I finally was able to get a high quality scan of the Chameleon Plus advertisement I have!
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My dad took me to a lot of computer stores back in the day. They'd have a variety of systems set up, running various applications and demo software , typically with shelving with various software titles along the walls, peg-boards behind the counter hung with accessories like centronics and serial cables.
A store like that was the first time I saw Kings Quest, which blew my mind as I could navigate King Graham behind a tree which just seemed like absolute witchcraft.
So they were free to set up an IBM 5150 and put a 8087 in it and have Lotus 1-2-3 running to show it off, and you could certainly point at that one and take it home. Does that count?
@gloriouscow @mcjonestech I suppose I'm talking about slightly later computers then.
The coprocessor was still optional and frequently not included until well into the 386 era.
By the time I was really into computing they were built in, so I don't know how this felt very well. (My first computer was a 286 when most people had a 486 — most likely without the coprocessor, but I actually don't know — but that was so far behind that it already was severely limited beyond belief in what I could do and I was frequently running into things straight up requiring a 386, so couldn't say how it felt when the 286 was new running software of its time.)
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@gloriouscow @mcjonestech I suppose I'm talking about slightly later computers then.
The coprocessor was still optional and frequently not included until well into the 386 era.
By the time I was really into computing they were built in, so I don't know how this felt very well. (My first computer was a 286 when most people had a 486 — most likely without the coprocessor, but I actually don't know — but that was so far behind that it already was severely limited beyond belief in what I could do and I was frequently running into things straight up requiring a 386, so couldn't say how it felt when the 286 was new running software of its time.)
Even in the 386 era they were pretty niche, but by that point you now have companies like Gateway and Dell selling direct to consumer, so an FPU was just one option on an order form away from showing up at your door, preinstalled in the factory sealed box.
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Even in the 386 era they were pretty niche, but by that point you now have companies like Gateway and Dell selling direct to consumer, so an FPU was just one option on an order form away from showing up at your door, preinstalled in the factory sealed box.
@gloriouscow @mcjonestech Well, the question was if any just came with it. Like basically not optional.
So it kind of sounds like the answer is no.
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Even in the 386 era they were pretty niche, but by that point you now have companies like Gateway and Dell selling direct to consumer, so an FPU was just one option on an order form away from showing up at your door, preinstalled in the factory sealed box.
You also now have computer stores trending more to making custom, house brand PCs in beige cases containing god knows what, and almost certainly some of those had FPUs in there because you can talk Grandma into how you need that to make her recipes go fast.
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@gloriouscow @mcjonestech Well, the question was if any just came with it. Like basically not optional.
So it kind of sounds like the answer is no.
Okay, I see what you're getting at. If there ever existed a PC system that required an FPU to function, like it was even soldered in or something, I am not aware of it.
I'd love to know if such a thing existed.
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Okay, I see what you're getting at. If there ever existed a PC system that required an FPU to function, like it was even soldered in or something, I am not aware of it.
I'd love to know if such a thing existed.
@gloriouscow @mcjonestech Nah, I don't mean required. I just mean were any OEMs just selling a specific model that came with it preinstalled rather than an option one could check to get it with one. Like the kind of thing where they put an ad in a magazine "with math coprocessor already installed for maximum performance" or somesuch silliness.
I really didn't mean for it to be such a complicated question.
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@gloriouscow @mcjonestech Nah, I don't mean required. I just mean were any OEMs just selling a specific model that came with it preinstalled rather than an option one could check to get it with one. Like the kind of thing where they put an ad in a magazine "with math coprocessor already installed for maximum performance" or somesuch silliness.
I really didn't mean for it to be such a complicated question.
lol, no, you're fine. I'd be astonished if at some point in the PC's long, vibrant history if there wasn't a magazine ad out there that listed a pre-configured model that has an FPU.
I can certainly remember ads that basically went from "here's our cheapest system, it's a 4MHz 286, the keyboard is made out of pegboard and tic-tacs" all the way to "This has a a liquid nitrogen dewar for its overclocked Pentium II and we put seven VooDoo cards in it."
You'd probably want to look at ads from Falcon Northwest and companies that targeted high end configurations.
And if you count workstation vendors - then almost assuredly yes, nobody is going to seriously sell you a CAD workstation without an FPU in it, but I almost consider that is own parallel dimension from the "PC".
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lol, no, you're fine. I'd be astonished if at some point in the PC's long, vibrant history if there wasn't a magazine ad out there that listed a pre-configured model that has an FPU.
I can certainly remember ads that basically went from "here's our cheapest system, it's a 4MHz 286, the keyboard is made out of pegboard and tic-tacs" all the way to "This has a a liquid nitrogen dewar for its overclocked Pentium II and we put seven VooDoo cards in it."
You'd probably want to look at ads from Falcon Northwest and companies that targeted high end configurations.
And if you count workstation vendors - then almost assuredly yes, nobody is going to seriously sell you a CAD workstation without an FPU in it, but I almost consider that is own parallel dimension from the "PC".
there's something I'm completely overlooking here too - laptops.
You were far less likely to add something like that later on, and it was far more likely to be some sort of SMC package permanently affixed.
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there's something I'm completely overlooking here too - laptops.
You were far less likely to add something like that later on, and it was far more likely to be some sort of SMC package permanently affixed.
@gloriouscow @mcjonestech That's actually a really good point. I wasn't thinking to ask that, but I imagine a lot of laptops simply didn't even have an option, much less coming with one?
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@gloriouscow @mcjonestech That's actually a really good point. I wasn't thinking to ask that, but I imagine a lot of laptops simply didn't even have an option, much less coming with one?
Just started searching, but it feels like most of the 386 laptops i'm seeing had the 386SX or SLC in it, probably for power reasons - and frustratingly they all seem to have the PLCC socket under a cover, making the 387 once again an optional add-on.
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