The museum thread
Why this brand matters
IBM's decisive contribution to the personal-computer story was not a uniquely exotic machine but a sufficiently open, documentable and reproducible platform. The 5150 PC and 5160 XT created a hardware/software target that clone makers could reproduce, eventually separating the 'IBM-compatible PC' from IBM itself.
The surrounding IBM systems show the platform evolving from an 8088 desktop into AT-class 286 machines, PS/2 buses and VGA, and eventually ThinkPads — while compatibility increasingly belonged to the wider industry rather than to one manufacturer.
Major machines and families
This is a historical map of the machines relevant to this museum's story, not merely a list of the models currently emulated.
| Period | Machine / family | Why it belongs in the story | Museum status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | IBM 5100 | Portable computer predating the IBM PC; a reminder that IBM had personal-scale systems before 1981 | Not yet emulated |
| 1981 | IBM PC 5150 | 8088-based machine whose architecture, expansion bus and software ecosystem became the reference PC platform | Playable |
| 1983 | IBM PC/XT 5160 | Hard-disk-oriented evolution that normalised fixed storage in the PC platform | Playable |
| 1984 | IBM Portable PC 5155 | Portable packaging of XT-class architecture | Not yet emulated |
| 1984 | IBM PC/AT 5170 | 80286 and 16-bit AT bus established the next major compatibility layer | Not yet emulated |
| 1984 | IBM PCjr | Consumer-oriented branch with important graphics/sound ideas but weak market fit | Not yet emulated |
| 1987 | IBM PS/2 family | Introduced VGA and attempted to move the industry to Micro Channel; VGA survived far better than MCA | Not yet emulated |
| 1992 | ThinkPad 700C | Early landmark of IBM's laptop family and TrackPoint-centred industrial design | Not yet emulated |
| 1990s | 486-era IBM-compatible PCs | By this point the standard mattered more than the badge; clones and component vendors dominated expansion | Playable representative: DOS 486 |
Continue the story
IBM in context
Brand histories overlap: CPUs, operating systems, standards, classroom adoption and software ecosystems routinely crossed manufacturer boundaries.
Technical specifications and chronology on this manufacturer page are intended to remain traceable to original documentation and established archives. See the source path for this family →