Alpha Microsystems, Inc.,often shortened toAlpha Micro,was an American computer company founded in 1977 inCosta Mesa, California,[1]: 20 by John French, Dick Wilcox and Bob Hitchcock. During thedot-com boom,the company changed its name toAlphaServ,thenNQL Inc.,reflecting its pivot toward being a provider of Internet software.[2]However, the company soon reverted to its original Alpha Microsystems name after the dot-com bubble burst.[3]
 | |
| Industry | Computer hardwareandsoftware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1977inCosta Mesa, California |
| Headquarters | Santa Ana, California,United States |
Key people | John French, Dick Wilcox, Bob Hitchcock |
| Products | AlphaBASIC,AlphaFortran,AlphaLisp,AlphaPascal |
Products
editThis sectionneeds additional citations forverification.(May 2017) |
The first Alpha Micro computer was theS-100AM-100, based upon theWD16microprocessor chipset fromWestern Digital.As of 1982, AM-100/L and the AM-1000 were based on theMotorola68000and succeeding processors,[4]though Alpha Micro swapped several addressing lines to create byte-ordering compatibility with their earlier processor.
Earlyperipheralsincluded standardcomputer terminals(such models as Soroc,Hazeltine 1500,andWyseWY50), Fortranpunch card readers,300baud rateacoustic couplermodems (later upgraded to 1,200 baud modems), and 10MBCDCHawkhard driveswith removabledisk packs.
The company's primary claim to fame was selling inexpensive minicomputers that provided multi-user power using a proprietaryoperating systemcalled AMOS (Alpha Micro Operating System). The operating system on the 68000 machines was called AMOS/L. The operating system had major similarities to the operating system of theDECDECsystem-10.[5]This may not be coincidental; legend has it that the founders based their operating system on "borrowed" source code from DEC, and DEC, perceiving the same, unsuccessfully tried to sue Alpha Micro over the similarities in 1984.[6]
As Motorola stopped developing their 68000 product, Alpha Micro started to move to thex86CPU family, used in common PCs. This was initially done with the Falcon cards, allowing standard DOS and later Windows-based PCs to run AMOS applications on the 68000-series CPU on the Falcon card. The work done on AMPC became the foundation for AMOS 8.x, which runs natively on x86, but includes a 68K emulator to run older software in a method similar toApple Inc.'sMac 68k emulatorforPowerPC.
For application development, AMOS used a proprietary BASIC-like language calledAlphaBASIC(though several other languages, including Assembler, FORTRAN, Pascal, and COBOL, were available). Older versions interpreted a tokenized executable file. Later versions translate the tokenized executable into x86 code for performance.
Other programming languages includedAlphaFortran,AlphaLispandAlphaPascal.
In the past, Alpha Micro bundled their operating system and tools such as BASIC and theirISAMimplementation as part of the hardware sale, also providing patches and OS upgrades for free or at minimal cost. Gradually, Alpha Micro has transitioned to charging for their software as hardware becomes more of a commodity item.
The Alpha Microsystems package often included software that allow traditional multi-user systems, like AMOS and others such asSun,DEC,HPandIBM mainframesto interface with theMicrosoft Windowsgraphical user interfaceand supported peripherals. This software functioned similar toCitrixor theX Window System.
The Alpha Micro computer never achieved mainstream name recognition, though it was popular in certain vertical markets, particularly medical, law, and dental offices.
There were two organizations which produced periodic newsletters and held annual meetings; AMUS (Alpha Micro Users Society), and IAMDA (International Alpha Micro Dealer's Association). It was typically at these annual meetings that the latest hardware and software products were announced by Alpha Microsystems and third party developers.
References
edit- ^Staff writer (May 13, 2018)."25 Years of OC 50 2018".Orange County Business Journal.41(19). American City Business Journals: 5–6, 8, 10, 12–22 – via ProQuest.
- ^Staff writer (September 7, 2000)."AlphaServ Changing Name, Ticker Symbol".Los Angeles Times:3 – via ProQuest.
- ^Staff writer (January 19, 2001)."Zebra forms alliance with Alpha".Daily Herald.Arlington Heights, Illinois: Paddock Publications: 1 – via ProQuest.
- ^"Alpha Microsystems makes record sales".InfoWorld.4(44): 11. November 8, 1982.Retrieved3 November2022.
- ^Wilcox, Dick (January 1977)."A PDP-11-Like 16-Bit Micro for the S-100 Bus".Dr. Dobbs's Journal of Computer Calisthenics and Orthodontia.2(1): 3–7.Retrieved14 June2022.
- ^Moore, Steve (6/1984). "Here come the clones."AMUS.LOG,p67.
External links
edit- Anemulatorfor the WD16 based system is available.
- The Alpha Micro Phun Machine,running on an AMOS-based Eagle 300 system.
- Alpha Micro 1000 page on www.old-computers.com