modem access to remote data, to be provided from servers at “GRiD Central,” and each individual customer could have access to a larger file capacity than the 256K of bubble memory that was built into the laptop.The modem was also an essential part of the communications solution, but modems were big then too. We managed to get a modem built. We went and met with Racal Vadic. We said we wanted a 1,900-baud modem, and they said, “Oh yeah, we make those. We’ll go get one.” They brought this thing out that’s twice the size of a shoebox. We said, “Yes, we want a 1,900-baud modem, and we want it to use only 55 watts, and we want it to be this size,” showing them something the size of two packets of cigarettes. “No way! Absolutely no way.” “Well, we’ve spec’d it out, we have to have a 1,900-baud modem, so either you’re going to do the work for us, or someone else is gonna do it.” “No, no, we can’t do that!” Our hardware guy was sitting across the table from his counterpart in Racal Vadic, who gave him this wink, and we thought, “This guy had obviously figured out that, yes, with a monolithic, they know how to do it.” So we engineered a sort of around-the-corner discussion with this guy, and sure enough, they could do it. It was a wonderful example of the Valley working.
The electronic components were starting to look somewhere close to feasible. They settled on the Intel 8086 processor. The details of the size tradeoffs would drive the physical design, with the most obvious questions being the size and weight. The first question for the component arrangement was which half of the briefcase to fill; a blockish volume could fill the left or right half, and a large flat arrangement would fit in the top or bottom half. The large flat alternative was advantageous for the keyboard and display—and an elegant proportion. The first keyboard was too wide and too thick, so they developed a layout that still had the QWERTY arrangement but made do with fewer additional keys. They then found a vendor
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