Which company should I do next? Keep in mind the following things:

This company must not have a Wikipedia page. I am gathering information that hasn't already been gathered. If a Wikipedia page exists, it would be redundant for me to do so.

The company must not be that well known anymore. Examples like Commodore do not count as within most circles, it's still well known as a retro computer company.

Does KLH count? While they do, or did make audio equipment, they were manufacturing computers for a short period. I had a KLH Model 195 (AMD 286-12)in the early 90s. Finding information or pictures of their computers is almost impossible.

RiSE - at least they made a socket 7 pin compatible CPU (mP6). I should wiki what happened to them.

Later DM&P took over mP6 design from SiS and continues development under Vortex86 SoC product line. DM&P further signed an agreement with Xcore to allow them to rebrand the chip as Xcore86.

Who are they?

More looking at wiki, I like how Vortex86 started using DX2 and DX3 in their integrated CPU names.

Reveal Computer Products

Floppy drives, system memory, video cards, sound cards, keyboards, CD-ROMs, multimedia kits, tape drives, and so on. I recall seeing their brand everywhere between 1993-1995; by 1996 they slowly began to vanish, by 1998 Reveal was gone from store shelves. Here's an example, a 5.25 inch floppy drive:

https://www.amazon.com/Reveal-Computer-Produc … uct_top?ie=UTF8

One of Reveal's gimmicks was to include an installation video with most of their offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBg2lBW2MUM

This Usenet post from 8/96 gives an idea as to why Reveal began to disappear as a computer brand.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp. … are/MzmbKBDnhPM

Reveal filed for bankruptcy in 2001; by 2005 they were gone for good.

Thomas Conrad, another networking equipment manufacturer. Token ring cards and whatnot.

Is Compex still around? Their NE1000 / NE2000 compatible NICs were quite popular around here during ISA days.

GNN - Global Network Navigator. This was the first dial-up ISP I used. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Network_Navigator

It was sold to AOL in 1995, but I definitely didn't use it during the AOL time. I still have their single installation diskette. I used it with Win 3.1 on a 386. That really brings back the times for me.

Does anyone actually miss Reveal? As far as I can tell they didn't actually do anything except rebrand other company's stuff.

I for one don't miss them. I just threw Reveal's name in the hat because:

- There's no Wikipedia entry, not even a stub

- The Internet Archive doesn't have their site either

- Some of their branded hardware (Sound FX soundcards mostly) shows up here at VOGONS every now and then

Even in their heyday most people here in Southern California referred to Reveal as "The Packard Bell of computer hardware" (and the YouTube video I linked to shows them upgrading a Packard Bell PC of all things 🤣 ), yet these same people would buy their stuff without a second thought. Ironic, isn't it?

Because they were the "Packard Bell" of computer hardware. A ton of their products were OEMed by Packard Bell. Those TV tuner cards and FM radio cards came from Reveal!

Eagle Technology Autralia. Unknown company for me:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/EAGLE-TECHNOLOGIES-AU … W-/221935215397
Not only rebranded cards with sticker, because name Eagle is etchet into PCB.

Ampera wrote:

Which company should I do next? Keep in mind the following things:

This company must not have a Wikipedia page. I am gathering information that hasn't already been gathered. If a Wikipedia page exists, it would be redundant for me to do so.

The company must not be that well known anymore. Examples like Commodore do not count as within most circles, it's still well known as a retro computer company.

I nominate Orchestra MultiSystems

They made CRT monitors with instrument-themed names :

French Horn
Trumpet
Timpani (really coarse dot pitch on that one AFAICR)

Does anyone know anything about a company called 80 Data? They were active in the 80s and early 90s.

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

Reveal Computer Products […]
Show full quote

Reveal Computer Products

Floppy drives, system memory, video cards, sound cards, keyboards, CD-ROMs, multimedia kits, tape drives, and so on. I recall seeing their brand everywhere between 1993-1995; by 1996 they slowly began to vanish, by 1998 Reveal was gone from store shelves. Here's an example, a 5.25 inch floppy drive:

https://www.amazon.com/Reveal-Computer-Produc … uct_top?ie=UTF8

One of Reveal's gimmicks was to include an installation video with most of their offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBg2lBW2MUM

This Usenet post from 8/96 gives an idea as to why Reveal began to disappear as a computer brand.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp. … are/MzmbKBDnhPM

Reveal filed for bankruptcy in 2001; by 2005 they were gone for good.

