Little Blue, a non-PC Compatible TL

No PC compatible means Amiga, Atari ST and Macs fight it out, Command Line CP/M will not stand a chance in 1985

They proved that GUIs were the way with high resolution RGB screens, not menu systems limited by 40 column NTSC composite input Monitors and TVs
 
Part III
Part III: The Age of Information

It was 1984, and the home micro market of the United States was reaching new heights. No longer were computers solely reserved for those with thousands of dollars, but were at prices comparable to kitchen appliances. This was due to the low price of computer chips, and with this the market was flooded with inexpensive computers from companies such as Timex Sinclair and others. However, most of the public realized that if you wanted something worth it's price, you had to go to companies such as Apple, Commodore, or Tandy. Rumors were circling around that Apple was suffering from corporate instability after it had fired one of it's founding members, Steve Jobs, a few years earlier. With him went his belief that computers should be replaced every time a new system was released, replacing it was Steve Wozniak's belief that upgrades should be incremental, with each new version sporting full backwards compatibility with all the last. Their new Apple //C computer was everything the future of computing should hold: it was compact, elegant, and had everything you needed except a monitor,but a common household TV could perform that role at no extra cost. Their Apple /// computer basically dominated the business computer market, with the only other competitor being Commodore's PET+, which was an improvement over it's aging PET Design, with a 1.2 Mhz 6502 CPU, 96 KB RAM, CP/M operating system, and a full 80 column display, same as the Apple ///. While the PET+ was pushing it's way into the business market, it's Commodore 64 Computer was the absolute king of the home market, leaving Apple and Tandy in the dust. As the United States went into the new year, word was that IBM was going to try to enter the non-mainframe market again, this time in a less heavy-handed way, breaking with it's tradition of utter dominance or nothing. The feelings of america were perfectly described in this excerpt from Ronald Reagan's State of the Union address in early 1985:
"We now live in a time where we have greater power to process information than any generation before us, and it has all sprung to life in the past 10 years. Why, if we could go from mechanical calculators to the sort of computers only before seen in large businesses and governments in a matter of years, imagine what the future could hold. All of time is ahead of us, and the outlook is good, the future is bright, and we now live in the age of information"
It was obvious that the great age of computing and information was on the horizon.
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The Apple ///
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Early model PET next to a PET+, photo taken 2002.
Without Steve Jobs, Apple never releases the Macintosh in '84, and instead focuses on it's 2 line, with the 3 not being driven out by PC-compatibles.
Commodore continues pretty much as OTL for now, the only butterfly being the PET+, so CBM will be keeping the PET line for a few more years as a business machine, to counter the Apple 3.
please note that I will not be talking about things in Europe and the UK, as they were slow to adopt the PC standard. Everything happens there as OTL for now, including (sadly) Amstrad's purchase of Sinclair.
Next part will enter the 16-bit era, with a mainstream appeal of things like BBS and such, to the point of these becoming what we know as the internet OTL, only happening in 1988 or thereabouts.
 
The age of information Will be massively different...did Atari crashed as OTL? And what about a little company in Redmond?
 
The age of information Will be massively different...did Atari crashed as OTL? And what about a little company in Redmond?
Ok, first, since the PC standard wasn't responsible for the crash of '83 (that's what I assume you were referring to) yes, however Jack Tramiel still buys it out as OTL. And are you referring to Microsoft, well they are making profit from MS BASIC and their version of CP/M, MS-CP/M, licencing the rights for these out as OTL. MS-DOS wasn't as profitable for them, so they are working on a new operating system in conjunction with IBM.
 
Ok, first, since the PC standard wasn't responsible for the crash of '83 (that's what I assume you were referring to) yes, however Jack Tramiel still buys it out as OTL. And are you referring to Microsoft, well they are making profit from MS BASIC and their version of CP/M, MS-CP/M, licencing the rights for these out as OTL. MS-DOS wasn't as profitable for them, so they are working on a new operating system in conjunction with IBM.
Thanks yeah seems Atari Will have a fate like OTL, still thank for the answers things Will be interesting in this timeline.
 
