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Date:      Wed, 20 May 1998 10:43:54 +0200 (CEST)
From:      Oliver Fromme <olli@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de>
To:        freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Original PC (was: talk (fwd))
Message-ID:  <199805200843.KAA20151@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de>

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In list.freebsd-hackers Greg Lehey wrote:
 > Did it really take IBM so long to develop the PC?  My recollection was
 > that it was a sort of half-hearted effort after the devastating
 > success of the 5100.  In any case, the obvious reason for the choice
 > of processor was the software available--CP/M 86 and 86-DOS for the
 > 8088, nothing for the 68K.

Ok, that sounds reasonable.  On the other hand, I guess that
a team of programmers would have been able to port the old
86-DOS to 68k in a few weeks.

 > On top of that, the 8088 was cheaper
 > because it had 8 bit memory (remember that most chips in those days
 > were single bit).

There was also an 68000-8 with external 8 bit bus.

 > I don't think they had the slightest concern about
 > attacking their mainframe machines, which were as fast as they needed
 > to be (quite literally).

Agreed.  :-)

Regards
   Oliver

-- 
Oliver Fromme, Leibnizstr. 18-61, 38678 Clausthal, Germany
(Info: finger userinfo:olli@dorifer.heim3.tu-clausthal.de)

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