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Aucbvax.2903 fa.works utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!works Wed Sep 2 05:21:23 1981 WorkS Digest V1 #12 >From DUFFEY@MIT-AI Wed Sep 2 05:14:19 1981

WorkS Digest Wed, 2 Sep 1981 Volume 1 : Issue 12

Today's Topics: Workstations - IBM's Personal Computer ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 1 Sep 1981 1524-EDT From: GILBERT at MIT-XX (Ed Gilbert) Subject: Answers to questions about IBM's personal computer.

As I have already said, it is not S100.

The 8088 and 8086 are software compatible chips, so the personal computer is software compatible with the Datamaster in that sense. However, in this kind of machine there are many aspects of the architecture which are off-chip. IBM hasn't said that they are compatible, so we can probably assume that they aren't. However, even a primitive microcomputer operating system should mask the differences from the user.

IBM does not now offer 8" diskettes.

On another note, someone mentioned diskettes being slow. The ones in the personal computer take 8 msec. track-to-track. I don't follow the market that closely, but for a diskette drive that seems rather fast.

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