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107-402: Kaypro was exceptionally loyal to its original customer base but slow to adapt to the changing computer market and the advent of IBM PC compatible technology. It faded from the mainstream before the end of the decade and was eventually forced into bankruptcy in 1992. Kaypro began as Non-Linear Systems (NLS), a maker of electronic test equipment , founded in 1952 by Andrew Kay , the inventor of

214-596: A word processor , with MailMerge , originally a third-party accessory, for personalised mass mailings (form letters), the SuperCalc spreadsheet , two versions of the Microsoft BASIC interpreter , Kaypro's S-BASIC, a bytecode -compiled BASIC called C-Basic , and the dBase II relational database system. Data could be moved between these programs relatively easily by using comma delimited format files (now more commonly known as CSV files), which enhanced

321-464: A "'next generation' true 16-bit CPU", and with "More speed. More disk storage. More expansion" than the IBM PC or "other MS-DOS computers". While admitting in 1984 that many PC DOS programs did not work on the computer, the company stated that "the most popular, sophisticated software on the market" was available, either immediately or "over the next six months". Like IBM, Microsoft's apparent intention

428-535: A 32-bit operating system released during the 2000s can still operate many of the simpler programs written for the OS of the early 1980s without needing an emulator , though an emulator like DOSBox now has near-native functionality at full speed (and is necessary for certain games which may run too fast on modern processors). Additionally, many modern PCs can still run DOS directly, although special options such as USB legacy mode and SATA-to-PATA emulation may need to be set in

535-647: A collection of bundled software . While it was easy to obtain and use new software with the Kaypro II—;there were thousands of application programs available for CP/M, and every Kaypro 8-bit computer had a full 64 KB of RAM , enough to run virtually any CP/M program—the hardware expandability of this computer was nearly nonexistent. The Kaypro II had no expansion slots or system bus connector, no spare ROM socket, no peripheral bus, only two I/O ports, and an ASCII text-only green-on-black video display, of 80 x 24 characters, that could only be shown on

642-759: A commercial venture. Experience had shown that even if an operating system was technically superior to Windows, it would be a failure in the market ( BeOS and OS/2 for example). In 1989, Steve Jobs said of his new NeXT system, "It will either be the last new hardware platform to succeed, or the first to fail." Four years later in 1993, NeXT announced it was ending production of the NeXTcube and porting NeXTSTEP to Intel processors. Very early on in PC history, some companies introduced their own XT-compatible chipsets . For example, Chips and Technologies introduced their 82C100 XT Controller which integrated and replaced six of

749-491: A computer capable of running programs that are managed by MS-DOS". The main reason why an IBM standard is not worrying is that it can help competition to flourish. IBM will soon be as much a prisoner of its standards as its competitors are. Once enough IBM machines have been bought, IBM cannot make sudden changes in their basic design; what might be useful for shedding competitors would shake off even more customers. In February 1984 Byte wrote that "IBM's burgeoning influence in

856-558: A consumer PC manufacturer during April 2005, when it sold its laptop and desktop PC divisions ( ThinkPad / ThinkCentre ) to Lenovo for US$ 1.75 billion . As of October 2007, Hewlett-Packard and Dell had the largest shares of the PC market in North America. They were also successful overseas, with Acer , Lenovo , and Toshiba also notable. Worldwide, a huge number of PCs are " white box " systems assembled by myriad local systems builders. Despite advances of computer technology,

963-579: A contact list with form letters created in Perfect Writer. Perfect Writer was initially a rebranded version of the MINCE and Scribble software packages from Mark of the Unicorn , which are CP/M implementations of Emacs and Scribe , ported from their original minicomputer -based versions using BDS C . Later, MBasic (a variant of Microsoft BASIC ) and The Word Plus spellchecker were added to

1070-531: A few percentage points of market share was Apple Inc. 's Macintosh . The Mac started out billed as "the computer for the rest of us", but high prices and closed architecture drove the Macintosh into an education and desktop publishing niche, from which it only emerged in the mid-2000s. By the mid-1990s the Mac's market share had dwindled to around 5% and introducing a new rival operating system had become too risky

1177-649: A machine that was relatively easy to set up and use. It managed to correct most of the Osborne 1's deficiencies: the screen was larger and showed more characters at once, the floppy drives stored over twice as much data, and it was better-built and more reliable. Computers such as the Kaypro II were widely referred to as "appliance" or " turnkey " machines; they offered little in the way of expandability or features that would interest hackers or electronics hobbyists and were mainly characterized by their affordable price and

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1284-505: A minor player with its own technology". The Economist predicted in 1983 that "IBM will soon be as much a prisoner of its standards as its competitors are", because "Once enough IBM machines have been bought, IBM cannot make sudden changes in their basic design; what might be useful for shedding competitors would shake off even more customers". After the Compaq Deskpro 386 became the first 80386-based PC, PC wrote that owners of

1391-524: A proprietary operating system : "Who cares? If IBM does it, they will most likely just isolate themselves from the largest marketplace, in which they really can't compete anymore anyway". He predicted that in 1987 the market "will complete its transition from an IBM standard to an Intel/MS-DOS/expansion bus standard ... Folks aren't so much concerned about IBM compatibility as they are about Lotus 1-2-3 compatibility". By 1992, Macworld stated that because of clones, "IBM lost control of its own market and became

