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A $200 mini-laptop with a Intel 8088 chip and 640KB

liliputing.com

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Re: A $200 mini-laptop with a Intel 8088 chip and 640KB

#3

Post by jasomill »

As the owner of an obscure floppy disk subsystem that requires an 8-bit ISA card and was originally spec'ed to run on XT-class hardware, this is tempting.

In particular, 640 kB really is enough, as the bundled software runs in real mode, doesn't support extended or expanded memory, and predates tricks like loading DOS in high memory by a number of years (not that they'd work on an XT in any case).

The disk read/write code and some of the simpler filesystem modules run on the ISA card itself, essentially an 8085-based SBC with a rather flexible (no pun intended) floppy controller. Here, 64 kB is necessarily enough for everything.

The fun part is that, assuming an Intel MDS 80/ISIS-compatible toolchain, the card can easily be coerced to run arbitrary code. And, while working Intel "blue" hardware is thin on the ground, I have personal experience with at least one working emulator (MAME) able to run ISIS.

Re: A $200 mini-laptop with a Intel 8088 chip and 640KB

#6

Post by bigjimmyk3 »

Boy, does this bring back some good memories of the Toshiba Libretto:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_Libretto

I bought one on the gray market in 1996, and I think I managed to double my money in about 6 months by reselling it within the US. It was supremely handy to have around, but with only one PCMCIA slot you had to choose between wired networking and a CD-ROM drive.

Re: A $200 mini-laptop with a Intel 8088 chip and 640KB

#7

Post by wang_li »

As a nerd of a certain age I’ve been deeply attracted to retro computing. Even going so far as to place bids on 30 year old Atari STs on eBay since that was a computer I had in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. But in recent days, through the use of modern emulators I’ve dabbled in these retro systems and I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re just bad. They are fine for the enjoyment of certain games and reliving or just getting a reminder of my younger years. Yet these home computers of that era lack so much. No MMU, no FPU, no IP networking. Very limited CPU cycles and memory.

Even switching from home computers of the era to workstation class system, it’s pure frustration at the limits on what can be done. Don’t get me wrong, for a lot of my computing needs I could probably get along just fine with a next cube or a late model Mac II. But on the other hand you’ll pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for these systems, while I can go on Amazon and spend ~$200 for a mouse, keyboard, cheap monitor, and a raspberry pi zero w and I’ll have a more capable system in every way. For just a little more money I can buy a tiny PC that is able to emulate near perfectly all the computers of my youth.

Thank you for attending my Ted talk.

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