19
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
The PC platform is an open architecture system that IBM initially designed in 1980. IBM's PC 5150 is the progenitor (though in no way representative of iterative designs like the desktops and laptops you may be familiar with today).
The history of the PC is comprehensive, but a good summary is that almost every component of the 5150 was <abbr title="existing tech IBM neither made in-house or signed an exclusivity agreement on">off-the-shelf</abbr>. IBM hoped that if clones popped up, they could sue them for using the firmware in the BIOS, which they had [[Licensing|copyright]] over as established by [[wikipedia:Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Franklin_Computer_Corp.|a lawsuit between Apple and Franklin]].<ref>https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/423653/apple-computer-inc-a-california-corporation-v-franklin-computer/ Apple v. Franklin. (1983)</ref> However, [[wikipedia:Phoenix_Technologies|Phoenix]] designed a clean-room replacement firmware based solely on IBM's own public documentation.<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=Bwng8NJ5fesC&pg=PA56 Phoenix Says Its BIOS May Foil IBM's Lawsuits. PC Mag. (1984)</ref> As a result, IBM never challenged clones that used it and promptly lost control over the platform. {{Cite}} Intel would later take up the next major iteration in 1995, called ATX.
Sometime in the 90s, a speedup was found in PC emulation that could run software near-natively; this became the basis for [[hypervisors]], which are different from conventional emulators listed here since they require the host architecture to be at the very least x86-compatible.