1498-421: A range of machines from different vendors that had widely varying hardware. Those customers who needed other applications than the starter programs could reasonably expect publishers to offer their products for a variety of computers, on suitable media for each. Microsoft's competing OS was intended initially to operate on a similar varied spectrum of hardware, although all based on the 8086 processor. Thus, MS-DOS

1605-613: A salesman drop by if in the area. Kaypro's success contributed to the eventual failure of the Osborne Computer Corporation and Morrow Designs . A more rugged seeming, "industrialized" design than competitors such as the Osborne made the Kaypro popular for commercial/industrial applications. Its RS-232 port was widely used by service technicians for on-site equipment configuration, control and diagnostics. The relatively high quality of mechanical fabrication seen in

1712-479: A second drive added. (The Kaypro II itself may be upgradeable or not to double-sided drives depending on which of two possible mainboard types is installed in the machine.) Despite their limitations, the boxy units were so popular that they spawned a network of hobbyist user groups across the United States that provided local support for Kaypro products; the company worked with the user groups and would have

1819-416: Is a similar description that is more commonly used for modern computers. The designation "PC", as used in much of personal computer history , has not meant "personal computer" generally, but rather an x86 computer capable of running the same software that a contemporary IBM or Lenovo PC could. The term was initially in contrast to the variety of home computer systems available in the early 1980s, such as

1926-466: Is becoming a misnomer, as Intel has lost absolute control over the direction of x86 hardware development with AMD 's AMD64 . Additionally, non-Windows operating systems like macOS and Linux have established a presence on the x86 architecture. Although the IBM PC was designed for expandability, the designers could not anticipate the hardware developments of the 1980s, nor the size of the industry they would engender. To make things worse, IBM's choice of

2033-680: Is the Apple User Group Connection . A computer user group (also known as a computer club ) is a group of people who enjoy using microcomputers or personal computers and who meet regularly to discuss the use of computers, share knowledge and experience, hear from representatives of hardware manufacturers and software publishers, and hold other related activities. They may host special interest workgroups, often focusing on one particular aspect of computing. Computer user groups meet both virtually and in hackerspaces . Computer user groups may consist of members who primarily use

2140-567: The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). Descendants of the x86 IBM PC compatibles, namely 64-bit computers based on " x86-64 /AMD64" chips comprise the majority of desktop computers on the market as of 2021, with the dominant operating system being Microsoft Windows . Interoperability with the bus structure and peripherals of the original PC architecture may be limited or non-existent. Many modern computers are unable to use old software or hardware that depends on portions of

2247-585: The Amiga , have been relegated to niche, enthusiast markets. In the past, the most successful exception was Apple 's Macintosh platform, which used non-Intel processors from its inception. Although Macintosh was initially based on the Motorola 68000 series , then transitioned to the PowerPC architecture, Macintosh computers transitioned to Intel processors beginning in 2006. Until 2020 Macintosh computers shared

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2354-461: The Apple II , TRS-80 , and Commodore 64 . Later, the term was primarily used in contrast to Commodore 's Amiga and Apple 's Macintosh computers. These "clones" duplicated almost all the significant features of the original IBM PC architectures. This was facilitated by IBM's choice of commodity hardware components , which were cheap, and by various manufacturers' ability to reverse-engineer

2461-634: The BIOS firmware using a " clean room design " technique. Columbia Data Products built the first clone of the IBM personal computer , the MPC 1600 by a clean-room reverse-engineered implementation of its BIOS. Other rival companies, Corona Data Systems , Eagle Computer , and the Handwell Corporation were threatened with legal action by IBM, who settled with them. Soon after in 1982, Compaq released

2568-665: The Compaq Portable . The Compaq was the first sewing machine-sized portable computer that was essentially 100% PC-compatible. The court decision in Apple v. Franklin , was that BIOS code was protected by copyright law, but it could reverse-engineer the IBM BIOS and then write its own BIOS using clean room design . Note this was over a year after Compaq released the Portable. The money and research put into reverse-engineering

2675-626: The IBM PS/2 computer that overcame many of the technical limits of the XT/AT bus, but this was rarely used as the basis for IBM-compatible computers since it required license payments to IBM both for the PS/2 bus and any prior AT-bus designs produced by the company seeking a license. This was unpopular with hardware manufacturers and several competing bus standards were developed by consortiums, with more agreeable license terms. Various attempts to standardize

2782-533: The Intel 8088 for the CPU introduced several limitations for developing software for the PC compatible platform. For example, the 8088 processor only had a 20-bit memory addressing space . To expand PC s beyond one megabyte, Lotus, Intel, and Microsoft jointly created expanded memory (EMS), a bank-switching scheme to allow more memory provided by add-in hardware, and accessed by a set of four 16- kilobyte "windows" inside

2889-506: The Kaypro 2000 , one of the first laptop computers (an MS-DOS system with monochrome LCD and durable aluminum case), did little to change Kaypro's fortunes. Kaypro's failure in the MS-DOS market and other corporate issues helped lead to the company's eventual downfall. CP/M was the standard operating system for the first generation of Kaypros. The first application software that came with

