IBM 5150

From Computer History Wiki
Revision as of 14:12, 4 August 2010 by Neozeed (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigationJump to search
The IBM PC

The IBM 5150 was IBM's entry into the personal computer marketplace, the IBM PC. The original configuration was for 64kb of ram, and a tape drive, but could be expanded to include a diskette drive, and a hard disk. Back then, both types of disk drives were of the 5 1/4" full height form factor. IBM made the PC an open standard, publishing not only schematics, but also including a BIOS listing in the technical reference. When people wished to build clones of the IBM PC, IBM would license them for a 5% royalty fee, which not only made the PC a popular platform to clone, but also with the available schematics, allowed for everyone to be pin compatible with the ISA slots, creating a thriving hardware expansion business.

The IBM PC included Microsoft BASIC in ROM, which allowed the PC to function like many of the computers of the time with a simple ROM BASIC. With the addition of a disk drive, OS options included CP/M and MS-DOS at the time of sale.

The IBM PC, also established the 8 bit expansion slot, or ISA bus standard.

IBM PC Motherboard

The PC was replaced by the wildly popular IBM XT.