Tim,

You should catch up with John Dunlop who lurks around this list! He too
worked at Rolm just prior to IBM's acquisition and gave me a tour of
the 'country club' back in '86. Yes it would appear it was a fun place
to work in those days.
Regards,
Wayne Laughton

Manager, Business Systems
Southcorp Water Heaters Australia
--------------------------------------------------
Southcorp Australia Pty Ltd
A.C.N. 004 213 665
Phone: + 61 2 9684 9140
Fax : + 61 2 9684 4270
Mobile: 0412 254 484
Inet :  [log in to unmask]
Mail: Southcorp Water Heaters Australia
 P.O. Box 6
 Rydalmere NSW 2126
 AUSTRALIA

-----Original Message-----

Date:    Mon, 19 Oct 1998 09:15:54 -0700
From:    Tim Ericson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Basic Timesharing/3000 clones?

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>

 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
  My mind is my own, as are my ideas and opinions.
  My heart, body, and soul, however, all belong to others.       Tim.
 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
  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!
 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
  UDCs and Command Files:  http://www.denkor.com/hp3000/command_files
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