Donor: Anonymous
The IBM Personal Computer (PC) 5150 was introduced on August 12, 1981, and was powered by the Intel 8088 processing chip that ran at 4.77 MHz. The simplest configuration (costing about $1,565) had only 16K main memory and used a cassette as a storage medium. A more typical system (costing about $3,000) contained 64K main memory and two 5-1/4" floppy drives. (Hard disks were not available for the 5150.) IBM negotiated with Microsoft for the PC-DOS v1.0 operating system. This machine provides the origin of the term "PC-compatible."
It was designed under the auspices of a project codenamed "Project Chess" managed by Don Estridge and consisting of just 12 people. The team was tasked with quickly designing (development took just a year) a product to compete with the Apple II and other popular small hobbyist computers. To accomplish this goal they chose to use a variety of pre-existing parts from third-party manufacturers and other IBM products, and to encourage widespread adoption and component/software development by third parties, the architecture was open, and circuit schematics, the BIOS source code, and other technical information were published. Interestingly a RISC processor, the IBM 801 (with a corresponding IBM operating system), was considered for inclusion in the PC's original design, but the Intel 8088 (which ran Microsoft DOS) had already been used in the IBM Datamaster microcomputer series and was for this reason easier to engineer and in general more available. Had Estridge's team chosen the IBM 801 instead of the Intel 8088, we might all have RISC processors today, and never have heard of a company called Microsoft.
A variety of other manufacturers jumped on the open architecture and designed "IBM PC-compatible" microcomputers that worked with PC parts and software. The IBM PC itself also enjoyed great commercial success, largely thanks to partnerships with ComputerLand and Sears Roebuck for retail distribution.
- Model No.: 5150
- Serial No.: 12856735150
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5150
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_DOS
