[plug] Recycled machines

[Gavin Chester]

On Wed, 2008-05-28 at 21:29 +0800, Kai wrote:
> Mike Holland wrote:
> > Chris Caston wrote:
> > 
> >> Well I remember playing Doom, Star Wars Rebel Assault, Return to Zork, 
> >> various Sierra games, using Grolliers Encylopedia, doing home work  
> >> and browsing the web and newsgroups on a 386.
> > 
> > Ah, the good old days.
> > Remember when PCs had a "turbo" button and a 7-segment LED MHz display?
> 
> Hahahaa, yep.
> 
> I remember wondering if that button ever actually did anything or if it 
> was just a gimmick...

No, it did. I remember toggling it just to see how _slow_ dos3 apps
could be made to run, for example ;-) Can't remember the exact detail,
but I think it was something to do with some programs that were still in
use into the early desktop PC days that needed the processor to be
clocked down to 8bit, or below a certain MHz threshold so that they
could run. Something like that. But then we're talking new fangled 286
PCs, not the glorious old 8086s that existed before hard drives! 

Gavin