[rescue] OS/2 Warp - was Re: NeXTSTEP or OPENSTEP?

[Liam Proven]

On 6 August 2014 16:57, Peter Corlett <abuse at cabal.org.uk> wrote:
> 16MB wasn't *that* insane.
>
> In 1990 -- the same year that Windows 3.0 was released - 4x256k 70ns FPM
DIPs
> cost something like #25, i.e. #50/MB. Come while 1993-4 when I actually had
a
> machine that could take a whole 16MB of RAM, 4MB SIMMs were common and were
> around the #100 point.
>
> #400 was certainly a lot of money in 1994, but still a fraction of the cost
of
> a half-decent PC.

Around that time I worked for a small dealership in the Isle of Man,
DigiCom Systems. We were an authorised Amstrad reseller. Yes, Amstrad.
The 1st-gen 'Strad PCs (PC1512, PC1640) were weird, low-spec, 8086
machines with nonstandard graphics, nonstandard mice, the PSU in the
monitor, a volume knob for the PC speaker & other weirdnesses.

The 2nd-gen ones were OK, though. First mass-market PCs to abandon 5B<"
drive bays, e.g., which proved to be premature. The top of the range
was the PC2386 which was a 386DX which came with 4MB as standard.

http://www.fvempel.nl/amstradcg/metia/epc2386.html

(This one sounds like a very late model, with the spec drastically cut
for fire-sale clearance prices.)

But what I'm getting at is that around the time of Windows 3.0, 1990,
4MB was a hell of a lot for a standard desktop PC.

My work machine at Micro Anvika in 1992 had 2MB!

OK, yes, seriously expensive server-class 386s like the IBM PS/2 Model
80 or Apricot VX FT
(http://insight.actapricot.org/insight/products/servers/vxft/vxftmain.htm)
might come with 4MB or even 8MB but they were up around the B#10,000
mark.

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