origin of gates quote on 640k memory...

From: allisonp <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Tue Jul 11 19:37:17 2000

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>


>> I suppose it was possible that IBM chose the Boca Raton project
>> over some other (unknown to me) 8080-based project due to the
>> requirement you mention. But I don't think they retargeted their
>> design from 8080 => 8088.
>
>The IBM System/23 Datamaster was already in production and was based
>on the 8085. There are some similarities in the design, suggesting
>that the Boca Raton folks were at least partially inspired by it.


Exactly, Anyone with 8085 experience could easily loft the design to
an 8088. Intel even had an ap-note to put an 8088 in an SDK-85 board
(I did it too) and it was pretty easy with the big difference being the
monitor rom.

Keep in mind the design window was in 1980 and by then the 8080
was a non contender as the 8085 and Z80 had replaced it. If you
look at the late '79 and early 1980 mags (Byte, KB, IA etal) you
would see there was an emerging push for more cpu, more bits
to do math and more bits for addressing. If they used an 8085
(or z80) they were an also ran to tandy, Apple softcard, NS and
a raft or other already known 8bit systems. The only place
there was room to make a point was the 16bit front and the 8088
was a well known (it had been around for about two years)
relatively cheap way to get there.

Allison
Received on Tue Jul 11 2000 - 19:37:17 BST