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Motorola 68030
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Components
Motorola unveiled the 68030 microprocessor. A step up from the 68020, it built
on a 32-bit enhanced microprocessor with a central processing unit core, a data
cache, an instruction cache, an enhanced bus controller, and a memory
management unit in a single VLSI device -- all operating at speeds of at least
20 MHz.
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IBM PS/2
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Computers
IBM introduced its PS/2 machines, which made the 3 1/2-inch floppy disk drive
and video graphics array standard for IBM computers. The first IBMs to include
Intel's 80386 chip, the company had shipped more than 1 million units by the
end of the year. IBM released a new operating system, OS/2, at the same time,
allowing the use of a mouse with IBMs for the first time.
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Software & Languages
Apple engineer William Atkinson designed HyperCard, a software tool that
simplifies development of in-house applications. HyperCard differed from
previous programs of its sort because Atkinson made it interactive rather than
language-based and geared it toward the construction of user interfaces rather
than the processing of data. In HyperCard, programmers built stacks with the
concept of hypertext links between stacks of pages. Apple distributed the
program free with Macintosh computers until 1992.
Hypercard users could look through existing HyperCard stacks as well as add to
or edit the stacks. As a stack author, a programmer employed various tools to
create his own stacks, linked together as a sort of slide show. At the lowest
level, the program linked cards sequentially in chronological ordered, but the
HyperTalk programming language allowed more sophisticated links.
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