Several years ago, way before I knew exactly what I wanted, I asked someone to give me a computer specifically for using with DOS. He gave me an IBM Thinkpad 310 with a 2.1gb hard drive, a 133mhz processor, a screen under 13 inches, a 3.5 inch 1.44mb floppy drive, serial and parallel ports, and at least one (maybe two pcmcia slots! The catch? It only works on the adapter and it makes a weird noise every few seconds, like a descending wine. I can't figure out if it's the motor, the drive or something else. But does it work at the moment? Yes. And is it really DOS-compatible? Believe it or not, yes! Mine came with Windows 98 but I've read that they also shipped them with MS-DOS 6, which means that it's perfectly suited to my needs, since the drivers will be available. I don't know the ram on mine but it can go from 16mb to 64mb. Did I mention that all the ports and disk drive are actually in the machine, unlike in my Thinkpad X32, which I'm using right now and that, if I get a new one, the battery life is over two hours, probably more with DOS?
Is this the ideal laptop? No. The sound it makes worries me, it's heavy and I might need to upgrade the ram. The hard disk isn't that large but I'll be using a compact flash card anyway, since I don't want to lose my info should the machine decide to crash. But will it serve as a cheap backup for now and for when I have my desktop but want to go out and take a DOS computer with me? Yes. I went through all this nonsense and I had it all along!!! But how can I keep track of all my computers when I have at least 14 of them? lol Now I just need to find it and the adapter, then grab some diskettes, put Enhanced DR-DOS and the IBM drivers on them and give it all to the local computer shop to fix. Opa! If I like it, then I'll either get a newer model (the last with all the ports onboard that works with DOS) or another one of these if this one gives me a problem. With great happiness, Eleni For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
