Category Archives: PC history

PC DOS 1.0, But Not Quite

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Michal Necasek

Last week a most interesting image of a 160K disk arrived at the OS/2 Museum. The files on the disk image are rather old. When the disk boots up (not trivial, see below), the following message appears: Astute readers will … Continue reading →

Posted in DOS, IBM, Microsoft, PC history, Pre-release | 47 Comments

How Many Gravis UltraSounds?

Posted on May 20, 2017 by Michal Necasek

The question came up a while ago. Just how commercially unsuccessful was the Gravis UltraSound? There appears to be no public information about the sales volume of the UltraSound. But now, looking at a sample of 3 (three) classic GUS … Continue reading →

Posted in PC history, Sound, UltraSound | 51 Comments

OS/2 2.0, Xmas ’91 Edition

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Michal Necasek

After reviewing the OS/2 2.0 level 6.605 pre-release, another re-discovery is the “Limited Availability” (LA) level 6.177 from December 1991. This was the last OS/2 2.0 pre-release of 1991 and also the last one using the 6.1xx numbering; the next pre-release was … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, IBM, OS/2, PC history | 16 Comments

OS/2 2.0, Summer ’91 Edition

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Michal Necasek

In a fascinating example of poor timing, disk images of OS/2 2.0 pre-release level 6.605 from July/September 1991 were missing for over 25 years, only to show up literally one day after after the 25th anniversary of the OS/2 2.0 release … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, IBM, OS/2, PC history | 37 Comments

What a Coincidence

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Michal Necasek

Timeline: Mid-1988: SCO 386 Xenix 2.2.3 is released 1996 (probably): Someone dumps the 386 Xenix 2.2.3 disks, but enough sectors are missing that the OS is impossible to install January 3rd, 2013: OS/2 Museum posts about the damaged Xenix dump February … Continue reading →

Posted in PC history, Xenix | 1 Comment

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

Gravis Ultras

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Michal Necasek

While researching 1990s sound cards with wavetable synths, I came across an interesting resource called Rich Heimlich’s Patch Set Overview, namely issue #5 from July 1995. When I tried to unearth older issues of same, I stumbled upon a curious … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Labs, Internet, PC history, Sound, UltraSound | 18 Comments

Deskpro 386 at 30

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Michal Necasek

30 years ago, in September 1986, Compaq announced the Deskpro 386, a PC as revolutionary as it was conservative. Compaq decided to forge its own path and not wait for IBM to introduce a 386-based PC. At the same time, Compaq … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, Compaq, IBM, PC history, PC press | 22 Comments

Intel OverDrive Part II: Pentium OverDrive

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Michal Necasek

The Pentium OverDrive is notable for supporting three physically different sockets (that’s not counting the Pentium II OverDrive). The Pentium OverDrive product was sold in variants suitable for Socket 2/3 (486 systems), Socket 4 (early Pentium systems), and Socket 5/7 … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC history, Pentium | 21 Comments

Children of the Bus Wars

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Michal Necasek

In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the so-called Bus Wars raged. A few years after the PC/AT was released, it became clear that the ISA bus could not keep pace with faster CPUs and peripherals, especially graphics cards … Continue reading →

Posted in ATi, EISA, MCA, PC history, PCI, VLB | 11 Comments