"Derek Parnell" <derek@psych.ward> wrote in message news:1okuzbkvfn411$.18xa3rf900jwk.dlg@40tude.net...
> I used to have a Lisa.

I still have an IBM PC with type 2 motherboard. Stupidly, I gave away my H-11. Those are worth $$$ now. The only one of my older computers worth anything now, and the only one I gave away!

On Mon, 6 Jun 2005 17:27:03 -0700, Walter wrote:

> "Derek Parnell" <derek@psych.ward> wrote in message news:1okuzbkvfn411$.18xa3rf900jwk.dlg@40tude.net...
>> I used to have a Lisa.
> 
> I still have an IBM PC with type 2 motherboard. Stupidly, I gave away my H-11. Those are worth $$$ now. The only one of my older computers worth anything now, and the only one I gave away!

I was evaluating word-processors for the company I was working for at the time (Motorola) and we went into IBM to see a presentation of the IBM-23; a state-of-the-art word processor. I was hooked as it beat anything else I'd seen up to that point (including some neat machines from Xerox). Just as I was leaving the IBM offices, I noticed a funny looking machine on one the of lab desks so I asked about it. The sales guys said something like, "Oh that! That's a toy computer. I think they're calling it a Personal Computer so it wouldn't really be suitable for office work, and besides they aren't for sale yet." I pressed for more info about it and was really blown away by its specs. It was a relatively powerful machine for the price, so I told my management to hold off buying anything until this new IBM-PC thingy was announced. We got a 'trial' machine on the day they were announced and I've been playing with PCs ever since. I think I've even got the original MS-DOS v1.0 boot diskette somewhere.

-- 
Derek
Melbourne, Australia
7/06/2005 11:08:52 AM

kris wrote:

> 
> Don't forget the hardware virtualization that's right around the corner (vanderpool? AMD has something similar too). If OSX is released on x86, I'd bet that it'll be the first mainstream OS to run WindowsXP as a hosted 'task' :-)
> 
> Goodbye emulator ... goodbye ... hello 16GB stick of RAM <g>


Yes, this is really exciting.  I'm also thinking that Apple's new Intel based systems have a marvelous opportunity here.  They will not need to worry about all the legacy junk that current x86-based motherboards contain for the sake of backwards compatibilty: Apple will be unfettered in this regard; they have no need to try to support the PC's of the past like current x86 systems do.  The BIOS can be designed anew with more specificity for modern and future systems.  Boot sequence, power management, interrupts/tables, DMA, RTC, and VESA: all these need no compatibility with 16 bit OSes of the past.  Remember LBA support requirements for hard drives?  Remember 16-bit segment addressing during bootup?  Remember the 16-bit "int" calls for changing video modes and such?

That is a tremendous advantage and should simplify things greatly.

I'm excited not merely for MacOS X on Intel:  I'm looking forward to the system design and the implications of the move on the hardware design level.  I'm sure Intel has a lot to be upbeat about.  It's a chance for them to move away from legacy design... at long, long last.

This is one reason I'd prefer one of these systems to any modern clone available today.  People need to realize that these systems won't be "just-another-ibm-clone."  They likely will be brand new designs.... and they'll have something to prove.

-JJR