35:
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computer for more than $ 2500" without usable software. Pournelle concluded, "I cannot in good conscience recommend to anyone who has actual production work to perform. It's just too darned slow." The president of one QX-10 user group complained in April that the word processor was "slow compared to my mother running the mile ... I have four different versions and not one works well".
401:
518:
and would annoy heavy-duty word processing users", and the spreadsheet was "excruciatingly slow to do just about everything". Pournelle concluded that year that
Valdocs "was fatally flawed", noting that Epson advised Valdocs 2 users to share data between the chart maker and word processor with "scissors, tape, and a copy machine".
465:. Entering text becomes a disconcerting pastime when the screen display lags as many as 60 characters behind your typing, and you lose characters". The magazine added that "VALDOCS crashed (failed) numerous times while we were using it to write this review. We lost data each time, came close to losing a whole disk, and ended up
342:
427:
Chris
Rutkowski and Roger Amidon worked on the preliminary QX-10 design; Amidon continued designing software for the QX system after Epson and Rising Star Inc. stopped production. Graphic and other software for the QX-10 and QX-16 were developed by program designers such as Dan Oja and Nelson Donley.
215:
to provide advanced graphics capabilities. In the USA and Canada, two versions were launched; a basic CP/M configuration with 64 KB RAM and the HASCI configuration with 256 KB RAM and the special HASCI keyboard to be used with the bundled application suite, called
Valdocs. TPM-III was used
517:
s 1985 review of the QX-16 reported that the computer was "severely limited by slow operation". While the reviewer did not report crashes, a "small but perceptible delay" between pushing a key and the character appearing on the screen when using the word processor grew over time to be "significant
499:
designed to be used as a substitute for an office machine. It simply takes too darned long to get a business letter out using
Valdocs. Just getting the envelope addressed can take a full minute or longer." He reiterated that "the hardware is fine", but wondered if "the industry need yet another Z80
435:
on the QX-10's keyboard (which was specifically designed to support
Valdocs, including an UNDO key) or by selecting a program from a menu the hotkey invoked. The keyboard was referred to as HASCI (Human Application Standard Computer Interface) after the user interface with the same name pioneered
509:
s mostly favorable review of the computer and software in June also noted the slow speed of the
Valdocs editor, calling it "maddeningly slow in many cases". It noted that the QX-10's 4 MHz processor was not at fault, because other word processors ran as fast as on other 8-bit CP/M computers.
469:
it into our trusty IBM PC to meet deadline". It advised users to backup their files, but stated that since the process was so slow the computer encouraged them to avoid doing so until it was too late. While praising the QX-10 itself ("Physically this is an excellent machine") and
Valdocs' ease of
484:. It seems to take forever to do disk operations ... Getting from the beginning to the end of a six-page document takes 15 seconds. Deleting the first three pages of the same document takes 20 seconds". He believed that the software "has pushed the Zilog Z80 chip
246:
Rising Star
Industries was the primary American software vendor for the HASCI QX series. Their product line included the TPM-II and III operating system, Valdocs, a robust
897:
74:£1735 (U.K., 1984); 1990 FF (France, January 1988). I confirm there is an error. I bought this machine which was my first computer for 19,900.00 francs in 1983.
593:...from his days at the defunct S-100 firm Technical Design Labs: Roger Amidon and ... Amidon apparently had much to do with the QX-10's hardware design...
416:
with an address book, mailing list manager, notepad, spell checker, ValDraw & ValPaint, calculator and more. The E-Mail program worked in the
257:
used by a variety of products which initially supported line drawing and fill functions and was later extended to support the QX-16 color boards,
370:/OS for document creation and management, written as a set of interactive application and system modules which ran only on Epson's QX-10 and
495:
In
January 1984 Pournelle reported that version 1.18 "is fast, it's not fast enough for me, my wife, or my assistant. In particular, it is
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635:
797:
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2.11. The case of the QX-16 was enlarged to provide enough physical space for an internal hard-drive in contrast to the QX-10's dual-
408:
The initial release of
Valdocs included WYSIWYG word processor and spreadsheet applications (with onscreen fonts, an UNDO key,
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has 3 sound tones plus one noise channel with 16 independent volume levels, graphics are 640x400 and the joystick ports are
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allowing mail to be sent by modem to another computer. Valdocs was one of the first environments that allowed users to
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Professor. The European and Japanese versions were CP/M configurations with 256 KB RAM and a graphical
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in August 1983 that "the first problem is obvious from the other side of the room. The Valdocs system is
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c. late 1982. Beta and initial production releases of Valdocs' application modules were written in the
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its limits ... I don't think Valdocs will ever run properly until something like the 8086 or
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A Gathering of Magicians, video, CBC television series "Man Alive" about Rising Star at NCC
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while its system-oriented modules (such as E-Mail and disk utilities) were written in Z-80
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and multiple screen formats), a cardfile database, an E-Mail/communications module, and a
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34:
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636:"Zenith Z-100, Epson QX-10, Software Licensing, and the Software Piracy Problem"
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or TPM-III (CP/M-80 compatible) which was introduced in 1983. It was based on a
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Roger Amidon resume, showing the link between TDL, TPM, CDL, QX-10, Rising Star
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199:, running at 4 MHz, provided up to 256 KB of RAM organized in four
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Despite Epson's promise of speed improvements, Valdocs 2 remained slow;
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The machine had internal extension slots, which could be used for extra
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items like spreadsheets and figures in word processing documents.
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Switching between programs was done by pressing an associated
393:. Later releases of Valdocs' applications were written in the
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461:. Sometimes it merely dawdles slightly, but other times, it
607:
Zussman, John Unger; Zussman, Patti Peters (1983-07-11).
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contains a chapter on the theory and philosophy of HASCI
771:"Epson Offers The QX-16: A Sophisticated Microcomputer"
591:, By John C. Dvorack, Page 80, InfoWorld, 29 Oct 1984,
453:
s 1983 review of the QX-10 described the software as "
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9.4 kg (computer), 5.5 kg (monitor), 2.5 kg (keyboard)
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was in development when Rising Star closed in 1986.
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235:, network cards or third party extensions like an
690:"Too Many Leads, or What in *;?!#"*? Goes First?"
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397:with some modules written in compiled RSI Basic.
317:Its successor, the dual-processor QX-16, added a
457:". It reported that Valdocs on the computer "is
609:"QX-10 computer and VALDOCS from Epson America"
293:CPU at 8 MHz, 128 to 512 KB of RAM and two 3½"
744:"Epson QX-10; the friendliest computer around"
663:"Epson QX-10, Zenith Z-29, CP/M-68K, and More"
444:Valdocs on the QX-10 was very slow and buggy.
305:compatible. There was also support for custom
129:80 x 24 text mode, 640 x 400 pixels monochrome
8:
374:computers. A version designed to run on the
27:
404:Valdocs specific keyboard on an Epson QX-16
33:
26:
858:Why someone chose a QX-10 over an IBM PC
798:"PCs, Peripherals, Programs, and People"
566:
564:
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455:great idea, questionable implementation
898:Computer-related introductions in 1983
848:AtariArchives - Test Driving the QX-10
551:"OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : Epson QX-10"
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360:by Rising Star Industries is a pseudo-
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269:setting on the rear of the machine.
250:language implementation, a graphics
92:CP/M or TPM-III (CP/M-80 compatible)
796:Pournelle, Jerry (September 1985).
25:
833:Roger Amidon's QX-10 support Page
688:Pournelle, Jerry (January 1984).
281:machine released in 1985 booting
39:An Epson QX-10 with RX-80 printer
661:Pournelle, Jerry (August 1983).
440:Performance and stability issues
742:Edelson, Roger H. (June 1984).
572:"1000 BiT - QX11 Epson (Japan)"
843:Obsolete Computer Museum Entry
634:Pournelle, Jerry (June 1983).
345:An Epson QX-16 booting Valdocs
1:
769:Lombardi, John (1985-09-09).
715:Piczko, Joseph (1984-04-09).
838:QX-10 User Manual from Epson
265:which could be invoked from
853:Yet another computer museum
436:by Rising Star Industries.
163:50.8 cm x 30.4 cm x 10.3 cm
58:; 41 years ago
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827:Valdocs Programming Manual
717:"In disagreement (letter)"
387:Forth programming language
203:, and included a separate
325:enabling it to also boot
32:
155:100 Watts (Built-in PSU)
121:340 KB 5.25" disk-drives
261:, and low level Zapple
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395:C programming language
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323:Color Graphics Adapter
555:www.old-computers.com
403:
344:
321:Intel processor with
297:(360 KB format). The
285:2.11 from 64 KB
216:for Valdocs and some
263:machine code monitor
381:Valdocs shipped to
368:integrated software
113:64 or 256 KB of RAM
29:
883:Personal computers
748:Creative Computing
503:Creative Computing
406:
347:
277:The "Abacus" is a
239:processor, adding
211:) manufactured by
205:graphics processor
71:Introductory price
391:Assembly Language
279:IBM PC compatible
226:BASIC interpreter
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16:(Redirected from
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414:desktop manager
410:keyboard macros
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243:compatibility.
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220:programs like
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197:microprocessor
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806:. Retrieved
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589:Inside Track
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383:beta testers
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291:Intel 8086-2
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233:serial ports
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105:@ 4 MHz
53:Release date
45:Manufacturer
723:. p. 6
289:. It has a
138:NEC μPD7220
82:Floppy disk
28:Epson QX-10
18:Epson QX-11
877:Categories
781:10 October
754:10 October
727:10 October
700:20 January
673:20 October
646:20 October
619:10 October
522:References
492:is used".
418:background
303:Atari 2600
299:sound chip
267:DIP switch
237:Intel 8088
160:Dimensions
775:InfoWorld
721:InfoWorld
613:InfoWorld
512:InfoWorld
474:wrote in
447:InfoWorld
194:Zilog Z80
103:Zilog Z80
808:20 March
467:retyping
188:running
134:Graphics
365:WYSIWYG
337:Valdocs
255:library
209:μPD7220
126:Display
118:Storage
61: (
463:crawls
433:hotkey
376:IBM PC
352:uable
331:floppy
327:MS-DOS
319:16-bit
283:MS-DOS
241:MS-DOS
207:chip (
147:Beeper
110:Memory
515:'
507:'
490:68000
470:use,
451:'
422:embed
372:QX-16
356:ument
313:QX-16
273:QX-11
248:BASIC
184:is a
182:QX-10
179:Epson
152:Power
144:Sound
79:Media
48:Epson
810:2016
802:BYTE
783:2013
756:2013
729:2013
702:2015
694:BYTE
675:2013
667:BYTE
648:2013
640:BYTE
621:2013
486:past
482:slow
477:BYTE
459:slow
222:Logo
190:CP/M
177:The
168:Mass
63:1983
56:1983
497:not
362:GUI
354:DOC
350:VAL
287:ROM
252:API
213:NEC
98:CPU
879::
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599:^
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623:.
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358:S
65:)
20:)
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