I read old google groups post, Reveal was acquired by Creative and main reason was killing Reveals GUS compatible soundcard.

It can be true. Reveal WavExtreme SC800 was first InterWave soundcard ever and was presented directly by AMD press release BEFORE famous Gravis Ultrasound PnP.
(Probably never released) SC850 with 16MB RAM was expected to be GUS-compatible killer card directly fighting with best of Creative AWE32/AWE64 line.

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

Reveal Computer Products […]
Show full quote

Reveal Computer Products

Floppy drives, system memory, video cards, sound cards, keyboards, CD-ROMs, multimedia kits, tape drives, and so on. I recall seeing their brand everywhere between 1993-1995; by 1996 they slowly began to vanish, by 1998 Reveal was gone from store shelves. Here's an example, a 5.25 inch floppy drive:

https://www.amazon.com/Reveal-Computer-Produc … uct_top?ie=UTF8

One of Reveal's gimmicks was to include an installation video with most of their offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBg2lBW2MUM

This Usenet post from 8/96 gives an idea as to why Reveal began to disappear as a computer brand.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp. … are/MzmbKBDnhPM

Reveal filed for bankruptcy in 2001; by 2005 they were gone for good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MiTAC-Socket-3-Turbo- … T4AAOSwjDZYgcy8

Well, this Bulgarian guy who has tons of 486 and Pentium-class machines for sale has one with a Reveal CD rom drive and sound card in it. Of course, if I had the money I'd offer him like $250 but over $500 is a bit much imo 🤣

Nice, my family's first 386, we ended up upgrading to a 486 with a Reveal CD-ROM/soundcard bundle. I am pretty sure I still have the CD-ROM games that came with that bundle.

My favorite werido white-box PC company is GEM Computer Products out of Norcross Georgia...I've owned two of them, a 386 DX-20, and a 286/10 that I still have (albeit OC'd to 12 Mhz via a math co-processor) - as if my Avatar was not a clue enough

http://www.trademarkia.com/gem-computer-produ … s-75316498.html

Here's some pictures of their computers....

an early 286 system they made using an XT case that was on E-bay

1989-1991 era 80286 Based System I Own - Octek Motherboard

Late eighties Deskpro clone they made (with replaced LED lights), this one was a 386 DX-20 with an Addonics Motherboard

Apparently they were still going well into the 1990's here's a YouTube video of someone running a Pentium system from the mid 90's - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSi6RpFCQ9o

They were owned by a company called MEC - or Micro Electronics Corporation - also based out of Norcross. They seemed to have hit a stride sometime in the late 80's/early 1990's because they started to make a series of southeastern bible-belt area chain stores called C.MORE where they sold C.MORE (and maybe also GEM and MEC branded equipment).

Apparently they made some kind of upgrade board back in the 80's too, as I found them credited in an old copy of PC Mag or InfoWorld on Google Books....not sure.https://books.google.com/books?id=BD8EAAAAMBA … ucts%22&f=false

One of the thing I noticed about their computers that I find kind of amusing is they use HUGE cases for everything, then put in tiny little baby AT/XT-class motherboards. Even the 386 I had was full AT and it had a baby AT Addonics motherboard in it. They seemed to have some deals worked out with Magitronic (cases?, power supplies), Addonics (motherboards, monitors), Samsung (keyboards), Octek (motherboards), Seagate (hard disks), Western Digital (controller cards), and Mitsubishi (floppy disks) when it came to the supporting hardware they put in their products.

I according to Trademarkia, MEC is the mothership, GEM is their military branch, both of the GEM computers I own/owned came from ex-military people. C.MORE was their consumer branch and sort of their "Geek Squad" of sorts. I'm always looking out for these beasties on E-bay, especially the Deskpro style chassis they used for the 386 since that's the coolest looking one IMHO.

I hazard to guess that what happened to GEM/MEC/C.MORE was the stores went away first, and my fuzzy mind recalls seeing one at Peach Tree Mall as a kid. Then MEC stopped being used, because it seems GEM was used at the end. They probably just folded due to changes in business climate like most local businesses do. Their old location at 2900 Jones Mill Road looks abandoned, looks like a cool old 80's/90's tech company purpose made building.

new info about Reveal:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/co … QI/qKdVWXeR0N4J
CREATIVE ANNOUNCES TERMINATION OF REVEAL ACQUISITION
SINGAPORE -- November 24, 1995 -- Creative Technology Ltd.
(Nasdaq:CREAF), today announced that its Board of Directors has
decided not to proceed with the contemplated acquisition of Reveal
Computer Products, Inc., as previously announced on October 25, 1995.
As a result, the agreement to acquire Reveal has been terminated by
Creative.

