IBM 6151 PC/RT specific notes
The PC/RT was IBM's first attempt to establish a RISC line of computers.
AFAIK it was also the first commercial RISC computer, it appeared in the mid 1980s, somewhat
before Sun abandoned 68K and went SPARC. It wasn't a big success, but somehow it paved the way
for the RS/6000, which appeared a couple of years later, in 1990.
I remember remotely that in 1988 (or was it 1989 ?) some IBM sales reps appeared
at my workplace, GSI, to promote these boxes. I remember huge pieces of equipment,
the computer itself and the monitor. The presentation itself wasn't overwhelming,
IIRC, the IBM guys weren't too enthusiastic themselves, maybe they knew the RT would
soon be replaced by the RS/6000. On our side, enthusiasm was limited as well,
maybe because we were either mainframe oriented or intel-PC addicts.
For both worlds the RT was the odd man out. It may also have been a lack of
appropriate software which made the RT less convincing,
I don't know, it's long gone history anyway.
Nevertheless an RT is an interesting piece of history,
being the predecessor to the RS/6000,
and reviving this piece is still high up on my agenda.
Pixx
Last updated: 23-Nov-2008,
M.Kraemer
