Everex Systems, Inc., is a defunct American manufacturer of

multi-processor Multiprocessing (MP) is the use of two or more central processing units (CPUs) within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor or the ability to allocate tasks between them. Ther ...

servers, desktop and notebook

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s. It was established in 1983 and headquartered in

Fremont, California Fremont () is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San F ...

. The company was founded by Steve Hui, John Lee and Wayne Cheung. In 1988, Everex was the leader in

tape backup A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and writes data on a magnetic tape. Magnetic-tape data storage is typically used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and long archival stability. A ...

sales with half of the world market. On January 5, 1993 the company filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by

Formosa Plastics Group Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, ) is a titular Taiwanese conglomerate of diverse interests, including biotechnology, petrochemical processing and production of electronics components. The group was founded by Wang Yung-ching and his brother Wang ...

, hence becoming part of a multinational conglomerate alongside companies like

First International Computer First International Computer, Inc. (FIC; zh, t=大眾電腦股份有限公司, p=Dàzhòng Diànnǎo Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) is a Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer and system integrator for automotive electronics and smart building ...

, the world's leading

motherboard A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...

manufacturer. On December 29, 2006 Everex Systems, Inc filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7, and in June 2008 NewMarket Technology has taken control of Everex.

History

In 1983, Everex shipped its first

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

, tape backup and graphics products. Seven years later, with an ever expanding product line, annual revenues totaled over $436 million and the workforce topped 2,200 employees. In 1985, Everex began shipping personal computers under

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

s, such as the popular IBM-AT-compatible System 1800. Three years later the STEP computer line launched, introducing cutting edge 286 and

386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 1139 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...

-based computing to a mass audience. In addition to computer systems, high-performance

file server In computing, a file server (or fileserver) is a computer attached to a network that provides a location for shared disk access, i.e. storage of computer files (such as text, image, sound, video) that can be accessed by workstations within a co ...

s and a

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

-based

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

( ESIX), the company produced tape drives, graphics boards, data and

fax modem A fax modem enables a computer to transmit and receive documents as faxes on a telephone line. A fax modem is similar to a data modem but is designed to transmit and receive documents to and from a fax machine or another fax modem. Some, but not ...

s, network boards, memory enhancement and

desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online co ...

products, controllers for disk and tape drivers, and monitors. * 1983 - Everex founded in Fremont, California * 1984 - First Everex hard disk drive shipped * 1986 - 286-based STEP line of computers launched * 1987 - Everex

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

under

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...

"EVRX" * 1992 - Discussed a merger with

Northgate Computer Systems __NOTOC__ Northgate Computer Systems, Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States, was a mail-order personal computer company, founded in 1987 by Arthur "Art" Lazere. The 1990s were a golden era for mail-order PC business. Consumers w ...

but these talks failed. * 1993 - Everex files for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wh ...

. They sell their Esix brand to James River Group for $210,000 and their storage division to

Exabyte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

for $5.5M. * 1993 - Everex purchased by the

* 1998 - Everex launches FreeStyle, the world's first

Windows CE Windows CE, later known as Windows Embedded CE and Windows Embedded Compact, is a discontinued operating system developed by Microsoft for mobile and embedded devices. It was part of the Windows Embedded family and served as the software foun ...

PDA, but abandoned the line later in the year * 2007 - Everex launches its first 17" widescreen

Vista Vista may refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) a medical records system of the United States ...

notebook * 2007 - Everex launches low-cost green PC Impact GC3502 running gOS * 2007 - Everex announces plans for sub-$300

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

notebooks * 2008 - Everex launches a series of low cost "green" systems, the

CloudBook The CloudBook is a discontinued x86 subnotebook, or ultra-mobile PC developed by Everex using a VIA processor, chipset, and NanoBook reference design. It competed with the Asus Eee PC, the OLPC XO-1, and the Classmate PC. The device was cate ...

