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PC and XT CPUs

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pearce_jj

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Hi, I just wondered if there was a definitive list of the actual CPUs that the above shipped with?

One of my XT boards has an 'MHS' 8088, which made me wonder if this was original.

Cheers!
 
I don't think so. I've definitely seen original 5150 and 5160s with AMD chips as well as Intel. The floppy controller used Intel 8272 as well as NEC µPD765s.

I think IBM got them from whatever source was available--after all, they were all manufactured under Intel license, so there was no practical difference.
 
Apparently SEIMENS also made 8088 chips, licensed by Intel it would appear. My Epson Equity I+ has the original 8088 CPU installed still, it is marked:

SEIMENS
SAB 8088-I-P
Singapore
(c) Seimens '86
(c) Intel '78 '82
846
 
One of the conditions of IBM's contract with Intel was that they would license it to other companies, so IBM would have at least two sources. So you'll at least see Intel and AMD, and likely others. Perhaps many others. I think I've seen XT boards with IBM-manufactured 8088s too, now that I think about it.
 
Dave Farquhar said:
One of the conditions of IBM's contract with Intel was that they would license it to other companies, so IBM would have at least two sources. So you'll at least see Intel and AMD, and likely others. Perhaps many others. I think I've seen XT boards with IBM-manufactured 8088s too, now that I think about it.
Click to expand...

...and that was a key difference between the 5150-5170 school of thought and the PS/2 one. And it's not just coincidental--the IEEE Computer article by the IBM product manager at the time makes it very clear. Nothing proprietary. That included the processor--Intel couldn't hold them hostage.

The PS/2 was the other way around--no third-party cards without a license and royalties and lots of ASICs that IBM wasn't exactly forthcoming about.
 
Chuck(G) said:
That included the processor--Intel couldn't hold them hostage.

The PS/2 was the other way around--no third-party cards without a license and royalties and lots of ASICs that IBM wasn't exactly forthcoming about.
Click to expand...

Yep, and it sure did catch up with them, too. I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to explain that mid-'90s IBM PS/1s and Aptivas weren't Microchannel, or somehow proprietary.
 
Dave Farquhar said:
Yep, and it sure did catch up with them, too. I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to explain that mid-'90s IBM PS/1s and Aptivas weren't Microchannel, or somehow proprietary.
Click to expand...

I seem to recall that the first set of PS/1 models had the power supply tucked in the monitor which is fairly proprietary. I don't understand how IBM expected an oddball 286 AT clone to be successful in 1990.
 
Dave Farquhar said:
Yep, and it sure did catch up with them, too. I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to explain that mid-'90s IBM PS/1s and Aptivas weren't Microchannel, or somehow proprietary.
Click to expand...
The 286 PS/1 didn't had ISA slots, instead there was a small brown slot in the middle of the motherboard that resembled a MCA slot. It was a slot for plugging a riser card to provide ISA slots, but if you didn't know it and being a true IBM machine it could be misidentified as a MCA slot.

krebizfan said:
I seem to recall that the first set of PS/1 models had the power supply tucked in the monitor which is fairly proprietary. I don't understand how IBM expected an oddball 286 AT clone to be successful in 1990.
Click to expand...
Not only the power supply, the RAM expansion was proprietary, it used the proprietary floppy drive and hard disk from PS/2 25 and 30-286 models... and it had a slot for a proprietary sound card. Nothing in this machine was directly replaceable with standard components. Using a 10 MHz 286 was a bad choice in 1990, but in the other hand these machines were compact, quiet, easy to use and booted pretty quick thanks to the DOS in ROM.
 
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