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IBM Wouldn't Do This, Would They?
(But They Did!)
I am not currently an AT user. Otherwise, I might have discovered
this before now and probably at some inconvenience. I pass it on so
that many of you who are using AT's might be aware of the possible
inconvenience Big Blue has planned for AT users. The following item
appeared in the Lotus Magazine, Vol.2, No.9, September, 1986 (p. 26).
- Jack Kilday, Sysop
Northern Lights BBS
207-766-2467 2400/1200
Preventing PC AT Amnesia
If you've never pulled the cover off an IBM PC AT, you may not realize
that there is a battery inside. If that news comes as a surprise,
there's no need to be embarrassed; you apparently have a lot of
company.
According to Alex Papakyriakou, general manager of International
Battery Corp. (IBC) (Reseda, Calif.), a sizable number of IBM PC AT
owners -- including some large-scale corporate buyers -- are just
realizing this because the batteries are beginning to fail. This
causes the loss of not only time and date information but also
internally stored configuration information like the machine's memory
size and type and number of disk drives.
When a PC AT's battery fades out, you are forced to enter the
configuration info each time you start the system -- a tedious process
that leads to a quick search for a replacement battery. The
difficulty users face in finding the batteries is what got IBC into
the AT battery business.
IBC was getting requests for the 6-volt lithium units and couldn't
find a supplier until they came across Tadiran, a major battery
manufacturer headquartered in Israel.
IBC obtained exclusive rights to aftermarkets sales of Tadiran's
AT-compatible batteries and is selling them by mail order for $27.50,
which Papakyriakou claims is $15 less than IBM sells them for. But
IBC is likely to have competition soon in this lucrative market. The
market-research firm Dataquest (San Jose, Calif.) estimates there will
be more than one million IBM AT's in use by the end of 1986, each
having a battery that runs out of juice every one to three years.