alt Hacker NewsHappy 45th Birthday to the IBM PC and Model F/XT
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In about 1990, my Dad gifted me an old XT. By that point it was almost ancient, no modern software would work on it, but I could do some BASIC programming, and learn DOS and a few PC magazines still had PC software on 5.25" cover disks, so I got some of those going. My mates by this point had Amiga 500s and Atari STs and the other rare PC owner I found was using 386s and dreaming of a 486 (the Pentium was still years away).
A few years later the PSU blew, a mate and I isolated it to a capacitor that burned out, we tried replacing it but it didn't work. I left it to one side and I decided I'd get back to it one day and restore it with more time and knowledge - or get a professional (I'm a software guy), to fix it.
I returned from University one break to find it missing. My step-father had known it was broken and decided it was rubbish. He'd put the whole thing - base unit, monitor, keyboard, all of it, into a wheelie bin for the council to take with the household rubbish collection.
I felt sorry for the rubbish collectors - that thing was heavy. I'm surprised it didn't break the bin, TBH.
And of course, I still haven't forgiven him. Love the guy, but man...
Anyway, when I have the time and space for a small retro computing museum, I'll be getting one of those in the collection. Iconic, beautiful, and close to my heart. And also - I can't understate this enough - really, really heavy and not something you should dispose of with household rubbish.
I have a framed copy on my office wall of this story from the NY Times, August 13, 1981: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/13/business/business-digest-...
I became an Intel Field Application (FAE) engineer in 1988, just 7 years after the PC. At my first internal tech conference in Phoenix I was told that the reason IBM used the 8088 over the Motorola 6502 they were also looking at was because the local Intel FAE lent them an 8088 emulator. These things were a pin-for pin replacement for the chip and were the hardware equivalent of a software debugger, with single-stepping, register inspection, breakpoints etc. Having one would have made development of the motherboard that much easier and quicker. This seemed to be common knowledge in the FAE community, but never mentioned by IBM or Intel higher ups. Who knows which version is true, but perhaps a design decision based on the serendipitous fact that the FAE had a loan stock emulator in the trunk of his car when he visited the IBM team was not the story that either company wanted written.
https://sharktastica.co.uk/image?id=yysMQjg1
Admiring the keyboard layout they went with. I love that Ctrl is placed in my preferred location. That’s prime real estate that modern keyboards waste on Capslock. Unfortunately, Capslock still exists awkwardly adjacent to the space bar.
I am not a huge fan of the IBM PC. For one, it was a mediocre design. Most important, it caused a mass extinction in the small computer space so that, even today, the majority of desktop computers out there are distant descendants of the original 5150. They probably have a complete 5150 inside them, just for compatibility with ancient software.
I love the keyboard casually hanging off the desk like it’s not 20lbs!
time to boot up some Lode Runner.
Ah jeez, that makes me feel old. It’s particularly impactful as my dad worked in the computer industry at the time of the transition and the firm he worked for were a little late to the game. They limped on for years but ultimately failed.
My first pc ran CP/M
I wonder what the average CS grad thinks of these days when they hear the company name "IBM".
My first experience with a computer as a child was putting a floppy disk labelled "King's Quest" into an IBM PC XT when my dad wasn't around. And now I'm on this forum.