I have the main unit.
type computer
country USA
year 1990
os AIX
cpu IBM Power 1
speed 20 MHz
ram 8 MB
disk 3.5″ 1.44 MB
hd SCSI 160 MB
graphic
colors
sound beeper
ports serial (2), parallel, mouse, keyboard/speaker, tablet
The IBM RS/6000 Model 320 — The Original POWER Machine
The IBM RS/6000 Model 320 (type 7012-320) was one of the original RS/6000 models introduced in February 1990 — using IBM’s first POWER1 processor in a desktop workstation chassis. The RS/6000’s launch shocked the Unix workstation industry: IBM’s benchmarks showed performance that dramatically exceeded competing workstations from Sun, HP, DEC, and Silicon Graphics at comparable prices. The Model 320 was aimed at the technical workstation market — engineers, scientists, and financial analysts who needed the highest available computing performance for simulation, modelling, and data analysis.
Record-Breaking Performance
The RS/6000’s introduction was accompanied by benchmark results that were genuinely startling. The POWER1 processor’s superscalar design — executing up to five operations per clock cycle — delivered floating-point performance that dwarfed what Intel’s 486 and SPARC processors could achieve. IBM captured the top positions on SPECfp benchmark charts that had been dominated by Sun and DEC, and the RS/6000 rapidly became the standard workstation for computational fluid dynamics, finite element analysis, and other floating-point-intensive scientific applications.
Multi-Chip Architecture
The original POWER1 processor used in the RS/6000 Model 320 was a multi-chip design — the processor functionality was distributed across multiple chips rather than integrated into a single die. This approach allowed IBM to achieve the performance levels required while using the semiconductor process technology available in 1990, but meant the RS/6000 motherboards were large and expensive compared to single-chip competitors. Later RS/6000 models transitioned to single-chip PowerPC processors as semiconductor manufacturing advanced.