Rainbow 100

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DEC Rainbow 100
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Character Information
Common Names	DEC Rainbow 100
Other Names	Rainbow
Human Name(s)	Rain Decker
Faction	Wanderer Class, formerly of the DEC Military
Lineage	DEC, own branch (home computer division)
Rival(s)	MS-DOS and PC-DOS (wanted to be their friend yet saw them as rivals at the same time)
Appearance
Height	148 cm (4'10")
Hair Color	pink
Eye Color	blue
Weapon(s)	DEC military sword
Design
First Appearance	Spring 2011
Technical Information
System Personified	DEC Rainbow 100 hardware and software
Developer(s)	Digital Equipment Corporation
Debut	1982
Latest release	unknown, discontinued mid-80's.

Technical details

The Rainbow 100 was a series of home computers by DEC, but had multiple uses, with two CPUs and 3 built-in modes. It had a VT-100 mode to interact with DEC's VAX line, a CP/M mode using the Z80 CPU, and an MS-DOS mode using the 8088 CPU. Hardware differences from IBM PC compatibles kept the Rainbow 100 from being fully compatible with them. It was not very successful commercially, but had a part in the creation of the FidoNet system.

Character details

General

Rainbow 100-tan is represented as a preteen or teenage girl with blue eyes, and shoulder-length pink hair decorated with several colorful ribbons. Her hair ribbons are red, orange, yellow and green, her eyes are blue, and she wears a frilly purple dress. Over her dress, she wears the jacket of her DEC cadet uniform out of nostalgia towards the old DEC Military.

Her personality has some differences depending on which mode she is in. She is stoic, focused, and more soldier-like in her VT-100 mode since this was the mode she used the most when serving in the DEC Military. In her other two modes, she is more carefree, but has a conflicting and ambivalent personality.

She was never much of a fighter, and likes to write and draw. Her ambivalence comes from the expectations she had on her to conform to IBM PC standards, and her desire to be herself.

Abilities

Like many of the DEC-tans, Rainbow 100-tan can manipulate an element, and wields swords. She can manipulate light to stun or confuse enemies, or to make herself invisible. However, she does not have as much raw magic power as most of the other DEC-tans, and relies more on her resourcefulness and cleverness to win fights.

Family and relationships

DEC-tans

Rainbow 100-tan often felt out of place in the DEC Military, but got along well with TOPS-10-tan and Tenex-tan. She shares TOPS-10-tan's inventiveness, and relates to TOPS-20-tan's sense of feeling out of place, but is still known to meet with the rest of the family.

She worked as a cadet under VMS-tan's branch in the DEC Military. While loyal to VMS-tan, she was also frustrated towards her for only wanting her to use her VT-100 mode. She did not feel like she was truly being herself when she was expected to use only her VT-100 mode.

DOS-tans

She is friends with DR-DOS-tan, but has ambivalent attitudes towards MS-DOS-tan and PC-DOS-tan, alluding to the Rainbow 100's incomplete compatibility. She wants to be their friends, but also feeling like they are still her rivals. However, she briefly cooperated with MS-DOS-tan, alluding the Rainbow 100's and MS-DOS's involvement in creating FidoNet.

Windows 1.0

She is good friends with Windows 1.0-tan, alluding to the version of Windows 1.0 made for the Rainbow 100.

Amiga

After the DEC Military disbanded, she met Amiga-tan, and they quickly became friends because of their similar pasts. Both of them served in a militaristic faction, which they did not feel they fit in with, did not promoted past the cadet rank in their respective factions, and share a passion for art.

History and background

DEC Military years

Rainbow 100-tan was the sole home computer among the DEC Military, and was created to establish a foothold for them in the home computer market. She was also created with three different modes allowing her to achieve different roles. She served as a cadet under VMS-tan's division, but was also the ambassador of the DEC Military to the Microsoft-IBM Family in the 1980's. Her MS-DOS mode was used for her ambassador role, but she was not very good at maintaining it.

She had an identity crisis since she was meant to be a home computer, but also competed in the business markets, where her main competitors were MS-DOS-tan, PC-DOS-tan, and Apple II-tan. She tried to follow the industry standards created by MS-DOS and PC-DOS, but did not completely follow them, and her attempt at a compromise did not work.

Her campaigns gained little territory for DEC. She could not lead them confidently, and she never got promoted past the cadet rank. Her service ended in 1985, but she remained with the DEC-tans in civilian roles as a teacher and an engineer.

Post-DEC

After the DEC Military disbanded in 1998, she was briefly part of the Compaq faction, and then was a wanderer afterwards. She was an early recruit into the Confederation of Independent OS-tans, but eventually left to be a wanderer.

See also:

• Rainbow 100 on Old Computers