Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 88 ISA Bus
Chambers and Simeone looked at each other in silence, digesting the information given by Tang Huan in silence.

"If the judgment is correct, I believe that within a year or so, the IBM personal computer with mature technology will come out, and the proportion of hardware platforms on the market will definitely undergo earth-shaking changes."

Tang Huan continued to speculate that it was not mediocrity to be so afraid of the blue giant, and its influence was too great.

In the original time and space, in August 1981, the IBM-PC8 came out. Its technical characteristics could only be said to be quite satisfactory, but it was still popular.

By 1982, the monthly sales of IBM-PC had reached more than 3 units.

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

This shows how powerful IBM, the giant in the industry, has become.

"Judging from the current situation, Apple II's successor product, Apple III, has too many problems, so it may not be an opponent of IBM, and our product profits mainly come from the Apple platform, and it will definitely be greatly affected by then." Simon Nicky said worriedly.

"Or, let's introduce our Fangyuan computer to the American market." Simeone immediately suggested.

Tang Huan shook his head, "Fangyuan computer, like Apple II and Apple III, uses 8-bit CPU, while Intel 8086 is 16-bit, obviously it is not an opponent, and you have also experienced that the ability of 8-bit microcomputer can no longer meet the growing demands of our software. needs."

"Then start the research and development 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 should be established as soon as possible. After all, software development requires a stable benchmark hardware platform." Simeone looked very eager.

Tang Huan nodded, "That's what I meant."

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

"It's really hard to say." Tang Huan rubbed the stubble on his chin. He instinctively regarded Big Blue as his biggest opponent and did not think about cooperation.

"No." Chambers quickly denied his own thoughts, "With IBM's capabilities, it is impossible not to know the close cooperative relationship between us and Apple. Zheru should be regarded as its opponent. In this way, like Rubinstein These guys who are dying now have a turning point in the market."

"Forget it, don't think about it 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, "Besides, I am confident that even if it is IBM's hardware platform, our software products can quickly switch to it. Because the most mature microprocessors at present are Intel's Intel8086 series and Motorola's MC68000 series. When IBM makes external purchases, it can almost 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. I only need to add one The simulation of the virtual terminal environment can cover IBM's hardware platform."

In Zheru Company, Tang Huan's technology is the most authoritative, and almost everyone subconsciously feels that he is omnipotent, because every product led by Tang Huan has been a great success, so everyone's life can be so nourishing.

Since Tang Huan made the decision with such confidence, Simeone and Chambers immediately believed it instinctively.

"Let's go, let's go and see how a hardware technical problem has been overcome." Tang Huan stood up and waved.

At this time, Fanning, Christina's housekeeper, came in.

Before Tang Huan could speak, Simeone and Chambers, whose expressions quickly became strange, said in unison, "Let's wait outside," and then left quickly.

Seeing this, Tang Huan couldn't help rubbing his nose. Christina's trick of sending a private jet seemed to have affected his authority.

With a smile on his face, Fan Ning said respectfully, "Mr. Tang, Miss sent me to invite you to the villa for dinner."

"Okay, after finishing work, I will go there by myself." Tang Huan nodded, "Go back and remind your lady to keep a low profile. I am not used to the current situation."

"Yes." Fan Ning agreed obediently.

After dismissing the housekeeper, Tang Huan approached Simone and Chambers and asked directly, "Will Christina's nonsense have a bad impact on Zheru's public image?"

"How is it possible, this is just your private matter, and everyone is envious of your charm." Chambers replied with a smile.

Tang Huan carefully looked at the two most capable subordinates in front of him. Seeing that they didn't look like they were cheating, he ordered: "Give me a file from the important newspapers that reported on this matter, otherwise I will really worried."

"This is easy to handle. Some employees have collected newspapers in this area for a long time." Simeone said truthfully.

Tang Huan stroked his forehead speechlessly, "It seems that work is too busy for such a gossip."

Simeone and Chambers held back their laughter and followed Tang Huan to the hardware R&D department.

"Because we have developed many kinds of function enhancement cards for the Apple II, I set up a special team to develop various buses. Among them, the bus used to connect the expansion cards is named ISA, which means industry standard structure, and it is basically a success. It means that we can divide complex microcomputers into independent modules according to their functions and hand them over to cooperative manufacturers for production, so that the products can be launched as soon as possible.”

While Tang Huan asked about the project progress, he did not forget 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 and is used to connect expansion cards and motherboards. At first, it was 8-bit 4.77M Hz, and later it was upgraded to 16-bit 8M Hz. It has made great contributions to the development of microcomputers with open architecture systems.

To some extent, IBM was finally defeated by other compatible computer manufacturers because it gradually lost control of the ISA bus. Even if MCA was later launched to fight against EISA, it failed to save this decline.

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

Of course, the original Space-Time ISA had many shortcomings, such as being locked to the CPU clock at the beginning and not supporting Plug-n-Play or "plug and play".

Tang Huan would definitely not be so short-sighted, these issues were taken into consideration from the very beginning.

"With these foundations, we don't need to pay too much attention to the peripheral equipment in the development of our second-generation Fangyuan computer, but instead focus on how the CPU, memory, and bus work together, as well as the supporting operating system. The thinking is so clear. .”

Tang Huan concluded complacently, hearing Simeone and Chambers nodding again and again.

(End of this chapter)