7 May
2009
7 May
'09
9:45 a.m.
On 7 May 2009 at 8:25, Jules Richardson wrote:
I keep thinking it'd be interesting to hear what
folk think the IBM PC
*should* have been - although that could descend into utter chaos :-)
It does seem like the design was pretty compromised* - I'm curious as
to what folk think should have been done with the hardware of the time
whilst remaining in roughly the same price range...
Given that there were only two real choices for floppy controllers
(WD 17/27 series and the NEC 765) at the time of the 5150 launch, IBM
didn't do too badly. I suspect they also got a good price break for
staying with Intel (the 8272 is just the 765 by a different name).
I've built up WD-based controllers for the PC and those chips have
their own issues, although not as contorted as putting the 765 to
work driving 5.25" floppies in my opinion.
It's not a problem with a clear answer.
--Chuck