The IBM PC is celebrating its 30th birthday today.
30 Years: The Top Five Milestones of The IBM PC : Read more
30 Years: The Top Five Milestones of The IBM PC : Read more
- Status
RazberyBandit
Distinguished
- Dec 25, 2008
- 2,303
- 0
- 19,960
Well I wouldn't choose web browsing per se, but the actual development of the web itself. You could already do something akin to web browsing during the era of the BBS, but it required a direct dial-in connection to each individual BBS. The development of the web made everything openly available.
amigafan
Distinguished
- Mar 19, 2011
- 212
- 0
- 18,760
I'm glad to see PC is greatly evolving in power efficiency area. Today it has more advanced (and aggressive) speed & power management of CPU and GPU, there are technologies like Virtu, Fusion with potent GPU on die, also motherboards with efficient components are becoming the norm (even cheaper ones), CPUs have memory controller embedded (instead on a chipset), increasing popularity of SSD (low power operation & fast speed does more in less time and energy) etc.
How about the NV1 chip? A commercial failure that nearly broke nVidia during their infancy, but it heralded an entire industry. I had one of those: A Diamond Edge 3D card with a completely proprietary framework, and it shipped with the only three games that ever made to take advantage of the chip.
Or the AdLib sound synthesizer? The first MIDI card for a PC. We went from beeps and bloops to real music!
Or the AdLib sound synthesizer? The first MIDI card for a PC. We went from beeps and bloops to real music!
Wisecracker
Splendid
- Jan 15, 2007
- 8,106
- 17
- 31,965
No dispute the development of the browser is a milestone.
Not mentioning Netscape Communications and the Navigator Suite, however, should be considered blasphemous.
Not mentioning Netscape Communications and the Navigator Suite, however, should be considered blasphemous.
BTW, the first PC did not have a hard drive. Just one or two floppies. It was the PC-XT that introduced the first 10MB Hard drive in 1983.
JasonAkkerman
Distinguished
- Apr 28, 2008
- 457
- 0
- 18,790
Plug & Play.
Thank god.
I don't miss setting and resetting IRQs, DMA channels, or any of that other stuff. Especially doing it with jumpers. Then you had to configure the software to match.
Thank god.
I don't miss setting and resetting IRQs, DMA channels, or any of that other stuff. Especially doing it with jumpers. Then you had to configure the software to match.
amk-aka-Phantom
Distinguished
- Mar 10, 2011
- 3,004
- 0
- 20,860
Lol, every day. Not the telephone line - they stopped adding these sockets to laptops about 4 years ago - but the Ethernet cable? All the time. Can't beat its stability. Besides, in my home country, my ISP provides the access via the Ethernet cable... best thing ever: plug it in the PC itself, or into the router...
Another butchered, misinformed article.
In fact, the original PC did not sell with a hard disk. The PC XT did, and that was originally a 5 mb one.
For $1565, you did NOT get a 5.25 inch floppy disk, either. That was for a base unit, period. No floppy, certainly no hard disk. I don't if any even sold this way, since demand was so strong there was little incentive for IBM to make these models. But, it was intended to be used with a cassette player in these configurations, which is why it came with "Cassette BASIC".
Microsoft Windows made the PC mainstream? What???? Why talk about stuff you don't know anything about? DOS was wildly successful, and Intel based PCs were increasing sales every year. What a stupid, uninformed remark. By the way, Wolfie, do you know why Windows gained market acceptance? Because Windows/386 could take advantage of Intel's Virtual 86 mode, and thus could multi-task (albeit cooperatively) DOS programs! People started using it for that, it gained a good installed base, and Windows based apps started coming out.
PCs kept gaining popularity because they were becoming more powerful and less expensive. When you were obviously still a child,since you know nothing of this period, the old saying was "the computer you really want will always cost $5000". Every year sales increased, there wasn't a Windows event that suddenly made the PC popular. What stupidity.
Please, if you don't know what the Hell you're talking about, say nothing instead of spreading misinformation so you sound like you're smart. Someone is going to catch your stupidity.
In fact, the original PC did not sell with a hard disk. The PC XT did, and that was originally a 5 mb one.
For $1565, you did NOT get a 5.25 inch floppy disk, either. That was for a base unit, period. No floppy, certainly no hard disk. I don't if any even sold this way, since demand was so strong there was little incentive for IBM to make these models. But, it was intended to be used with a cassette player in these configurations, which is why it came with "Cassette BASIC".
Microsoft Windows made the PC mainstream? What???? Why talk about stuff you don't know anything about? DOS was wildly successful, and Intel based PCs were increasing sales every year. What a stupid, uninformed remark. By the way, Wolfie, do you know why Windows gained market acceptance? Because Windows/386 could take advantage of Intel's Virtual 86 mode, and thus could multi-task (albeit cooperatively) DOS programs! People started using it for that, it gained a good installed base, and Windows based apps started coming out.
PCs kept gaining popularity because they were becoming more powerful and less expensive. When you were obviously still a child,since you know nothing of this period, the old saying was "the computer you really want will always cost $5000". Every year sales increased, there wasn't a Windows event that suddenly made the PC popular. What stupidity.
Please, if you don't know what the Hell you're talking about, say nothing instead of spreading misinformation so you sound like you're smart. Someone is going to catch your stupidity.
ojas
Distinguished
- Feb 25, 2011
- 2,924
- 0
- 20,810
Among other things, you missed a certain punch-card technology used in looms that could be "programmed" when you were going over the history of computers, and i think The Millennium Bug was also quite significant...isn't Tri-Gate significant?
