Without the Apple II, it’s
possible the PC would never
have existed. Although a subject
of debate, it’s generally agreed
that the Apple II was a primary
influence on the PC. Many IBM
engineers owned one—as did
many customers, who found that
they could easily do jobs, such
as working on spreadsheets,
that were nearly impossible on
a giant mainframe.
Sporting an 8-bit MOS 6502
processor, with between 4KB
and 64KB of RAM, it debuted
in June 1977 for a base price
of $1,298. It had an incredible
production run, selling from
1977 to 1993. Developed by
Steve Wozniak, the Apple II
stands in stark contrast to
products developed by Apple’s
lesser Steve (Mr. Jobs). Chiefly,
the Apple II is designed around
an open architecture, with a
removable lid allowing easy
access to the motherboard and
expansion slots. Much like the
PC, the Apple II would be the
subject of numerous clones
over the years.
Even though the PC was
newer, the Apple II retained
advantages over the PC, such
as having eight expansion slots
over the PC’s five, and much
more convenient gaming, with
bundled joysticks and games
that loaded in seconds.independent team. This new squad,
the Dirty Dozen, a group of IBM
misfits, was allowed to do things
however they saw fit to get the job
done. The task was code-named
Project Chess, with Lowe promising
a working prototype in 30 days.
After talking to potential dealers,
Lowe went for an open architecture.
While dealers were very interested
in an IBM machine, it just wouldn’t
work if they had to operate within
IBM’s proprietary methods. If
dealers were going to repair these
machines, they needed to be made
from standard off-the-shelf parts.
By August, Lowe had a very
basic prototype and a business plan
that broke away from established
IBM practice. Based on this new
open architecture, the PC would
use standard components and
software, instead of IBM parts, and
be sold via normal retail channels.DEVELOPING THE PC
Over the coming months, the Dirty
Dozen grew exponentially in number
and toiled away to transform the
prototype into a world-class
machine. They focused on giving
the PC an excellent keyboard, which
they delivered with the IBM Model F.
It needed to be durable and
reliable, so each key was rated to 100
million keystrokes. It also needed to
be tactile and ergonomic. IBM was
renowned for quality keyboards,
and would try to replicate the feel
of older beamspring terminal
keyboards with a new Buckling
Spring technology.
These gave the keyboards the
famous clacky sound and weighted
feel that was popular with typists,
giving a tactile feedback unrivaled
at the time. The PC’s keyboard alone
would become the main selling
point for a lot of customers, and IBM
keyboards would be the best in the
business for the next two decades.
Next, the crew turned to the CPU.
IBM’s own 801 RISC processor was
considered (which would have been
significantly more powerful), but
for convenience and compatibility’s
sake, the team chose the Intel 8088.
By choosing an 8088 processor,
technically the original IBM PC is
only partly 16-bit. There is often
confusion over why IBM chose to
use the inferior 8088 CPU instead of
the 8086 (especially with a so-called
“x86” computer). Both are internally
©^ 16-bit, but the difference between
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Apple II
The great rival
An open architecture?
Easy access to
expansion slots? Steve
Jobs could never have
designed such a thing!the 8086 and the 8088 was the data
path—the 8086 had a full 16-bit
data path; the 8088’s was 8-bit.
The 8088 was still quite fast, but
was cheaper and could be bought
in the large quantities the new PC
market would demand. An 8086
would also require far more complex
and expensive motherboards, and
may not have been able to be
produced in sufficient numbers to
keep up with demand. A lot of the
hardware likely to be used in the PC
also had an 8-bit bus, so an 8088
would be better for compatibility.
As for the motherboard, RAM
would be expandable up to 256KB,
an optional 8087 math coprocessor
would be available, and there would
be five ISA expansion slots. Putting
the machine together, launch models
would have a choice of 16 or 64KB of
RAM, space for two 5.25-inch floppy
disk drives, and a cassette jack for
tape storage. Buyers had a choice of
monochrome or CGA graphics, and
the Intel 8088 powering the system
would be running at 4.77MHz.
With the hardware sorted, the
burden of developing the operating
system would be largely outsourced
to Microsoft, with IBM offering
consumers the joint-venture PC
DOS. The final machine was dubbed
the IBM Model Number 5150. This
moniker would be immediately
forgotten, for in the minds of the
press, it was really IBM’s Personal
Computer that was about to launch.IBM wasn’t just
a colossus in
size, but also in
sluggishness.
Observers
claimed it
would take
“nine months
to ship an
empty box.”maximumpc.com DEC 2019 MAXIMUMPC 43