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From: dwm@pinocchio.Encore.COM (Dave Mitchell)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: IBM PC prehistory
Message-ID: <10761@encore.Encore.COM>
Date: 28 Dec 89 17:46:56 GMT
Sender: news@Encore.COM
Lines: 29

In article <244@dg.dg.com> uunet!dg!rec (Robert Cousins) writes:
>
>On a slightly different note, since we are talking about ancient history,
>what was the name of the guy at Seattle Computer who wrote MS-DOS before
>it was sold to Microsoft?
>
    From "Operating Systems", 2nd ed., H.M.Deitel,
    Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-18038-3, pp. 633-634:  (typos are mine)

	"In 1979, Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, a company
	that produced memory boards, needed software to test an
	8086-based product.  [ ... ]  Paterson developed his 86-DOS
	operating system to mimic CP/M because CP/M had become the de
	facto standard microcomputer operating system for
	8080/8086-based systems."

    And in reference to an earlier question in this thread:

	"IBM considered both the 8086 and 8088 16-bit microprocessors
	available from Intel.  The 8086 handles data internally and
	externally, 16 bits at a time.  The 8088 handles internal
	transfers 16 bits at a time, but communicates with peripherals
	8 bits at a time.  IBM chose the Intel 8088 microprocessor
	rather than the more powerful 8086 because the 8088 was
	considerably less expensive and because most of the peripherals
	available at the time communicated 8 bits at a time."

Dave Mitchell	Usenet:		...!{bu-cs,decvax,necntc,talcott}!encore!dwm
		Internet:	dwm@encore.com                   *<8-O) Yow!