Electronics enthusiast begins breadboard-based Intel 386 system build — a large step up from their previous PC-XT and PC-AT breadboard projects

Electronics enthusiast begins breadboard-based Intel 386 system build — a large step up from their previous PC-XT and PC-AT breadboard projects

Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-20/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

8086 such bad timing, Linux just dropped 486 support. https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-devs-start-removing-support-for-37-year-old-intel-486-cpu-head-honcho-linus-torvalds-says-zero-real-reason-to-continue-support Reply

MobileJAD 8086 said: such bad timing, Linux just dropped 486 support. https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-devs-start-removing-support-for-37-year-old-intel-486-cpu-head-honcho-linus-torvalds-says-zero-real-reason-to-continue-support If someone is putting together a 386 or 486 system together as a fun project, do they really need the most bleeding edge Linux kernel? Reply

MobileJAD Admin said: Motherboards, who needs them? Not Breadboarding Labs, which recently drafted plans for a retro Intel 80386 (i386) PC build using solderless breadboards. Electronics enthusiast begins breadboard-based Intel 386 system build — a large step up from their previous PC-XT and PC-AT breadboard projects : Read more Honestly so many motherboards from the 80s and 90s are dying out each year, if you want to build such a system today your options are going to be playing the Goodwill or eBay lottery, searching for a industrial PC motherboard at a decent price or… Build it yourself. Reply

bit_user 8086 said: such bad timing, Linux just dropped 486 support. https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-devs-start-removing-support-for-37-year-old-intel-486-cpu-head-honcho-linus-torvalds-says-zero-real-reason-to-continue-support Not really that bad, considering there are LTS kernels that support it and will keep getting bugfix patches for a long time. Usually, by the time the Linux kernel drops support for hardware, the code paths for it have already broken to the point of being unusable and nobody has stepped up to contribute fixes for at least a couple kernel releases. I doubt i486 is that broken, but it's a fact that the fewer people are actually using hardware, the more bugs it tends to accumulate. Reply

Dave – Breadboarding Labs 8086 said: such bad timing, Linux just dropped 486 support. https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/linux-devs-start-removing-support-for-37-year-old-intel-486-cpu-head-honcho-linus-torvalds-says-zero-real-reason-to-continue-support Dave here from Breadboarding Labs. No problem as will only have 8-10MB of RAM so need a really old LINUX distribution like Slackware 2. I have fond memories of getting this running back in 1995 on my 486 based PC (even with the Mitsumi CD-ROM running off the sound card!). Aiming for Windows 3.1 Enhanced Mode, Windows 95 A (retail – no USB) and Slackware LINUX. Reply

Dave – Breadboarding Labs MobileJAD said: Honestly so many motherboards from the 80s and 90s are dying out each year, if you want to build such a system today your options are going to be playing the Goodwill or eBay lottery, searching for a industrial PC motherboard at a decent price or… Build it yourself. If you want to understand how stuff works then the DeskPro 386/16 was about the last PC model which didn't have huge 100+ pin VLSI chips with most of the logic on them. This is the design I am basing this project on. A lot of the components (Timer, DMA, Interrupt Controllers) are still available new today in DIP form. Its only the CPU and a few other obscure parts (74LS612 Memory Mapper) that are needed from eBay. Most of these components are still emulated in modern chipsets. Intel have been planning to drop legacy hardware support at some point but I think most modern CPUs can still boot MS-DOS 3.30 in legacy BIOS mode. Dave (Breadboarding Labs) Reply

bit_user Dave – Breadboarding Labs said: Dave here from Breadboarding Labs. 386DX-25 was the first computer I truly used on a daily basis. I had fond memories from seeing that chip in the photos! I also first tinkered with Linux on it. At the time, I had no real clue what to do with it, so I pretty much just booted it up, learned a few shell commands, and marveled at how much faster Linux could format a floppy disk (and the PC didn't even get unresponsive, during the process!). Good luck! : ) Reply

Dave – Breadboarding Labs Admin said: Motherboards, who needs them? Not Breadboarding Labs, which recently drafted plans for a retro Intel 80386 (i386) PC build using solderless breadboards. Electronics enthusiast begins breadboard-based Intel 386 system build — a large step up from their previous PC-XT and PC-AT breadboard projects : Read more Thanks for the article Mark. You can contact me on the email on the YouTube site (also registered for the account) if you would like notification of new updates. Planning on doing 1-2 videos per week but wiring up and testing the 132 pin breadboard adapter likely to take a little while longer. Dave Reply

Dave – Breadboarding Labs bit_user said: 386DX-25 was the first computer I truly used on a daily basis. I had fond memories from seeing that chip in the photos! I also first tinkered with Linux on it. At the time, I had no real clue what to do with it, so I pretty much just booted it up, learned a few shell commands, and marveled at how much faster Linux could format a floppy disk (and the PC didn't even get unresponsive, during the process!). Good luck! : ) Thanks, I think I will need it with so many more wires! During floppy disk access the PC BIOS just did a tight loop waiting for the floppy disk interrupt to signal the data transfer was finished. It was only when the BIOS wasn't used that other activities could go on in the background like with LINUX (and possibly 32 bit Windows VxD floppy disk drivers or virtual 86 – though not done this yet). Dave (Breadboarding Labs) Reply

Key considerations

  • Investor positioning can change fast
  • Volatility remains possible near catalysts
  • Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows

Reference reading

More on this site

Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.

Leave a Comment