2996-631: The Macintosh computers offered by Apple Inc. and used mainly for desktop publishing at the time, the aging 8-bit Commodore 64 which was selling for $ 150 by this time and became the world's bestselling computer, the 32-bit Commodore Amiga line used for television and video production and the 32-bit Atari ST used by the music industry. However, IBM itself lost the main role in the market for IBM PC compatibles by 1990. A few events in retrospect are important: Despite popularity of its ThinkPad set of laptop PC's, IBM finally relinquished its role as

3103-507: The Macintosh had kept significant market share without having compatibility with the IBM PC, although that changed during the Intel Macs era running Mac OS X , often dual-booting Windows with Boot Camp . IBM decided in 1980 to market a low-cost single-user computer as quickly as possible. On August 12, 1981, the first IBM PC went on sale. There were three operating systems (OS) available for it. The least expensive and most popular

3210-558: The Multimedia PC (MPC) standard was set during 1990. A PC that met the minimum MPC standard could be marketed with the MPC logo, giving consumers an easy-to-understand specification to look for. Software that could operate on the most minimally MPC-compliant PC would be guaranteed to operate on any MPC. The MPC level 2 and MPC level 3 standards were set later, but the term "MPC compliant" never became popular. After MPC level 3 during 1996, no further MPC standards were established. By

3317-474: The VW and Chevrolet of the micro industry". BYTE stated in 1984 that while the Kaypro 10 was "not a technologically innovative machine ... the equipment and power delivered for the price are outstanding", noting that the $ 2,795 computer "costs less than many stand-alone hard-disk drives". It approved of the "beautiful" monitor as an improvement from the Kaypro II's, and the extensive menus for running software on

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3424-528: The 20-bit addressing. Later, Intel CPUs had larger address spaces and could directly address 16 MB (80286) or more, causing Microsoft to develop extended memory (XMS) which did not require additional hardware. "Expanded" and "extended" memory have incompatible interfaces, so anyone writing software that used more than one megabyte had to provide for both systems for the greatest compatibility until MS-DOS began including EMM386, which simulated EMS memory using XMS memory. A protected mode OS can also be written for

3531-432: The 80286, but DOS application compatibility was more difficult than expected, not only because most DOS applications accessed the hardware directly, bypassing BIOS routines intended to ensure compatibility, but also that most BIOS requests were made by the first 32 interrupt vectors, which were marked as "reserved" for protected mode processor exceptions by Intel. Video cards suffered from their own incompatibilities. There

3638-583: The BIOS setup utility. Computers using the UEFI might need to be set at legacy BIOS mode to be able to boot DOS. However, the BIOS/UEFI options in most mass-produced consumer-grade computers are very limited and cannot be configured to truly handle OSes such as the original variants of DOS. The spread of the x86-64 architecture has further distanced current computers' and operating systems' internal similarity with

3745-459: The BIOS was a calculated risk. At the same time, many manufacturers such as Tandy / RadioShack , Xerox , Hewlett-Packard , Digital Equipment Corporation , Sanyo , Texas Instruments , Tulip , Wang and Olivetti introduced personal computers that supported MS-DOS, but were not completely software- or hardware-compatible with the IBM PC. Tandy described the Tandy 2000 , for example, as having

3852-419: The IBM PC compatible architecture which are missing or do not have equivalents in modern computers. For example, computers which boot using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface -based firmware that lack a Compatibility Support Module, or CSM, required to emulate the old BIOS-based firmware interface, or have their CSMs disabled, cannot natively run MS-DOS since MS-DOS depends on a BIOS interface to boot. Only

3959-454: The IBM PC compatibles remained very much compatible with the original IBM PC computers, although most of the components implement the compatibility in special backward compatibility modes used only during a system boot . It was often more practical to run old software on a modern system using an emulator rather than relying on these features. In 2014 Lenovo acquired IBM's x86-based server ( System x ) business for US$ 2.1 billion . One of

4066-651: The IBM PC compatibles: try the package you want to use before you buy the computer." Companies modified their computers' BIOS to work with newly discovered incompatible applications, and reviewers and users developed stress tests to measure compatibility; by 1984 the ability to operate Lotus 1-2-3 and Flight Simulator became the standard, with compatibles specifically designed to run them. IBM believed that some companies such as Eagle, Corona, and Handwell infringed on its copyright, and after Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. successfully forced

4173-489: The IBM PC's release. InfoWorld wrote on the first anniversary of the IBM PC that The dark side of an open system is its imitators. If the specs are clear enough for you to design peripherals, they are clear enough for you to design imitations. Apple ... has patents on two important components of its systems ... IBM, which reportedly has no special patents on the PC, is even more vulnerable. Numerous PC-compatible machines—the grapevine says 60 or more—have begun to appear in

4280-1268: The IBM PC. At first, few clones other than Compaq's offered truly full compatibility. Jerry Pournelle purchased an IBM PC in mid-1983, " rotten keyboard and all", because he had "four cubic feet of unevaluated software, much of which won't run on anything but an IBM PC. Although a lot of machines claim to be 100 percent IBM PC compatible, I've yet to have one arrive ... Alas, a lot of stuff doesn't run with Eagle, Z-100, Compupro , or anything else we have around here". Columbia Data Products's November 1983 sales brochure stated that during tests with retail-purchased computers in October 1983, its own and Compaq's products were compatible with all tested PC software, while Corona and Eagle's were less compatible. Columbia University reported in January 1984 that Kermit ran without modification on Compaq and Columbia Data Products clones, but not on those from Eagle or Seequa. Other MS-DOS computers also required custom code. By December 1983 Future Computing stated that companies like Compaq, Columbia Data Products, and Corona that emphasized IBM PC compatibility had been successful, while non-compatible computers had hurt

