What was bleeding edge in 1992?

Have you ever been Subpoenaed? Just got my first. Part of a patent lawsuit.

Ok, it was early 90's. What was the bleeding edge back then you ask? Here's the product I worked on:

ACERPAC 150

The AcerPAC 150 is so feature rich that a term like multimedia doesn't tell the whole story. Acer calls it a Personal Activity Center, hence PAC, and when you look at the list of standard features, you can see why this term fits so well.

Based on a 20-MHz Intel 386SX CPU, the AcerPAC 150 offers as standard equipment a 130MB hard drive and 4MB of RAM (expandable to 16MB on the motherboard). The system's footprint measures 14.4 inches wide by 16.5 inches deep, and the box stands 5 inches high, so this is a reasonably compact computer.

On the front, you'll find the high-density 3 1/2-inch floppy drive just below the internal CD-ROM drive. Jacks for attaching headphones and an extension microphone are also front mounted along with push-button volume controls and switches for power and reset. A built-in condenser microphone and a built-in monaural speaker also grace the front of the unit, along with LED indicators for power, disk drive activity, turbo speed (20 MHz), and CD-ROM activity.

Two serial ports, a parallel port, a joystick or MIDI port, a dedicated PS/2-style mouse port, audio line in and out ports, a coaxial antenna jack, and a modem connection port round out the list of basic I/O connectors. A single 16-bit expansion slot is vacant for adding a peripheral board of your choice, and the system will accept an E-mu daughterboard (for very advanced MIDI and sound-sampling capabilities), as well as an 80387 math coprocessor.

The front-mounted CD-ROM drive doesn't require a caddy. Pushing in the front of the drive lightly causes the disc drawer to extend. Lifting a door inside this drawer provides access to the disk compartment, and closing the door and pushing in on the drawer seats the disc and readies it for use. "Caddiless" CD-ROM drives are usually a tad slower than those which use a caddy, but the Acer CD-ROM drive performed respectably nonetheless.

What makes this a Personal Activity Center? There's an internal 9600-bps send/4800-bps receive fax unit with 2400-bps Hayes-compatible modem capabilities built in. There's also a built-in digital Telephone Answering Device (TAD), which is a functional voice mail system featuring automatic switching between the phone's answering machine and the fax functions.

You also get a Sound Blaster-compatible audio board with a software-controlled eight-channel mixer installed in the system and, of all things, a built-in AM/FM stereo tuner (now you know what the antenna jack is for). A flat ribbon antenna also comes supplied to improve radio reception.

The radio at first seems an unusual idea, but it has its practical purposes. Since you can make and receive telephone calls through the PC (as well as faxing and using the modem), the built-in radio can serve as your "music on hold, addition to providing listening enjoyment as you use the system.

The AcerPAC 150 offers an attractive software bundle. The included software starts with MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions. Delrina's WinFax, a Prodigy startup kit, Microsoft's Windows Entertainment Pack, and Acer's Music Center software and Telephone Answering Machine/Speaker Phone software are all provided on floppy media. The bundled CD-ROM-based software titles include Microsoft Works for Windows Multimedia Edition, Microsoft Bookshelf, and Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia--all excellent productivity and reference titles.

The Telephone Answering Device is really something special that deserves mention here. If you're away from the PC, the TAD records incoming messages and lets you retrieve them remotely. The ability to send and receive faxes, exchange data via the modem, place and take voice phone calls through the PC, and have it receive faxes and telephone messages when unattended is a significant achievement that you will readily appreciate whether you use your AcerPAC 150 at home or in a small business. A single telephone line connected to the PC can perform all of these functions, and they are all seamlessly integrated to work together while running under Windows--talk about productivity!

The VGA graphics adapter with 512K of video RAM supports 256-color palettes; an AcerView 35 UVGA color monitor with flat screen presents a dazzling display that makes your computing a truly pleasurable experience.

This package includes a comfortable 101-key keyboard, a two-button Microsoft-compatible mouse, and a one-year parts-and-labor warranty with on-site service. And in addition to excellent user manuals, Acer also provides a toll-free help line if you need further assistance.

With all this going for it, the AcerPAC is easy to love, indeed.