Part IV
Part IV: "It Costs How Much?!?!"
The year, 1986
The place, the United States of America

1986 was widely considered the year that computers moved from 8 to 16 bit chipsets, even if there were earlier 16 bit CPUs such as Intel's failed 8086 chip, with this year's long awaited release of Commodore's Amiga 500 in June, and it's upgraded PET, the PET160 in May, Atari Corp's delayed 520ST, originally slated for 1985, but delayed due to hardware issues until February, Nintendo's NCS/2 and Computerizer/2 coming to store shelves in August, and also Apple's new system, the IIGS, releasing in September. But the Winter CES of that year was not dominated by these machines, but by the new IBM model 5200 "ThinkBook-1012" notepad-sized computer. Reporters were amazed that the new system's specs outshine all of the competitors with ease, and in such a small form factor. Now, this computer was designed to be a workstation PC, and the system could be beefed up further by mating it with a dock system, at the cost of portability. The machine ran a graphical user interface or GUI, known as the Microsoft Operating Environment, or MOE, similar to Atari's TOS or Commodore's AmigaOS, and included with the system was software for CAD, the burgeoning 3-D modeling industry, and other hardware-intensive purposes, stored on a massive 8GB hard drive while docked, although reduced to 2GB when not. All of these specifications came at a price, that price being $50,000 without the extra $25,000 dock, unheard of for a home computer, prompting the memorable response from one onlooker of "It costs HOW much?!?!?!" but then, IBM wasn't aiming for the home market. It had learned it's lesson from the blunder of the PC, and had adjusted it's strategy accordingly. Many great things had been done on the ThinkBook since, including computer-generated segments in many science fiction films of the late 1980s. If you see a film from that era with CGI, you can thank IBM for the (for the time) flawless nature of the visuals in those films. This was also the year when the Federal Communications Commission or the FCC released guidelines for a standard for interlinking all computers into one network, known as the InterNet, short for Interlinked Network. People could connect from one computer to any other, provided they knew the address number of the computer in question. These numbers were based off of phone numbers, in the vein of old Bulletin Board Systems, for example the page at (303)-544-7837 was the page for the University of Colorado at Boulder, and (407)-743-8293 was the NASA web-page. 1986 was considered in retrospect to be one of the most influential years in the history of computing, right alongside 1977 and 1993.
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The ThinkBook-1012 without it's dock.
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The 520ST with a monitor, disk drive, and mouse
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The Amiga 500 with it's disk drive and mouse.
Thanks for reading this part, it's been a little more than a week since last week's post, I've been pretty busy, but I'm trying to get one part up every week, and if I can't or the part is going to be extra long, I'll try to upload some kind of teaser for next part. As always, please leave feedback and/or suggestions, I do enjoy it quite a bit. once again, thanks for reading and watch out for next week's post. Please note that I won't be able to post on the last week of this month since I'll be out of state away from my computer, so don't expect any new posts between the 25th and 29th. sorry about that.
 
Hmm...

Does this mean that the Sharp X68000 will hop a boat? Will the Fujitsu FM-Towns use a CPU worthy of its chipset? And what about those developments in Europe known as the Sinclair QL, Acorn Archimedes, Amstrad CPC, INMOS Transputer, and Exetel Excelvision?

Oh, and I take it MSX didn't happen?
 
Pretty sure you meant 8MB, hard drives were sized in megabytes back then.

Also, what the heck is MOE, something like Windows 1.0?

And 3d CAD? What was it using for a processor?
Firstly: alright, I will admit that 2gb and 8gb are impossible for 1986, it would probably be around 240mb and 820mb instead.
Secondly: MOE is like Commodore GEM combined with windows 1.0
Thirdly: a custom 33mhz Intel processor known as the Intel 3386, named for its clock speed and product line.
 
Part V, I guess
Update: things to come. . .

Okay, I was gone last week, but I have no excuse for not posting at all for half a month. Here's 1987, (short, I know, but I just have next to no energy right now, and am trying to recuperate.)

It was 1987, and comparatively little had happened that year, Tandy released the TRS-180 Enhanced Color Computer, it's entry into the 16-bit market. It achieved moderate success, mostly due to being the only computer carried in RadioShack at the time. Apple released an ad-in card to essentially upgrade an apple 2 or 2e into an apple 2gs, and they stopped labelling their computers with roman numerals, instead switching to stylized numbers. their 3- series also got the upgrade card treatment. Also, rumors circulated that Japanese company Sega was to release a 16 bit games console, which could have even better performance with games than any current machines had to offer, allowing for more advanced games, as well. The boundaries of computing were broadening with each day. But of course, as they say, all good things must come to an end.
To be Continued in The Second Great Crash, coming soon to a forum post near you!
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A TRS-180 with a monitor and disk drive, though some models did include integrated drives.
 
