Since most folks are right-handed, having the drives on the right is pretty
reasonable. The physical design was allegedly patterened after the
pple-][ whose market IBM coveted. The concept of easily installable
expansion cards on an open bus with I/O connectors in the rear did evolve
there, though not in Apple's products. Several companies saw the light and
put connectors on the back of their Apple computers using a separate
bracket. IBM saw the problem that caused once your computer got rather
full, since each card so equipped would require, essentially, two slots.
The Apple-][ had its supply on the left and had no internal drives. I don't
remember whether the Apple III had internal drives.
Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Max Eskin <max82(a)surfree.com
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
Date: Thursday, July
01, 1999 8:10 PM
Subject: PC form factor
Hi,
I'm wondering: was the IBM PC the first machine with PSU in the rear
right, drives in the front right, motherboard in rear left, or did they
borrow this design from someone else?
--Max Eskin (max82(a)surfree.com)
http://scivault.hypermart.net: Ignorance is Impotence - Knowledge is
Power