Compaq Deskpro 386

While IBM was busy developing (would «wasting time on» be a better phrase?) proprietary Micro Channel PS/2 system, clone vendors ALR and Compaq wrestled away control of the x86 architecture and introduced the first 386-based systems, the Access 386 and Deskpro 386. Both systems maintained backward compatibility with the 286-based AT. Compaq's Deskpro 386 had a further performance innovation in its Flex bus architecture. Compaq split the x86 external buses into two separate buses: a high-speed local bus to support memory chips fast enough for the 16-MHz 386, and a slower I/O bus that supported existing expansion cards.

Apple Macintosh II

When you first looked at the Macintosh II, you may have said, «But it looks just like a PC. You would have been right. Apple decided it was wiser to give users a case they could open so they could upgrade it themselves. The monitor in its 68020-powered machine was a separate unit that typically sat on top of the CPU case.

Next Nextstation

UNIX had never been easy to use, and only now 10 years later we are getting back to that level. Unfortunately, Steve Job never developed the software base it needed for long-term survival. Nonetheless, it survived as an inspiration for future workstations. Priced at less than $ 10,000., the elegant Nextstation came with a 25-Mhz 68030

CPU, 8 MB of RAM, and the first commercial magneto-optical drive (256-MB capacity). It also had a built-in DSP (digital signal processor). The programming language was object-oriented C, and the OS was a version of UNIX.

NEC UltraLite

Necks UltraLite is the portable that put sub-notebook into the lexicon. Like Radio Shack's TRS-80 Model 100, the UltraLite was a 4-pounder ahead of its time. Unlike the Model 100, it was expensive (starting price, $2,999), but it could run MS-DOS. (The burden of running Windows wasn't yet thrust upon its shoulders.) Fans liked the 4.4-pound UltraLite for its trim size and portability, but it really needed one of today's tiny hard drives. It used battery-backed DRAM (1 MB, expandable to 2 MB) for storage, with ROM-based Travelling Software's LapLink to move stored data to a desk top PC. Foreshadowing PCMCIA, the UltraLite had a socket that accepted credit-card-size ROM cards holding popular applications like WordPerfect or Lotus 1-2-3, or a battery-backed 256-KB RAM card.

Sun SparcStation 1

It wasn't the first RISK workstation, nor even the first Sun system to use Sun's new SPARC chip. But the SparcStation 1 set a new standard for price/performance, at a starting price of only $8,995 – about what you might spend for a fully configured Macintosh. Sun sold lots of systems and made the words SparcStation and workstation synonymous in many people’s minds. The SparcStation 1 also introduced S-Bus, Sun's proprietary 32-bit synchronous bus, which ran at the same 20-MHz speed as the CPU.

IBM RS/6000

Sometimes, when IBM decides to do something, it does it right. The RS/6000 allowed IBM to enter the workstation market. The RS/6000’s RISK processor chip set (RIOS) racked up speed records and introduced many to term superscalar. But its price was more than competitive. IBM pushed third-party software support, and as a result, many desktop publishing, CAD, and scientific applications ported to the RS/6000, running under AIX, IBM's UNIX. A shrunken version of the multi-chip RS/6000 architecture serves as the basis for the single-chip PowerPC, the non-x86-compatible processor with the best chance of competing with Intel.

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