04/08/23 1
Augmenting Human Intellect, 1975-1985
Introduction Digital Equipment Corporation A Word about UNIX IBM and the Classic Mainframe
Culture From “POTS” to “OLTP” Viatron Wang Xerox PARC PC: the Second Wave, 1977-1985
04/08/23 2
Augmenting Human Intellect, 1975-1985
APPLE II’s Disk Drive and VisiCalc IBM PC (1981) MS-DOS “The Better is the Enemy of the Good” Macintosh (1984) The Clones
04/08/23 3
Introduction Increasing human intellect Personal Computer A Period of creativities and technical advances in
technology Inexpensive microprocessors Minicomputers DEC build the foundation for interactive PC with the
minicomputers and its software DEC VAX – an extension of the PDP-11 – is a
member of the mainframe family DEC VAX – Model/11/780 (Virtual Address
eXtension) of the PDP-11 VAX was a 32-bit machine and was able to execute
software that ran on the 16-bit PDP-11
04/08/23 4
DEC DEC built and market 16-bit and 32-bit
minicomputers (1974) In 1973, Prime a company in MA, shipped a
32-bit minicomputer Prime grew quickly and merged with
Computervision in the late 1980s Interdata described a “mega-mini in 1974 VAX was a virtual memory computer – small
computer with a fast main memory appear to be bigger than it is. Swapping data to and from a slower but larger memory on a disk
04/08/23 5
DEC Virtual Memory process (appear large, but small in
reality) Overall performance must not be degraded User must be unaware of swapping taking place
The initial design effort for the VAX was led by C. Gordon Bell, chief architect was Bill Strecker
VAX provided a 4.3 gigabytes - 1 billion 32-bit words of virtual address space
The addressing scheme divided memory into blocks called pages. Pages in memory were determine by a process of associative comparison
VAX processor used 16 32-bit general registers, 250 instructions with 9 addressing modes
Single instruction perform complex operations
04/08/23 6
DEC VAX was a commercial success – selling around
100,000 The 11/780s performed well. It calculated at one
million instruction per second (MIPS) The 11/780 became a benchmark for competitors
machines into the 1990s Family of Vaxen – 11/750 in 1980 (less powerful),
higher performance 8600 in 1984, and the MicroVax II in 1985
The VAX was a general-purpose computer that came with standard languages and software
VAX biggest impact was on engineering and science Prices started at $120,000 VAX was built with VMS (engineering oriented O/S),
and sophisticated I/O facilities for data collection
04/08/23 7
DEC VAX has powerful and easy to use terminal –called
the VT100 The terminal scroll a pixel at a time, instead of a line at
a time
A Word about UNIX UNIX is multitasking and multiuser O/S
IBM and the Classic Mainframe Culture
LSI (Large-scale integrated) circuits IBM developed the SNA (system network
architecture), and was shipped in 1974 – SNA formed the basis for networking large computer systems into the 1990s
04/08/23 8
IBM and the Classic Mainframe Culture
In 1975, IBM personal computer “model 5100” was introduced, it contained a processor, keyboard, cassette tape drive, and a small video terminal. It had 16Kbytes of memory, used both BASIC and AP/L, and cost about $9,000
IBM lawsuits Bill Gates and Paul Allen developing BASIC IBM and Bill Gates IBM computers – Host of PC, Systems/38,
AS/400 and others AS/400 aimed at the business environment –
represented IBM’s most advanced technology
04/08/23 9
From “POTS” to “OLTP” POTS - Plain Old Time-Sharing OLTP – On-line Transaction Processing The era of more tightly structured and disciplined use
of terminals for on-line access Use of dumb terminals, glass teletypes Use of smart terminals for editing text DEC - VT-100 was the standard ASCII terminal IBM introduced the EBCDIC standard terminal in
1980 IBM SNA IBM introduced the PCs in 1981 – using ASCII
standard not EBCDIC
04/08/23 10
Viatron Viatron computer systems An outgrowth of an Air Force Project – AESOP
(Advanced Experimental System for On-line Planning)
MITRE Corporation - Envisioned to design a network of terminals that provided visual as well as text information to middle and high level managers
Joseph Spiegel and Edward Bennett founded Viatron in 1967
Viatron system 21 rented for $40 included keyboard, a 9-inch display, and two cassette tape unit for storage of data and formatting information.
Viatron system was capable of remote computing using optional attachment to disconnect the keyboard and connect to any standard TV
04/08/23 11
Wang Wang – “Office Automation” technology Use of of the term word processor came in 1964, when
IBM announced its MTST – a version of its Electric typewriter that could store and recall sequences of keystrokes on a magnetic tape cartridge
WANG system
Xerox PARC Xerox – the true pioneer in distributed, user-friendly
computing Xerox – invented a window-based interface for
computer Xerox – invented the Ethernet that provide an
effective way of linking computer in a local environment
04/08/23 12
PCs: the Second Wave, 1977-1985
Innovation from the top matched by innovation from the bottom
Radio Shack introduced its TRS-80, starting price at $400 – had a 1Z-80 chip in it- and more advanced than the Intel 8080 (keyboard and monitor included, and cassette tape for storage) a magnetic tape cartridge
The Commondore PET system – same feature, but built in one box, it uses microprocessor
Apple II introduced in 1977 – has its own BASIC program and was later used Microsoft BASIC for improved Apple II systems
PCs matured by the end of 1977 Apple II bridged sophistication and ease of use
04/08/23 13
Apple II’s Disk Drive and VisiCalc
By 1977 PC were integrated with disk drive (8-inch floppy disk)
8-inch floppy disk drives replaced the cassette tape and was more expensive
5 ¼-inch disk drive by Shugart Associates - had a storage capacity of 113Kbytes and sold for $495 – including O/S
In 1979 – VisiCalc program was offered for the Apple II
VisiCalc was developed by Daniel Bricklin and Robert Frankston
04/08/23 14
IBM PC (9181) IBM PCs announced in 1981 used the Intel
8088 processor – a descendent of the 8080 Internal data was 16-bit words and 8-bit for
external data ASCII code and a 62-pin architecture – with 5
empty expansion slots. MS-DOS available in ROM chip
PC – DOS from Microsoft VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 – spreadsheet
applications
MS-DOS
04/08/23 15
MS-DOS Microsoft PC-DOS for IBM Microsoft MS-DOS to be marketed freely by
Microsoft PC-DOS was based on 86-DOS by Tim Paterson –
MS paid initially $15,000 to Tim QDOS MS-DOS – the most influential piece of software ever
written The PC and IBM
IBM second area of control in computing The Better is the Enemy of the Good Technological evolution as compare to the natural
selection of living things
04/08/23 16
Macintosh (1984) Apple provided an option for those asking why not
something better than IBM 1979 – Macintosh project began 1984 –Macintosh computer was introduced Macintosh built in network (AppleTalk) for file
sharing and printers Macintosh – look and ease of use Macintosh elegant system software was its greatest
accomplishment
The Clones IBM mainframes and its PC IBM ability to release technical information about its
Mainframe and PCs led to compatible industry
04/08/23 17
Conclusion Augmenting Human Intellect IBM and the others Hardware and software developers.
Competence in Information Technology
Historical Perspective
