3M computer

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A Sun-1/100 desktop workstation

The 3M computer industrial goal was first proposed in the early 1980s by

megapixel display with 1024×1024 1-bit pixels, and one million instructions per second (MIPS) of processing power.[1]
It was also often said that it should cost no more than one "megapenny" or $10,000 (equivalent to $37,000 in 2023).

At that time, a typical desktop computer such as an early

MHz
8088).

The concept was inspired by the Xerox Alto which had been designed in the 1970s at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Several Alto workstations were donated to CMU, Stanford, and MIT in 1979. An early 3M computer is the PERQ Workstation made by Three Rivers Computer Corporation.[2] It has a 1 million P-codes (Pascal instructions) per second processor, 256 KB of RAM (upgradeable to 1 MB), and a 768×1024 pixel display on a 15-inch (380 mm) display. Though not quite a true 3M machine, it was used as the initial 3M machine for the CMU Scientific Personal Integrated Computing Environment (SPICE) workstation project.

The

diskless desktop workstation
with a list price of $8,900 in 1986.

The original

megaflops
.

Modern desktop computers exceed the 3M memory and speed requirements by many thousands of times, however 1080p screen pixels are only 2 times larger and 4K 8 times larger, but they are full color so each pixel uses at least 24 times as many bits.

References

  1. doi:10.1016/S0097-8493(02)00113-9. In the early 1980s Raj Reddy and his colleagues at CMU
    coined the term '3M Machine'.
  2. ^ "PERQ History 1979: 3. Early Days". Atlas Computing Division Rutherford Laboratory. Chilton Computing. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  3. ^ AnnaLee Saxenian (December 9, 1994). "The Limits of Autarky: Regional Networks and Industrial Adaptation in Silicon Valley and Route 128". HUD Roundtable on Regionalism Sponsored by the Social Science Research Council. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
  4. ^ Forbes, Jim (March 17, 1986). "Makers Ready '3M' Workstations". InfoWorld. p. 15. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  5. ^ Andy Hertzfeld (January 1983). "What's A Megaflop?". Macintosh Stories. folklore.org. Retrieved January 26, 2008.
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