Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Chapter 88 ISA bus

Chambers and Simeone looked at each other, silently digesting the information given by Tang Huan.

“If the judgment is correct, I believe that it will only take a year or so for a mature IBM personal computer to come out. By then, the proportion of hardware platforms on the market will definitely change drastically.”

Tang Huan continued to speculate that being so jealous of the Blue Giant is not a mediocre disturbance, and its influence is too great.

In the original time and space, in August 1981, the IBM-PC5150 came out. Its technical characteristics can only be said to be quite satisfactory, but it is sought after.

By 1982, the monthly sales of IBM-PC had reached more than 30,000 units.

At the end of that year, Time magazine even named the cold machine, IBM-PC, as the Man of the Year.

It can be seen how powerful IBM, the industry giant, has become.

“From the current situation, Apple III, the successor of Apple II, has too many problems and may not be an opponent of IBM. Our product profit mainly comes from the Apple platform, and it will definitely be greatly affected by that time.” Simon Ni said worriedly.

“Or, introduce our Fangyuan computer to the American market.” Simeone suggested immediately.

Tang Huan shook his head, “Fangyuan Computer, like AppleII and AppleIII, uses 8-bit CPUs, while Intel8086 is 16-bit, which is obviously not a rival, and you know that the capabilities of 8-bit microcomputers can no longer satisfy our growing software. Needs.”

“Then start the R&D plan of the second-generation Fangyuan computer as soon as possible. It seems that the hardware department is already doing some technical preparations, and the project is set up as soon as possible. After all, software development requires a stable benchmark hardware platform.” Simeone looked very anxious.

Tang Huan nodded, “I just meant it.”

“Zheru is now the largest personal computer software provider. Will IBM contact a software company like us after looking for a hardware manufacturer like Intel?” Chambers reminded slowly.

“This is really hard to say.” Tang Huan rubbed the beard stubble on his chin. He instinctively always regarded the Big Blue as his biggest opponent, and he did not think about cooperation.

“No.” Chambers quickly denied his thoughts. “With IBM’s ability, it is impossible not to know the close cooperative relationship between us and Apple. Philosophers should be regarded as its opponents. In this way, like Rubinstein These guys who are lingering now have a turning point in the market.”

“Forget it, don’t think so much. Our technical purpose is not to be controlled by others. The second-generation Fangyuan computer is our most trustworthy future platform.”

Tang Huan smiled confidently, “What’s more, I am sure that even with IBM’s hardware platform, our software products can quickly switch over. Because the most mature microprocessors are Intel’s Intel8086 series and Motorola’s MC68000 series. If IBM purchases externally, almost can only choose one of the two, then I can guess the characteristics of IBM’s platform. And I originally planned to divide the second-generation Fangyuan computer into two branches according to the CPU type, and only need to add one. The virtual terminal environment can be simulated to cover IBM’s hardware platform.”

At Zheru Company, Tang Huan’s technology is the most authoritative. Almost everyone subconsciously thinks that he is omnipotent, because every product led by Tang Huan is a success, so everyone’s life can be so moist.

Since Tang Huan made the decision so confidently, Simeone and Chambers immediately believed instinctively.

“Let’s go, let’s take a look at a hardware technology issue and how it has been conquered.” Tang Huan stood up and waved.

At this time, Christina’s housekeeper Fanning walked in.

Before Tang Huan could speak, Simeone and Chambers, whose expressions quickly became weird, said in unison, “Let’s go outside and wait”, and then left quickly.

Tang Huan couldn’t help rubbing his nose when he saw it. Christina’s trick of sending a private jet seemed to affect his authority.

Fanning smiled and said respectfully: “Mr. Tang, Miss sent me to invite you to the villa for dinner.”

“Okay, after I finish my work, I will go by myself.” Tang Huan nodded, “Go back and remind your lady to be low-key. I’m not used to the current situation.”

“Yes.” Fan Ning obediently agreed.

Dismissed the housekeeper, Tang Huan found Simeone and Chambers and asked directly: “Does Christina’s mischief have a bad effect on the public image of Philosopher?”

“How is it possible, this is just your personal business, and everyone is envious of your charm.” Chambers replied with a smile.

Tang Huan looked carefully at the two most powerful subordinates in front of him, and saw that their expressions did not seem to be fake, so he ordered: “Please organize a file of the important newspaper that reported this matter and show me, or else I’ll be true. worried.”

“This is easy to handle, and employees have long collected newspapers in this area.” Simeone told the truth.

Tang Huan stroked his forehead speechlessly, “It is so gossip, it seems that work is still too idle.”

Simeone and Chambers held back a smile, and followed Tang Huan to the hardware R&D department.

“Because we have developed many functional enhancement cards for Apple’s second-generation machines, I set up a special team to develop various buses. Among them, the bus used to connect expansion cards is named ISA, which is industrial The standard structure is basically a success, and its significance is very significant. It means that we can divide complex microcomputers into independent modules according to their functions and hand them over to partner manufacturers for production, so that products can be listed as soon as possible.”

Tang Huan asked about the progress of the project while not forgetting to explain to Simeone and Chambers, so as to strengthen the confidence of the two generals against IBM.

The ISA bus originated from IBM-PC, used to connect expansion cards and motherboards. At first, it was 8-bit 4.77M Hz, and later upgraded to 16-bit 8M Hz, which made great contributions to the development of open architecture system microcomputers.

To some extent, IBM was finally defeated by other compatible computer manufacturers because it gradually lost control of the ISA bus. Even if the MCA was later launched to fight EISA, it could not save this decline.

The vitality of ISA is extremely powerful, even before it withdrew from the PC motherboard market, I saw the birth of the AGP interface.

Of course, the original space-time ISA has many shortcomings. For example, it was locked with the CPU clock at the beginning, and it did not support Plug-n-Play, that is, “plug and play”.

Tang Huan would certainly not be so short-sighted. These issues have been taken into consideration from the beginning.

“With these foundations, our second-generation Fangyuan computer research and development can not pay too much attention to peripherals, but focus on how the CPU, memory, bus work together, and the supporting operating system. The thinking is so clear. .”

Tang Huan summed it up triumphantly, hearing Simeone and Chambers nod their heads.