The IBM PC XT introduced a set of hardware and firmware decisions whose echoes are still audible in modern PCs. This post traces the XT's architecture, software compatibility mechanisms, and the pragmatic stubbornness of legacy support - and explains why engineers should study these old machines.
How a 1984 business desktop - the IBM PC AT - seeded the rules, mistakes, and rituals that still shape modern PCs. A look at the technical choices (80286, 16-bit bus, BIOS setup, A20), the business model of compatibility, and the long shadow these decisions cast on hardware, OS design, and industry structure.
A nostalgic yet analytical look at how Dell’s direct sales model, build-to-order manufacturing, and supply-chain innovations remade the personal computer market in the 1990s - told through archival context and first-hand recollections from early adopters.
Compaq exploded from a scrappy start-up into the world's leading PC maker - and then unraveled. This essay traces the key decisions, triumphs and missteps that carried Compaq from garage ingenuity to a messy merger with HP, and extracts practical lessons for today's tech companies.