🚀 go-pugleaf

 An earlier post mentioned the Rainbow runs DOS up to v2.1. That's
the latest DEC-supported (if you can call it support :-) version.
Suitable Solutions, a Calif. company, is currently selling _and_
supporting MS-DOS v3.1 for the Rainbow.

  I would not recommend your buying a Rainbow unless you know what
you're getting into. First, even though it runs MS-DOS, it is _not_
PC-compatible. Some programs available for DOS will run fine on it,
particularly compilers that don't use an integrated programming
environment. However, if the program does anything sophisticated
with the screen (e.g., graphics, windows) or keyboard, it probably
will not work on the Rainbow unaided. Second, it is expensive to
upgrade. As others have stated, it does not use the expansion cards
so popular in the PC world. DEC, I believe, has charged $695 for 256K
of RAM for 4 years! A 3rd party hard disk controller goes for about
$350; though you can install Seagate hard disks in the Rainbow
with no trouble. Finally, the Rainbow is comparable to the PC-XT
in terms of performance. People may consider it obsolete.

  That's the bad news. Now for the good. Rainbow owners have tended to
be very opinionated about their machines. Those that hated them, sold
them off early; those that love them still have them kicking around.
In my case, I have two machines - a Rainbow in my office for editing,
quick letters, and terminal emulation; and a 386 machine at home for
fooling around. I'm moving away from the Rainbow only because I need
multitasking capabilities which the Rainbow will not provide cheaply.
My Rainbow's been on 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, for at least 3 years
except for vacations and maintenance. I had the floppy drives go
bad when I first brought the machine into my office, but since then,
not a problem at all. But perhaps the best facet of the Rainbow is
the Rainbow user community. Need some help with installing WordPerfect
v4.2 on the Rainbow? (Yes, there's a version for the Rainbow!) Just
call up another user. Public domain utilities abound - at Penn we've
collected over 40 disks (all ARChived) of public domain programs,
many specific to the Rainbow. Or get in touch with Caroline Mack,
editor of Rainbow News, for info on Rainbow contacts world-wide.

   If you're still interested in Rainbows, you might check out
the used market for then. There are ads on Compuserve or in Rainbow
News. The benefit of getting a used machine is that you avoid the
hassle of scrounging around for Rainbow versions of WordPerfect,
Lotus, AutoCad, DBase, ... (they exist, it's just they're no longer
the current versions). Plus, you can probably get a machine with
the extras you want: hard disk, 8087 chip, clock/calendar chip,
graphics, colour monitor, ... Just make sure you know what you're
getting into before deciding on the Rainbow.

George

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|   GTHEALL@PENNDRLS           (BITNET)    |   Dept. of Economics      |
|   GTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (INTERNET)  |   Univ. of Pennsylvania   |
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The optimist thinks that this is the best of all possible worlds,
and the pessimist knows it.
                        - J. Robert Oppenheimer,
                             "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" 1951