Compaq took the wraps off its first product in November 1982, revealing the computing world's first true IBM PC clone, and an all-in-one portable model at that. The Compaq Portable featured a legally reverse-engineered IBM BIOS and delivered near 100% compatibility with those all-important IBM PC applications.
Kickstarting the IBM PC Clone business
Before Compaq splash-landed on the PC scene, the market was dominated by IBM and a rival group of PC work-a-like machines with varying degrees of compatibility. These ‘almost compatibles’ would use the same Intel 8088 as the incumbent IBM, and would run a version of DOS. However, the adoption of these challenger products was held back by incompatibility wrinkles and their makers being in precarious disputes with IBM over copyright claims.
Key features of the Compaq Portable
Compaq negotiated these sticky hurdles with its reverse-engineered BIOS, using zero IBM code, heading off legal disputes. The rest of the Compaq Portable, like the IBM PC it copied, was basically off-the-shelf hardware components. More importantly, the reverse-engineered BIOS did such a good job that it could be marketed with claims of 100% compatibility.
Meanwhile, Compaq’s luggable also came with Compaq DOS. This OS was basically a version of MS-DOS that could run a standalone BASIC interpreter without IBM Cassette BASIC being present in the system ROMs.
(Image credit: Anthony J. Bentley, public domain image)
Compaq Portable hardware
Compaq’s groundbreaking Portable could easily break your foot if dropped. Weighing in at 28 pounds, the device’s keyboard popped off to reveal the built-in screen and removable disk drives. The first model featured a single half-height 5.25-inch 360KB diskette drive and was priced at $2,995 (~$9,500 today). Though there was a dual-drive model for an extra $600-ish. Later revisions would offer hard disk options.
Specs:
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