FPGA VAX update, now DIY TTL computers

On 11/12/2005 at 9:31 PM woodelf wrote: Not even! IBM had the idea that they were going to offer a "Home Computer"; witness the casette tape connection and the 16K minimum memory increment on the 5150. They were shocked when businesses started ordering them--and why was that? Because of the blue sky that years and years of mainframe equipment sales had gotten IBM. Customers were fairly certain that IBM wasn't due to go out of business any time soon. So purchasing a PC was a pretty safe deal. Honestly, I don't think that IBM had a clue at the outset. I think they half expected the PC to be the disaster that the 5000 was, so they didn't put much money into R&D. I can remember going to the IBM regional sales office to order 3 of them and the people there had never even seen one. --Chuck