From the basic description you gave, it sounds like this could be one of the units which was built by Tandy (also sold as Panasonic at the time). If this is the case, then they are memory slots, and full driver sets are available at http://www.panasonic.com From: Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.systems From: kevink@tango.att.com (Kevin Kranzusch) Subject: Re: Opinion on GRiD computers? Organization: AT&T Date: Thu, 2 Dec 1993 00:09:41 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: tango.cnet.att.com While I no longer work for GRiD, I can provide some history. GRiD's last in-house developed laptops were the 15XX series, circa 1990. These were the rugged (magnesium) machines that have been to the poles and into space. Excellent machines for the day. I still see them occasionally in the most unusual locations. When purchased by Tandy (1989?), GRiD decided to focus on the new market of pen-based computers. Because of a focus on pen machines (GRiDPad, et al), GRiD decided to partner with OEMs to build its notebooks. This decision was also reached when Tandy wished to redo its notebook development. Machines like the 17XX series were actually built and designed by MEI Japan, with input from GRiD engineers and marketing. The early machines, like the 1720/1730 had alot of input from GRiD, and therefore were rugged, well-designed units. Later machines, as GRiD became more and more of a pen-based company, received very little input from GRiD. They therefore fell behind the "bleeding" edge of the standard laptop/notebook market. These aren't meant to be excuses per se, just an explanation. This OEM deal is quite common in today's market. Not a coincidence that so many of those differently labeled machines look similar... Tandy sold all of its computer holdings (including GRiD) to AST Research this past summer. AST announced last month that it was closing the GRiD facility in CA and moving all of its own manufacturing to the old Tandy TX facilities. AST will probably continue to market its own (or OEMs) machines under the GRiD label, but the entity that was "GRiD" is no longer. The pioneer in the laptop/notebook market (which still holds the patent, among others, for the clamshell design of all notebooks) is no longer :-<. By the way, the 'F' key to boot from the floppy is an old GRiD "feature". Since most of GRiD's customers were large vertical sales, there were many cases where a site machine would always need to have a floppy disk in the drive ---------------------------------------------------------------------- They gave us a good deal on some chips from paragon memory corporation (GRI4-2587 is for a 4Meg kit. You can put two kits in a 1530 to get 16 meg.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I now work for GSCS a company formed by the last remaining employees of GRiD Systems in Feb '94. We specialize in repairing, supporting, upgrading GRiD computers. We also provide data collection solutions. If we can be of assistance, give Brad Loop a call @ 703-734-9600. jack stoute There's also GSCS, which services all GRiD laptops (not pentops). Their number is easy enough: 1-800-FIX-GRID I don't exactly know what the command for your specific model is for floppy booting, but on my 1040 I press the E key after turning it on and before it starts loading DOS off the drive. This boots off the drive connected to the external floppy port in the back. If you have a floppy connected to the internal floppy connector, it's F while booting. You shouldn't (or at least with the 1040 and like) have to configure ANYTHING as far as the drives are concerned. Good luck! From: Frank Durda IV (uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org) Subject: Re: Grid? Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy View this article only Date: 1996/02/10 [0]Joe Castleman (jcastle@eden.com) wrote: [0]I currently use a clone 386 with the brand name "Grid." On the back, it [0]says it was custom built by the Tandy Corporation. So sometimes I like [0]to think I'm using a souped-up TRS-80... ;-) Anyway, does anyone know [0]more about the Grid brand? I bought this machine used, no documents... GRiD was (prior to Tandy) a maker of laptops and their big claim to fame was that these units were carried aboard the Space Shuttle for some years as a backup for the backup navigation computer. Tandy bought GRiD in the mid '80s. Shortly after that, it was "discovered" that GRiD (now Tandy) held a patent on routing the wires through the hinge on the laptop display and some related techniques. Tandy promptly went after Toshiba and other big laptop makers of the day demanding royalties. Under Tandy, GRiD also sold "high-end" desktop and server-class systems. GRiD had great success selling into government and commercial contracts, and they were left to specialize in that area. Frequently the GRiD systems were identical to the Tandy (or DEC) version of the system, just in a different case, better keyboard, larger drive, SCSI instead of IDE, etc. The desktop machines were built in the Tandy