PC 99 Compliance

If you look at the backpanel I/O of the BP6, you'll notice the standard fare of 2 PS/2 ports, which are distributed between the mouse and the keyboard. You'll also notice that There are the standard 2 USB ports, and 2 COM ports. Finally, the all-familiar LPT1 port is there as well. The only thing that looks out of the ordinary is the fact that…..they are all pastel colored!?

PC99 I/O Backface

Another view

Welcome to 99

PC 99 is a specification for system design that was set forth by PC makers, including Microsoft and Intel. It is an attempt to define a specification that can be referred to across all different kinds of PCs. There are general PC 99 guidelines, and there are specific guidelines for "Consumer", "Office", "Mobile", "Workstation", and "Entertainment" systems. For PC 99, there are specific features that are recommended, and there are others that are required.

A lot of the specifications for PC 99 were already included in the previous specification, appropriately named PC 98, but there are some newer ones, too. For example:

1. The Consumer and Entertainment models have a minimum CPU requirement of 300MHz.
2. The Consumer model has a 32MB RAM requirement, and the Entertainment model has a 64MB RAM requirement.
3. 2 USB ports.

There are many, many more specifications, going all the way down to the amount of noise that is allowed. PC 99 is not a set of hard-coded requirements. Rather, they are guidelines for hardware manufacturers and system builders to consider as a foundation or general reference. Some of the PC99 requirements have not been implemented yet, such as not having any ISA slots. In fact, the requirement for no ISA slots was in the PC 98 set of guidelines/requirements, but almost all motherboards still have a couple of ISA slots.

One of the other PC 99 is the one that causes the colored connectors. This specific requirement calls for icons, and keyed or shrouded connectors, with color coding. Thus we get our pretty pastels. Another one of the neat new features that the BP6 uses, that some other motherboards have, is the ability to do a keyboard or mouse power on. Yes, Mac users, we know you've had this for a long time already.