Overview

XD88 (with modern PC monitor)

Before anything else, some brief stats:

CPU:	Motorola m88k at 20MHz
Memory:	16MB (plus parity) in proprietary 80 pin modules
SCSI Disk:	300MB with original 5.25" drive, 1GB with 3.5" replacement
Video:	8-bit colour, 1280x1024 resolution, 2MB VRAM
Network:	Ethernet (10Mbps), standard TCP/IP at software level
OS:	UTekV
Manufactured:	1988

These machines were a victim of their own superior engineering, resulting in a highly polished product that was far outside the price range of most mere mortals. I've heard figures of between $US 20,000 and 25,000 for a basic machine, although I don't even know if that included the cost of the OS to actually run on it. That would have been a huge amount of money in the late 1980's for something which was designed to sit on someone's desk rather than locked away in a server room.

Coupled with Tektronix's indecision when it came to marketing the XD88 line, what was a fantastic machine for the time made little impact within the industry and remains largely forgotten. In fact, when I first got this machine in the early 1990's, I could only track down two other XD88's - one in the USA, and one in Australia. Whether they survive today is anyone's guess.