creepingnet wrote:

My favorite werido white-box PC company is GEM Computer Products out of Norcross Georgia...I've owned two of them, a 386 DX-20, […]
Show full quote

My favorite werido white-box PC company is GEM Computer Products out of Norcross Georgia...I've owned two of them, a 386 DX-20, and a 286/10 that I still have (albeit OC'd to 12 Mhz via a math co-processor) - as if my Avatar was not a clue enough

http://www.trademarkia.com/gem-computer-produ … s-75316498.html

Here's some pictures of their computers....

an early 286 system they made using an XT case that was on E-bay

1989-1991 era 80286 Based System I Own - Octek Motherboard

Late eighties Deskpro clone they made (with replaced LED lights), this one was a 386 DX-20 with an Addonics Motherboard

Apparently they were still going well into the 1990's here's a YouTube video of someone running a Pentium system from the mid 90's - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSi6RpFCQ9o

They were owned by a company called MEC - or Micro Electronics Corporation - also based out of Norcross. They seemed to have hit a stride sometime in the late 80's/early 1990's because they started to make a series of southeastern bible-belt area chain stores called C.MORE where they sold C.MORE (and maybe also GEM and MEC branded equipment).

Apparently they made some kind of upgrade board back in the 80's too, as I found them credited in an old copy of PC Mag or InfoWorld on Google Books....not sure.https://books.google.com/books?id=BD8EAAAAMBA … ucts%22&f=false

One of the thing I noticed about their computers that I find kind of amusing is they use HUGE cases for everything, then put in tiny little baby AT/XT-class motherboards. Even the 386 I had was full AT and it had a baby AT Addonics motherboard in it. They seemed to have some deals worked out with Magitronic (cases?, power supplies), Addonics (motherboards, monitors), Samsung (keyboards), Octek (motherboards), Seagate (hard disks), Western Digital (controller cards), and Mitsubishi (floppy disks) when it came to the supporting hardware they put in their products.

I according to Trademarkia, MEC is the mothership, GEM is their military branch, both of the GEM computers I own/owned came from ex-military people. C.MORE was their consumer branch and sort of their "Geek Squad" of sorts. I'm always looking out for these beasties on E-bay, especially the Deskpro style chassis they used for the 386 since that's the coolest looking one IMHO.

I hazard to guess that what happened to GEM/MEC/C.MORE was the stores went away first, and my fuzzy mind recalls seeing one at Peach Tree Mall as a kid. Then MEC stopped being used, because it seems GEM was used at the end. They probably just folded due to changes in business climate like most local businesses do. Their old location at 2900 Jones Mill Road looks abandoned, looks like a cool old 80's/90's tech company purpose made building.

AFAIK Octek still exists - today's Sapphire.

Just a few that comes in mind:
Systems:
Tandon (e.g. the famous datapac)
Siemens (merged with Fujitsu later on)
Digital Equipment Corporation (bougth by Compaq)
Compaq (bought by Hewlett Packard)
NCR
IBM (sold to lenovo)
Silicon Graphics Inc.
Intergraph
SUN Microsystems

Storage:
Future Domain (SCSI Controllers, bought by Adaptec)
Distributed Processing Technologies (RAID Controllers, bought by Adaptec)
ICP Vortex (RAID Controllers, bought by Intel, but was sold to Adaptec later)
Symbios Logic( SCSI Controllers)
Bustek (SCSI Controllers)
Wangtek (tape drives and controllers)
Minicribe (hdds)
Mylex (RAID contrllers)
American Megatrends Inc. (RAID contrllers)
Trantor (SCSIcontrollers, bought by Adaptec)
Conner Peripherals (hdds)
Quantum (hdds and tape drives)
Archive Corp. (tape drives and controllers)

Graphics:
SPEA (bought by Diamon Multimedia)
miro Graphics
ELSA
Video 7 (merged with SPEA)
3D Labs
Diamond Multimedia (bought by S3)
Videologic
Accelgraphics
Evans & Sutherland
Appian
Cornerstone
Datapath

Networking:
3Com (bought by HP)
Chipcom (bought by 3Com)
Olicom
Madge
Cogent (bought by Adaptec)
Thomas Conrad (bought by Compaq)
SMC

Not to mention the countless manufactureres of MFM HDDs during the early days
eisapc