A $200 mini-laptop with a Intel 8088 chip and 640KB • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by cdchn » Fri, May 19, 2023, 2:46 AM UTC

codpiece wrote: post #4

I really hate Liliputing. After browsing, I somehow have several tiny laptops that I don't need but truly love like the Magic Ben MAG1 and the Pomera DM30. And Jetpens. I hate Jetpens too. I can't believe how many...

I never heard of Jetpens before but I'm excited to see they sell what is essentially colossal, unbranded Altoids tins https://www.jetpens.com/Velos-Tin-Pen-Case-Wide/pd/14193

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

#32

Post by inconceivable » Fri, May 19, 2023, 2:49 AM UTC

wang_li wrote: post #7

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…

nearly all of the old stuff just sucked. there's a reason we threw it all away (for the most part) and have turned to emulation.

the new low power SoC systems with actual connectivity are much more interesting... probably why they can barely keep the stuff in stock. as a bonus, they can run emulation just fine. old, and new, in one package.

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

#33

Post by teleforce » Fri, May 19, 2023, 2:54 AM UTC

8088 chip does not include FPU, does this laptop has one, otherwise it is going to be very slow.

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

#34

Post by chem83 » Fri, May 19, 2023, 2:56 AM UTC

DOS emulation is not a very battery-efficient way to play '88-98 games on the go, so projects like these seem to cater to that specific need, letting people run DOS natively. The Toshiba Libretto was a nice, small machine, but finding one in good condition is super hard. Toshiba Portégé was another, but after Pentium-II models, they took away the OPL3 card in favor of something more Windows-friendly (AC97), which doesn't have good DOS drivers. Now there's SBEMU (https://github.com/crazii/SBEMU), which can emulate SB/SBPRO/SB16 on top of newer PCI-based sound cards, including AC97 ones, solving that problem. Now it's possible to have sound on a Pentium-II, III, M and Atom machines running DOS, like a Sony Vaio P.

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

#35

Post by pier25 » Fri, May 19, 2023, 3:05 AM UTC

Seems like a great distraction-free writing machine.

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

#36

Post by jazzyjackson » Fri, May 19, 2023, 3:06 AM UTC

cdchn wrote: post #31

codpiece wrote: post #4

I really hate Liliputing. After browsing, I somehow have several tiny laptops that I don't need but truly love like the Magic Ben MAG1 and the Pomera DM30. And Jetpens. I hate Jetpens too. I can't believe how many...

I never heard of Jetpens before but I'm excited to see they sell what is essentially colossal, unbranded Altoids tins https://www.jetpens.com/Velos-Tin-Pen-Case-Wide/pd/14193

lol, not a bad price, what excites you about it tho?

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

#37

Post by jazzyjackson » Fri, May 19, 2023, 3:07 AM UTC

Do they still manufacture 8088 ? Or perhaps someone found some new old stock and got entrepreneurial; I'd love to know the story behind this

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

#38

Post by kitsunesoba » Fri, May 19, 2023, 3:08 AM UTC

A "real hardware" approach to retrocomputing like displayed here appeals to me because it much better captures parts of the experience lost to emulation. Things like insanely low latency thanks to there not being a fractal spiral of hardware and software abstractions sitting between everything. It's much more simple, and you can feel that.

That said I'd also like to see some modern advancements brought in… for example a reproduction of a mid-90s 68k or PPC Mac using components manufactured on a much smaller node would be incredible. It wouldn't even have to be anything cutting edge like 3/5nm — even the now-ancient 14nm or 30nm would be amazing compared to say the 350nm node that the PowerPC 603ev was manufactured on.

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

#39

Post by icedchai » Fri, May 19, 2023, 3:09 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #20

selcuka wrote: post #13

Curious. Why do we need an actual 8088? Aren't all x86 processors backwards compatible with 8088/8086? Also last time I checked VGA cards supported legacy modes such as CGA, and EGA (this may not be the case anymore). Any modern Intel laptop should be able to run the same software, without emulation.

Any modern Intel laptop should be able to run the same software, without emulation. Unfortunately not, UEFI-only BIOSes and locked-down bootloaders are a thing today.

Is there something wrong with using a VM?

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

#40

Post by inconceivable » Fri, May 19, 2023, 3:09 AM UTC

cdchn wrote: post #31

codpiece wrote: post #4

I really hate Liliputing. After browsing, I somehow have several tiny laptops that I don't need but truly love like the Magic Ben MAG1 and the Pomera DM30. And Jetpens. I hate Jetpens too. I can't believe how many...

I never heard of Jetpens before but I'm excited to see they sell what is essentially colossal, unbranded Altoids tins https://www.jetpens.com/Velos-Tin-Pen-Case-Wide/pd/14193

fyi these kinds of pen cases have been popular in asia and asian communities worldwide for decades, usually for carrying mechanical pencils and their accessories (extra lead, erasers, protractors, rulers, mini notebooks, sticky pads, whatever)

western equivalent would be trapper keepers with their pencil pouches.