UMPC, the gBook notebook, and the gPC mini Mac mini-like desktop, all running the

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

-based gOS Linux with the

GNOME A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

desktop environment In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphi ...

. Everex is later acquired by systems integrator Newmarket Technology. * 2009 - The US subsidiary of Everex closes its doors, while the Japanese and Taiwanese subsidiaries seem to remain unaffected.

Green computers

In the mid-2000s, Everex began selling several brands of green computers.

gBook

The gBook is a

webbook A netbook is a small-sized laptop computer; they were primarily sold from 2007 until around 2013, designed mostly as a means of accessing the Internet and being significantly less expensive than regular-sized laptops. At their inception in l ...

, a laptop with a 15.4" WXGA+ Widescreen Display (1440 x 900) and a 1.5 GHz

VIA C7-M The VIA C7 is an x86 central processing unit designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies. Product history The C7 delivers a number of improvements to the older VIA C3 cores but is nearly identical to the latest VIA C3 Nehemia ...

Processor. It comes loaded with gOS Linux.

gPC

Two major variants of the gPC exist: one based on gOS Linux; the other, an Impact brand of

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

low-power machines. Both utilize a

VIA C7 The VIA C7 is an x86 central processing unit designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies. Product history The C7 delivers a number of improvements to the older VIA C3 cores but is nearly identical to the latest VIA C3 Nehemiah ...

CPU. The gPC also ships with a

softmodem A software modem, commonly referred to as a softmodem, is a modem with minimal hardware that uses software running on the host computer, and the computer's resources (especially the central processing unit, random access memory, and sometimes ...

that is not enabled for consumer use, but is provided "for developers." A successor, gPC2, was available through

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

. A third, the gPC3, with a 2 GHz AMD Sempron processor, 1 GB RAM, and Ubuntu 8.04, was available through

Newegg Newegg Commerce, Inc., is an American online retailer of items including computer hardware and consumer electronics. It is based in Diamond Bar, California. It is majority-owned by Hangzhou Liaison Interactive Information Technology Co., a Chines ...

gPC mini

The gPC mini, a small, light

nettop A mini PC (or miniature PC, nettop, or Smart Micro PC) is a small-sized, inexpensive, low-power, Legacy free PC, legacy-free desktop computer, desktop computer designed for basic tasks such as Web navigation, web browsing, accessing web appl ...

computer, was announced in April 2008: it includes a

DVD recorder A DVD recorder is an optical disc recorder that uses optical disc recording technologies to digital recording, digitally record analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signals onto blank writable DVD recordable, D ...

, DVI video output, and

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

-driven content on gOS Space. It was intended as a competitor to the

Mac mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...

Cloudbook

The Cloudbook is an

Ultra-Mobile PC An ultra-mobile PC, or ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), is a miniature version of a pen computer, a class of laptop whose specifications were launched by Microsoft and Intel in Spring 2006. Sony had already made a first attempt in this ...

, running a VIA C7 CPU with either gOS Linux or Windows Vista. There is also a Stepnote variant that uses a

Pentium Dual-Core The Pentium Dual-Core brand was used for mainstream x86-architecture microprocessors from Intel from 2006 to 2009, when it was renamed to Pentium. The processors are based on either the 32-bit '' Yonah'' or (with quite different microarchitectu ...

CPU, instead of a VIA C7.

Photos

Image:GPC case.jpg, Casing of a gPC from 2008. Image:GPC inside.jpg, Interior of a gPC from 2008. Image:Everex Cloudbook.jpg,

References

External links

Everex Company HistoryComputerWorld article on Microsoft reserving future XP installs to gPC and related machinesArticle on "gPC Mini" targeted for Myspace users
1983 establishments in California 2009 disestablishments in California American companies established in 1983 American companies disestablished in 2009 Computer companies of Taiwan Companies based in Fremont, California Computer companies established in 1983 Computer companies disestablished in 2009 Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area