Re: The Apple ][ was cool!

["william strutts" <wrstrutts1@nospam.home.com>]

Excerpt from:

http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/jbayko/cpu.html#Sec3Part7

So why did IBM chose the 8-bit 8088 (1979) version of the 8086 for the IBM
5150 PC (1981) when most of the alternatives were so
much better? Apparently IBM's own engineers wanted to use the 68000, and it
was used later in the forgotten IBM Instruments 9000
Laboratory Computer, but IBM already had rights to manufacture the 8086, in
exchange for giving Intel the rights to its bubble memory
designs. IBM was using 8086s in the IBM Displaywriter word processor (the
8080 and 8085 were also used in other products).

Other factors were the fact that the the 8-bit 8088 could use existing low
cost 8085-type components, and allowed the computer to be
based on a modified 8085 design. 68000 components were not widely available,
though it could use 6800 components to an extent. After
the failure and expense of the IBM 5100 (1975, their first attempt at a
peronal computer - discrete random logic CPU with no bus, built
in BASIC and APL as the OS, 16K RAM and 5 inch monochrome monitor -
$10,000!), cost was a large factor in the design of the PC.

--
--
William R. Strutts - wrstrutts1@nospam.home.com - Whatever!

C'est moi!  http://www.facelink.com/wrstrutts

Just hacking away...

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