                       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.
 