factories in Fort Worth, just like most of the Digital PCs made from 1988 thru mid-1992. Tandy did manufacture machines that were sold only thru GRiD and/or DEC. GRiD kept its own R&D groups in California that did nearly all of their laptop design. Around 1991, Tandy wanted to move GRiD to Fort Worth and 75% of the GRiD engineers resigned on the spot. Tandy backed-off and moved the marketing people that would move to Fort Worth and the R&D group was left in Fremont. When AST took over Tandys computer division in July 1993, GRiD came along, but by the end of 1993, all of the GRiD projects were scrapped, some of the pen technology was sold to other parties and the Fremont and Fort Worth GRiD facilities were closed. GRiD laptops differed from those sold through Tandy as GRiD liked to use magnesium cases and Tandy usually used plastic cases. The electronics were also different but there was some cooperation in designs. Frank Durda IV |(C) 1995, All Rights Reserved or uhclem%nemesis@rwsystr.nkn.net |Ask before reprinting. ^------(this is the fastest route)| or ...letni!rwsys!nemesis!uhclem | Message 4 in thread From: Richard Pankiewicz (rpanky@interaccess.com) Subject: Re: Grid? Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy View this article only Date: 1996/02/11 In article <4fcbno$2ov@boris.eden.com> jcastle@eden.com (Joe Castleman) writes: >From: jcastle@eden.com (Joe Castleman) >Subject: Grid? >Date: Thu, 08 Feb 96 08:19:27 GMT >Howdy folks, >I currently use a clone 386 with the brand name "Grid." On the back, it says >it was custom built by the Tandy Corporation. So sometimes I like to think >I'm using a souped-up TRS-80... ;-) Anyway, does anyone know more about the >Grid brand? I bought this machine used, no documents... >---Joe Castleman > jcastle@eden.com > Austin, Texas U.S.A. I have found at an old secondhand store an old Grid 286, CGA display, 40meg HD, 1.44meg floppy. This little guy was all I really needed for my hobby of helping friends with their home PCs. Bought it very used about a year ago and found support files and help from AST Research. Their tech who helped me was very familiar with the model I had and mentioned once a government agent sent one in after he lost his cool one day and shot his computer. They figured it was history anyway, plugged it in and it booted and ran with a bullet hole clean thru it. that's their story, not mine. :) Mine is a 1520 model which will accept external keyboards and external CGA monitors. The video RAM has enough memory to run a basic Windows 3.1 in standard mode, and DOS memory is configurable as either EMS or XMS thru the Grid conf1520.exe setup file. I am really surprised at how well it's running. Was just what I needed and could afford as a portable at the time. Oh, by the way, power supply was included with and is clearly marked as able to accept 100-240 volts. No voltage switch, plug in and go. Just a thought on the old Grids. Richard P. From: Kris Schludermann (krispy@bga.com) Subject: Grid stuff for sale Newsgroups: misc.forsale.computers.pc-clone, austin.forsale, dfw.forsale View: (This is the only article in this thread) | Original Format Date: 1994-03-18 00:36:48 PST following are for grid laptops. cd-rom housing with cable and power supply, $20 windows 3.0 for 1550 with all manuals and grid fabric case, $20 diconix 180/150 serial cable, part# g40-6205, $5 10 eeproms, pn g800238, you tell me shipping is not included but texas delivery is possible. kris -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Search Result 69 From: Geoff Goodfellow (geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us) Subject: Re: Tandy buys GRiD. Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc View: (This is the only article in this thread) | Original Format Date: 1988-03-23 12:53:44 PST According to sources (NY Times, SF Chronicle, PA Times Tribune, own knowledge): Tandy, which operates Radio Shack, will buy GRiD for $55 Million in Tandy stock (or $2/share of GRiD stock). Tandy will pay GRiD shareholders an additional $32.5 million in Tandy stock in 1990 if GRiD meets some unspecified earnings milestones. GRiD was profitable on sales of $67.5 million last year and is expected to top $100 million this year. GRiD (founded in '79 & intro'd the industries first laptop in '82) would remain a separate operation in Fremont, CA under current management, including Sam Wiegand, chairman & CEO. Tandy said it bought GRiD to give it an entry into upper-level corporate and governmental markets. Under the agreement, GRiD would continue to make/sell computers under its own name. Tandy had no plans to sell GRiD computers in Radio Shack, although GRiD will be able to sell Tandy's standard personal computers either under the Radio Shack label or under GRiD's name. For a review of the recently intro'd 386 laptop,the GRiDCase-1530 (TRS-1530?), see PC Magazine March 29, 1988, Vol 7, #6, Pages 102-106. __ Geoff Goodfellow Menlo Park, CA Owner/Evangelist of GRiD Laptops, GRiD LANs & GRiD File Servers. Geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us, fernwood!Geoff@sri-unix.arpa, sri-unix!fernwood!Geoff -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rob Borsari (robb@pyrtech.mis.pyramid.com) Subject: GRiD parts, Laptops + info Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops View: (This is the only article in this thread) | Original Format Date: 1996/08/16 Hi, I have a GRiDcase 1530 and I really like it. I looked for information on the Web and Usenet about GRiD and didn't find much. I am starting my own GRiD Web Page and I am looking for info about GRiD Products. I am especially interested in current third party products, Former GRiD employees still working with GRiDs, back issues of the newsletter, anything designed to plug into the battery port on the 1500 series, dead or working laptops or parts, any web sites that mention GRiDs, stories of using GRiDs in strange places, and "My GRiD survived ..." stories. I will try to include any info I receive on the web page. I also want to know who owns the copyright on GRiD documentation (AST is my guess)? I would like to scan and post as much of the original Docs as possible if I can get permission. These are great machines that are still useful (somewhat) and very cool. Thanks for any information that you provide and feedback about the page is appreciated. -R- GRiD web page: http://www.wam.umd.edu/~tekmage/robb/GRiD.html Also it can be accessed from my homepage. -- -m------- Rob Borsari -- CCSC http://www.wam.umd.edu/~tekmage/robb ---mmm----- Pyramid Technology Corporation | (robb@pyramid.com) -----mmmmm--- 3860 North First Street | '81 KZ1000J -------mmmmmmm- San Jose, CA 95134-1702 | "Bourne to be Whiled" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: The Rodster (nospam@nospam.com) Subject: Re: Re: [Ancient] Anyone ever hear of GRiD? Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops View: Complete Thread (17 articles) | Original Format Date: 1999/05/13 Ah this brings back memories. I use to service Grid. It was manufactured by Tandy and I believe they were made in Houston Mfg. Plant. The previous poster got it right about Grid being well built. I went to their Regional Office in Atlanta back in '91 for training on their PC's including their laptops. They told us stories about Grid that you would have a hard time beleiving it unless you saw it. I was a witness to it. One story i'll never forget regarding their laptops. Salesmen were instructed to "toss" their laptops in the trunk of their cars. During the Sales presentations they were instructed without warning to lift the operating laptop above their heads and drop it. Afterwards they would tell their customer's if these machines can take this abuse......... The Instructor then proceed to demonstrate it to the class. I was convinced about Grid. Unfortuately, Dell and Gateway became popular in Direct Marketing and Grid couldn't compete because they were too expensive. Arno Martens wrote in message news:37432e2c.2835419@n3.idirect.com... > On Thu, 13 May 1999 18:05:37 GMT, ThinkPadMan@GTE.NET , wrote: > > >In it's day (quite a few years ago), GRID was the Rolls Royce > >of laptops. They were marvelously engineered, expensive > >as hell, great to look at, and quite rugged. > > In '87 I got an ACT demo at a Rochester, NY dealer on a GRID; black magnesium > case and red plasma screen. > > Jan '88 Grid Canada wanted C$ 8,500.00 so I bought a Toshiba T1200 for C$ > 4,800.00. > > > >Alas, they folded years ago, and became extinct. > > Bought by Tandy. > > > >On Thu, 13 May 1999 01:01:40 EDT, Aron Eisenpress > Hang onto it. The first laptop. (the Morrow was second) Used by the CIA. Bought out by Tandy. - Message 15 in thread From: Barry Watzman (Watzman@neo.rr.com) Subject: Re: [Ancient] Anyone ever hear of GRiD? Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops View this article only Date: 1999/05/16 Grid was one of the MAJOR but VERY EARLY laptop mfgrs. For quite some time, their laptop was the "computer of last resort" on the space shuttle. Grid was acquired by Tandy [radio shack] and disappeared. All of this was 7-12 years ago. As for your battery, it is almost certainly Ni-Cad. If you can't find a "new" one [and "new" means "new", not just unused -- a 5 year old "brand new" battery is almost certain to be dead], here is what to do: Open the battery, find out how many and what kind of cells are in the battery pack, and get new cells. Get high capacity cells with solder tabs and "remanufacture" the battery yourself. This is entirely possible, I've done it for many, many devices including several laptops [Ni-MH cells are now available also]. Source for the cells, Digi-Key [a distributor], or "Mr. Ni-Cad", E.H. Yost & Co., at 608-831-3443. Barry Watzman XiN wrote: > Hmmmmm... Yeah, if you find a place that sells ancient laptop parts > let me know and if I find a place I'll let you know. :-) > > I just split mine apart to see if I can do anything about it but I > think it is almost definetly a goner... > > - XiN > > On Sat, 15 May 1999 13:42:30 -0500, "Keatah@worldnet.att.net" > wrote: > > >I need a battery