Number of transistors in the C64
How many transistors are there approximately in the C64 if we consider every chip on it? I think that it is something around 50.000 but I'm not sure.
View ArticleWhy is the RM Nimbus PC-186 not IBM PC compatible?
The RM Nimbus range of computers were popular in British schools during the late 80s and into the 90s. When I was at high school Nimbus PC-186 machines were all over the place. Many web pages that...
View ArticleWindows 98 SE installation "hangs" around device detection stage
I just got a Medion PC with an Intel AN430TX, Pentium MMX 166 and 32MB of RAM. The Mainboard has a 3d Rage 2 and Yamaha audio onboard.I can not install Windows 98 SE completely.I don't get any error...
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Which ports are which on this Soviet ZX Spectrum clone?
Today I got my (first) Soviet ZX Spectrum clone. The person who sold it to me had inherited it and had no idea how it worked.It seems to be a home-made clone, rather than a factory-built one. See...
View ArticleWhat were wait-states, and why was it only an issue for PCs?
PC compatibles in the 1980s were often advertised as having zero, one, two, or sometimes more "wait states". Zero wait states was the best.Basically, the wait-states I am asking about are due to the...
View ArticleWere there any games/software that used memory beyond what was advertised...
Were there any games/software that used memory beyond what was advertised as available to BASIC on the machine ?On home / personal computers any time up to 1984 .Without needing to plug in any...
View ArticleWhat was the DEC CR11 card reader 'compressed Hollerith code' for?
In this manual for the DEC CR11 card reader controller, the controller can deliver the card content to the PDP11 in either of two forms:Column binary: the 12 rows of hole/no-hole are delivered in one...
View Articlec64 copy chars to sprite issue [closed]
How to do correct copying char to sprite ?Lets say 1st char is at $2000 second is at $2008 and copying to sprite at $2480.And with this we can copy 1 char to top left position of 1st sprite. But what...
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Windows 98 setup preparation hangs while probing floppy drives in the...
I am trying to install Windows 98 on a pretty modern computer, from 2010. Why? Because I want to see if I can.Anyway, I am booting off a USB flash drive with FreeDOS on it. I formatted the USB flash...
View ArticleWhat innovation helped CD-ROM speeds increase exponentially?
Early CD-ROM drives were considered both expensive and slow (in comparison to HDDs). This limited their adoption until around 1992, when both the prices fell and the speeds increased dramatically.In...
View ArticleDocumentation for the SALUT preprocessor of the IBM Macro Assembler 2.0
The IBM Macro Assembler 2.0 included the SALUT program, which was a preprocessor for assembly language for structured programming. It was also included in the IBM Macro Assembler/2.I am looking for the...
View ArticleWhy have consumer-level graphing calculators seemingly not developed in 20+...
I am not a mathematician, though I was reading up on the various technological advancements of calculating technology.The TI-84Plus was released in 2004. I used it in high school; it cost me around...
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SCSI connectors with 80-68-50pin adapter on 1995 SCSI-2 controller
I have an old SCSI controller "Asus pci sc-200"I have to connect a 80pin SCSI disk to itThis is the cableThis is the adapterActually I have connected the white connector to controller and the 68pin...
View ArticleDid any MS-DOS program ever use the System Request interrupt?
As I remember, the SysRq key generated a special, unique interrupt (not an ordinary keyboard interrupt). It was supposed to let the user interrupt any process in a multitasking situation and return...
View ArticleWas an Amiga 'Enhancer' software package ever released for...
When the original Amiga 1000 was released, it shipped with version 1.0 of Kickstart and Workbench. However, it wasn't long before Commodore released version 1.1 and computers started shipping with the...
View ArticleWhat methods were used for password encryption before adoption of DES?
It is well-known that, for quite a while, UNIX passwords were hashed using the DES algorithm (see here).However, DES was not published until 1975 and not standardized until 1977. What were the...
View ArticleWhy does my dvd disc still spins on the tray when ejecting the disc from the...
Why does my dvd disc still spins on the tray when ejecting the disc from the console ?I don't see how I can review - rewrite any additional information on my problem ? I don't get it - My post has been...
View ArticleWhy is the Compaq FWS2ASPI.SYS driver not recognized as an ASPI driver?
I have a Compaq ProSignia server with an onboard NCR53c710 EISA SCSI controller. Compaq supplies a driver for it (the latest version is contained in the SoftPaq 10751 (SP10751.EXE), called...
View ArticleCorrectly playing 1bit sample with Apple ][ clicker, how? [closed]
Title already says most of my question. Naturally for this attempt assembly has been used and code itself runs without crashing system. No, I don't have that code on this computer. Albeit I can try...
View ArticleIs there an standardised 6502 assembly syntax?
I am working on a Flex/Bison based 6502 assembler (for fun and learning) and looking around for a "standard" syntax for the assembly language. Opcodes and addressing are more or less standardised, so...
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