Questions tagged [clone]

A clone is a device based on one companies design, by a second party.

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When was the end of the floppy-only IBM PC clone?

Can we pinpoint in what year the number of IBM-compatible PCs (whether original IBM machines or clones) sold without a hard disk drive became so negligible that almost all new commercial software, ...
TeaRex's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
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What computer is this, a clone of a ZX Spectrum?

Recently I stumbled over this article with an interesting teaser image. It shows some home computer, presumably of the eighties. Unfortunately the image is too blurry to read the keywords on the keys: ...
the busybee's user avatar
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3 votes
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Were the Apple II patents, obstacles to cloning?

The Apple II was a simple design relative to its retail price, so attractive to cloners. This naturally led to many lawsuits, at least one of which actually established new copyright law. https://en....
rwallace's user avatar
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7 votes
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iRMX bootsector on a iRMX partition how to clone?

I have an old year 2000 instrument which has a 340MB hard drive. I am trying to clone the hard drive but I am having major issues. First the instrument uses iRMX and MSDOS the bios is using the CHS ...
mpcengineer's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
825 views

Large number of Famiclones

I was looking the other day some NES clone footage, and I was surprised to find out that there is a ton of them. I am wondering, how could they be so many since Nintendo did not use standard off the ...
Mr.Y's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
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How does DRAM refresh work in the Leningrad?

The Leningrad uses the КР565РУ5 chip, which is the same as a 4164. It contains 64kbits of DRAM, and the datasheet says that each of the 256 row addressed need to be strobed every 4ms. I can see how ...
Omar and Lorraine's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
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Build a hardware clone or emulator of Apple II?

These days we are constantly seeing low-cost boards that have huge power (raspberry pi, various arduino-like microcontrollers.) I am hoping I could make, or get, a clone or emulation of an Apple II ...
estephan500's user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
537 views

What was the standard size of a PC clone's badge indent?

Generic beige-box PC clones like the ones pictured here often had an indent for the manufacturer's badge to be stuck on. Were these all a standard size, and if so, what were the dimensions?
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10 votes
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How compatible is the Leningrad clone with the "original" ZX Spectrum?

In Leningrad they developed a clone of the ZX Spectrum, replacing the ULA by some TTL logic. Some of my speculations: In the USSR, the analog TV sets used SECAM, not PAL, so I imagine that the ...
Omar and Lorraine's user avatar
35 votes
5 answers
4k views

Which ports are which on this Soviet ZX Spectrum clone?

Today I got my (first) Soviet ZX Spectrum clone. The person who sold it to me had inherited it and had no idea how it worked. It seems to be a home-made clone, rather than a factory-built one. See ...
harlandski's user avatar
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15 votes
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Who were the first engineers to "cleanroom" the IBM PC BIOS?

In the first season of the AMC show Halt & Catch Fire, the protagonist "Cameron Howe" is introduced. Cameron portrays a rookie engineer who is recruited for being extraordinarily talented, and is ...
Brian H's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
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Timex 2048 RAM contention ULA/video output

I used to own a Timex TC-2048 ZX Spectrum 48K compatible clone. I programmed it in assembly extensively, both for fun and when learning, and also when testing things for writing my own ZX Spectrum ...
Rui F Ribeiro's user avatar