Lack of 8-bit threads (was Re: Linux question)

Chuck Guzis wrote: I wonder how many of the PC-compatible-yet-goofy-hardware 808x clones have been lost to the ages. I still own my AT&T PC 6300, proprietary 640x400 (not a typo) monitor and all, and consider it just barely compatible enough to hold onto. (I have pretty high standards; I can count the number of apps/games that will never run on it on both hands). Then again, who am I kidding; it was the first PC that our family personally owned (father was AT&T employee) so I'd probably try to keep it going no matter what. A friend had a Sperry machine capable of many more colors than CGA could produce, although the monitor (also proprietary connector IIRC) was some sort of slow-response phosphor -- it was like working in front of a "color" monochrome monitor, if that makes any sense. It ran "best" with it's OEM-customized version of MS-DOS, and ran about 90% of the apps out there. It's level of compatibility was incredibly frustrating; hardware bangers like Music Construction Set (heavy timer usage, direct writes to screen RAM, direct disk sector loads, etc.) worked perfectly, while Sorcim's SuperWriter word processor -- a fairly creampuff app -- would lock the machine up. Crazy machine!! -- Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org) http://www.oldskool.org/ Help our electronic games project: http://www.mobygames.com/ Or check out some trippy MindCandy at http://www.mindcandydvd.com/ A child borne of the home computer wars: http://trixter.wordpress.com/