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Data General one, Model 2T laptop

PostPosted: Sat Dec 26, 2009 7:53 am
by tezza
See http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Vint ... 051501.htm

The original 1984 Data General One laptops are notable in that they were one of the first MS-DOS (mostly-) compatible clamshell-type laptops. The one for sale is a later 1987 version though, with a much brighter screen. As the seller is right about the battery pack. This model never had one. Apparently the screen took a bit of power to run, and it was felt batteries would be not up to the task.

Old laptop hard drives can often stick stopping them from rotating up to speed. A tap with some solid object can often free them, but they are likely to always have problems.

Re: Data General one, Model 2T laptop

PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:47 pm
by tezza
This Auction closed without a bid. A $40 offer was made for all those watching which may or may not have been accepted.

Re: Data General one, Model 2T laptop

PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:08 am
by YetiSeti
Well the owner would now be myself. No one accepted the offer on auction. Couldn't let this go to scrap and paid the offer price. It will be a good companion to my Data General Dasher/286 which has no pictures to show on the internet (which I have spent an hour now googling for). At the time I bought it from TM it also had no picture and I assumed it was a DG One and then was stung with a rather hefty inter-island postage when I found out it was a desktop, keyboard and (disproportionately small) monitor. At least it is a wee bit stylish on the looks to give it more character than the average 286 desktop and I think it has a backup tape drive too.

A couple DG One's have appeared on TM in the last couple of years with listing prices of $50 which I don't think were ever shown to have sold. I think one started at $50 didn't sell, then the seller bumped the price up to $100, and go figure, it still didn't sell.

Some Data General Eclipse and/or Nova systems appeared last year I think on TM sold in CHCH, which I think went cheap. I would have loved to have bought them if they weren't table hogs.

I wish google indexed old TM auctions. I've tried to dig up the links to straighten up my facts.

Re: Data General one, Model 2T laptop

PostPosted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 6:04 am
by tezza
YetiSeti wrote:Well the owner would now be myself. No one accepted the offer on auction. Couldn't let this go to scrap and paid the offer price.


Good to see an old classic like this has been saved. Does it go, or did you manage to get it going?

YetiSeti wrote:It will be a good companion to my Data General Dasher/286 which has no pictures to show on the internet (which I have spent an hour now googling for). At the time I bought it from TM it also had no picture and I assumed it was a DG One and then was stung with a rather hefty inter-island postage when I found out it was a desktop, keyboard and (disproportionately small) monitor. At least it is a wee bit stylish on the looks to give it more character than the average 286 desktop and I think it has a backup tape drive too..


Ouch! That's the problem when there is no accompanying photo. Still, 286s machines can still be interesting. Computing hadn't quite reached the extreme generification of the boring beige boxes at that stage. :)

YetiSeti wrote:I wish google indexed old TM auctions. I've tried to dig up the links to straighten up my facts.


One thing I'd doing now is recording a lot of Trademe sales, just so I have some price data, It might be useful in a few years to look at what various models have gone for.

Re: Data General one, Model 2T laptop

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 3:35 pm
by YetiSeti
DG/One 2T - Model 2540A (1987) it is. The auction was well described.

Aesthetically in great shape, screen is sharp and easy on the eyes and thrives with some light. Just missing a back cover for the external ports which is understandable as it had to be removed to plug in the power. No extras, i.e. expanded memory, colour card, ext. keyboard, modem, fdd which are options shown in manual.

It boots to a set up menu for System Setup, Terminal Emulation, and Diagnostics but doesn't see the HDD any more. I unscrewed as much as I felt like it was going to give but guess will leave it all intact as it put up a fight so can't confirm if the HDD is there or not.

This site here with an article (looks interesting) titled "History of Microsoft Flight Simulator" - http://www.volny.cz/havlikjosef/historyenglish.htm
gives almost more info on the Data Generals than most other sites.

Re: Data General one, Model 2T laptop

PostPosted: Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:03 am
by DPQ
Hi DG fans ...

I just bought a DG One model 2 laptop off ebay. It has two FDD and I want to replace one with the 10 or 20MB HDD option.
If anyone has this drive for sale, or any info on who made it and the interface, that would be great.
Thanks in advance,
Don Quixote
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Amerika