24 Nov
2009
24 Nov
'09
8:06 a.m.
On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 06:59:28AM -0800, Rick Bensene wrote:
OK, so this might break the ten year rule, but I'm
curious.
Has anyone ever built a switches and lights front panel for a PC?
Sort of:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?t=17451
It is a PCjr and it looks really neat, there is a link to a youtube clip
there as well.
I'm talking a real front panel (not some USB-attached, software-driven
thing) that can control an X86 PC...one that has address, data, and
state lights, address/data switches, and control switches (Exam/Exam
Next, Deposit, Load Address, Run/Stop, Single Step, etc.)?
Is such a beast even possible? Might be somewhat difficult with
multi-core CPUs, but maybe a Pentium 3 or earlier?
While such a thing would probably be of limited use for anything really
practical, it would be interesting (to me at least) in some twisted way.
Rick Bensene
/P