The PC System Design Guide (also known as the PC 97, PC 98, PC 99, or PC 2001 specification) is a series of hardware design requirements and recommendations for IBM PC compatible personal computers, compiled by Microsoft and Intel Corporation during 1997–2001. They were aimed at helping manufacturers provide hardware that made the best use of the capabilities of the Microsoft Windows operating system, and to simplify setup and use of such computers.
Every part of a standard computer and the most common kinds of peripheral devices are defined with specific requirements. Systems and devices that meet the specification should be automatically recognized and configured by the operating system.
Versions
Four versions of the PC System Design Guide were released. Within each version, a distinction was made between the requirements of a Consumer PC, an Office PC and an Entertainment PC.
| Version | Date |
|---|---|
| PC 97 | February 9, 1998 |
| PC 98 | December 31, 1998 |
| PC 99 | July 14, 1999 |
| PC 2001 | November 2, 2000 |
PC 97
Initial version.
Introduced color code for PS/2 keyboard (purple) and mouse (green) connectors
PC 98
Aimed at systems to be used with Windows 98 or Windows 2000. Required:
200 MHz Pentium processor with MMX technology (or equivalent performance)
256 KB L2 cache
32 MB RAM (recommended: 64 MB of 66 MHz DRAM)
ACPI 1.0 (including power button behavior)
Fast BIOS power-up (limited RAM test, no floppy test, minimal startup display, etc.)
BIOS Y2K compliance
PXE preboot environment
It was published as ISBN 1-57231-716-7.
PC 99
Required:
300 MHz CPU
64 MB RAM
USB
Comprehensive color-coding scheme for ports and connectors (see below)
Strongly discouraged:
Non plug-and-play hardware
ISA slots
It was published as ISBN 0-7356-0518-1.
PC 2001
Final version. First to require IO-APICs to be enabled on all desktop systems. Places a greatly increased emphasis on legacy-reduced and legacy-free systems. Some “legacy” items such as ISA expansion slots and device dependence on MS-DOS are forbidden entirely, while others are merely strongly discouraged.
| Color | Function | Connector on PC | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouse and keyboard | ||||
| Green | PS/2 mouse / pointing device | 6-pin mini-DIN female | ||
| Purple | PS/2 keyboard | 6-pin mini-DIN female | ||
| Gold | Game port / MIDI | 15-pin D female | ||
| General input/output | ||||
| White | USB 1 low speed and full speed | USB Type A receptacle | ||
| Black | USB 2.0 high speed | USB Type A receptacle | ||
| Sky blue | USB 3.0 SuperSpeed | USB Type A SuperSpeed receptacle | ||
| Yellow | USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Always On even if the PC is turned off | USB Type A SuperSpeed receptacle | ||
| Red | High-power USB (more than 500 mA current available) | USB Type A receptacle | ||
| Grey | IEEE 1394 (FireWire) | 6-pin FireWire 400 or 9-pin FireWire 800 | ||
| Burgundy | Parallel port | 25-pin D female | ||
| Teal or turquoise | Serial port | 9-pin D male | ||
| Video | ||||
| Blue | Analog monitor | 15-pin VGA female | ||
| White | Digital monitor | DVI female | ||
| Yellow | S-Video | 4-pin mini-DIN | ||
| Yellow | Composite video | RCA jack | ||
| Black | Digital audio/video | HDMI or DisplayPort female | ||
| Audio | ||||
| Pink | Analog microphone audio input (mono or stereo) | 3.5 mm TRS | ||
| Light blue | Analog line level audio input | 3.5 mm TRS | ||
| Lime green | Analog line level audio output, front stereo (speakers or headphones) | 3.5 mm TRS | ||
| Black | Analog line level audio output, rear stereo (surround speakers) | 3.5 mm TRS | ||
| Orange | Analog line level audio output, center and subwoofer (surround speakers) | 3.5 mm TRS | ||
| Silver | Analog line level audio output, side stereo (surround speakers) | 3.5 mm TRS | ||
| Orange | Digital audio output (coaxial S/PDIF) | RCA connector | ||
| Black | Digital audio output (optical S/PDIF) | TOSLINK | ||
Source From Wikipedia