PC-compatible

English

Adjective

PC-compatible (not comparable)

  1. (computing, historical) Of a computer, offering the compatibility of the IBM Personal Computer regarding software, and―to a lesser degree―hardware.
    Synonym: IBM-compatible

Usage notes

  • In the 1980s, following the launch of the IBM Personal Computer, the term IBM-compatible designated computers highly compatible with the IBM PC’s design, capable of running software designed for the IBM PC, most importantly MS-DOS. Following the advent of IBM PC clones and―in the 1990s―the obsolescence of DOS, it was replaced by PC-compatible, which became synonymous with support for Microsoft Windows (and continued support for x86 hardware).
  • Concerning hardware, tremendous evolution in the decades following the IBM PC’s launch made the sense evolve to the point of becoming a misnomer or at best most vague, and even the sense of supporting Microsoft operating system became superfluous with the Apple–Intel architecture.[1] The sense concerning software applications (compatibility with Microsoft operating systems) is now better described as "compatible with Microsoft Windows".

Noun

PC-compatible (plural PC-compatibles)

  1. A computer of this kind.
    Synonym: IBM-compatible
    • 1998, Douglas A. Downing, Michael A. Covington, Melody Mauldin Covington, “bus”, in Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms, 6th edition, Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron’s Educational Series, →ISBN, page 65:
      Most personal computers today use a 32-bit bus, but on PC-compatibles, the bus can also work in 8-bit and 16-bit mode.

References

  1. ^ IBM PC compatible on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.