History of Computers - IBM PC Clone Computer

Introduction

Although Apple introduced Apple II before the IBM PC, the IBM PC ignited the era of personal computing. Except for the BIOS, the PC was an open hardware architecture. Every major and minor component could be second-sourced [1].

Overview

The IMB PC compatible computers duplicated almost all the significant features of the PC architecture by reverse engineering the BIOS using a "clean room design" technique, which is a method of copying a design by reverse engineering and then recreating it without infringing any of copyrights or trade secrets. The term "IBM PC compatible" is only historical description, since IBM ended its personal computer sales. The original clones were created with IBM's approval. Compaq Computer Corporation designed the first portable IBM PC compatible. It could not copy the BIOS directly, but could reverse-engineer IBM BIOS and write its own BIOS using clean room design [2]. After the production of the initial clone computer, many companies created new models of the PC, but these were considered copies like the Eagle personal computer, which was sued by IBM for copying its BIOS software [3]

Importance

The IBM PC clone computer led to the demise of other personal computer architectures. It led to the mass-production of computers and PC laptops. PCs suddenly rose to instant success and still remains on top even with competitors like Apple [4].