4 ms·

The irony is, the IBM PC was a very open machine. The Apple folks were the secretive ones.

• giantrobothead 13y ago
  You say "were" as though that has somehow changed.
  • mattl 13y ago
    Do you have the source code to the BIOS now? http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/ http://shop.gluglug.org.uk/
    • J_Darnley 13y ago
      No and it's a damn shame. I would have liked to be able to update the version of memtest that was bundled into the BIOS for my previous motherboard.
    • giantrobothead 13y ago
      No, but that link is definitely intriguing.
    • userbinator 13y ago
      > The only thing not working is changing the screen brightness, which stays fixed at 100%. That would be enough to stop me from buying one. I have an X60 already (and found the schematics online), maybe it wouldn't be too hard to fix.
      • mattl 13y ago
        Yeah, I bet you could add in a dial and control the resistance, but yeah... not in software.
• greenyoda 13y ago
  Very open indeed. The Technical Reference Manual for the PC actually included circuit diagrams and the source code for the BIOS. Here's the version from the PC/XT (warning: huge PDF file): http://www.retroarchive.org/dos/docs/ibm5160techref.pdf http://www.retroarchive.org/dos/docs/ibm5160techref.pdf
  • userbinator 13y ago
    Here's the AT one, it was the last one that was open in that way (and closest to what the modern PC is based on): http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ibm/pc/at/1502494_PC_AT_Technical_Reference_Mar84.pdf http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ibm/pc/at/1502494_PC_... It's an even bigger PDF than the XT one :)
• gaius 13y ago
  Specifically the Mac folks -the Apple ][ folks valued openness.