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A comment on PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction of the 1982 IBM PC 5150.

Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by userbinator on Sunday August 12, 2018 @01:43AM (#17743104)
The "anonymous BIOS" is just begging to be replaced with a copy of the actual IBM BIOS (whose source code is also available), but I guess they decided not to supply it for copyright reasons; on the other hand, they did clone the hardware... I bet it raises all sorts of difficult questions for the IP lawyers.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by deaddodo on Sunday August 12, 2018 @02:17AM (#17743186)
IBM themselves released the board schematics for the 5150.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by peter_d_sherman on Sunday August 12, 2018 @08:46AM (#17744113)
You wouldn't have a link, would you? I'd be interested in this...
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by b11484 on Sunday August 12, 2018 @10:23AM (#17744471)
http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/IBM_5150_Technical_R...

This is the technical manual for it

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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by peter_d_sherman on Monday August 13, 2018 @10:52AM (#17750518)
Thank you very much! Much obliged!
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by greglindahl on Sunday August 12, 2018 @07:05AM (#17743870)
IBM also released the source for the BIOS - it’s still copyrighted.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by justin66 on Sunday August 12, 2018 @12:38PM (#17745130)
In what year did they do that?
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by kevin_thibedeau on Sunday August 12, 2018 @03:25PM (#17745978)
The same year the PC was released. The BIOS was listed in the tech reference manual appendix A.

http://classiccomputers.info/down/IBM/IBM_PC_5150/IBM_5150_T...

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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by greglindahl on Sunday August 12, 2018 @03:18PM (#17745940)
I recall it being part of the documentation that came with the original PCs.

> IBM published the entire listings of the BIOS for its original PC, PC XT, PC AT, and other contemporary PC models, in an appendix of the IBM PC Technical Reference Manual for each machine type.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS

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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by Nr7 on Sunday August 12, 2018 @02:10AM (#17743168)
PC clones were deemed legal back in the day. No reason this wouldn't be.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by walrus01 on Sunday August 12, 2018 @02:23AM (#17743200)
Compaq created a new BIOS from a clean sheet of paper design, not a reverse engineered or ROM dump. The code of the BIOS on the PC and PC/XT were copyrighted.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by jacquesm on Sunday August 12, 2018 @07:15AM (#17743885)
I heard a tale - but can't find an online reference - for the first Compaq PC BIOS containing a bit that said 'Not (C) IBM' in order to pass some software checks searching for the strings '(C) IBM' being present at certain specific BIOS addresses.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by kevin_thibedeau on Sunday August 12, 2018 @03:29PM (#17746002)
Compaq wrote a specification based on IBM's published code listing. Then they handed it over to a separate team to reimplement.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by Nr7 on Sunday August 12, 2018 @02:51PM (#17745811)
userbinator's post clearly mentions cloning the hardware being problematic legality-wise and I was replying to that. Nobody's saying the cloned BIOS is problematic legal-wise.
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Re:PC-Retro Motherboard Kit: Build a faithful reproduction o... by deelowe on Sunday August 12, 2018 @02:00AM (#17743134)
What's the issue with cloning the hardware?
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