Date   : Sat, 12 Nov 1983 16:26:00 EST
From   : Herb Lin <LIN@mit-ml>
Subject: review of experience with Gifford Computer systems (long)

The following is a report to Netland about one person's experience
with Gifford Computer Systems (GCS).  The system in question is
essentially a Godbout 816 system: 256 K memory, 2 DDDS 8 inch QUME
disks, a 20MB Fujitsu Winchester disk, Epson FX-80 printer, and a
8085/8088 dual processor board.  Supplied software includes MP/M8-16
(allowing both 8 and 16 bit software to be run simultanuously),
MBASIC, SUPER-CALC, and dBASE II.  Not bought from GCS but used in my
system are an Ann Arbor Ambassador terminal, and a VADIC 3451 modem.

It should be noted that I am not a hacker - I am interested in
machines that make my professional life easier, and I take little
pleasure in hacking for the sake of hacking; thus, service and
reliability are of paramount importance to me.  I have spent several
years as a systems programmer in a previous life (on an IBM 1130, of
all things!!), and I have a PhD in physics, so I have a good general
background knowledge about matters technical, but I am/was not current
in my computer knowledge about micros, CP/M, etc.

Initial Pre-purchase Inquiries

    I made many many inquiries about different systems before
deciding on GCS.  Micheal Gifford (of sales) at GCS was enormously
helpful, and quite straightforward about answering questions, always
returning phone calls promptly, and providing useful information,
both about limitations and strengths of GCS hardware.  He tolerated
a rather long period of questions on my part (four or five months),
with a few long stretches of no contact because I was out of town -
however, I got no pressure tactics from him, and that was greatly
appreciated.  Spontaneously, I also got a bunch of references of
other GCS customers, with phone numbers and names, who proved rather
useful in assessing GCS service.

Actual purchase/delivery

    I decided to purchase in Feb or March 1983 (I think), but could
not accept delivery until around May or so; they said no problem -
that was twice as long as they needed to integrate my system. In my
purchase letter, I enclosed a 25% deposit, but specified that for
every day after the scheduled arrival day that the system was late,
they would credit my account with a certain percentage of the total
system cost.  They did not cash my deposit check (which would have
indicated acceptance of this condition as legally binding), but they
nevertheless said that my system would be ready on time.  It was.

The initial shipment was missing a few items, and a call back to
them provided these items in a week or so.  A mountain of
documentation was provided, except for manuals for the floppy
drives; GCS told me that they themselves could not get them.

Shakedown period

    I had considerable hardware trouble in the initial couple of
months.  After several days, my Winnie or controller began to flake
out intermittently, sending not ready signals and other strangeness
to the CPU.  I had a great deal of difficulty determining that the
hardware was in fact at fault, because the errors at first did not
appear in the diagnostics that GCS provided - they happened only
when I was using MINCE, and was getting SEEK errors.  I consulted
GCS about this difficulty, and they said that if the diagnostics
didn't pick it up, it was probably in the software.  A few calls to
Mark of the Unicorn persuaded me that MINCE was not at fault, but I
still had no concrete evidence that the hardware was flaky.
Fortunately, the diagnostics did eventually pick up errors, at first
intermittently, and then consistently.  At that point, a phone call
to GCS was sufficient to get a replacement Winnie and controller
board in the mail, even before I returned the Winnie I had, i.e., we
both put our disks in the mail at the same time.  The replacement
arrived in three days, and I was back up.

    A few weeks later, I had my second difficulty: the enclosure
gave out - something in the power supply died, and only the fan was
getting power.  I originally thought it was the floppy disk unit
that was flaky, since the floppies would not boot.  A phone call to
GCS helped me to determine that in fact the enclosure was at fault,
and once again, a replacement enclosure was sent out promptly.

   A very praise-worthy point in favor of GCS - ALL my hardware
service calls were returned promptly (1 day or less).  

   Aside from these hardware hassles, I have been pleased.  The
shakedown seems to be over, and I have been running for many weeks
now with minimial hitches (knock on wood).  

Beyond the shakedown

   I believe that my hardware hassles were essentially the luck of
the dice, and I don't really hold GCS responsible - certainly they
have been quite responsive when I needed hardware help.  I have had
a bit of trouble with radio-frequency interference with wireless
telephones here, but certainly GCS isn't responsible for that - I am
apparently the first person who has reported such difficulties to
them, and they report being baffled too.

   A few annoying quirks/bugs in the software provided, but nothing
unmanageable.  For example, a SUB file does not allow me to change
default disks; I must do this from command level manually.  

Other comments

   I withheld a non-trivial part of my payment for the system when
the initial order was not complete, because some pieces were
missing: the Basic interpreter, but most importantly, cabling for
integrating my modem into the system.  While this is an unusual
thing to request, I had in my letter stated that they would
integrate the terminal and modem that I already owned into the
system I was buying, and this they agreed to by cashing my check.
However, it was at this time that my Winnie began to flake out, and
system integration of non-GCS components took second priority (and
properly so).  GCS was willing to replace my Winnie even without
total payment, and in light of that action, I suspect that my
subsequent demand that they follow through on the unusual provision
of my letter concerning integration of non-GCS components might have
seemed a bit excessive.  They pointed out that they had indeed
supported me in the absence of complete payment, and I agreed to
complete the payment.  

    The one complaint I have is that it took all told, five or six
months, to finally get the modem integration stuff, and I
accomplished this by asking my sales person (not customer support -
which had been so good in hardware support) to stick a pin into
customer support.  That produced action rather quickly.

Overall reactions

     I have no hesitation about recommending GCS as an outfit to
take care of complete systems.  I am convinced that if you want to
buy a complete system from them, they will take very good care of
you, and very promptly.  If you have equipment already that you want
to integrate, my experience is that they will still help, but not
with the same vigor that they would otherwise.


Herb Lin