Introduction - Computer Busses - page 35

(with up to nine users). It was extremely powerful and used the both a Z80A and a 68000
processor. It had 512 KB RAM, 80·24 text, graphics, 1.2 MB 8-inch disk, an optional 15 MB
hard drive, TRS-DOS, or XENIX 3.0. Another struggler with an excellent product was
Acorn who released The Advanced RISC Machine (ARM), which used a powerful 32-bit
processor.
At IBM, there was despondency as they stopped production of their PCjr and released
their first version of TopView for $150. One of the successes of the previous year, Compaq
Computer, was jubilant as they reported second year revenues of $329 million. They quickly
followed up the success of the Compaq portable with the Compaq Deskpro 286 and Portable
286, which was similar in specification to the IBM AT. IBM also moved into networking
with IBM Token Ring; unfortunately, even though Token Ring was an excellent networking
technology, the future would be Ethernet.
Each year in the computer industry had seen a new significant company being born. The
previous years had seen the birth of Compaq Computers, Sun Microsystems and Apollo. In
the 1985, it was Nintendo, and Chip and Technologies. Nintendo would become one of the
leading computer companies in the lucrative computer games market. They again highlighted
the strength of the USA in generating new and innovative computer companies. Software
companies were also being created, such the Corel Corporation (by Michael Cowpland), and
Quarterdeck Office Systems. On of the successes of the previous years was Sun Microsys-
tems who had started work on their SPARC processor.
On the PC, new software versions were coming thick and fast. Lotus 1-2-3 has moved to
2.0, WordPerfect moved to Version 4.1, Novell NetWare was now at Version 2.0 and dBase
was at Version 3. 1985 also saw the first CD-ROM drives for computer use.
After a few frantic years, things started to settle down in 1986. The IBM PC and the Ap-
ple Macintosh would now dominate the market, especially at the business end. One of the
biggest winners was Compaq Computers who had seen their turnover for their third year rise
to $503.9 million and, by the middle of the year, they would sell their 50 000th computer.
Compaq Computer introduced the Compaq Portable II. Against its excellent quality and
specification, IBM would eventually withdraw from the portable computer for a while, as it
was obviously inferior to the Compaq portable. It would take many years before IBM would
regain some of the portable market (with the ThinkPad).
Compaq blasted the PC market wide open with the first 16 MHz Intel 80386-based PC:
the Compaq Deskpro 386. The best that IBM could manage was the IBM AT which had an
8 MHz Intel 80286. The Deskpro 386 was thus running at twice the clock speed, and had the
potential, with 32-bit software, to run twice as fast again. The 80386 also had significant
improvements in the number of clock cycles that it took for an operation to be performed.
Thus, the Deskpro 386 sprinted, while all the other PCs dawdled, and its full potential was
yet to be realised.
IBM knew that the PC was a compromised system, and released the IBM RT Personal
Computer. This was based on a 32-bit RISC-based processor, with 1 MB RAM, a 1.2 MB
floppy, and 40 MB hard drive, and cost $11 700. Even with the RISC processor, it only had a
performance of 2 MIPS, and thus its price/performance ratio was too great for it to be
adopted in the market.
Apple was starting to suffer against the growing power of the IBM PC developers. They
still had a closed system, where it was up to them to develop the software and hardware for
the Macintosh, whereas the IBM had hundreds, if not thousands, working on it, and improv-
ing it. The Apple Mac was now looking underpowered and lacking other facilities, especially
in networking on IBM PC-based networks. Apple overcame part of this with the release of