Hehe...the pricing seems so funny, if you compare them then and now...i remember our first Pentium II system in 1998 cost some £2000...
Hehe...the pricing seems so funny, if you compare them then and now...i remember our first Pentium II system in 1998 cost some £2000...
holdingholder
Distinguished
- Jun 9, 2011
- 274
- 0
- 18,810
Windows 95 was mind blowing at the time. When I saw the pics in PC Gaming magazine of Doom running in windows I couldn't believe it.
techguy378
Distinguished
- Jul 14, 2009
- 449
- 0
- 18,780
My first computer was an IBM PC jr. It came with a floppy disk drive, but the instruction book clearly stated this was an option. The computer had BASIC burned into its ROM chip. It had two cartridge slots. Changing cartridges did not require turning the computer off. This was also the first computer in existence to have a wireless keyboard. Unlike its big brother, the PC jr's PC speaker could actually do more than play simple beeps. The IBM PC jr was the best consumer desktop PC available at the time of its release. Why it didn't last longer is a total mystery.
Thor
Distinguished
- Jan 5, 2004
- 155
- 0
- 18,680
IBM is really a Dinosaur and it suck a lot.
They even not able to sell computer today and give their division to China.
It's what happen when they have too much "Chief"/Boss all thinking they have the solution.
So the company go nowhere.
It would be interested to see IBM (Microsoft, Apple, etc. all dinosaur and suck companies) in future.
They even not able to sell computer today and give their division to China.
It's what happen when they have too much "Chief"/Boss all thinking they have the solution.
So the company go nowhere.
It would be interested to see IBM (Microsoft, Apple, etc. all dinosaur and suck companies) in future.
amk-aka-Phantom
Distinguished
- Mar 10, 2011
- 3,004
- 0
- 20,860
LOL! The sentence structure and errors are SO funny! Dinosaur and suck companies.. just... GREAT!
Though, if both Apple and MS suck, which OS do you use?
jj463rd
Distinguished
- Apr 9, 2008
- 1,510
- 0
- 19,860
Here is my top 5 milestones since the IBM PC model 5150.
1. Hard Drive -since the introduction of the IBM XT in 1983.
Without a hard drive or now even a SSD a PC would be fairly useless
although the IBM PC could run it's PC DOS off of a floppy drive.
I had a IBM PC 5150 with 2 floppy drives.
2. Optical Drive -it would be extremely difficult to install modern OS's
or applications without one although flash drives can be used too and software can now be downloaded off the Internet.Became common in the early-mid 1990's.
3. Sound card or chip without sound we would lack multimedia.
Imagine having no sound that would suck.
4. GUI Operating System (Windows or Linux) with mouse.It's what we use today rather than the awkward old Command Line Interfaces.
5. Internet including Browser,Ethernet,Wireless etc.
1. Hard Drive -since the introduction of the IBM XT in 1983.
Without a hard drive or now even a SSD a PC would be fairly useless
although the IBM PC could run it's PC DOS off of a floppy drive.
I had a IBM PC 5150 with 2 floppy drives.
2. Optical Drive -it would be extremely difficult to install modern OS's
or applications without one although flash drives can be used too and software can now be downloaded off the Internet.Became common in the early-mid 1990's.
3. Sound card or chip without sound we would lack multimedia.
Imagine having no sound that would suck.
4. GUI Operating System (Windows or Linux) with mouse.It's what we use today rather than the awkward old Command Line Interfaces.
5. Internet including Browser,Ethernet,Wireless etc.
iam2thecrowe
Glorious
- Jul 4, 2010
- 10,591
- 21
- 44,965
the biggest milestone was actually beating out Atari and Amiga, who IMO had much more compelling, more powerful products at the time, especially for audio/visual use.
I would list MS-Windows as one of the worst things that could happen to Personal Computer, it more or less killed the development of OS, much of the OS:es we see today are at the same level as those we had in the late 80's, really nothing new when it comes to features or how to use your computer, just add some eye candy those old OS:es and you will be able to do the same things as with MS-Windows-7 or OSX.
The only thing that we can credit Microsoft for innovation is the red line below misspelled words in a word processor, the rest is just ripoffs from other OS:es or other applications.
The only thing that we can credit Microsoft for innovation is the red line below misspelled words in a word processor, the rest is just ripoffs from other OS:es or other applications.
Wolfgang Gruener is wrong
I worked for Wang for many years and the WANG PCS-II was a standalone PC with dual 5 and a 1\4 floppies running Basic and it was released in 1977.
It was small enough that one person could lift it easily.
http://www.gaby.de/ewang.htm
I worked for Wang for many years and the WANG PCS-II was a standalone PC with dual 5 and a 1\4 floppies running Basic and it was released in 1977.
It was small enough that one person could lift it easily.
http://www.gaby.de/ewang.htm
- Status
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
Question Tried moving SSD from old PC to new one, now it won't boot from either
- Started by scyer327
- Replies: 9
-
Question why my pc dont have sound after install new Nvidia GPU Card?
- Started by sudsaviour
- Replies: 3
-
News Windows 11 will reportedly display a watermark if your PC does not support AI requirements- Started by Admin
- Replies: 17
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram