 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Newsflash Ian Robinson |
June has been a busy month, not only for Melb PC but for the PC industry in general, as dealers and distributors throughout Australia vie for a chunk of the traditional end-of-financial-year splurge. Then of course there were landmark new product releases by IBM and Compaq, not to mention the numerous announcements by other industry players.
IBM's long-awaited launch of the PS/2 Model 70 caused some excitement, and deservedly so. This 80386-based desktop system is the same size as the less powerful Model 50, but packs a lot more punch. The high-end version runs at a clock speed of 25MHz, while the less expensive (around $11,000) version runs at 16MHz. I was fortunate enough to get hold of the middleweight 20MIIz Model 70 for a few weeks, and was reasonably impressed. These systems are built at Wangaratta, and feature complex surface mount components on both sides of the motherboard - this was the only way to cram the functionality of a Model 80 into a small footprint desktop.
For PC users of the future who will depend on a graphical user interface such as Microsoft Windows or the OS/2 Presentation Manager, a desktop system such as the Model 70 will become mandatory. High-resolution graphics (the Model 70 has a VGA controller built into the motherboard), a mouse port, megabytes of RAM and a high-speed processor are essential items to make graphical interfaces worthwhile.
However, the current high price of RAM chips and the shortage of 80386 processors will mean that it is still some years away until Model-70-style machines become the norm. At present they serve as a useful indication of where things are heading. In the meantime, fast and relatively cheap AT-style systems will continue to be the strong sellers, particularly now that faster 80286 chips are arriving.
Some months ago AMD launched a 16MHz 80286, which was promptly picked up by a number of AT clone manufacturers, and now Harris Corporation has unveiled a 20MHz 80286. The new Harris CPU is a CMOS component, which means that it has a very low power requirement, and will prove popular with laptop manufacturers. Keep an eye out for some pretty impressive AT clones in the near future based on these faster chips.
Compaq could not just stand by and watch IBM steal the limelight with its Model 70, so the company promptly came out with its own new offerings: the fast Deskpro 386/25 and the P9-based Deskpro 386S. The P9 is a new processor from Intel, officially known as the 80386SX, which emulates the 80386 instruction set, but is based around a 16-bit bus rather than a 32- bit bus. This means that the chip can run all 80386 software, but not as fast as a conventional 80386. Intel (and Compaq) hope that this less powerful and cheaper version of the 80386 will take away some of the market share currently being enjoyed by the 80286 and its various clones.
While the Intel 80286 is made under licence by AMD and Harris (and has been cloned by NEC), the 80386 is only avail-able through Intel. Therefore the company has concentrated its development efforts on the 80386 family, in which it enjoys a monopoly market, as opposed to the 80286, which is being cranked up to faster speeds by third-party companies.
Having three or four sources for chips always makes PC manufacturers feel a little more comfortable, so expect to see many more newer and faster AT clones hit the market over the next twelve months. Although 80386 machines will eventually dominate, the next few years belong to the 80286 - particularly when the final versions of OS/2 and the Presentation Manager arrive. These products have been specifically designed to get the most out of 80286-based systems, and will help push that market along even further.
Expect to see the cheapest AT clones selling for under $1000 in twelve months time, although RAM chips could still be priced at a premium. Most 80386 buyers have been purchasing the systems for their faster clock speeds, as specialised 32-bit software is still not widely available, so it will be interesting to see how the cheaper 16MHz and 20MHz 80286 chips fare over the next year or so.
As for software, OS/2 versions of Paradox and DataFlex have arrived, giving the database fanatics plenty of lead time to get their new generation applications organised. Other key software applications will arrive after the Extended Edition of OS/2 is released later this year.
What has not yet arrived are the two most keenly-awaited products - Lotus 1-2-3 Release 3.0 and dBASE IV. Both have been delayed until the end of the year, which means that cur-rent users will have to make do with the version they have for another six months. Many are now contemplating competing products, such as Microsoft Excel, Borland Quattro, Foxbase or dBXL.
Despite the proliferation of component chip sets, manufacturers are taking quite some time to come up with clones of IBM's Micro Channel systems, mainly due to the licensing is-sues involved. IBM threw in a curly one sometime ago by announcing that all companies hoping to secure Micro Channel patent licenses would have to pay retrospective license fees on all PC or AT clones built in the past!
In another move to make money from the Micro Channel, IBM is running a trade-in scheme in the US, whereby users can get rebates off PS/2 systems for old PCs, ATs, Portables and so on. There are indications that the company may be considering such a scheme in Australia, thereby `legitimising' the second-hand PC concept.
One final note regarding a home-grown business. Computer Corporation of Australia has revealed plans to create a locally-made Cleveland Micro Channel clone based on the 'P9' processor - which should make it the first such system of its kind in the world. Based around the Intel Micro Channel chip set, the Cleveland system is only the third such clone to be announced (after those from Dell Computer and Tandy in April), and could well be the first PS/2 clone system to be delivered to customers.
Reprinted from the July 1988 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
