that a
new set of drivers would be required to handle the peripherals and their
interfaces since thay are different than current MPE hardware and that is
probably beyond the scope of what Harry and his team can do.

Again, it all comes down to priorities, available resources and making good
business decisions.

My two cents (approximately 1.4 cents US) worth.


Brian Duncombe  [log in to unmask]  http://www.triolet.com
"Inside every large program is a small one struggling to get out."
          C. A. R. Hoare