Who was first?

From: Ernest <ernestls_at_comcast.net>
Date: Sat Jan 24 21:02:04 2004

On Sat, 2004-01-24 at 11:20, Curt vendel wrote:
> Is Pheonix really first? What about Compaq??? Did they produce the first
> PC clones? What BIOS did they use, is it what Pheonix became?
>
> I had always thought Lazer was the first Apple Clone??? We used to have
> more of those then real Apple ]['s in college back in 84-88.

According to Stan Veit's "History of the Personal Computer:"

"A software company called Phoenix, which had been a division of the
ill-fated Technical Design Labs, was the first to develop a legal MS-DOS
BIOS that did not infringe on IBM's copyrights. They did this by a
process called reverse engineering."

However, he doesn't give a date for when it was done. He also mentions
that "several early clone manufacturers, including Columbia Computer
Company, were successfully sued by IBM for copying their BIOS."

I can't get a solid fix on when V-tech copied Apple's ROMS, either. Both
the Laser 3000 and the Compaq Portable were introduced in late 1982. I
guess that probably neither followed the proceedure of the other, in
terms of avoiding lawsuits. They both happened so close together, in
terms of dating that it's hard to know.
Received on Sat Jan 24 2004 - 21:02:04 GMT