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From: louie@uunet.uu.net (Louis A. Mamakos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.os.386bsd.questions
Subject: ZDS Z-NOTE+ laptop advice wanted
Date: 27 Nov 1993 13:33:27 -0500
Organization: UUNET Technologies Inc, Falls Church, VA, USA
Lines: 45
Sender: louie@wa3ymh.transsys.com
Message-ID: <2d86hnINNhiq@rodan.UU.NET>
NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net
I'm very close to picking up a Zenith Data Systems Z-NOTE 433Ln+
laptop for my personal use, and am interested in hearing about any
experiences that folks have had with this box. This laptop comes with
33MHz 486SL, 4MB of RAM, 200MB hard disk, built in Ethernet, and space
for a V32bis/FAX modem. There's also a trackball-type pointed device
which can be affixed to the front of the keyboard area. This modem is
a mono 640x480 display, but has SVGA outputs also at 800x600 and
1024x768 for an external monitor.
I've used the 386 version briefly at my last job, and I wanted to get
a laptop that would be somewhat capable of running either NetBSD,
FreeBSD or BSDi's BSD/386. What attracted me to this box is the
fairly good battery life as well as the built in ethernet which will
be handy when back at home - just NFS mount the stuff not needed on
the road. As I recall, the keyboard and display seems OK as well.
Just recently the source for a packet driver was released for this
box, so writing an Ethernet driver would be possible if existing
drivers don't work. My experiences with the 386 version indicate that
the ethernet interface performs pretty well.
Open questions are:
- Is there something silly with this box which prevents it from running
some BSD-like OS?
- How about X? Probably more memory..
- Do any existing BSD-like OSs have ethernet driver support for the
built-in ethernet?
- So what does that trackball look like? A bus mouse?
- Any good sources for these laptops? I got a "Z-Direct" catalog, and I
think I found a place (local to the Washington DC area) where they
may be available for about 10% off list.
- Am I nuts, or what?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
--
Louis A. Mamakos louie@uunet.uu.net
UUNET Technologies, Inc. uunet!louie
3110 Fairview Park Dr., Suite 570 Voice) +1 703 204 8000
Falls Church, Va 22042 Fax) +1 703 204 8001