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Columbia Data Products (CDP) introduced the MPC 1600 "Multi Personal Computer" in June 1982. It was an exact functional copy of the IBM PC model 5150 except for the BIOS which was clean roomed. In Computing, the BIOS (ˈbaɪoʊs Clean room design (also known as the Chinese wall technique is the method of copying a design by Reverse engineering and then recreating it without infringing IBM had published the BUS and BIOS specifications, wrongly assuming that this would be enough to encourage the add-on market and prevent unlicensed copying of the design. International Business Machines Corporation abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue", is a multinational Computer Technology Industry Standard Architecture (in practice almost always shortened to ISA) was a Computer bus standard for IBM compatible computers

MPC specifications.
MarketedJune 1982
PriceUS$2. 995,00
CPU 80884. 77 MHz 16 bit registers
RAM128 KiB, 1 MiB max
Video16 colors 320 × 200 CGA
AudioSimple tones
OSMS-DOS, CP/M-86, MP/M-86, OASIS, Xenix
Interface2 × RS232, parallel, monitor, keyboard
Storage5. MS-DOS (short for M icro' s' oft D isk O perating S ystem is an Operating system commercialized by Microsoft. CP/M-86 was a version of the CP/M operating system that Digital Research made for the Intel 8086 and Intel 8088. MP/M was the multi-user version of the CP/M Operating system, created by Digital Research developer Tom Rolander in 1979 Xenix is a version of the Unix Operating system, licensed by Microsoft from AT&T in the late 1970s 25" FDD

As the first IBM PC clone, the MPC was actually superior to the IBM original. IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. It came with 128 KiB RAM standard, compared to the IBM's 64 KiB maximum. A kibibyte (a contraction of ki lo bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, established by the International The MPC had eight PC expansion slots, with one filled by its video card. Its floppy disk drive interface was built into the motherboard. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased The IBM PC, in contrast, had only five expansion slots, with the video card and floppy disk controller taking two of them. The MPC also included two floppy disk drives, one parallel and two serial ports, which were all optional on the original IBM PC. The MPC was followed up with a portable PC, the 32 pound (15 kg) "luggable" Columbia VP in 1983.

The success of the MPC and its successors built CDP revenue from US$9. 4 million in 1982 to US$56 million in 1983, with an IPO at US$11 in January, 1983. Initial public offering (IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering" is when a company issues Common stock or shares to the public for the first [1] In February 1984 IBM announced the introduction of their first portable PC. [2] By August 1984 the CDP sales were faltering and CDP announced layoffs of 114 employees at its Maryland headquarters and 189 employees at a second factory in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} [3] By 1985 their stock had dropped to US$0. 50 and was delisted. [4]

In 1987 CDP shifted emphasis from hardware to software. They developed and licensed Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) software to Western Digital (WD), the leading supplier of hard drive controllers at the time. Western Digital Corporation ( (often abbreviated to WD) is a manufacturer of computer hard disk drives, and has a long history in the electronics industry as The disk controller (or "hard disk controller" is the circuit which allows the CPU to communicate with a Hard disk, Floppy disk or In 1991 WD sold their SCSI business to Future Domain, where it languished.

Columbia Data Products was founded in 1976 in Columbia, Maryland. Columbia is a Census-designated place and planned community in Howard County, Maryland, United States. It changed ownership, was taken private in 1986, and continues to operate under that name. CDP is now headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Altamonte Springs is a City in Seminole County Florida, United States. The company currently specializes in data security. Data security is the means of ensuring that Data is kept safe from corruption and that access to it is suitably controlled No mention of the MPC can be found on the company's history page.

Notes

  1. ^ New York Times, February 16, 1984
  2. ^ "IBM Will Sell Portable Version of its PC Model", Wall Street Journal, February 17, 1984. Events 1249 - Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) Events 1500 - Battle of Hemmingstedt. 1600 - Philosopher Giordano Bruno is burned alive at Campo de' Fiori Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar)
  3. ^ New York Times, August 15, 1984
  4. ^ Wall Street Journal, April 26, 1985

External links

The Compaq Portable was the first product in the Compaq portable series to be commercially available under the Compaq Computer Corporation brand.
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