Introduction - Computer Busses - page 24

inch floppy drive (160 KB capacity), and PC-DOS 1.0 (Microsoft's MS-DOS). It cost $3000,
and could be installed with Microsoft BASIC, VisiCalc, UCSD Pascal, CP/M-86, and Easy-
writer 1.0. Another version used a CGA graphics card, which gave 640·200 resolution with
16 colours.
At the time, many of the other computer companies were following up the success of
their previous products, and few had any great worries of the business-oriented IBM PC. The
main developments were:

• Commodore . After its release in Japan, Commodore eventually released the VIC-20 to

an eager world market. It has a full-size 61-key keyboard, 5 KB RAM (expandable to
32 KB), 6502A CPU, a 22·23 line text display, and colour graphics. It initially sold for
$299, and at its peak, it was being produced at 9 000 units per day.

• Sinclair . Sinclair followed up the success of the ZX80 with the ZX81, which was re-

leased for $150 (in the USA it was released as the TS1000), and was based on the Z80A
processor. Within 10 months, over 250 000 were sold.

• Apple . Apple was very much a market leader, and would eventually be the only real

competitor to the IBM PC. In 1981, they reintroduced the Apple III, which was their first
with a hard disk. In 1981, Apple Computer got into a little bit of trouble over the Apple
name, as The Beatles used it for their record company (Apple Corps Limited). Eventu-
ally, Apple Computer signed an agreement allowing them to use the Apple name for their
business, but they were not allowed to market audio/video products with recording or
playback capabilities.

• Osborne . The Osborne Computer Corporation was going from strength to strength, and if

not for the release of the IBM PC would have been a major computer manufactures. In
1981, they released the Osborne 1 PC, which was based on the Z80A processor and in-
cluded a 5-inch display, 64 KB RAM, keyboard, a keypad, modem, and two 5.25-inch
100 KB disk drives. It sold for $1795, but included CP/M, BASIC, WordStar, and Super-
Calc. Sales were much great than expected, in fact they sold as many in a single month as
they expected for their total sales (up to 10 000 per month).

• Xerox . Xerox continued to innovate and released the Star 8010, which contained many of

the features that were used with the Alto, such as a bitmapped screen, WYSIWYG word
processor, mouse, laser printer, Smalltalk language, Ethernet, and software for combining
text and graphics in the same document. It sold for the unbelievably high price of
$16 000. This price, especially up against the IBM PC, was too great for the market, and
it quickly failed. At the same time, Xerox was planning the Xerox 820 (code named The
Worm), which would be based on the 8-bit Z80 processor, whereas the new IBM PC was
based on the 16-bit 8088. It, like the Star 8010, was doomed to fail. These were classic
cases of releasing the products at the wrong time, for the wrong price.

• Acorn . In the UK, Acorn Computer released an excellent computer named the BBC Mi-

crocomputer System. It was quickly adopted for a UK TV program, which the BBC was
running to introduce microcomputers. Against the ZX81, it had an excellent specification,
such as being based on the 6502A processor, addressing up to 48 KB RAM, and a 16-
color graphics display. Its great advantage, though, was that it had a real keyboard (and
not a horrible membrane keyboard, like the ZX81). The BBC TV program was a great
success in the UK, and so was the BBC Microcomputer.

Two other companies that became industry leaders, developed products in 1981. These were
Novell Data Systems and Aston-Tate. Novell created a simple networking operating system