Video Game Empire

ps: Sorry, I couldn't write it while sitting in front of the computer at night. It wasn't until 1:30 when I finally finished writing a chapter. Tomorrow, I will make up for the one I signed today!

The entire computer industry can be divided into large computers, small computers and microcomputers according to the size of the computer. [First Release] The main users of large computers are banks, airlines, government departments and other institutions that need to process massive amounts of information.

IBM is the well-deserved overlord of the mainframe. From the introduction of the system/360 computer in 1964, until Li Xuan crossed over, IBM's market share has been above 90%, firmly monopolizing this lucrative market.

The original minicomputer market was dominated by companies, but since the 1970s, it has been strongly challenged by (General Data) companies. Several founders of the company were originally employees of the company, but later resigned to start a business and defeated the old club. This is not uncommon in the US IT industry. For example, the company that developed the z80 processor, several founders are former employees of Intel, and the result is also the old club's 8080 processor.

However, as a giant that beat IBM and dominated the minicomputer market, the company has a strong technical background. Relying on the vax series of minicomputers developed in the 1970s and the original pdp series of minicomputers, the company's performance is still quite good.

The real threat to the company is the new workstation computer, which already has the power to compete with minicomputers.

Microcomputers, also known as personal computers, are relatively bulky and small computers that require the construction of a dedicated temperature-controlled studio. Microcomputers are much smaller. The reason it was originally created was to provide computer hobbyists as a hobby toy. So it's called a personal computer.

But with the rapid advancement of semiconductor technology, the performance of microcomputers is also changing with each passing day. Workstation computers are compared to regular personal computers. Although not very different in appearance, it has a faster processor and more memory.

When the first generation of workstation computers appeared, the industry used 2m to sum up its performance. The so-called 2m is the working speed of the workstation computer, and the memory of 1m. This is not an architecture, but an acronym for "processing millions of machine language instructions per second".

We often hear that the higher the frequency of a certain CPU, the faster it runs and the higher the price. In fact, it is an indicator that can measure the computing speed of the processor more accurately than the frequency. For example, a 5mhz 8086 processor can complete 330,000 computer instructions per second, which means its running speed is .

The erm-1 processor launched by the Oriental Research Institute last year has a computing speed of . As for the new architecture developed by the Oriental Research Institute in cooperation with Stanford University. Its first commercial microprocessor, the s-100, has an astonishing operating rate, which has completely exploded all processors on the market.

Professional workstation computers have appeared in the US market as early as last year, and Boston-based Apollo Computer is now the number one supplier in the workstation market. Including Boeing, General Motors, have purchased its new workstation computer as a supplement to the small computer.

Apollo's workstation, using a Motorola processor. The 8mhz version of the processor launched by Puppet Torola in 1979 has an operating speed of . And just last month, Motorola and Toshiba of Japan cooperated to improve the lithography technology, and the newly launched frequency is 12.5mhz. The computing speed has increased.

Of course, the computing speed does not represent the entire performance of a processor. For example, the computing speed of erm-1 is higher than that of the latest version of the processor, but the actual performance is slightly worse than that of the earlier processor.

The main reason for this is that the structure of the erm-1 chip is too simple. It's more of a microcontroller than a microprocessor. When the erm-1 chip was designed, many functional units were simplified. For example, its efficiency for floating-point operations is very general.

Li Xuan chose to develop erm at that time, and he positioned it to be cost-effective. The entire erm-1 chip only integrates 30,000 transistors. The chip integrates nearly 70,000 transistors.

As the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and the cost is much higher than that of erm. The erm-1 chip can be used in a series of computers to seize the personal computer market, but it is used in high-end products such as workstations.

Now with the advent of the second architecture series of the Oriental Research Institute, the good times will also be gone. The s-100 is not a rudimentary 32-bit processor like the erm-1. Li Xuan initially positioned him for the mid-to-high-end market.

