Category Archives: PC hardware

Kryofluxing PC Floppies

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Michal Necasek

Last year I finally bought a Kryoflux, unfortunately in the middle of moving house. Now I’m finally able to use it beyond verifying that it’s not completely broken. After imaging a few dozens of floppies, I can say one thing–Kryoflux … Continue reading →

Posted in Floppies, Kryoflux, PC hardware | 11 Comments

Reading From Void

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Michal Necasek

Recently I came across the following question: What happens when software reads the registers of a non-existent IDE controller? That is, what happens when software reads for example ports in the 1F0h-1F7h/3F6h range (primary IDE channel) when there is no … Continue reading →

Posted in BIOS, IDE, PC hardware | 10 Comments

DiskOnChip

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Michal Necasek

This is a guest post by Nils aka stecdose What Is DOC? I would like to present a „storage card“ for the XT bus (8-bit ISA bus) that I built from scrap parts. It is based on a small device … Continue reading →

Posted in Hardware Hacks, PC hardware | 11 Comments

How Fast Is a PS/2 Keyboard?

Posted on July 23, 2018 by Michal Necasek

A few weeks ago, an interesting question cropped up: How fast is a PS/2 keyboard? That is to say, how quickly can it send scan codes (bytes) to the keyboard controller? One might also ask, does it really matter? Sure … Continue reading →

Posted in Borland, IBM, Keyboard, PC hardware | 14 Comments

Audio Frequency Data Acquisition

Posted on August 23, 2017 by Michal Necasek

Readers of this blog may have noticed that besides OS/2 software, I have interested in PC sound cards. I thought I had a decent idea about the major milestones in PC sound history, but I had to perform a few … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, MCA, PC hardware, PC history, PS/2, Sound, Sound Blaster | 17 Comments

Top of the Class 478

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Michal Necasek

So I have that old Intel D865PERL board, which is a Socket 478/AGP board. There’s a 3.2 GHz Northwood in it but of course I was wondering, what’s the fastest CPU this board supports? And it turns out to be a … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, PC hardware, PC history, Pentium 4 | 5 Comments

Shiniest x86 Chip

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Michal Necasek

While there have been many shiny new chips in the metaphorical sense, x86 (and x87) chips have never been known to be literally shiny. The typical packaging is ceramic or some form of brushed metal, and neither of these surfaces is … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, C&T, PC hardware | 11 Comments

Getting Organized, Finally

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Michal Necasek

After years of looking for a good storage solution for 386 chips, I accidentally stumbled upon it: This is a relatively modern CPU tray, designed for—I believe—Socket G processors, It turns out that old ceramic PGA 386s fit in the … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, PC hardware | 11 Comments

Capacitors, Ugh

Posted on November 9, 2016 by Michal Necasek

So I’m looking at an ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe board that stopped working some time ago and I had no time to figure out why. The board is from early 2008, not exactly vintage hardware, or at least not just yet. It … Continue reading →

Posted in PC hardware | 10 Comments

More on DXP44Q

Posted on October 26, 2016 by Michal Necasek

While pondering the DXP44Q mystery again, I realized that one of my sound cards most likely could be equipped with a DXP44Q. Here’s the card: It’s a pretty standard Sound Blaster clone. Note that the OPTi 924 chips is only … Continue reading →

Posted in PC hardware, Sound | 4 Comments