Due to Tang Huan's influence, the start time of the Xiangqi project was slightly advanced, but it was Tang Huan's influence that the actual progress of the Xiangqi project lagged slightly, so it was not much different from the time scale of the original time and space.

The reason for this is that the wide variety of functional expansion cards issued by Zheru for Apple II, especially the program code in the read-only memory attached to it, has brought certain trouble to IBM's technical elite.

The term "personal computer" was first used in 1972 for the Xerox Alto computer, which was developed by the Xerox PARC Center, and has become quite popular to this day.

The rise of personal computers is closely related to the characteristic cultural phenomena such as counterculture in the United States, and other countries can even copycat mainframes such as IBM System/360, which shows that everyone is not short of elites and technology.

Given the economic situation of the first avant-garde group, the personal computer, which opposed the privilege of the mainframe, had to be recognized among them, and the first thing that needed to be addressed was the issue of cost.

At this point, the Xerox Alto computer is not good, and neither is the IBM5100 launched by IBM in 1975, and the basic model with 16KB of memory is priced at about $9,000, which is unacceptable to the bitter public, and the Altair8800, which is recognized as the first personal computer, has a finished product price of about $500.

In short, large IT companies at this time are accustomed to relying on high-end products to maintain profits, while toy-like personal computers only have a business model of small profits and quick turnover. They are naturally undermotivated.

Since the traditional design process of IBM before. It has proven impossible to design inexpensive microcomputers. Then the Chess Project team, which had a special mission, was allowed to bypass IBM's corporate rules and quickly provide a market product.

Initially, the Chess Project team considered using the IBM 801 processor and the operating system developed for it at IBM Research Labs in Yorktown Heights, Yorktown Heights.

The 801 processor is at least an order of magnitude more powerful than Intel CPUs, and the supporting operating system is at least several years more advanced than DOS operating systems such as CP/M.

However, working together within IBM, a huge organization, can not have the convenience of being close to the water, and various procedures such as application reports can be carried out. Maybe it's going to be the Year of the Monkey.

It is said that it will take at least two years for IBM's products to be marketed after the design is approved; And the more pessimistic statement is that it generally takes 5 years.

The old age of the blue giant is serious, which can be seen from this.

The Chess Project Team, which strives to be a "fast" project, can only ignore IBM's internal solutions in order to avoid many internal procedural processes that may delay the schedule, thus greatly reducing the difficulty of its work.

Fortunately, IBM had a failed project in 1978 that adopted Intel 8080 called "Datamaster", which is quite significant. It's just that it was actually set up at a price of up to $20,000, which made everyone think of the black line.

Thereupon. They simply put all their attention outside of IBM, especially the PCs that were already successful in the market: Apple, Tangdy, Commodia, Atari...... All models of PCs are bought back and taken apart for a closer look.

IBM's elites quickly discovered that the CPUs used in these products were divided into two categories: Intel's Intel 8080 and Zilog's Z80; Motorola's MC6800 and MOSTechnology MOS6502, with the Z80 and MOS6502 both being improved versions created by engineers who split off from the Intel 8080 and MC6800 developers, respectively.

Considering only the cost, the corresponding Motorola series has an advantage over the Intel system, but IBM, which has been overwhelmed by several anti-market monopoly lawsuits, has been very vigilant about various patent disputes that may be involved.

As a result, Zilog and MOSTechnology were directly out, and due to the maturity and popularity of CP/M, an operating system born on the Intel 8080 architecture, Intel was finally successfully sent to the palace by the draft.

After determining the core microprocessor, the Xiangqi project team began to work on the overall system design, and at this time, the Apple II's open slot, and the exquisite cooperation with the Zheru function expansion card, and then provided powerful functions, aroused their strong interest.

This year, Zheru's latest function expansion card is the SoundCard, and the previous one is the mouse function expansion card, which has amazed IBM's technical elites and unanimously agreed to include these functions in the chess plan.

Since it is research, it is inevitable to reverse engineer in private, and the Chess Project team found out from this process that the Zheru function expansion card will cover the underlying hardware with an extremely elaborate layer of abstract functions written in assembly language, and exist in read-only memory.

According to the product information published by Zheru, this hardware abstraction function layer, called BasicInputandOutputSystem or BIOS, can be called by partners programmatically.

IBM's technocrats were impressed by the idea of how it was realized, and then decided to extend the idea to the level of the entire computer.

In this way, the Xiangqi project team was confused by Zheru's new technical implementation skills, and unknowingly, the progress was delayed a little.

