OT? Compaq 5/60M

[Sean Caron]

I'd consider it OT ... I miss my IBM 9595 ... with the P60 processor
complex ... I thought it was doubly cool since the CPU was one of the
examples of the Pentium that got shipped with the FDIV bug ... great
machine to play with WNT 3.51/4, or OS/2 3.x or 4.x.

I wouldn't say the P5 killed workstations or midrange ... they had maybe
10-15 years yet to move and shake when the P5 first hit the market ... but
I suppose you are right in that it was probably the first "shot across the
bow".

But time marched on, and now all you see in a full-size computer is x86_64.
Ho hum ... :|

Best,

Sean


On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 2:35 AM, Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at update.uu.se>
wrote:

> Run of the mill PC clones are rather booring. But brand names, oddballs
> and first are always fun. I wouldn't mind to have the first DELL machine
> in my collection.
>
> I have a DECpc 433 with matching SCSI expansion box. A desktop machine
> with some interesting solutions.
>
> /P
>
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 12:43:17AM -0400, william degnan wrote:
> > I know I keep pushing the boundary of vintage lately but I wanted to
> report
> > to those who care that I finally got my hands on a 1993 Compaq 5/60M -
> this
> > is "a if not the" first desktop computer with a Pentium processor
> installed
> > stock.  it was the 1993 "dream machine - $9000+   It had an EISA bus and
> > was otherwise a 486 system with a Pentium controller card, not on the
> > motherboard.  Pentium computers' contribution to the WWW era vintage is
> > extremely significant.
> >
> > Pentium killed the minicomputer, or at a minimum merged into it, if you
> ask
> > me.  The interplay between DEC/Compaq/HP/Intel 1992-1995 culminating into
> > the launch of Pentium processor systems is vital to understanding the WWW
> > era of computing.  How these companies worked or did not work together
> and
> > how the Pentium vs. the Alpha processor came to be...a good tale of woe
> and
> > $$.
> >
> > For those interested:  Compaq 5/60:
> > http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=612
> >
> > I have a bunch of articles to post on my site related to the first
> Pentium
> > desktops which I will do asap.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > P.S. while we're on this off-sh topic I also posted some photos of a
> > Digital 486 laptop, DEC had a 486 laptop before it was absorbed by
> Compaq.
> > 1994.  Not really noteworthy other than the Digital name
> > http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=613
> >
> > P.S.S. and related to Pentium and DEC ... here is one of DEC's early (but
> > not the first) Pentium machine
> > http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=585
>