Re: IIgs kills ARM-A2 prototype! Film at 11.

[regnirps@aol.com (Regnirps)]

toddpw@ugcs.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) wrote:

>Sources:
>http://www.acorn.com/acorn/company/technology/history/technical.html
>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201624109/002-5028283-3601025
>http://www.uce.com/machist.html
>http://www.hypermall.com/History/AH10.html
>http://www.hypermall.com/History/AH11.html
>http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~dangermo/IAUG/TECH/system.html
>http://homepage.netspaceonline.com/~amigatec/library/amiga_history.html

snip good stuff


>    1. Why would _anyone_ want to kill the Macintosh a year after its
>	introduction in order to replace it with an ARM-A2 ?

The way I heard it was not in terms of killing the Mac, it was in terms of
killing the AII projects because to was too fast and would compete directly.

>    2. Why would _anyone_ within Apple be working on an ARM-A2 prototype
>	six months after the IIgs project was started ?

Well, you have to know something about the innards at Galactic Central. Apple
has always run with dozens of unrelated projects in all directions at the same
time. The stuff that has been killed off or had the plug pulled just as it
matured would fill volumes -- and break your heart. There are the regular
hardware groups for each product. For instance, seperate groups for the LCxx
line and the Quadra line. Then ther is ATG or Advanced Technology Group and
there are the Apple Fellows, people who have been anointed and get to do
whatever they want and with a budget that can make it happen. Most is supposed
to be secret, but the company used to sponsor a Friday afternoon beer bash in
the parking lot and everybody blabbed about everything. While editing "develop"
I sat in on all the developer tech support morning sessions where they pass out
the days questions (for Mac and AII) and talk about what they are not allowed
to tell, but thats another story.

>Charlie, if you saw a prototype ARM-A2, it had no place in Apple's history.
>I think that what you saw was not an ARM but some other processor.

I never saw anything. I just know someone who says he built it.

I don't doubt the sources you quote, but remember that since ACORN is a fabless
business, the Achimedes were often the last to benefit from any ARM
developments.

Charlie Springer