4387-432: The IBM PC. Many companies were reluctant to have their products' PC compatibility tested. When PC Magazine requested samples from computer manufacturers that claimed to produce compatibles for an April 1984 review, 14 of 31 declined. Corona specified that "Our systems run all software that conforms to IBM PC programming standards. And the most popular software does." When a BYTE journalist asked to test Peachtext at

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4494-433: The Kaypro 10 came with both WordStar and Perfect Writer, plus "two spelling checkers, two spreadsheets, two communications programs and three versions of BASIC". Later MS-DOS Kaypro computers offered a similar software bundle. InfoWorld in 1982 described Kaypro II as "a rugged, functional and practical computer system marketed at a reasonable price." The reviewer called the hardware "first-rate," writing that he had used

4601-421: The Kaypro 2 as the best transportable computer under $ 2,500 , praising the "incredible array of software" included for "an astounding $ 1,295 " price. Kaypro's nomenclature was odd, with the numerical designations for their machines having more to do with the capacity of the drives than the order they were produced. Kaypro also released several different models with the same names, perhaps hoping to capitalize on

4708-495: The Kaypro 2000) run off regular AC mains power and are not equipped with a battery . The Kaypro IV and later the Kaypro 4 have two double-sided disks. The Kaypro 4 was released in 1984, and was usually referred to as Kaypro 4 '84 , as opposed to the Kaypro IV, released one year earlier and referred to as Kaypro IV '83 . The Kaypro IV uses different screen addresses than the Kaypro II, meaning software has to be specific to

4815-410: The Kaypro II included a highly unpopular word processor called Select that was quickly dropped in favor of a proto office suite from Perfect Software which included Perfect Writer , Perfect Calc, Perfect Filer, and Perfect Speller, as well as Kaypro's own S-BASIC compiler (which produced executable .com files). Perfect Filer featured non-relational, flat-file databases suitable for merging

4922-644: The Kaypro II, 4, 10, and similar models are capable of reading and/or writing. Theoretically, any soft-sector MFM or FM floppy format that is within the limits of the FD1793 could be read or written if the user wrote their own utility program. Kaypro published and subsidized ProFiles: The Magazine for Kaypro Users , a monthly, 72-page, four-color magazine that went beyond coverage of Kaypro's products to include substantive information on CP/M and MS-DOS ; frequent contributors included Ted Chiang , David Gerrold , Robert J. Sawyer , and Ted Silveira. Keeping its namesake,

5029-539: The MS-DOS-based Kaypro 16 , Kaypro PC and others, as the IBM PC and its clones gained popularity. Kaypro was late to the market, however, and never gained the kind of prominence in the MS-DOS arena that it had enjoyed with CP/M. Instead, Kaypro watched as a new company— Compaq —grabbed its market with the Compaq Portable , an all-in-one portable computer that was similar to Kaypro's own CP/M portables with

5136-592: The OEM versions of MS-DOS were virtually identical, except perhaps for the provision of a few utility programs. MS-DOS provided adequate functionality for character-oriented applications such as those that could have been implemented on a text-only terminal . Had the bulk of commercially important software been of this nature, low-level hardware compatibility might not have mattered. However, in order to provide maximum performance and leverage hardware features (or work around hardware bugs), PC applications quickly developed beyond

5243-455: The PC community is stifling innovation because so many other companies are mimicking Big Blue", but The Economist stated in November 1983, "The main reason why an IBM standard is not worrying is that it can help competition to flourish". By 1983, IBM had about 25% of sales of personal computers between $ 1,000 and $ 10,000 , and computers with some PC compatibility were another 25%. As

5350-548: The Spring 1983 COMDEX , Corona representatives "hemmed and hawed a bit, but they finally led me ... off in the corner where no one would see it should it fail". The magazine reported that "Their hesitancy was unnecessary. The disk booted up without a problem". Zenith Data Systems was bolder, bragging that its Z-150 ran all applications people brought to test with at the 1984 West Coast Computer Faire . Creative Computing in 1985 stated, "we reiterate our standard line regarding

5457-503: The aluminum-cased Kaypro 8-bit computers was a natural outgrowth of NLS's prior business building professional and industrial electronic test instruments. The version of CP/M included with the Kaypro could also read the Xerox 810's single-sided, single-density 86k floppy format. The Kaypro 8-bit computers used the popular Western Digital FD1793 floppy disk controller; any disk format that the FD1793 could read and/or write (at 250 kbit /s),

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5564-472: The clone makers to stop using the BIOS. The Phoenix BIOS in 1984, however, and similar products such as AMI BIOS , permitted computer makers to legally build essentially 100%-compatible clones without having to reverse-engineer the PC BIOS themselves. A September 1985 InfoWorld chart listed seven compatibles with 256 KB RAM, two disk drives, and monochrome monitors for $ 1,495 to $ 2,320 , while

