Compaq Portable 386 | TechMuseum
Year of manufacture: 1987 – 1999
Technical Specifications:
- Processor: Intel 80386, 20 MHz
- RAM: 2 MB to 20 MB
- FDD: one 5.25″
- HDD: 40 or 100 MB
- Audio: 4 voices, 3.5 octaves
- Connectors/Ports: Expansion, RGB, serial, parallel
- Case: Portable type
- Monitor: Monochrome
- OS: MS DOS 3.3
The Compaq Portable 386 has an Intel 80386 processor at 20 MHz and memory of 2MB up to 20MB. Equipped with a floppy disk of 5.25” and an HDD of 40MB expandable to 100MB it ran with the operating system of MS DOS 3.3 version.
Compaq Computer Corporation (Compaq CQ) was founded back in 1982 by senior Texas Instruments engineers. The main area of operation was the computers division, developed, sold and supported products and services as well. During the 1980s the company met grand commercial success with the peak at 1990s. In these years, after introducing to the world IBM PC compatible computers rose to be the largest personal computers supplier, overthrown by Dell at the turn of the century.
Sales plunged due to strong competitions and low prices set by Dell. Another factor for the financial difficulties met was the acquisition of Digital Electronics Corporation (known as Digital or DEC),leading to the buyout to HP in 2002. Remaining in use until 2013, the company licensed production to third parties in Brazil and India.
That was just a snapshot on the presentation of the techmuseum series. Indulge more into the history. Continue reading more about the present model, the Compaq Portable 386 here. Alternatively, find more exciting stories like this one here.
Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
