10 Facts About Compaq Portable

Compaq Portable was an early portable computer which was one of the first IBM PC compatible systems.

Only Compaq Portable was able to fully capitalize on this, by aiming for complete IBM PC and PC DOS software compatibility, while reverse-engineering the BIOS to head off copyright legal claims.

Compaq Portable sold 53, 000 units in the first year with a total of in revenue, an American Business record.

Compaq Portable has basically the same hardware as an IBM PC, transplanted into a luggable case, with Compaq's BIOS instead of IBM's.

Compaq Portable used a "foam and foil" keyboard from Keytronics, with contact mylar pads that were featured in the Tandy TRS-80, Apple Lisa 1 and 2, Compaq Portable Deskpro 286 AT, some mainframe terminals, SUN Type 4, and some Wang keyboards.

Related searches

Compaq Portable's efforts were possible because IBM had used mostly off-the-shelf parts for the PC and published full technical documentation for it, and because Microsoft had kept the right to license MS-DOS to other computer manufacturers.

Compaq Portable solved this problem by producing a clean room workalike that performed all documented functions of the IBM PC BIOS, but was completely written from scratch.

In 1985, Compaq introduced the Portable 286, but it was replaced by the more compact Portable II in a redesigned case within a few months.

The Compaq Portable 286 featured a full height hard disk, and the options of one half-height floppy drive, two half-height floppy drives, or a half-height floppy drive and a tape backup drive.

BYTE wrote, after testing a prototype, that the Compaq Portable "looks like a sure winner" because of its portability, cost, and high degree of compatibility with the IBM PC.