Xerox Daybreak
Encyclopedia
Xerox Daybreak is a workstation
computer marketed by Xerox
from 1985 to 1989. It ran the ViewPoint (later GlobalView)
GUI
and was used extensively throughout Xerox until being replaced by Suns
and PCs
. Despite being years ahead of its time it was never a major commercial success, the proprietary closed architecture and Xerox's reluctance to release the Mesa development environment for general use stifling any 3rd party development.
A fully configured 6085 came with an 80MB hard disk
, 3.7MB of RAM, a 5¼-inch floppy disk
drive, an Ethernet
controller, and a PC emulator card containing an 80186 CPU. The basic system came with 1.1MB of RAM and a 10MB hard disk.
Daybreak was the last machine released in the D* series of machines, at least some of which shared an instruction set architecture designed by Butler Lampson
known as Wildflower. Machines in this series included, in order, Dolphin, Dorado, Dicentra, Dandelion, Dandetiger, Daybreak, the never-manufactured Daisy, and "a multiprocessor system used in a high-end printing system".
The Daybreak was sold as a Xerox 1186 workstation when configured as a Lisp machine
and as the Xerox 6085 PCS (Professional Computer System) or Viewpoint 6085 PCS (Professional Computer System) when sold as an office workstation running the Viewpoint
system (based on the Star software originally developed for the Xerox Star
.)
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
computer marketed by Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
from 1985 to 1989. It ran the ViewPoint (later GlobalView)
GlobalView
GlobalView was an integrated “desktop environment” including word-processing, desktop-publishing, and simple calculation and database functionality, developed at Xerox Parc as a way to run the software originally developed for their Xerox Alto and Xerox Star specialized workstations on an IBM...
GUI
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
and was used extensively throughout Xerox until being replaced by Suns
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
and PCs
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
. Despite being years ahead of its time it was never a major commercial success, the proprietary closed architecture and Xerox's reluctance to release the Mesa development environment for general use stifling any 3rd party development.
A fully configured 6085 came with an 80MB hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
, 3.7MB of RAM, a 5¼-inch floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drive, an Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
controller, and a PC emulator card containing an 80186 CPU. The basic system came with 1.1MB of RAM and a 10MB hard disk.
Daybreak was the last machine released in the D* series of machines, at least some of which shared an instruction set architecture designed by Butler Lampson
Butler Lampson
Butler W. Lampson is a renowned computer scientist.After graduating from the Lawrenceville School , Lampson received his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Harvard University in 1964, and his Ph.D...
known as Wildflower. Machines in this series included, in order, Dolphin, Dorado, Dicentra, Dandelion, Dandetiger, Daybreak, the never-manufactured Daisy, and "a multiprocessor system used in a high-end printing system".
The Daybreak was sold as a Xerox 1186 workstation when configured as a Lisp machine
Lisp machine
Lisp machines were general-purpose computers designed to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. In a sense, they were the first commercial single-user workstations...
and as the Xerox 6085 PCS (Professional Computer System) or Viewpoint 6085 PCS (Professional Computer System) when sold as an office workstation running the Viewpoint
GlobalView
GlobalView was an integrated “desktop environment” including word-processing, desktop-publishing, and simple calculation and database functionality, developed at Xerox Parc as a way to run the software originally developed for their Xerox Alto and Xerox Star specialized workstations on an IBM...
system (based on the Star software originally developed for the Xerox Star
Xerox Star
The Star workstation, officially known as the Xerox 8010 Information System, was introduced by Xerox Corporation in 1981. It was the first commercial system to incorporate various technologies that today have become commonplace in personal computers, including a bitmapped display, a window-based...
.)