On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 4:12 AM, Nick Holland <n...@holland-consulting.net> wrote: > On 06/24/11 04:44, Boudewijn Dijkstra wrote: >> Some of the historic fortune(6) adages are good to have, but I have my >> doubts about this one: >> >> ======================================================================= >> Imagine that Cray computer decides to make a personal computer. It has >> a 150 MHz processor, 200 megabytes of RAM, 1500 megabytes of disk >> storage, a screen resolution of 4096 x 4096 pixels, relies entirely on >> voice recognition for input, fits in your shirt pocket and costs $300. >> What's the first question that the computer community asks? >> >> "Is it PC compatible?" >> ======================================================================= >> >> > > What lie? Looks dead-on to me. > > As someone who's interest in the small computer predates the IBM PC > (0.625M RAM, 10M HD, 4.8MHz proc, 320x200 graphics), I can relate to > everything on that quote, other than an imbalance in the imagined > progress (STILL waiting for my 4096x4096 screen).
that's so square. 4098x2304 would be much superior. > Long ago (~1989), in a job much closer than where I'm working now, I > worked for Zenith Data Systems. We had an interesting machine called a > Z-1000 -- an asymetric multi-processor machine (20MHz 80386 work > processors, 16MHz 80386 control processor...or maybe other way around, > I'm not going to swear to those specs), fair amount of RAM for the day > per processor, no video board, lots of serial port concentrators. Ran > SCO Xenix, about the size of a dorm room fridge, and a lot heavier. > > To deal with the questions (which I found annoying), I put a sign on it, > "Zenith Z-1000. Not PC Compatable. Will not run Flight Simulator, will > not run Lotus 123, not even at gun point". I was somewhat horrified to > find out it would boot a PC's version of MSDOS over the serial console, > but fortunately no one noticed my experiment or that it worked. picture or didn't happen. --patrick
