AMR 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.[1] 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.[1]
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 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 | |
| V3.00 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | Likely exists judging by the version number scheme of the previous versions. If it does it would be the first version of MR BIOS V3.x | |||
| V3.01 | style="background:#B8FFAA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-available"|Available | Octek HIPPO DCA II 486-33 | Possibly the first version of MR BIOS V3.x (assuming V3.00 doesn't exist) | ||
| V3.02 | style="background:#B8FFAA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-available"|Available | Alaris Tornado 2 | |||
| V3.03 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.04 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.05 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.06 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.07 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.08 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.09 | style="background:#FFF1AA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-assumed"|Assumed | ||||
| V3.10 | June, July or early-August 1995|style="background:#AAC6FF;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-confirmed"|Confirmed | Intel Advanced/ZP (Zappa) | Mentioned in the version note for the V3.14 ROM. Supposedly was the original release for this motherboard and also contained a new Plug and Play (PnP) "core" (likely either code or add-on) | ||
| style="background:#AAC6FF;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-confirmed"|Confirmed | Mentioned in the version note for the V3.14 ROM | ||||
| style="background:#AAC6FF;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-confirmed"|Confirmed | Mentioned in the version note for the V3.14 ROM. Supposedly contains bug fixes for the PnP "core" | ||||
| style="background:#AAC6FF;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-confirmed"|Confirmed | Mentioned in the version note for the V3.14 ROM | ||||
| V3.14 | style="background:#B8FFAA;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-available"|Available | Supposedly contains a bug fix for the Super I/O chip with regards to the parallel port |