2 IBM computers from the dawn of personal computing - Displaywriter vs PC

[@qualin1974]

The strange part about this era of IBM's history is that the Displaywriter retailed for around $12k, while the IBM PC retailed for roughly $1500. I find it mindblowing that only a year apart, the IBM PC is roughly 1/10th the price and every bit as capable as the Displaywriter, with the main difference being that the IBM PC used off the shelf components and the Displaywriter was fully proprietary. I'm sure the small systems group must have been extremely miffed off at the skunkworks that made the PC. IBM did something that many companies don't do, they obliterated an entire business unit because they came out with a product that made one good chunk of their product line redundant.

[@Anime-Trash]

The pc actually made several product lines redundant. The 5520, datamaster, 5280 and 8100 lines, basically all of their distributed systems were made obsolete by the pc but they didn't know it because it wasn't clear what direction the market was going to go in at the time. IBM announced the consolidation of these product lines in 1983, after it was very very clear the pc had won, but despite this, the displaywriter was actually still a modest success and units were sold through 1986

[@thatjpwing]

My first typing non-typewriter experience was on the brand new IBM Displaywriter in my high school back in 1982. It was an awesome experience. Curiously the next year the school populated the new "computer lab" with Apple ][s. not IBM equipment. I liked the typing experience on Displaywriter more than on the Apple ][ line.

[@RetroTechChris]

Very interesting! I don't think I have ever seen a Displaywriter in action, so this was great to see!! Thanks for putting this together.

[@ElmarLecher]

My first computer was an IBM XT 286 from IBM.

[@happycomputerguy]

Hey Mcfly :) I have a working HP Vectra 386 and a working IBM PS/2 486. I considered adding the PS/2 to the video but figured these two systems being contemporaries was more interesting.

[@ElmarLecher]

@@happycomputerguy yeah, good choice, one pre-personal computers and the first personal computers. I feel the XT 286 were the first complete ones. with HDD, floppy, a 16 bit 286 and the standard AT-keyboard.

[@vwestlife]

Now you need to get a DataMaster!

[@Anime-Trash]

A three way comparison would be great

[@happycomputerguy]

I am accepting donations ;)

[@happysprollie]

I'm jealous of that Displaywriter. Modern computers are just too fancy.

[@AiOinc1]

It is worth mentioning that a color display was a launch option for the 5150, though 640K was most certainly not. The early 5150s were offered either with 16K or 64K, with IBM offering 16K and 64K expansion cards later on. A 16K machine could be upgraded to 64K and a few years on you could even buy 128K and 256K expansion cards from IBM. Also, independent standalone word processors existed for another solid decade after the release of the IBM PC, they really didn't disappear overnight. Overall a very interesting and informative video. I went into this fully expecting to see the IBM DataMaster! A tip for videos, I would recommend recording the video and audio separately, dubbing the video after editing it. This will get you cleaner audio, which would be nice. You're very quiet in the video and the fan in the Displaywriter seems awfully loud by comparison.

[@Dolbytube]

Hi,i'm still working on mine.Can you pls tell me how should the backpanel status LED lights look Like? Mine is lighting up D,E,F,G,H. Still no display.