for my GRiD 1520, any ideas? From: Brian R. Beeler (aaleigh@athena.mit.edu) Subject: Panasonic CF150B / Tandy 1100 / GRiD Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops View this article only Date: 1991-11-13 14:39:29 PST Maybe someone out there in 'netland can help me. I'm thinking about buying a Panasonic CF150B, a.k.a. Hack-Shack 1100. Is this thing made by Panasonic or GRiD ? I just need a notebook for notes and a terminal, and the price is right (for the Panasonic): $399.00. My questions are: 1) The R/S 1100 has "deskmate x" (please, hold your laughter) in ROM 8+( , and the P. CF150B just has DOS and GW-BASIC. Is it possible to buy a ROM chip(s) of "deskmate x" (form H/S) or anything else? Or should I have someone punch out a chip (set) (with freemacs, procomm, ...)? 2) What about technical docs. for this baby? I've had no luck with Panasonic and I can just forget about Hack-Shack. (Sam's or GRiD maybe?) 3) Is there anything else out there like this? - one 3.5" F/D (1.44m would be great) - CGA screen is fine (the contrast is not too hot on VGA (for me, but the resolution is great) - lead-acid battery (good for 3 hours) - CHEAP! (about $500.00) 4) Does GRiD market their laptops under their own name to the public? 5) Does GRiD have an InterNet address? First off - the machine is not made by Grid. It is made by Matsushita and sold under all three names. Secondly - there are some other differences between the CF-150B and the RS equivalent (I haven't seen the Grid so I can't comment on its content). The Panasonice has no deskmate, but that is the only subtraction from the RS unit. It has as additional features, display backlighting and the ability to take a special 1 meg add-on board that can be used as either a "normal" ram disk or as a powered "permanent" disk (permanent until loss of power! Changing battery without the ac adaptor is loss of power!). The CF-150B also comes with a rudimentary carrying case that has room for the computer and the ac adaptor only. The RS one doesn't come with any case. Things like the internal modem and extra battery packs are compatible between the two. In fact, I reccomend the $50 case that RS sells for the their unit in place of the Panasonic case above. I still have mine from when I had the panasonic and now use it for my Toshiba. /s/ Bob Gettys From: John Nyenhuis (nyenhuis@farad.ecn.purdue.edu) Subject: Several GRiD Compass laptops and accessories for sale Newsgroups: misc.forsale.computers View this article only Date: 1992-02-02 14:12:13 PST I have several GRiD Compass II laptop computers and accessories that I would like to sell. If you don't know what the GRiD Compass II is, please be aware of the following and feel free to ask if you have questions. => The Compass was introduced in the early 1980's. => The case is black magnesium and the computer weighs a bit over 10 pounds. => Microprocessor is an 8086 at 5 MHz and an 8087 is built-in. => It runs MS-DOS 2.11 but the Compass is NOT IBM compatible. Generic MS-DOS programs will run as is. Since the hardware and BIOS are not IBM compatible, most programs will not run. Examples of programs that run unaltered are pkarc, pkzip, and MASM 5.1. Customized versions of Lotus 123 and Wordstar were once available but I don't have these. I will include the GRiD Compass version of Kermit 3.10. (The terminal emulation is ansi and Tektronix 4010 is also supported by Kermit 3.10) =>The Compass also runs GRiD-OS, a relatively easy to use OS. I have a few copies of GRiD OS. =>There is a built-in 384 K bubble memory which serves as a disk drive. Speed is around 6 kBytes per second. The OS can be booted from bubble. =>There is no internal floppy or hard drive. External drives attach to the HP-IB port. =>The display is electroluminescent with either 320 by 240 or 512 by 256 resolution, depending on the mode. The 320 by 240 screen is smaller. =>Memory is 256 k or 512 K, depending on the model. Memory is not expandable. =>The Compass II has 4 ROM sockets which can handle 27512 EPROMS. (You need a special crimped socket.) I have several of the operating systems on ROM and a couple of the ROM burning tools. =>Power consumption is about 60 W; the machine needs to be plugged in all the time. Here's a summary of what I have. 1129 Computer 512 K, small screen. 1131 Computer 256 K, large screen. 1139 Computer 512 K, large screen. 2102 360 K external floppy drive and HP IB cable. 