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From: jesup@pawl5.pawl.rpi.edu (Randell E. Jesup)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.sys.m68k,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: The New Chips
Message-ID: <330@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU>
Date: 3 Feb 88 06:42:35 GMT
References: <4746@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <4227@utai.UUCP> <1029@edge.UUCP>
Sender: news@imagine.PAWL.RPI.EDU
Reply-To: beowulf!lunge!jesup@steinmetz.UUCP
Organization: RPI Public Access Workstation Lab - Troy, NY
Lines: 28
Keywords: Intel IBM

In article <1029@edge.UUCP> doug@edge.UUCP (Doug Pardee) writes:
>"Sherman, set the Wayback machine for 1980, location: Boca Raton, Florida."
>Here we find the designers of the PC trying to decide which CPU to use.
...
>Motorola makes the 68000, but by company policy they won't sell them for
>use in home computers.
...
>The only real possibilities are the 8086 and Z-8000.  The decision is made
>easier because there's an 8-bit-bus version of the 8086 (the 8088).  This
>significantly reduces the number of other chips needed in the design --
>albeit at a definite reduction in performance on any 16-bit operations.
...
>The point that most people miss when they berate IBM for having gone with
>Intel is that the 68000 was *not* an available option at the time.  A few
>years later, Apple would get its foot in the door with the Lisa (not a home
>computer), and then managed to pry the door wide open with the Macintosh.

Hmmm.  According to a friend of mine who worked at Boca at and after that
time, there were 3 competing design teams.  Of those three, one used the
8088, the other two used the 68000.  The general opinion at Boca was that
the 68000-based machines were much better, but that internal politics hurt
them in the evaluation.

Where does this "68000 is outlawed for home machines" come from, anyway?

     //	Randell Jesup			      Lunge Software Development
    //	Dedicated Amiga Programmer            13 Frear Ave, Troy, NY 12180
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