5671-635: The company stated that it would continue to produce its older computers. This was followed by other PC compatibles: the Kaypro PC, Kaypro 286i (the first 286 IBM PC AT compatible), the Kaypro 386, and the Kaypro 2000 (a rugged aluminum-body battery-powered laptop with a detachable keyboard). The slow start into the IBM clone market would have serious ramifications for the company. After several turbulent years, with sales dwindling, Kaypro filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 1990. Despite restructuring ,

5778-588: The company was unable to recover and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June 1992. In 1995, its remaining assets were sold for US$ 2.7 million . The Kaypro name briefly re-emerged as an online vendor of Microsoft Windows PCs in 1999, but was discontinued in 2001 by its parent company Premio Inc. because of sluggish sales. The Kaypro II has a 2.5 MHz Zilog Z80 microprocessor; 64 KB of RAM ; two single-sided 191 KB 5¼-inch floppy disk drives (named A: and B:); and an 80-column, green monochrome, 9" CRT that

5885-474: The computer indoors and outdoors in several countries without fault, and praising the keyboard and screen. Deficiencies included the heavy weight and mediocre documentation. Jerry Pournelle wrote in BYTE in 1983 that he was able to use a Kaypro II without the documentation. Although he preferred the much more expensive Otrona Attaché , Pournelle called the Kaypro's hardware "impressive" and "rugged," approving of

5992-423: The computer marketplace of the time. Until then Microsoft's business was based primarily on computer languages such as BASIC . The established small system operating software was CP/M from Digital Research which was in use both at the hobbyist level and by the more professional of those using microcomputers. To achieve such widespread use, and thus make the product viable economically, the OS had to operate across

6099-506: The digital voltmeter . In the 1970s, NLS was an early adopter of microprocessor technology, which enhanced the flexibility of products such as production-line test sets. In 1981, Non-Linear Systems began designing a personal computer, called KayComp , that would compete with the popular Osborne 1 transportable microcomputer. In 1982, Non-Linear Systems organized a daughter company named the Kaypro Corporation. Despite being

6206-549: The dominant market player only to be virtually wiped out by Intel a year later. Intel has been the uncontested leader ever since. As the "Wintel" platform gained dominance Intel gradually abandoned the practice of licensing its technologies to other chipset makers; in 2010 Intel was involved in litigation related to their refusal to license their processor bus and related technologies to other companies like Nvidia . Companies such as AMD and Cyrix developed alternative x86 CPUs that were functionally compatible with Intel's. Towards

6313-458: The early days of mainframe computers, as a way to share sometimes hard-won knowledge and useful software, usually written by end users independently of the vendor-supplied programming efforts. SHARE , a user group originated by aerospace industry corporate users of IBM mainframe computers, was founded in 1955 and is the oldest computer user group still active. DECUS , the DEC User's Society,

6420-584: The end of the 1990s, AMD was taking an increasing share of the CPU market for PCs. AMD even ended up playing a significant role in directing the development of the x86 platform when its Athlon line of processors continued to develop the classic x86 architecture as Intel deviated with its NetBurst architecture for the Pentium 4 CPUs and the IA-64 architecture for the Itanium set of server CPUs. AMD developed AMD64,

6527-460: The entire hardware and software package together. The Kaypro II was a very usable and (at the time) powerful computer for home or office, even though the painted metal case made it look more like a rugged laboratory instrument than an office machine. It enjoyed a reputation for durability. Later Kaypro CP/M models came with even more software. In 1984, BYTE magazine observed "Kaypro apparently has tremendous buying and bargaining power," noting

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6634-472: The equivalent IBM PC cost $ 2,820 . The inexpensive Leading Edge Model D is even compatible with IBM proprietary diagnostic software, unlike the Compaq Portable. By 1986 Compute! stated that "clones are generally reliable and about 99 percent compatible", and a 1987 survey in the magazine of the clone industry did not mention software compatibility, stating that "PC by now has come to stand for

6741-649: The establishment of the Extended Industry Standard Architecture bus open standard by a consortium of IBM PC compatible vendors, redefining the 16-bit IBM AT bus as the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus. Additional bus standards were subsequently adopted to improve compatibility between IBM PC compatibles, including the VESA Local Bus (VLB), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), and

6848-458: The exception of running MS-DOS with near 100% IBM PC compatibility. The Compaq was larger and less durable—whereas the Kaypro had a heavy-gauge aluminium case, the Compaq case was plastic, with a thin-gauge aluminum inner shield to reduce radio frequency interference —but rapidly took over the portable PC market segment. The 1985 introductions of the Kaypro 286i , the first IBM PC AT clone, and

6955-620: The exception rather than the rule. Instead of placing importance on compatibility with the IBM PC, vendors began to emphasize compatibility with Windows . In 1993, a version of Windows NT was released that could operate on processors other than the x86 set. While it required that applications be recompiled, which most developers did not do, its hardware independence was used for Silicon Graphics (SGI) x86 workstations–thanks to NT's Hardware abstraction layer (HAL), they could operate NT (and its vast application library) . No mass-market personal computer hardware vendor dared to be incompatible with

7062-424: The first major extension not created by Intel, which Intel later adopted as x86-64 . During 2006 Intel began abandoning NetBurst with the release of their set of "Core" processors that represented a development of the earlier Pentium III. A major alternative to Wintel domination is the rise of alternative operating systems since the early 2000s, which marked as the start of the post-PC era . This would include both

