Author Archives: Michal Necasek

Intel 420TX Chipset

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Michal Necasek

The OS/2 Museum recently obtained a somewhat unusual board: A 1993 vintage 486 PCI/ISA board equipped with the Intel 420TX chipset. The 420TX chipset, codenamed Saturn, was probably Intel’s first PCI chipset available to customers. It was probably first sold … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC hardware, PCI | 43 Comments

Sound Blaster: The French Connection

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Ever been wondering why there are chips labeled MHS on many Sound Blaster cards, and why there usually was some chip with a © Intel marking? For example this one, on a Sound Blaster 1.5 (1991): Or this one, on … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, PC hardware, Sound Blaster | 16 Comments

Sound Blaster DIAGNOSE and Disabled MPU-401

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Today I finally solved a nagging problem that always seemed like it had to have some sort of reasonable solution. Creative’s DIAGNOSE.EXE utility is quite useful when working with any Sound Blaster 16 derivatives (Sound Blaster 16, AWE32, Sound Blaster … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Labs, Sound, Sound Blaster, Undocumented | 3 Comments

sips To the Rescue

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Michal Necasek

A few days ago I scanned a document and unwisely used MS Paint on Windows 7 to touch up a small selection of the scanned pages. Once the dozen or so files were re-touched, I combined them into a PDF … Continue reading →

Posted in Graphics, OS X | Leave a comment

OS/2 on ThinkPad T23 and T30

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Recently I had a need to install IBM’s OS/2 on real hardware rather than in a VM, and for various reasons I wanted “genuine” IBM OS/2 and not eComStation. One of IBM’s older ThinkPads was a logical choice. A T42p … Continue reading →

Posted in OS/2, ThinkPad | 11 Comments

SC-8820 Gripes

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Michal Necasek

After a long while, I dusted off my Roland SC-8820 sound module which I bought used about 10 years ago. The goal was to drive it from an older PC via MIDI. This turned out to be a lot harder than … Continue reading →

Posted in MIDI, Roland, Sound | 12 Comments

IBM XENIX: One Step Forward, One Step Back

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Michal Necasek

A while ago I wrote about why IBM PC XENIX 1.0 can’t work on any CPU other than a 286. But not content to leave well enough alone, I attempted to patch this version of XENIX so that it would … Continue reading →

Posted in 286, 386, IBM, VirtualBox, Xenix | 5 Comments

The DOS 4.0 Shell Mouse Mystery

Posted on March 21, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Several years ago, I noticed that in some virtual and physical environments, the DOS Shell in both IBM’s and Microsoft’s DOS 4.0x has a very odd glitch: the mouse pointer moves, but does not register any clicks… except on scroll … Continue reading →

Posted in DOS, IBM, PC hardware, PC history | 28 Comments

Do You Know These Peripherals?

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Michal Necasek

After a long pause, here’s another guessing game. Do you recognize the five peripherals below? This should be very easy since the manufacturers’ names are clearly visible, only the model numbers got “lost”. This is all 1980s-1990s hardware from (obviously) … Continue reading →

Posted in MIDI, Roland, Sound, Yamaha | 10 Comments

What Is DXP44Q?

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Today I came across a random 1996 vintage ISA sound card (no name, made in China). The only two chips worth noting on the board are an OPTi 82C930A chip and a mysterious DXP44Q—a square chip center left, to the … Continue reading →

Posted in PC hardware, Sound | 12 Comments