Part VI, Finally!
Part VI:

The Second Great Crash

"The Computer Recession of 1988 (known to some as the Second Great Crash in reference to the Video Game Crash of 1983) was a large scale recession in the computer industry that occurred between mid-1988 and late 1989, primarily in North America, the United Kingdom, and Japan, due to Market Saturation. The resulting loss in revenue caused the bankruptcy of several companies, such as Amstrad and Acorn, and caused the Timex Corporation to sever it's deal with Sinclair Research for distribution in North America. The recession caused an abrupt pause in what was retrospectively known as the 3rd Generation of home computers in North America and the United Kingdom."
Computer Recession of 1988 - Wikipedia, the Computer Encyclopedia (813)-223-0144

It was a dark time.
Computer companies were dropping like flies left and right. In an effort to make a foothold in the computer markets in the UK, companies made the decision to prioritize quantity over quality.

This has made a lot of people very angry and was widely considered to be a bad move.

Despite moderate success in the education market, Acorn Computers had tried and failed to penetrate the home and business markets, and thus were forced to liquidate their assets. English computing had lost one of it's giants.

Amstrad fared no better. By the time 1988 rolled around, they were being forced to bury hundreds of thousands of unsold CPC-464 computers.

This left only Sinclair Research, who had only narrowly avoided a buyout by Amstrad just a few years earlier. And even they were crippled by the events that transpired. Timex Corporation, who had previously distributed Sinclair Computers in North America under the Timex Sinclair brand, had pulled out of said deal, leaving Sinclair with no way to distribute it's products outside of Europe. Their share value plummeted, despite having next to no competitors in the UK. Yes, Sinclair survived, but at what cost?

So, thanks for reading this installment of the series! I know I haven't been meeting my goal of weekly uploads, but I was drawing a blank as top what this part was going to be about, I had a title, and that was about it. Heck, when I started writing this earlier today, I didn't even think it was going to be a UK episode, but it was. I had decided as soon as I did the first episode that Sinclair wasn't going to be bought out by Amstrad(as they were OTL in 1985), and this provided a perfect means to that end. Also, Acorn goes under, too. I hadn't really wanted to do that, but I just couldn't think of what I would do with it, save for further ARM-based computers then in OTL. Stay tuned for Part VII, I don't know when it'll be up, just keep a lookout for it. Absolutely no idea what it'll be about, but stay tuned.
 
Something of an update, and things to come...
It's been about 4 months since I started this TL, and now that school's back in, I'm finding myself with less and less free time, which means even less time to dedicate to the thread. BUT! I still plan to update this thing at least biweekly, starting today. I haven't really got much to share with you right now for things to come, but I do have a title and setting for part 7: Meanwhile, at the Legion of Doom, set in the Soviet Union, circa 1989, and it will focus on the Speccy clone industry there prior to the country's collapse. Part 8 will return to the US in 1990 in From the Ashes, which should be out in about a month. Stay tuned, and sorry for the delay!
 
Home Computer Magazine: JUL 89
Home Computer Magazine
July 1989

System Reviews:
Atari 520 STE
Reviewed by Donald McElwee
Spec-wise, the STE has Commodore beat, through and through, but introducing it this late in the game, it's just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Commodore's A1200 is on the horizon, may very well spell the end of Atari in the home computer market. In this reviewer's opinion, Atari should go back to games.

IBM ThinkStation 2048

Reviewed by Ronald Goodman
The ThinkStation by IBM has a lot of people turning their heads in it's direction. With it's powerful processor and dedicated 3D graphics generation chipset, IBM is really playing to the strengths of it's previous Thinkbook, whilst also removing features such as the rarely used portability of it's predecessor. It's sleek black design fits neatly under a 20" monitor, and it's built in keyboard is a pleasurable, full-travel experience.

