MR BIOS

MR BIOS (short for Microid Research BIOS), commonly (though unofficially) nicknamed Mr. BIOS, is a personal computer BIOS first released in 1990 by Microid Research Inc. (MRI). It was developed until 1999 when it was discontinued by Phoenix Technologies, which became the owner of Microid Research a year prior.

Unlike most other BIOS solutions, MR BIOS was primarily offered as a third-party upgrade for existing motherboard ROMs, instead of being mass licensed to OEMs for use on newly produced systems. However, it was occasionally also licensed to some OEMs.

Microid Research Inc. (MRI)

Microid Research Inc., abbreviated as MRI, was a software development company founded in 1989 and incorporated in 1992 in Santa Clara, California. It was acquired by Unicore Software in the mid-1990s (likely in 1995 or 1996). Unicore was then acquired by Award Software in 1997, which then merged with Phoenix Technologies the following year, resulting into Phoenix becoming the owner of the company.

The company was suspended by the California Secretary of State in September 1998, then by the Franchise Tax Board in November 2003.

Versions

The below is a list of known and possible versions of MR BIOS. Known versions with available ROMs are marked as "Available", while ones without are marked "Confirmed". Assumed possible versions are marked "Assumed".

Version	Earliest known release date	Status	First seen on	Notes	Expand
V1.0A	November 18, 1990	Available	Two OPTi 82C283 chipset motherboards (QDI P386SX/25 PW and Shuttle HOT-306).	Both motherboards support the same ROM upgrade (V007B314)
V1.0B	Late-1990(?)	Assumed		Likely exists assuming by the naming scheme, currently no ROMs are known.
V1.0C	Late-1990	Confirmed	Unknown OPTi 82C481 chipset motherboard, labelled "KMC486-25"	Only known instance of V1.0C so far. Currently no ROM dumps are available.
V1.0D	Late-1990 or early-1991(?)	Assumed		Likely exists assuming by the naming scheme
V1.0E	April 2, 1991	Available	Cache Computers CACHE BAT 486 (Model 319) motherboard	Last known version using the V1.0x naming scheme. The ROM has no visible Microid Research or MR BIOS branding, so it was most likely licensed to the Cache Computers for use.
V1.26	October 27, 1991	Available	TAM33-P1/TAM40-P1 motherboard	Earliest known version under the new naming scheme.
V1.27	Late-1991 or early-1992(?)	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.28		Assumed
V1.29	January 28, 1992	Available	ORCHID TECHNOLOGY SUPERBOARD 486	Earliest known version with the light blue background setup utility.
V1.30	Early or mid-1992	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.31		Assumed
V1.32		Assumed
V1.33		Assumed
V1.34		Assumed
V1.35		Assumed
V1.36	July 15, 1992	Available	Octek PANTHER II
V1.37	Mid-1992	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.38		Assumed
V1.39		Assumed
V1.40	September 9, 1992	Available	ECS 8517 V3.3
V1.41	October 14, 1992	Available	Octek Jaguar IV-C (Rev 1.6)
V1.42	Late-1992 or early-1993	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.43		Assumed
V1.44		Assumed
V1.45	March 16, 1993	Available	Octek HIPPO VL+
V1.46	Mid-1993	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.47		Assumed
V1.48		Assumed
V1.49		Assumed
V1.50		Assumed
V1.51	August 6, 1993	Available	Octek JAGUAR V 386 (rev 2.0)
V1.52	August 20, 1993	Available	A-Trend 4GPV3, 4GPV3.1 and MECER CORPORATION B860 (REV. A)	All three motherboards support the same ROM upgrade (V080B425)
V1.53	November 20, 1993	Available	Octek HIPPO OP
V1.54	Late-1993 or early-1994	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.55		Assumed
V1.56		Assumed
V1.57		Assumed
V1.58		Assumed
V1.59		Assumed
V1.60	January 26, 1994	Available	BEK-tronic BEK-3739 and Edom/WinTech MA013-X	Earliest known version with the blue background setup utility. Both motherboards support the same ROM upgrade (V084B4BH)
V1.61	February 5, 1994	Available	IBM ETEQ 486SLC2
V1.62	Early-1994	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V1.63		Assumed
V1.64		Assumed
V1.65	April 18, 1994	Available	Cache Computers CACHE BAT 486 (Model 319) DD & TT Enterprise DT-423S4L (Revision C2 and earlier) DFI 486-33/50UCE, 486DX2-50UCE FIC 386SC REV A2 IBM XT 286 (TYPE 5162) (62X1168) Infinity Multipro VII-386DXV MiTAC/Trigon PWA-286C MSI MS-3124 Octek PANTHER IV PCChips M321 (rev. 2.x)	9 ROMs for this BIOS version are known, with almost all of them (except one which is unavailable) released on the same day. Some of these motherboards support the same ROM upgrade.
V1.66	October 31, 1994	Available	Octek HIPPO DCA 1 486 REV. 1.0
V1.67	November 23, 1994	Available	Alaris Leopard REV A	Last known version of MR BIOS V1.x
V2.00	October 13, 1994	Available	Octek BISON III REV. 1.0	First version of MR BIOS V2.x
V2.01	Late-1994	Assumed		Likely exists assuming by the naming scheme
V2.02	November 29, 1994	Available	Jetway J-403TG V2.0
V2.03	Late-1994	Assumed		Likely exist assuming by the naming scheme
V2.04		Assumed
V2.05	December 28, 1994	Available	Alaris Tornado 2
V2.06	Late-1994 or early-1995	Assumed		May possibly exist assuming by the naming scheme, however it is also possible the version number was skipped from V2.05 to V2.10, especially due to the short time frame between both versions.
V2.07		Assumed
V2.08		Assumed
V2.09		Assumed
V2.10	January 16, 1995	Available	Octek HIPPO DCA II 486-33	Last known version of MR BIOS V2.x