However, none of these IBM technologists are simple, and once they figure out how to implement it, the rest will be too simple for them.

Project Leader Bill? Lovo is naturally full of confidence in the elite soldiers he personally selected. And that's just as it turned out. After going through the technical reference and research phase. The project schedule caught up quickly.

It's just that, after seeing the latest information on the latest developments in the personal computer industry, everyone feels as if they have been slapped in the head, and they are a little dizzy.

Liu, the chief system designer of the Xiangqi project team? Ogbrecht pulled a page from the file and shook it, "I'm sure that Zheru is working on the next generation of personal computers. The patent for this ISA bus, as can be inferred from a brief description, is used to make open slots, connect function expansion cards, MITS Altair computers, originally used the bus structure called S100, but in recent years no one seems to pay attention to this technology, but unfortunately, we happen to use it. ”

"As a result, there is a high risk of patent disputes. Why don't you report back to the top? One engineer suggested.

Bill? Lowo shook his head, "My earliest plan was to buy computers from other manufacturers directly. It was sold under the IBM brand, but was rejected on the grounds that IBM had to have its own personal computer. This shows what the thinking of the top management is. What if I report the possibility of such a patent dispute now, what if I receive an instruction to suspend the project? ”

"Then the situation of our project team is even more dangerous." Hearing such an analysis, everyone talked about it, and their faces showed a worried look.

Compared with the huge IBM, their project team, which was assigned to the frontier and paid tribute to the myth of Silicon Valley garage entrepreneurship, is just an inconspicuous grit, and IBM does not know how many similar project teams will be cancelled every month, as long as the management committee is not satisfied, even if it has the privilege of reporting directly to the president, it may not be spared.

This R&D project finally got the official name of the "Xiangqi Project", and the machine they were developing also had the internal code name of "Acorn", and everyone was full of enthusiasm to make this microcomputer about to miraculously change the future of IBM, so that they would gain fame and fortune and go down in history.

"If it really doesn't work, let's go and get in touch with Zheru."

"The project has progressed to this extent, and we want to do so much, even if we have to fight a patent lawsuit, our own high-level people will wipe their butts and pretend not to know about it."

Obviously, these elites are engaged in technology one after another, but when it comes to intrigue and business warfare, it is a typical novice.

However, Bill, who has entered an upward channel within IBM and has a bright future? Lovo, does not belong to this category.

He pondered for a while, and finally decided, "Yes, we'll pretend we don't know." In order to fight anti-monopoly lawsuits, the company has raised so many lawyers, but it is not vegetarian. ”

Speaking of which, Bill? Lowo threw the documents in front of him to the center of the table, "Throw all these materials into the shredder, don't be affected by any bullshit patents, work according to the original plan, and speed up." ”

Glancing at his colleagues, Bill? Lovo slowed down his tone, "I will ask the president to disclose our project to the outside world, which can be regarded as advertising in advance and whetting your appetite." After all, many companies in Silicon Valley always engage in the trick of releasing products before they are developed, so as to collect advance payments, which is not unusual. Of course, we are not for the purpose of making money, but to leave a proof, our Acorn and Zheru's ISA bus appeared at a similar time, and there is no question of who plagiarized whom. In this way, there is not so much pressure on everyone. What do you think? ”

"Will the president agree?" Liu? Oegbrecht asked worriedly, saying that he had put a lot of effort into the project, and that he had suffered the most from the gains and losses.

"Our Chess Project team was originally allowed to bypass the company's established rules." Bill? A sly smile appeared on Lovo's face, "What's more, gossip about the chess project has already begun to circulate within the company, and it is not top secret. ”

See confident Bill? What Lovo said was the truth, and everyone nodded their heads in convincing, and a thought flashed in their hearts, "The rumors that Lovo is going to be promoted do have a reason, and they deserve to be so valued by the high-level with the command of others." ”

……

West Coast, California. Silicon Valley. Sunnyvale. Atari Headquarters.

CEO Ray? Casa accompanies Warner President Steve? Ross finished inspecting the company and returned to the office.

"I only saw a personal computer, and I said, okay, what about the next generation of consoles?" Steve? Rose looked displeased.

"The third version of the Atari 2600, already ready to launch the ......" Ray? Kasa began to sweat on the door of his head.

"I'm talking about next-generation consoles, not the optimized version of the current Atari 2600." Steve? Rose unceremoniously interrupted the other man.

