Analysis of Newly Discovered 1990 IBM BIOS EPROMs Reveals Potential Unknown PC/AT Model
By
TMWNN
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Summary
A detailed technical analysis of recently discovered IBM EPROMs from 1990 that appear to contain BIOS code for an unknown IBM PC/AT model. The article examines the ROM contents through disassembly and reverse engineering, comparing them to known IBM BIOS versions to determine if they represent a previously undocumented IBM PC variant. The investigation reveals the EPROMs contain a BIOS dated May 25, 1990, with unique characteristics that don't match any known IBM PC/AT models, suggesting they may be from a prototype, unreleased system, or specialized variant.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledOne of his hauls turned up two pairs of EPROMs labeled 'IBM' in plain dot-matrix: one showing part numbers (and '© IBM CORP 1981,1985'), the other tagged with a specific date ('25/05/90').
The investigation reveals the EPROMs contain a BIOS dated May 25, 1990, with unique characteristics that don't match any known IBM PC/AT models.
They came with no further identification, leaving the community to puzzle over what system they might have come from and what secrets they might hold.
The technical analysis involves disassembling the ROM contents and comparing them to known IBM BIOS versions to determine their origin and significance.
This discovery represents an important piece of computing history that could shed light on IBM's development efforts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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