A retrospective on the Dorado, a high-performance personal computer
Kenneth A. Pier · 1983
specification of a high·performance successor to the Alto personal minicomputer, in use since 1973. After four years, the resulting machine, called the Dorado, was in use within the research community at PARCo This paper begins with an overview of the design goals, archi-tecture, and implementation of the Dorado and then provides a retrospective view and critique of the Dorado project as a whole. The major machine architectural features are evaluated, other project aspects such as design automation and management structures are explained, a chronological history with milestones is included, and a variety of accomplish· ments, red herrings, and shortfalls is discussed. The paper concludes with some specula-tions on what the project might have done differently and what might be done differently today instead of in the late 1970s. Although more than a dozen scientists and technicians contributed to the project, the