2101 external 10 Meg hard drive and 360 K floppy and HP IB cable. GRiD OS and MS-DOS manuals. (One OS will come with the computer.) EPROM developers software (but not the hardware). A serial cable and some connectors. (The Compass uses an unusual 19 pin serial connector.) HP Thinkjet printer with HP-IB interface, cable, and manual. Everything is in good operating and cosmetic condition. The screens have no burn and keyboards have no sticky keys. Offers on any or all of the above will be considered. Individuals buying computers will be given preference on accessories. John From: Timothy Chiu (timc@brahms.amd.com) Subject: GRiD 1810 (Was Re: Info on SCSI adaptor/Trantor device) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops View this article only Date: 1992-05-18 10:41:28 PST >daveb@neocad.com (Dave Blevins) writes: > > I'm also curious about the Grid 286 machine they have for cheap. >Has anyone bought one of these? It doesn't have a built in >floppy which is a serious drawback but the price is right... I assume you mean the GRiD 1810 in the May Issue. It's an 8088 based computer not an 80286. Actually it's an NEC V20 running at 10MHz, essentially an 8088 for all practical purposes. For me, the machine was an excellent value. It does everything I need, and the internal modem works to my satisfaction. I bought the cheap non-backlit version, so my battery life is usually around 4-5 hours. It comes with a special version of MS-DOS 3.3 that has power saving options built in. You can turn off power to the hard drive and the speaker to help save power. If you get the backlit version, you can turn off power to the backlight. It also automatically goes into stand-by mode if you're idle for more than a few minutes. The only minus to the standby mode is that it removes power to the modem, meaning you get disconnected if you leave it idle. As for other applications I have had no problems with stand-by mode. It comes right back where I left it by hitting the space-bar. The keyboard isn't as responsive as I would like, but I have yet to find a keyboard in a notebook that I liked. The hard drive is removable, but I have no real reason to ever remove it. The benchmark I ran on it rated it at 25ms response time. The only thing expensive about it was getting a second battery which cost $80. What is it about flaky power supplies from GRiD though? My company has a 386 Grid and the cable connecting the power supply to the machine for AC power broke. On my GRiD the AC connection isn't very good and if you shake it without having a battery inside it can easily cause the machine to reboot. My solution is to leave a battery inside recharging if I need to use AC, but it seems like a rather silly solution. As for software, all I'm running is Micro-Emacs, Procomm Plus and Windows 1.03A. I decided to install Windows in case I had to read a Microsoft Write Document or Paint document. The 1.03 version is extremely compact and only takes up about 2 Meg of disk space. The GRiD has an EGA display which makes running Windows acceptable (graphically anyway). Windows 1.0.3 works pretty well on the V20. About as slow as Windows 3.0 on my 386/40. Timothy Chiu - chiu@amd.com | My opinions are mine only. {ames apple uunet}!amd!chiu | Advanced Micro Devices, M/S 167 901 Thompson Place, Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3000 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Message 2 in thread From: Markian Gooley (gooley@netcom.com) Subject: Re: GRiD 1810 (Was Re: Info on SCSI adaptor/Trantor device) Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops View this article only Date: 1992-05-18 22:04:42 PST [pretty good review of GRiD 1810 omitted] I can't get more than about 3 hours life out of my 1810's battery. I reduce the speed to 4.77, shut off the modem port, & shut off the disk when I'm not using it (e.g. during a long edit). Actually, 3 hours is about the record -- 2 to 2.5 is more usual. The keyboard feel leads to occasional dropped chars. Apart from those problems, I really like the thing: I'm using it now (login via modem & PC-Pursuit). As a portable terminal and text-editing gadget it really shines. Mark. gooley@netcom.com From: Kathleen Hollington (kholling@emr1.NRCan.gc.ca) Subject: Source for GRiD 2260 expansion ram! Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds, comp.sys.palmtops, comp.sys.laptops View: (This is the only article in this thread) | Original Format Date: 1996/10/03 To interested GRiD 2260 owners (and possibly other models): A 6MB expansion RAM card for the GRiD 1660, 1750, 2260 (and possibly other similar models) is available from: American Computer And Digital Components Tel: (818) 336-1388 Fax: (818) 336-7954 440 CloverLeaf Dr. Baldwin Park, CA 91706 Contact: Albert Lau OEM Part No. G200211 ACDC Part No. MD-PCF-6M-BA1606 Cost: $95 U.S. plus shipping You will have to fill out a customer application form which they will fax to you before you can place your order. I have no idea how many they have in stock but do know they have some. I searched far and wide for a reasonably priced RAM upgrade for my 2260, and the only other sources I found was Surplus Technologies Inc ($325), and AST/Tandy ($499). So this source is the best price by far!! I have no affiliation with the above company whatsoever. I just purchased one of the RAM cards from them, received it yesterday, and can attest that it works on my 2260 model. AST previously informed me that it would also work on the other models listed above. I am sharing this information with other GRiD users as a community service, and to indirectly pay back those who gave me good information on this GRiD model in the past couple of months. Good luck! --Robert