7169-497: The first model to be released commercially, the original system was branded as the Kaypro II (at a time when one of the most popular microcomputers was the Apple II ). The Kaypro II was designed to be portable like the Osborne, contained in a single enclosure with a handle for carrying. Set in an aluminum case, with a keyboard that snapped onto the front, covering the 9" CRT display and drives, it weighed 29 pounds (13 kg) and

7276-470: The hard drive without using the command line. The magazine criticized the "unacceptable" user's guide, and predicted that the large software bundle would be "stupefying" to novice users, but concluded that the computer was an "exceptional value for the money. It should be considered by anyone interested in hard-disk capacity or performance at an excellent price." Creative Computing in December 1984 chose

7383-458: The hardware instead of making standard calls was faster, however; this was particularly relevant to games. Software addressing IBM PC hardware in this way would not run on MS-DOS machines with different hardware (for example, the PC-98 ). The IBM PC was sold in high enough volumes to justify writing software specifically for it, and this encouraged other manufacturers to produce machines that could use

7490-462: The hardware, for a variety of reasons: The first thing to think about when considering an IBM-compatible computer is, "How compatible is it?" In May 1983, Future Computing defined four levels of compatibility: During development, Compaq engineers found that Microsoft Flight Simulator would not run because of what subLOGIC 's Bruce Artwick described as "a bug in one of Intel's chips", forcing them to make their new computer bug compatible with

7597-496: The interfaces were made, but in practice, many of these attempts were either flawed or ignored. Even so, there were many expansion options, and despite the confusion of its users, the PC compatible design advanced much faster than other competing designs of the time, even if only because of its market dominance. During the 1990s, IBM's influence on PC architecture started to decline. "IBM PC compatible" becomes "Standard PC" in 1990s, and later " ACPI PC" in 2000s. An IBM-brand PC became

7704-667: The internal 9" CRT monitor (despite the video being scanned at NTSC TV-compatible rates). In contrast, one feature that was favorable to electronics hobbyists was that all the chips on the Kaypro II mainboard were installed in sockets, not soldered to the board, making it easy to repair the machines or even to splice custom circuits into the stock logic (temporarily or permanently). Also, while Kaypro machines were generally not upgradeable without factory-unauthorized custom modification, some Kaypro computers that came with single-sided floppy disk drives could be upgraded to double-sided drives, and some that came with only one floppy drive could have

7811-404: The keyboard layout and "certainly the largest screen you'll ever get in a portable machine." A later review by the magazine described the computer as "best value," citing the rugged hardware design, sharp display, keyboard, documentation, and the extensive bundled software. In 1984 Pournelle stated that "For those without much money, there's no real choice ... you need a Kaypro, which has become both

7918-484: The late 1970s and early 1980s as hobbyists united to help each other with programming and configuration and use of hardware and software . Especially prior to the emergence of the World Wide Web , obtaining technical assistance with computers was often onerous, while computer clubs would gladly provide free technical support . Users' groups today continue to provide "real life" opportunities for learning from

8025-471: The late 1990s, the success of Microsoft Windows had driven rival commercial operating systems into near-extinction, and had ensured that the "IBM PC compatible" computer was the dominant computing platform . This meant that if a developer made their software only for the Wintel platform, they would still be able to reach the vast majority of computer users. The only major competitor to Windows with more than

8132-428: The latest version of Windows, and Microsoft's annual WinHEC conferences provided a setting in which Microsoft could lobby for—and in some cases dictate—the pace and direction of the hardware of the PC industry. Microsoft and Intel had become so important to the ongoing development of PC hardware that industry writers began using the word Wintel to refer to the combined hardware-software system. This terminology itself

8239-487: The latter becoming the most popular. Because of the great number of third-party adapters and no standard for them, programming the PC could be difficult. Professional developers would operate a large test-suite of various known-to-be-popular hardware combinations. Meanwhile, consumers were overwhelmed by the competing, incompatible standards and many different combinations of hardware on offer. To give them some idea of what sort of PC they would need to operate their software,

8346-525: The market and competition grew IBM's influence diminished. In November 1985 PC Magazine stated "Now that it has created the [PC] market, the market doesn't necessarily need IBM for the machines. It may depend on IBM to set standards and to develop higher-performance machines, but IBM had better conform to existing standards so as to not hurt users". In January 1987, Bruce Webster wrote in Byte of rumors that IBM would introduce proprietary personal computers with

8453-540: The marketplace. By June 1983 PC Magazine defined "PC 'clone ' " as "a computer [that can] accommodate the user who takes a disk home from an IBM PC, walks across the room, and plugs it into the 'foreign' machine". Because of a shortage of IBM PCs that year, many customers purchased clones instead. Columbia Data Products produced the first computer more or less compatible with the IBM PC standard during June 1982, soon followed by Eagle Computer . Compaq announced its first product, an IBM PC compatible in November 1982,

8560-417: The model II suite of software. Word Plus included a set of utilities that could help solve crossword puzzles or anagrams , insert soft hyphens, alphabetize word lists, and compute word frequencies. Another utility program called Uniform allowed the Kaypro to read disks formatted by Osborne, Xerox, or TRS-80 computers. The initial bundled applications were soon replaced by the well-known titles WordStar ,

