XPost: alt.folklore.computers   
   From: tkoenig@netcologne.de   
      
   Michael S  schrieb:   
   > On Mon, 4 Aug 2025 20:13:54 -0000 (UTC)   
   > Thomas Koenig  wrote:   
      
   >> My guess would be that, with DEC, you would have the least chance of   
   >> convincing corporate brass of your ideas.  With Data General, you   
   >> could try appealing to the CEO's personal history of creating the   
   >> Nova, and thus his vanity.  That could work.  But your own company   
   >> might actually be the best choice, if you can get the venture   
   >> capital funding.   
   >>   
   >   
   > Why not go to somebody who has money and interest to build   
   > microprocessor, but no existing mini/mainframe/SuperC buisness?   
   > If we limit ourselves to USA then Moto, Intel, AMD, NatSemi...   
   > May be, even AT&T ? Or was AT&T stil banned from making computers in   
   > the mid 70s?   
      
   To be efficient, a RISC needs a full-width (presumably 32 bit)   
   external data bus, plus a separate address bus, which should at   
   least be 26 bits, better 32.  A random ARM CPU I looked at at   
   bitsavers had 84 pins, which sounds reasonable.   
      
   Building an ARM-like instead of a 68000 would have been feasible,   
   but the resulting systems would have been more expensive (the   
   68000 had 64 pins).   
      
   So... a strategy could have been to establish the concept with   
   minicomputers, to make money (the VAX sold big) and then move   
   aggressively towards microprocessors, trying the disruptive move   
   towards workstations within the same company (which would be HARD).   
      
   As for the PC - a scaled-down, cheap, compatible, multi-cycle per   
   instruction microprocessor could have worked for that market,   
   but it is entirely unclear to me what this would / could   
   have done to the PC market, if IBM could have been prevented   
   from gaining such market dominance.   
      
   A bit like the /360 strategy, offering a wide range of machines   
   (or CPUs and systems) with different performance.   
      
   Might have worked, might have ended as a footnote in the   
   minicomputer history.  As with all pieces of alternate   
   history, we'll never know.   
      
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