Apple 2gs+
Reviewed by James Butterfield
Apple's new 2gs+ is perhaps the most technically impressive machine on the market, for it's price, that is. The new offering has largely passed by the masses, having been labeled as a business machine by home users, and a "silly games machine" by professional users, but this new computer has a stunning 770 kilobyte memory capacity, upgradable to a whopping 900k! Of course, all this power comes at a price, that being $1200. Not all that bad, considering the cost of these high-in-demand electronics.

Nintendo to branch off computer company, and other happenings at the summer CES
By Johnathan Turner
This past month, at the CES expo, Nintendo of Japan executives went on stage to announce that they had plans being enacted to split off a subsidiary of Nintendo entirely focused on making computer systems. It's first project, a mysterious computer only known as NC1, is slated to be released early next year. Also there was a display for Sega's new console, originally to be called Genesis in North America, to appeal to a more religious audience, is instead to be released with the same name as everywhere else: Mega Drive. Commodore's presentation mostly provided us with more information about the upcoming A1200, but near the end, Marshall Smith, the CEO, started talking about something that he said would "Flip the market head over heels", and simply showed us a slide showing an image depicting HAL 9000, the homicidal computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. What is to be determined from this is as of yet unknown, but obviously the market leader has something BIG in the works.

Main Story: Sinclair: The man, The company, The History
By Michael Penka
Started in 1977 as Science of Cambridge, ltd. by Clive Sinclair, Sinclair Research has had it's ups and downs over the years, but it certainly has made an impact on the minds of people, especially in it's native Britain. The firm's first computer, the MK14, was an enthusiast's desk toy, as there wasn't really much you could do with it. It wasn't until the release of the ZX80, 3 years later, that Sinclair had it's first proper computer, though it wasn't much to write home about. the slow Z80 processor and 1k of memory severely limited the machine, not to mention it's lacking of a graphics chip meant that the processor has to run the display. These issues were later resolved with the ZX81, an upgraded ZX80 with 16K of memory, a dedicated display chip, and a sleeker black design. This one also made it's way here to America, being sold as the Timex Sinclair 81, or TS81. Then, Sinclair released the machine to define it's future: the ZX82. The 82 was the first Sinclair Computer to feature color graphics, and a sound chip to boot(though not quite as advanced as Commodore's SID). With it's black design contrasted with the rainbow pinstripe running diagonally across the corner, this machine ruled the British and European micro markets, even making it past the Iron Curtain, where clones of the 82 made up virtually the entire computer markets. The ZX83, released in 1983, was an iterative update on the 82. It featured a new case, doing away with the membrane and chicklet keyboards that were loathed by the community, and considered to be one of the few drawbacks of the 82. The 83 is essentially an 82 in a new case, but with one new addition: a cartridge port, allowing for instantaneous software loading on a more reliable format. This one also made it across the Atlantic, being sold as the Timex Sinclair Spectrum. Also released that year was the Sinclair QL, a business machine which lost out to those from Amstrad and American companies. This was the first computer to use Sinclair Microcassettes, essentially rebranded mini-cassettes, and to a great deal of applause, as these smaller units were more portable and, some say, more reliable, than Amstrad's 3" disks. Then, Sinclair brought the might of the QL to the home with it's ZX Delta, essentially an 82/83 compatible QL. This machine featured upgraded graphics and sound, and a Microcassette interface, as well as a whopping 256k of memory. Various addons for these systems have increased their longevity to the point that, after the crash of last year, Sinclair has been the only company operating on any significant scale, and since their machines are only 8-bit systems, the whole of Europe is being held back.

This is a new type of format I'm thinking of, separate from other installments. Please let me know what you think! So, basically, the butterflies are becoming more prevalent as we approach the end of the decade. IBM's ThinkStation looks similar to older thinkcenters, but is more powerful, as well as expensive. The Genesis is released as the Mega Drive in NA, as it should have, and then, there's Sinclair. The company carries on as OTL until the POD, where the first butterfly is 16k ram on the ZX81, but I've always felt that Sinclair should've kept the number naming scheme, at least until after the QL. The 83 is released in NA as the Spectrum, ironically, and achieves widespread success as a budget computer. the Delta is (to my knowledge) unique to this TL, IIRC Sinclair had no intention to release a QL based home machine. Also, they never release the C5. So that mistake is avoided. Stay tuned for more!
 
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