In addition to one processing core, the overall design of the s-100 also integrates two coprocessors. The cp0 coprocessor is responsible for storage management and system control tasks, and the cp1 coprocessor is responsible for floating-point operations. Two internal cache chips have also been added.

The cache design of the previous erm architecture was not really proposed by Li Xuan until the subsequent development of erm-2, and the method of external cache with lower cost was adopted. However, the s-100 processor integrates two internal cache chips in one go, bringing the total number of transistors integrated in the entire chip to 100,000.

In order to highly integrate transistors, the s-100 processor is produced using the first 1.25-micron process technology. Dongfang Semiconductor, a subsidiary of Dongfang Electronics, is still under construction for the latest manufacturing process, so the first batch of s-100 processors was rolled out at IBM's wafer fab.

This is also part of the strategic cooperation plan between Dongfang Electronics and ibm. The fab of ibm is responsible for the OEM production of part of the s-100 processor for the Oriental Research Institute. The Oriental Research Institute provides ibm with relevant information on the s-100 processor, so that ibm can use it to develop related computer products.

This is a lot of pressure for Ikon, which is also using the s-100 processor to develop workstation computers. However, after the Orient Electronics Group has the previous experience in the research and development of -3 computers, in this research and development of workstation computers, it has been able to coordinate the research and development progress of various sub-blocks such as processor, operating system, and computer structure design, so as to achieve more efficient synchronous advancement.

And ibm's efficiency is lackluster, and the internal bloat has made it slow to develop new-at personal computers based on the erm-1 chip, let alone new workstation computers.

The at in -at is an acronym for "Advanced Technology" (;) in English. The name also shows that IBM executives have not given up their ambitions in the personal computer market. As for how much market share IBM can take from the fierce personal market next, Li Xuan is not optimistic.

He is more concerned about the two companies in another time and space, Microsoft and Intel, that have become heroes because of compatible machines. The operating system ibm used in the machine was developed by Bill Gates' Microsoft.

But Bill Gates did not develop it independently, but bought the operating system developed by the other party imitating cp/m from a man named Patterson. Then he took the software he bought and modified it according to the software provided by ibm, and it became the 86- which was sold on the plane.

86- There is a strong imitation of the cp/m operating system developed by the previous digital research company, and Bill Gates did not obtain the deep authorization of the cp/m software through acquisition as Li Xuan did before, so there is a risk of infringement .

In another time and space, after IBM's machine sales were booming, the digital research company quickly took IBM to court on the grounds of infringement. In the end, IBM paid a lot of money to reach a settlement with the other party. Li Xuan is very aware of this allusion, and naturally he must make good use of it.

When Ikon and IBM were arguing before, he anonymously informed Digital Research Company that the 86-operating system ~www.readwn.com~ was allegedly infringing the cp/m system used on the plane.

As a result, the digital research company did not disappoint him. After the technicians analyzed it, they found that the situation stated in the anonymous letter was true, so they immediately took IBM to court.

The infringement lawsuit between ibm company and icon company has not been finished yet, but he has been attacked from back and forth. After the lawsuit, the machine's tepid sales fell further. This is also one of the important reasons why ibm directly gave up the machine and chose to reconcile with Dongfang Electronics and join the Dongfang camp.

The ibm company gave up the machine, and the two companies that had the greatest impact were Microsoft and Intel. Microsoft just reported a thick thigh, and as a result, IBM was dissatisfied with Microsoft because of the 86-infringement lawsuit. Under the continuous PR of Eastsoft, we simply started to support east-operating system.

In another time and space in Li Xuan's memory, the digital research company seemed to only identify with IBM, and did not pay much attention to Microsoft as the culprit. But now, Li Xuan is well aware of the truth of fighting a snake instead of dying. When he wrote an anonymous letter, he continued to emphasize the illegal behavior of Microsoft. Influenced by his anonymous letter, the digital research company directly brought Microsoft and IBM to court together. (To be continued..)

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