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Comment by earenndil | Hacker News Reader

> Having such a unique processor at your disposal, it’s absurd not to build a powerful x64-retro system on it. One of the options for using such a system in general can be to build a universal “PC-harvester” that supports all Microsoft operating systems from DOS to Windows 10.

I thought all modern intel/amd cpus are backwards compatible back to the 8086, and so capable of doing that?

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Unfortunately not, the biggest change being "pure" UEFI-without-legacy-BIOS firmware that a lot of motherboards already have.

That and the question of drivers for OSs newer than DOS (which is not as big of a problem, since they can still be written and doing so is easier than changing the BIOS. The existence of USB drivers for DOS, and HD Audio for Windows 3.1x[1] are examples of that.)

Modern x86 CPUs are theoretically still backwards compatible, but I suspect they don't test things like 16-bit mode and VME[2] much anymore.

[1] http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?50867-Windows-3-1-...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14328237

Intel is supposedly dropping the support to boot in 16 bits mode next year.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/intel-to-kill-off-th...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/intel-were-ending-all-legacy-b...

Those disturbingly happy articles should really be titled something like "the openness of the PC is about to end forever" --- because that was likely the end-goal all along.

These new machines are not PCs. It's not out of the question for some company to build a new BIOS-architecture machine in the future, though it will probably eventually require sourcing x86 chips from vendors other than the Big Two as crypto keys will probably be required to even boot the chip if they aren't already.

You would need the firmware to also be backwards compatible.

It's presumably easier to find a socket 478 motherboard with ISA slots and very old-style firmware.

I had to do this. Needed ISA, and a newer OS. Search for 'industrial motherboard' and it gets way easier, but somewhat more expensive.

Please tell me what you ended up with, I have a waferprober that needs some love.

What specifically does it need to interface with? An ISA slot? Non-USB-dongle RS232?

I need three ISA slots for Weird Proprietary 80s Shit, probably parallel+serial as well

Agh, didn't see your reply :(

A couple seconds of digging finds motherboards that cost an average of $300. Assuming you (unfortunately) _have_ to support whatever it is you're supporting...

- Socket 478 (P4/Celeron), 2GB max, RS422/485, MiniPCI, $???: https://adek.com/product/MB-800V

- Socket 478, 2GB max, $???: https://www.bressner.co.uk/products/motherboards/mb-g4v620-b...

- Socket 478, 6xUSB2, $???: http://vegashine.sell.everychina.com/p-104455439/showimage.h...

- Socket 478, 2GB max, CF, 6xUSB2, $???: http://vegashine.sell.everychina.com/p-104455440-4-pci-3-isa...

- LGA775 (Core 2 Quad), 4GB max, 1xPCIx16, M-SATA, 2xLAN, IrDA, 5xRS232, $320: https://www.ebay.com/itm/283550673178

- LGA775, 6xRS232, 8xUSB2.0, CF, RS422/485, $179: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32892452763.html

- LGA775 (Intel G41), 4GB max, DVI, 4xSATA 3G, 2xLAN, 8xRS232, (does not support ISA bus mastering), $???: http://vegashine.sell.everychina.com/p-104455435/showimage.h...

All of the above have 3xISA, at least one RS232 and at least one LPT.

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