"Since Bushnell left, many technical backbones have also left one after another, so in the research and development of the next generation of game consoles. Progress is a little behind, but the Atari 400/800 PCs are very good and the games are doing well, and for a while IBM took a fancy to it and intended us to be its OEM. "Ray being trained? Casa, unwillingly explained.

"So what now? Watching the little overlord game console make a lot of money at full speed? "Steve? Ross staring at Ray? Casa asked.

Thunder? Casa was about to be overwhelmed by the aura of the king exuded by his boss, so he could only continue to explain, "This is also a matter of no choice, originally we are the same as the Xiaobawang game console, and we don't need to open our own game platform." This most important source of profit is completely in the hands of the company, but the technical backbone who has left knows the hardware details of the Atari 2600 well. There's even a game development company called Activision that specializes in making games for the Atari 2600, and I'm ready to sue them to get a head start for charging licensing fees in the future. ”

"How much money can I get in this?" Steve? Rose snorted angrily, "Speaking of which, it's nothing more than some so-called difficulties. Are you a professional manager, and you can't come up with a solution other than complaining? ”

"Of course." Thunder? Kasa hurriedly switched the bitter gourd face to a smiling face, "At present, the arcade business has not been greatly affected, as long as the speed of game launch is accelerated in terms of home game consoles, and then the status quo is maintained, then the company's overall profitability is still good." After the successful development of the next-generation game console Atari 5200, we can completely master the game console platform again by just a small means, which is not compatible with the current Atari 2600. However, this process takes time. ”

"And how much time do you think it will take?" Seeing that this subordinate is almost cornered, Steve? Rose slowed his tone.

"About a year." Thunder? Casa looked at his boss pitifully, "When the Atari 2600 was developed, you should have heard of how difficult it was. ”

Steve? Although Ross is a generation of tyrants in business, he is a mallet in terms of high technology. Whatever Casa said, he had to believe it, but when he thought that it would take such a long time as a year, he scratched his heart with a hundred claws, wouldn't the little overlord game console be profitable.

"Could it be that this little overlord game console is really so unstoppable?" Steve? There was obvious jealousy in Rose's tone.

Thunder? Casa reluctantly spread his hands, "Engineers like Bushnell who started businesses in Silicon Valley often have excellent technical skills, and the management of the company is a mess. But Tang Huan is an exception, his Cupertino headquarters, which has expanded extremely quickly, has always been running in an orderly manner. Intel CEO Andy is said to be in the dark? After visiting several times, Grove was impressed by the orderliness of the place. No, I just got a reliable news that EA's game "Donkey Kong" is still hot, and a sequel "Mario" is about to be released, and this summer vacation is simply everyone's home field. ”

Steve? Rose took Ray? Casa took a casual look at the document in his hand and said, "Donkey Kong? How is the name so familiar? ”

"Don't you think of the King Kong movie, do you?" Thunder? Casa chuckled.

"Yes, it's a movie." Steve? Rose's eyes lit up, Huo Di stood up, and as he walked out, he dropped a sentence, "Don't send me, think carefully about how to do the work in hand." ”

Boss, why did you take the documents away?

Thunder? Casa subconsciously opened his mouth and quickly closed it again.

Forget it, just send this great god away.

……

On Friday, August 1st, the third leg of Deng Lijun's second North American tour began at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.

This indoor arena was built in 1915 and was the home of the NBA's Golden State Warriors basketball team from 1964 to 1967 when the 1920 Democratic National Convention was held.

This performance not only shows Deng Lijun's star appeal, but also reflects the local reputation that Tang Huan has worked hard for more than a year.

With Tang Huan's covert support, the newspaper basically covered the entire San Francisco Bay Area, and spared no effort to carry out comprehensive publicity.

Live performances at Lincoln Center and Los Angeles Music Center in New York, a press conference on the appointment of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors, and a ceremony for the presentation of cultural exchange medals by assistant mayors of the two metropolises...... A series of photos show Deng Lijun's recent public activities in front of the local Chinese.

As a result, today has almost become a Chinese festival, and the San Francisco Police Department has specially strengthened patrols for this purpose, and the San Francisco Municipal Auditorium, which can accommodate 7,000 spectators, is even more full.

The audience, mostly from San Francisco, or Oakland, and other parts of the Bay Area, and even from Los Angeles, were filled with flowers in front of the stage.

There is also an exaggeration, in addition to the local Chinese media, Taiwan Television also sent an interview team from Baodao all the way, but was stunned by the warm grand occasion in front of them.

How can a singer who has been banned for more than a year still have such a high popularity after making a comeback? (To be continued......)