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Publisher Mondadori – Mondadori’s Company Archive
Magazine: Pc Week
Publication Date: 05/12/1988
Publication Number: 0017
Page Number: 0001
Section: NEWS
TITLE: INTEL, A FULL FREQUENCY PERSONAL SYSTEM
Summary: Presenting the 302 System, first 80386system at 25 MHz for OEM and VAR Author: Roberto Mazzoni
Topics: Computer Industry
Type of News
Subjects: Intel
Creation Date: 06/23/1988


 

8817_Taggeg_CoverCaption

The new 302Sys incorporates an Intel 80386 microprocessor at # 25 MHz and offers superior performance to the Compaq Deskpro 386 20.

Description

Personal computer…. Sys 302

Main Article Text

Intel is exceeding in the race with suppliers of traditional personal computers presenting, during an official conference taking place in Milano, with the first Intel micro, based on Intel processor 80386 at 25 MHz’s. The machine, called System 302, is available immediately, and will be distributed through OEM channels (companies that build systems by assembling pre-packaged modules by others) and Var (dealers who specialize in vertical market areas, providing turnkey solutions). Among the first companies to be able to offer Sys 302 on the do- mestic market will Itt Multicomponents (Milanofiori E5 palazzo, 20090 Assago – I – tel. 02 824 701). Spokesmen for Intel have announced that it is not the intention of the company to compete with traditional suppliers of personal computers, such as IBM and CompaqDSCF7332

Their objective is instead to provide complete systems (motherboard, adaptor and chassis), or sub-systems (only the motherboard or expansion cards) to anyone who wants to create workstations specialized for vertical applications. With the arrival of this first machine at 25 MHz, it is to be presumed that soon or later other com- panies will supply the market with machines of the same power (I personally think an announcement is truly near about a new Compaq 386 25). Intel, which was founded as a manufacturer of electronic components, has in recent years, in the sphere of systems operations, stepped up its production and business activities, first in industry and more recently, also in the world of office automation. The Ital- ian branch of the company (Milanofiori palazzo E, 20090 Assago-I-tel.02 8,244,071) will provide technical assistance for both Var products and to OEM’s. The 301 Sys- tem and the 302 System are both machines with the At bus type. Intel has high- lighted the fact that, despite having IMAG0234available all the necessary components for the architectural realization of a Micro Channel, the market at this time still requires machines with traditional structure and feels that this situation will last for about another two years. The reasons for this attachment to tradition by the user must be sought in the high volume of software and expansion cards, designed for the personal computer of the Xt and At generation.
The company, however, did not fail to make improvements to the original bus At, transforming it into a system of input and output at 32-bits and 25 MHz.Intel hopes that this new super-bus will become a standard adopted by all compatible manufac- turers. The new bus is capable of housing older type cards, as well as cards made specifically to take full advantage of the 386 to 25 MHz capabilities.

It will even be possible to induce four different processors, to be able act in a coor- dinated and parallel way.

 

Improving the Contemporary Inboard

While working on different fronts, Intel is intensifying its efforts to increase its mar- ket
PCWEEK881701_signaturepenetration of expansion cards at the same time, correcting the imperfections of the Inboard accelerator card 386, which has been shown not to be fully compati- ble with the Os 2 operating system, despite certification claims stating the opposite. The problems that made the card incompatible with the new Microsoft operating system were related to the particular mode switching techniques not supported by IBM and Compaq releases of Os 2.

For a month or so, Intel has expressed its readiness to correct, free of charge, the imperfections in the cards already sold. In the future, the American company will prepare new patches to support other versions of Os 2, such as that of Tandy. The news was confirmed, unofficially, by the Italian publishing company Software (via Hay 8, 20123 Milan, tel.02 8057009), Italian distributor of Intel expansion cards. By installing the Inboard 386 card in any expansion slot of a personal computer IBM At (Or one that is compatible) and removing the original 80286 processor, one will get a machine that works in all respects as a 386 system at 16 MHz, capable of manag- ing memory expanding up to 16 Mb Dos based (standard Lotus Intel Microsoft 4.0) or, thanks to the recent developments, also 16 MB of memory in the operating system Os 2.

 

Roberto Mazzoni