The IBM 5150 Personal Computer isn't the same beast that we refer to as "PC compatible". It was a barely-16-bit computer, no protected mode, funky connectors f

The IBM 5150 Personal Computer isn't the same beast that we refer to as "PC compatible". It was a barely-16-bit computer, no protected mode, funky connectors for the keyboard (no mouse, of course), the interrupt vectors were wired up wrong... the joystick ports... no real-time clock, system configured with DIP switches instead of BIOS, floppy drives were you could buy it without floppy disks, boot directly from ROM into Microsoft BASIC and just use the cassette recorder as mass storage, the power supply was underpowered, the expansion cards were only 8-bit (in part because the 8088 CPU I/O was only 8-bit)... IBM got from a design to actual product in the retail channel in some ludicrously short period of time, like nine months for this baby computer. The "PC" converged onto a set of standards. But if you manage to bring home an original IBM PC, you might be surprised at some of the work you will need to get it up and running.