The requirements in this guide are intended to apply to PC systems and peripherals designed for delivery in the fourth quarter of 1998, which means that compliance testing for these guidelines will begin July 1, 1998.
This guide specifies requirements that represent only incremental changes to existing silicon designs, not changes that require a new design cycle. Most of these changes are “choice of supplier” questions, or clarify and strengthen BIOS and driver implementation details first raised in PC 97 Hardware Design Guide.
Compliance testing for any PC 98 guidelines that require significant hardware design changes will begin January 1, 1999.