Tektronix 6132 workstations

From: Jeff Kaneko <Jeff.Kaneko_at_ifrsys.com>
Date: Thu Jan 8 12:03:41 1998

>
> <Did I say National did everything right? Yes. Well, depends on how
> <you look at it. You couldn't run dos or CP/M on it. This, I
> <suppose, was it's fatal 'flaw' (although I am of the opinion that
> <that such compatibility would be a major DEFECT, but never mind).
>
> The problem was it was late and only the slow ones with no second source.

Yeah. The 32332 was a real ripper CPU, but by the time it was
available, Intel already had a firm grip on the marketplace . . .
 
> <That and National didn't market the device very well, although
> <it was used in alot of embedded applications. I wonder how much
> <further it would have gone, had the free Unices we have today been
> <available back then . . . .
>
> The lack of OS support, lack of a perceived need for 32bits, late entry
> into the market, poor marketing and the 808x and 68k being both well
> embedded in the market were factors that could not be missed.

Isn't it odd how the 'Need for Speed' wasn't such a make-or-break
issue back then? Yeah, National was the new kid on the block, and
the product didn't have the backing of important hardware and
software manufacturers (as the PowerPC did, much later).

Still, I remember there was a version of UNIX for it; and at least a
few hacks bought/made an add-in cpu board to go into the PC (it used
ms-dos as a disk/IO server).

Those were the days . . .

Jeff
Received on Thu Jan 08 1998 - 12:03:41 GMT