[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Canon Personal Computer
March 24th, 2014 by Benj Edwards
May the Clone Wars begin.
Here’s another obscure IBM PC clone from the depths of time, the Canon Personal Computer.
As I mentioned in a recent RSOTW, it was pretty easy — even within a few years of the IBM PC’s release — to undercut IBM price-wise by integrating ports and peripherals directly into the motherboard of a competing computer.
Note that the Canon PC used an Intel 8086 CPU, which packed the full 16-bit data bus (verses the 8-bit bus on the IBM PC’s 8088).
Discussion Topic of the Week: Canon is best known for its imaging products, but it made computers too. Can you think of any other companies best known for something else that made a PC?
March 25th, 2014 at 9:52 am
Nikon cameras, always Nikon.
March 25th, 2014 at 1:49 pm
It’s interesting to see how companies that exist today have changed their product and business strategies over time. I forgot all about Canon selling pc clones.
March 25th, 2014 at 8:58 pm
By the way, the original discussion topic was Nikon vs. Canon DSLRs (hence Eagles409’s comment), but I changed it once I thought of something more VC&G-related (mostly because of Moondog’s comment).
March 26th, 2014 at 6:54 am
Amstrad were always well known for their cheap hi-fis, then they released their home micros like the CPC464
March 26th, 2014 at 7:22 am
Don’t forget about Canon’s elegant “object.station”s, designed to run NeXTSTEP for Intel. Very powerful system architecture, not inexpensive.
http://www.kevra.org/TheBestOfNext/ThirdPartyProducts/ThirdPartyHardware/NeXTSTEPonNonNeXTComputers/IntelHardwareForNeXTStep/Canon-object-station41/Canon-object-station41/Canon-object-station41.html
What’s more, Canon owned over 16% of NeXT, way back when.
March 26th, 2014 at 9:16 am
I used to have an Apple //e clone that was made by Brother (the typewriter company) and AT&T used to make PC’s.