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Forgotten PC history: The true origins of the personal computer

Started by BigWarpGuy, 2008.08.08, 15:45:33

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BigWarpGuy


RobertM

The only thing they skip is the 8086 chip... which the 8088 supplanted for inclusion in the PC to save cost. The differences being while both had 16bit internal registers, the 8088 only had an 8 bit data bus (the 8086 having a 16bit data bus).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8088

Interestingly, the Compaq Deskpro, and IBM PS/2 Models 25 and 30 used the 8086 instead of the 8088...


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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ModZilla

No accident comrad mention of the M68000 CPU in the Wiki article on the 8088/XT history topic, both went a long way in/for office automation, as did the 68000_Motorola chip;  esp. for CAD/CADD/CADAM on UNIX based workstations like high perfromance Intergraph IGDS [M68000's]for bridge deck design, verticle curve and b_spine curves, plotting spiral roadway sections, wan via micowave, Unixmail, XT terminals, Tectronix, on and on, many of the FED/State and ACOE design depts used several IBM XTs plugged in direct using a NIC so you could monitor the whole UNIX/VAX system in DOS remotely, check the print spooler, SysAdmins checking on network stats outside the machine room, and for load balancing, etc., etc. What a fantastic time...even though few techs had heard of IBM OS/2 yet...[there was that whole generation brought up from before the PS/1 PC, 5150's crowd, the early days of IBM System 360 mainframes at Cal Tech, and then late comers like me on a later Z80 Coleco game box...read about the Altairs and 70's era hobbists plopping down 5K for a kit computer, then there were clones the AT&T PC/TTL terms touting 64k memory to run the OHMYGOD screen saver like programs...even though kit/ MAC users had the leg up we were'nt far behind... :-*
someday os2 will be ruled by the young and famous-at least in the open-source world!

Fahrvenugen

Also no history of the personal computer would be complete without mention of MOS Technologies in general, Chuck Peddle, and the 6501 and 6502 (and the introduction of the Commodore PET).  MOS Technologies (which Commodore purchased in 1976) pioneered the process of repairing masks when making chips, allowing for the first $25 CPU (at a time when Motorolla and Intel were selling their CPU's for over $100 each), which gave MOS and Commodre a real advantage.  They went on to bring the PET to market several months before Apple and TRS's computers (the two of which are often incorrectly identified as the "first" ready to go personal computers on the market) came to market.

Of course, as the article referenced mentions, the Datapoint 2200 came out before all of these.

RobertM

Wow... you bring back memories... the first computers I used were Commodore PETs and Commodore CBMs. I still remember when we got our first RAM upgrade for one set of them (it was either a 1K or 2K memory upgrade). I was so thrilled... I could actually expand the game I was working on...

;D

Damn, that was almost 28 years ago...


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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ModZilla

Funny ::) you should mention CBM Robert, I still have one of those Pro 2001 Series, I may sell it for the right price in case any one is interested, if so will post a pic of her(Betsy) on the Marketplace or as soon as I can find the S/N for it and some software? Thanks for all your posts on the quad core stuff you run thats fun to read about as well...oh, did you also use the early C64's/128's and/or the Australian Commodore boxes?
someday os2 will be ruled by the young and famous-at least in the open-source world!