8667-450: The model. The Kaypro 10 followed the Kaypro II, and is much like the Kaypro II and Kaypro 4, with the addition of a 10 megabyte hard drive (dually partitioned A: and B:) and replacing one of the two floppy drives (the remaining drive being addressed as C:). The Kaypro 10 also eliminated the complicated procedures to turn the computer on and off often associated with hard disk technology. Kaypro later replaced their CP/M machines with

8774-458: The name recognition of their older machines. As a result, identifying exactly which model a Kaypro is often requires an inspection of their hardware configuration. All of the computers listed below are of the portable type unless otherwise noted. IBM PC compatible " IBM PC–compatible " refers to a class of computers that are technically compatible with the 1981 IBM PC and subsequent XT and AT models from computer giant IBM . Like

8881-469: The new computer did not need to fear that future IBM products would be incompatible with the Compaq, because such changes would also affect millions of real IBM PCs: "In sticking it to the competition, IBM would be doing the same to its own people". After IBM announced the OS/2 -oriented PS/2 line in early 1987, sales of existing DOS-compatible PC compatibles rose, in part because the proprietary operating system

8988-405: The original IBM PC by introducing yet another processor mode with an instruction set modified for 64-bit addressing, but x86-64 capable processors also retain standard x86 compatibility. User group A users' group (also user's group or user group ) is a type of club focused on the use of a particular technology , usually (but not always) computer -related. Users' groups started in

9095-514: The original IBM PC, they use an Intel x86 central processing unit and are capable of using interchangeable commodity hardware , such as expansion cards . Initially such computers were referred to as PC clones , IBM clones or IBM PC clones , but the term "IBM PC compatible" is now a historical description only, as the vast majority of microcomputers produced since the 1990s are IBM compatible. IBM itself no longer sells personal computers, having sold its division to Lenovo in 2005. " Wintel "

9202-521: The original XT circuits: one 8237 DMA controller, one 8253 interrupt timer, one 8255 parallel interface controller, one 8259 interrupt controller, one 8284 clock generator, and one 8288 bus controller. Similar non-Intel chipsets appeared for the AT-compatibles, for example OPTi's 82C206 or 82C495XLC which were found in many 486 and early Pentium systems. The x86 chipset market was very volatile though. In 1993, VLSI Technology had become

9309-529: The press mocked its design—one magazine described Kaypro as "producing computers packaged in tin cans"—others raved about its value, noting that the included software bundle had a retail value over $ 1,000 by itself, and by mid-1983 the company was selling more than 10,000 units a month, briefly making it the fifth-largest computer maker in the world. The Kaypro II was part of a new generation of consumer-friendly personal computers that were designed to appeal to novice users who wanted to perform basic productivity on

9416-469: The publication profiled Kaypro founder Andrew Kay and software engineer Stephen Buccaci. Another popular magazine that covered Kaypro computers was Micro Cornucopia , published in Bend, Oregon . Arthur C. Clarke used a Kaypro II to write and collaboratively edit (via modem from Sri Lanka ) his 1982 novel 2010: Odyssey Two and the later film adaptation. A book, The Odyssey File - The Making of 2010 ,

9523-509: The rapid growth of the smartphones (using Android or iOS) as an alternative to the personal computer; and the increasing prevalence of Linux and Unix-like operating systems in the server farms of large corporations such as Google or Amazon. The term "IBM PC compatible" is not commonly used presently because many current mainstream desktop and laptop computers are based on the PC architecture, and IBM no longer makes PCs. The competing hardware architectures have either been discontinued or, like

9630-542: The reputations of others like TI and DEC despite superior technology. At a San Francisco meeting it warned 200 attendees, from many American and foreign computer companies as well as IBM itself, to "Jump on the IBM PC-compatible bandwagon—quickly, and as compatibly as possible". Future Computing said in February 1984 that some computers were "press-release compatible", exaggerating their actual compatibility with

9737-539: The same effect, but this did not easily extend to the greater color depths and higher resolutions offered by SVGA adapters. An attempt at creating a standard named VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE) was made, but not all manufacturers used it. When the 386 was introduced, again a protected mode OS could be written for it. This time, DOS compatibility was much easier because of virtual 8086 mode . Unfortunately programs could not switch directly between them, so eventually, some new memory-model APIs were developed, VCPI and DPMI ,

9844-490: The same programs, expansion cards , and peripherals as the PC. The x86 computer marketplace rapidly excluded all machines which were not hardware-compatible or software-compatible with the PC. The 640 KB barrier on "conventional" system memory available to MS-DOS is a legacy of that period; other non-clone machines, while subject to a limit, could exceed 640 KB. Rumors of "lookalike," compatible computers, created without IBM's approval, began almost immediately after

9951-481: The same system architecture as their Wintel counterparts and could boot Microsoft Windows without a DOS Compatibility Card . However, with the transition to the internally developed ARM -based Apple silicon , they are again the exception to IBM compatibility. The processor speed and memory capacity of modern PCs are many orders of magnitude greater than they were for the original IBM PC and yet backwards compatibility has been largely maintained –

