Subject: Eagle computer question?

From: "George R. Gonzalez" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Jul 5 15:45:46 2003

Well, I've done it now.  I put an old Eagle computer up for auction,
and I included a bit of history about "Eagle Conmputer",
but now I wonder if I goofed up big-time on the history.

As I recall, Many many years ago (around 1982?) I read in InfoWorld that
Eagle Computer's president met a tragic end, just after the company went
public, or get a big bunch of financing, or somesuch.  Something along the
lines of his car ran off the road after a celebratory party.  If you've
driven Hwy 17 at night (between San Jose and Scotts Valley), you know it's a
real damp-armpits trip, even when sober.   About 300 twisty turny bits,
rising and falling, no streetlights, few guardrails, steep dropoffs.

But now as I search the Web, I can't find any trace of this news item.  Did
I imagine it?  Have I got the wrong company?  Anybody recall?   It's awful
turning 50!

Thanks,

George

---

From: Ethan Dicks <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Jul 5 21:18:35 2003

--- "George R. Gonzalez" <[email-masked]> wrote:
> public, or get a big bunch of financing, or somesuch. 

I think it was right before they went public, but my memory is hazy, too.
It wasn't my area of interest back then... I was in to 8-bit toys.
"Big Micros" were too expensive for me, and I was barely into 12-bits
at the time.

> But now as I search the Web, I can't find any trace of this news item. 
> Did I imagine it?  Have I got the wrong company?  Anybody recall?  

I remember it, too.  I worked for a guy in 1988 who had an Eagle.  It
was PeeCee like on the inside, but the case was entirely different,
including the mounting brackets on the ISA cards.

-ethan

---

From: Fred Cisin <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Jul 5 21:18:41 2003

> lines of his car ran off the road after a celebratory party.  If you've

Yep.
My recollection was that it was a brand new Ferrari.

> I imagine it?  Have I got the wrong company?  Anybody recall?   It's awful

I don't know where to find a citation of it.

It keeps getting worse after 50.

--
Grumpy Ol' Fred     		[email-masked]

---

From: "Wayne M. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Jul 5 21:18:44 2003

> > and I included a bit of history about "Eagle Conmputer", but now I 
> > wonder if I goofed up big-time on the history. As I recall, 
> Many many 
> > years ago (around 1982?) I read in InfoWorld that Eagle Computer's 
> > president met a tragic end, just after the company went 
> public, or get 
> > a big bunch of financing, or somesuch.  Something along the 
> lines of 
> > his car ran off the road after a celebratory party.  If you've
> 
> Yep.
You're right -- here's from a recent Washington Post article:

The Washington Post, December 16, 1999 

December 16, 1999, Thursday, Final Edition

SECTION: STYLE; Pg. C01

LENGTH: 4021 words

HEADLINE: Cashing In the Chips; When a Little E-Idea Is All It Takes to
Become Insanely Rich, Does Wealth Lose Its Value?

SERIES: THE NEW GILDED AGE; Pg. occ.

BYLINE: David Streitfeld, Washington Post Staff Writer

DATELINE: PALO ALTO, Calif.

BODY:

The Silicon Valley dream has always been about getting your company to
the point where complete strangers are able and willing to buy stock in
it. Sixteen years ago, a start-up called Eagle Computer Inc. underwent
that fabled rite of passage. Eagle President Dennis Barnhart celebrated
the day of the stock market debut by drinking with friends. Then he got
into his new red Ferrari. When he reached the highway, he hit the gas.
Isn't that the point of having a new Ferrari?

Barnhart crashed through a guardrail and was killed. Eagle Computer
didn't last much longer. What survived was the moral, a kind of object
lesson that the grizzled oldsters here would pass on to the wannabe
entrepreneurs, kids fresh out of engineering school who had nothing but
a dream of taking technology to the masses.

Sure, you can get rich here, the wise old hand would say. That's
allowed; it's even expected. But don't flaunt it, don't be obnoxious
about it, don't get carried away. Because that's what Dennis Barnhart
did, and look what happened to him.

---

From: Bill McDermith <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat Jul 5 21:18:48 2003

A couple of  hits from Google:

http://www.scripophily.net/eaglecomputer.html
      Info along with a chance to buy an eagle computer stock 
certificate :-)
      Even bankrupt, it seems to be worth more than many blue chip 
stocks today...

http://www.ebnonline.com/25year/25_business1.html    
     (look for headline "Tragedy at Eagle")

Interestingly enough, this news clip also appears in several
sermons online... Most of the sermons refer to a Los Angeles
Times Article...

Bill McDermith

Fred Cisin wrote:

>>...snip...snip...snip...
>...snip...snip...snip...

---

From: Hans Pufal <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun Jul 6 17:25:54 2003

> rising and falling, no streetlights, few guardrails, steep dropoffs.

It was'nt HW17 it was actually in Los Gatos, the road along the lake 
(what is that called....? me truning 50 also ;-)  not too many yards 
from the Eagle office. I remember the event, the year would be a year or 
two later than you cite IIRC.

It was the day they went public, he drove his brand new ferrari into a 
tree. I lived right down the road from there at the time and passed that 
tree many, many times.

Another Eagle story is that IBM started leagal actions to sue them for 
BIOS copyright infringement. I was at Gavilan at the time and we visited 
Eagle to discuss the IBM issues. As I recall it Eagle told us that IBM 
had some form of binary code analyser which had shown up some relativly 
isolated common code sequences. I do not recall the outcome but I think 
Eagle survived after that, but not for long...

   -- hbp

---

From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun Jul 6 17:26:06 2003

> I imagine it?  Have I got the wrong company?  Anybody recall?   It's awful

It happened.  Someone who was acquainted with him e-mailed me once and
told me the Reader's Digest version of the story.  It was on the day of
the company's IPO.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

 * Old computing resources for business and academia at www.VintageTech.com *

---

From: preferred customer <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun Jul 6 17:26:12 2003

Yup, We were a service center that was setup in advance. Still have the
schematics somewhere.

Bill

---

From: Fred Cisin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Jul 7 19:56:00 2003

> tree. I lived right down the road from there at the time and passed that

But you NEVER drove a Ferrari into it!

> Eagle survived after that, but not for long...

I liked the Eagle CP/M machines, but their PCs were a little
disappointing.  (Nothing wrong, just not very interesting)