Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!bronze!silver!ntaib
From: ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib)
Subject: Re: Most Incompatable PC (Was:  What's wrong, Keen or Tandy?)
Message-ID: <1991Jun27.013344.4366@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu>
Sender: news@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington
References: <1991Jun25.150510.14644@cs.cmu.edu> <1991Jun26.011811.11547@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> <1991Jun26.144107.4982@menudo.uh.edu>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 91 01:33:44 GMT
Lines: 27

>Mindset made a gorgeous graphics computer but it wouldn't run much of
>anything. However I think DEC should win the prize for the Rainbow, at
>least the early models. They sold a bunch, but even the disk drive
>was incompatible. The only thing they had in common was that they
>ran MS-DOS (at least their version of it).


Remember that back in those days MS-DOS (was it really
MS or didn't someone else write it then MS bought it?)
was just another off-the-shelf generic operating system 
that was supposed to run on a variety of machines (pre-
sumably 16-bit, running the 8088 and 8086 processors). So 
was the 8088 microprocessor. The only thing proprietary
about the IBM PC was its BIOS. So its not too unusual 
that non-IBM compatibles (did the term "IBM Compatible
really mean anything then? It was just another compu-
ter.) ran MS-DOS back then, before it became synonymous 
with "PC". 



--
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Iskandar Taib                        | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU |    Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet:   NTAIB@IUBACS               !
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