10058-540: The shared experience of the members and may provide other functions such as a newsletter, group purchasing opportunities, tours of facilities, or speakers at group meetings. A users' group may provide its members (and sometimes the general public as well) with one or more of the following services: Users' groups may be organized around a particular brand of hardware (e.g., Mac ), software and operating systems (e.g. Linux ), or more rarely may be dedicated to retro systems (e.g., Apple II ). An example of an early user group

10165-431: The simple terminal applications that MS-DOS supported directly. Spreadsheets , WYSIWYG word processors , presentation software and remote communication software established new markets that exploited the PC's strengths, but required capabilities beyond what MS-DOS provided. Thus, from very early in the development of the MS-DOS software environment, many significant commercial software products were written directly to

10272-569: The strengths of the PC-compatible design is its modular hardware design. End-users could readily upgrade peripherals and, to some degree, processor and memory without modifying the computer's motherboard or replacing the whole computer, as was the case with many of the microcomputers of the time. However, as processor speed and memory width increased, the limits of the original XT/AT bus design were soon reached, particularly when driving graphics video cards. IBM did introduce an upgraded bus in

10379-699: The utility of the package. The manuals assumed no computer background, the programs were straightforward to use, and thus it was possible to find the CEO of a small company developing the applications needed in-house. The Kaypro II and later models also came with some games, including versions of old character-based games such as Star Trek ; a few were arcade games re-imagined in ASCII , including CatChum (a Pac-Man -like game), Aliens (a Space Invaders -like game) and Ladder (a Donkey Kong -like game). If bought separately, this software would have cost more than

10486-463: The very successful Compaq Portable , also with a clean-room reverse-engineered BIOS, and also not challenged legally by IBM. Early IBM PC compatibles used the same computer buses as their IBM counterparts, switching from the 8-bit IBM PC and XT bus to the 16-bit IBM AT bus with the release of the AT. IBM's introduction of the proprietary Micro Channel architecture (MCA) in its PS/2 series resulted in

10593-566: Was PC DOS made by Microsoft . In a crucial concession, IBM's agreement allowed Microsoft to sell its own version, MS-DOS , for non-IBM computers. The only component of the original PC architecture exclusive to IBM was the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). IBM at first asked developers to avoid writing software that addressed the computer's hardware directly and to instead make standard calls to BIOS functions that carried out hardware-dependent operations. This software would run on any machine using MS-DOS or PC DOS. Software that directly addressed

10700-442: Was equipped with a Zilog Z80 microprocessor , 64 kilobytes of RAM , and two 5¼-inch double-density single-sided floppy disk drives. It ran Digital Research, Inc.'s CP/M operating system, the industry standard for 8-bit computers with 8080 or Z80 CPUs, and sold for about US$ 1,795 (equivalent to $ 5,700 in 2023). The company advertised the Kaypro II as "the $ 1,595 computer that sells for $ 1,595 ". Although some of

10807-438: Was for several years sold only as an OEM product. There was no Microsoft-branded MS-DOS: MS-DOS could not be purchased directly from Microsoft, and each OEM release was packaged with the trade dress of the given PC vendor. Malfunctions were to be reported to the OEM, not to Microsoft. However, as machines that were compatible with IBM hardware—thus supporting direct calls to the hardware—became widespread, it soon became clear that

10914-409: Was founded in 1961 and its descendant organization, Connect Worldwide , still operates. The Computer Measurement Group (CMG) was founded in 1974 by systems professionals with a common interest in (mainframe) capacity management , and continues today with a much broader mission. The first UNIX users' group organized in 1978. Users' groups began to proliferate with the microcomputer revolution of

11021-527: Was later released about the collaboration. Following the success of the Kaypro II, Kaypro moved on to produce a long line of similar computers into the mid-1980s. Exceedingly loyal to its original core group of customers, Kaypro continued using the CP/M operating system long after it had been abandoned by its competitors. In late 1984, Kaypro introduced its first IBM PC compatible , the Kaypro 16 transportable. While admitting that "it's what our dealers asked for",

11128-477: Was no standard interface for using higher-resolution SVGA graphics modes supported by later video cards. Each manufacturer developed their own methods of accessing the screen memory, including different mode numberings and different bank switching arrangements. The latter were used to address large images within a single 64 KB segment of memory. Previously, the VGA standard had used planar video memory arrangements to

11235-465: Was not available. In 1988, Gartner Group estimated that the public purchased 1.5 clones for every IBM PC. By 1989 Compaq was so influential that industry executives spoke of "Compaq compatible", with observers stating that customers saw the company as IBM's equal or superior. After 1987, IBM PC compatibles dominated both the home and business markets of commodity computers, with other notable alternative architectures being used in niche markets, like

11342-577: Was praised for its size and clarity (the Osborne 1 had a 5" display). Early in the Kaypro's life, there was a legal dispute with the owner of the Big Board computer, who charged that the Kaypro II main circuit board was an unlicensed copy or clone . The outer case is constructed of painted aluminum . The computer features a large detachable keyboard unit that covers the screen and disk drives when stowed. The computer could fit into an airline overhead rack. This and other Kaypro computers (except for

11449-467: Was that application writers would write to the application programming interfaces in MS-DOS or the firmware BIOS, and that this would form what would now be termed a hardware abstraction layer . Each computer would have its own Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) version of MS-DOS, customized to its hardware. Any software written for MS-DOS would operate on any MS-DOS computer, despite variations in hardware design. This expectation seemed reasonable in

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