Retro Computing Archives

Why did Compaq fail?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing March 15, 2018September 6, 2024

Compaq was a high-flying PC brand in the 1980s and 1990s. It created the first successful and fully legal IBM PC clone, set records as a startup, usurped IBM as the standard bearer in the PC market, and made sturdy, highly regarded desktop PCs and servers. But today it’s just a trademark that HP owns and doesn’t use. Why did Compaq fail?

There were several reasons why Compaq failed, but one stands taller than the others.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Why is x86 so popular? Momentum.

Dave Farquhar Hardware, Retro Computing January 10, 2018June 9, 2024

Intel and Intel-compatible x86 CPUs are everywhere around us. It’s been a long time since you could buy a desktop or laptop computer with anything but an x86 CPU in it. Even Apple, a longtime anything-but-Intel stalwart, started using x86 CPUs more than a decade ago. That raises a fair question: Why is x86 so popular?

Dave Farquhar

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Computers in the 1990s

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 5, 2018September 24, 2024

Computers in the 1990s, especially at the dawn of the 1990s, were very different from today. Looking back now, it’s easy to see how the 1990s were a pivotal decade for computing. And since GenXers like me live under the delusion that the 1990s just happened, I still remember it well.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember about computers in the 1990s is the number of things that didn’t exist prior to 1990. In other cases, they existed, but were terrible, so nobody used them.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 64 vs Nintendo 64

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing January 3, 2018October 5, 2018

The Commodore 64 and Nintendo 64 have similar names, but they aren’t related. The number “64” was significant enough that both companies wanted to brag about it. But in the case of the Commodore 64 vs Nintendo 64, the number meant two completely different things. Here’s why that number keeps coming up.

Dave Farquhar

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Advantages of 8086 over 8085

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 21, 2017November 13, 2018

Intel had a hit on its hands with the 8080 CPU and its successor, the 8085. But then Zilog came along and stole its thunder with the compatible but superior Z-80. Intel needed to follow up with something a lot better. The 8086 was what they came up with. The advantages of 8086 over 8085 were numerous, and that’s why everyone knows Intel, and few people outside of retro computing enthusiasts and embedded systems engineers ever heard of Zilog.

Here are the major advantages of 8086 over 8085.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 64 CPU

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 15, 2017July 4, 2018

Commodore used two different chips as the Commodore 64 CPU during its long lifetime. Both Commodore 64 CPUs were proprietary derivatives of the venerable MOS 6502, but unlike the 6502, Commodore and its MOS subsidiary never licensed either of them to other sources.

Like the Atari 2600 CPU, the 6510 and 8500 were 6502s with some changes. Unlike the 6507, the 6510/8500 added capability, rather than removing it.

Dave Farquhar

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Apple II vs Macintosh

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 6, 2017September 15, 2025

The Apple II was one of the first mass-market computers, one of three announced and released in 1977. It proved successful, and Apple had a hard time following up on it. The Macintosh was the third attempt, and it eventually proved successful. Apple II vs Macintosh ended up not being much of a comparison. But it took a while for the Mac to catch on. Here’s what set the Mac apart from its widely successful predecessor.

The Mac, like most of the computers that followed it in 1985, ushered in a lot of changes from its predecessor. Technologically the Apple II was much closer to its main competitor, the Commodore 64.

Dave Farquhar

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Computers in 1980

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing December 1, 2017September 16, 2024

Computers in 1980 were rather different from computers of today. They could do the fundamental things a computer of today can do, but by modern standards, they were much smaller and less powerful. In the mid 1980s, Commodore Grace Hopper said we had the Model T, computing-wise. In 1980, we weren’t quite at the Model T yet.

Still, computers in 1980 were interesting. We’d never seen anything like them.

Dave Farquhar

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Commodore 64 vs IBM PC

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 30, 2017July 4, 2018

The IBM PC and Commodore 64 were introduced about a year apart. The PC came out in 1981. The 64 followed in 1982. They were two of the most important machines of the 1980s, and both have long legacies. Here’s the story of the Commodore 64 vs IBM PC.

Although the two machines share a legacy, for the most part they existed in different worlds.

Dave Farquhar

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What does IBM do now?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing November 28, 2017October 29, 2024

What does IBM do now? Does IBM still make computers? If not, what does IBM make now? IBM’s days as the dominant maker of personal computers ended long ago, but IBM is still #32 on the Fortune 500 list.

How does IBM make money without selling anything to consumers anymore?

Dave Farquhar

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