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Retrocomputing

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Awarded 726 times.
Was the IBM S/360 Responsible for Popularizating the 'A'-to-'F' Notation in Hexadecimal Numbers?
Awarded May 4 at 23:06
Was it possible programmatically to manipulate the volume as well as the pitch on computers with no sound chip?
Awarded Apr 24 at 4:51
What was the last x86 CPU that did not have the x87 floating-point unit built in?
Awarded Apr 21 at 16:53
How good was Woz's FP code?
Awarded Apr 21 at 16:53
Was the design of MS-BASIC for 6502 based on MS-BASIC for 8080?
Awarded Mar 30 at 19:23
First time seeing this odd little PCB inside a Playstation 2; What is it for?
Awarded Mar 27 at 14:23
How exactly did [arcade] Space Invaders get faster with fewer aliens?
Awarded Mar 19 at 22:47
How much benefit should be expected on a more advanced compiler for z80/r800 based computers?
Awarded Mar 16 at 2:11
Did missing/corrupt dates in COBOL default to 1875-05-20?
Awarded Feb 17 at 9:06
Why did programmers keep using EMS when XMS became commonly available?
Awarded Feb 15 at 23:08
When did Nintendo switch from assembly to a higher programming language?
Awarded Feb 15 at 9:07
Why did "protected-mode MS-DOS" never happen?
Awarded Feb 13 at 8:10
How did the Motorola MC68030 and MC68040 come to have the powerful and expensive CAS2 instruction?
Awarded Feb 4 at 13:51
How can a 32-bit x86 CPU start with reset vector 0xFFFFFFF0 even though it starts in 16-bit real mode?
Awarded Jan 17 at 13:30
What causes the glitchy sound when a GBA cartridge is removed?
Awarded Dec 24, 2024 at 10:16
Why was hardware diversification an asset for the IBM PC ecosystem?
Awarded Dec 20, 2024 at 6:22
How does the BIOS distinguish Interrupt(08h-12h) from INT instructions, vs. actual exceptions inside the CPU?
Awarded Nov 23, 2024 at 13:12
How did the C64 lockup bug and its workarounds work?
Awarded Nov 14, 2024 at 8:22
Is there a difference between "floppy disk" and "diskette"?
Awarded Nov 13, 2024 at 16:08
How did the Apple II forward binary instructions to the Z80 software card with CPM?
Awarded Nov 12, 2024 at 18:35
What's a good way to implement this "splashing water" effect on the C64?
Awarded Oct 21, 2024 at 15:26
Are retrocomputers best left on or off?
Awarded Oct 13, 2024 at 16:41
Which BASIC interpreters support techniques for hybrid programming in Assembly?
Awarded Oct 9, 2024 at 12:55
How were the 70s versions of pong and similar games implemented without a programmable computer?
Awarded Oct 5, 2024 at 0:02
Why does the single dot entry exist in file systems?
Awarded Sep 30, 2024 at 7:10
Why are these DOS console drivers wasting precious bytes?
Awarded Sep 24, 2024 at 20:21
What did SULFNBK.EXE actually do?
Awarded Sep 21, 2024 at 16:01
Why did early ASCII have ← and ↑ but not ↓ or →?
Awarded Sep 13, 2024 at 19:39
Documentation for the ZX Spectrum ULA
Awarded Sep 4, 2024 at 19:42
Why did XML lose out to XHTML, then HTML 5, on the web?
Awarded Aug 31, 2024 at 22:09
How can I reverse-engineer the game Wizardry (1981) for PC, based on UCSD Pascal?
Awarded Aug 20, 2024 at 15:42
Why HIMEM was implemented as a DOS driver and not a TSR
Awarded Aug 17, 2024 at 14:47
Why did Borland ignore the Macintosh market?
Awarded Aug 16, 2024 at 11:26
Which programming language first used negative indexing to mean counting from the end?
Awarded Aug 8, 2024 at 4:23
Blue and yellow stripes on the screen when loading from tape on ZX Spectrum
Awarded Aug 5, 2024 at 11:05
What is the historical origin of lone CR as a line terminator?
Awarded Aug 4, 2024 at 14:48
Why were nested functions excluded from B and C?
Awarded Jul 22, 2024 at 21:20
What techniques were used to reduce the required re-rendering in 3D programs?
Awarded Jul 17, 2024 at 20:10
Why were early (personal) computer connectors so bulky?
Awarded Jul 13, 2024 at 21:51
Is there any hard data about type-in programs in the 80s?
Awarded Jul 10, 2024 at 13:28
Undocumented instructions in x86 CPU prior to 80386?
Awarded Jul 2, 2024 at 11:30
What actual purpose do accent characters in ISO-8859-1 and Windows 1252 serve?
Awarded Jun 28, 2024 at 19:55
I buy retrocomputing devices, but they set my allergies off. Any advice on sanitizing new acquisitions?
Awarded Jun 13, 2024 at 20:41
Why does CP/M use CALL 0005h for its syscalls?
Awarded Jun 8, 2024 at 8:51
How did ALT + F4 become the shortcut for closing?
Awarded Jun 7, 2024 at 9:42
What is the difference between the "Return" and "Enter" keys in the VT100 terminal?
Awarded May 22, 2024 at 19:45
How to use ISA card in modern PC
Awarded May 21, 2024 at 16:27
How and why did the ZX Spectrum use so many voltages?
Awarded May 19, 2024 at 15:41
After creating HTML, why did Tim Berners-Lee bother creating HTTP? Why didn't he just write a HTML renderer for a FTP client?
Awarded Apr 16, 2024 at 8:27
Was the MS-DOS window in Windows 95 an emulator like current DOSBox?
Awarded Apr 16, 2024 at 5:42
Did any processor implement an integer square root instruction?
Awarded Apr 7, 2024 at 13:33
Did any MS-DOS program ever use the System Request interrupt?
Awarded Mar 29, 2024 at 9:25
How did the Atari 2600 achieve a resolution of 160 x 192 pixels with only 128 bytes of memory?
Awarded Mar 21, 2024 at 16:52
Is it possible to know which lines in the Gameboy Color cartridge connection is missing by looking at the glitched Nintendo logo?
Awarded Mar 18, 2024 at 16:50
What is this large device labelled 'Telefunken Datenspeicher' and how does it work?
Awarded Mar 15, 2024 at 8:06
What were wait-states, and why was it only an issue for PCs?
Awarded Mar 12, 2024 at 17:11
What innovation helped CD-ROM speeds increase exponentially?
Awarded Mar 8, 2024 at 19:47
Why is the RM Nimbus PC-186 not IBM PC compatible?
Awarded Mar 6, 2024 at 12:11
Does this 8088 code in the Leisure Suit Larry 2 game actually do anything?
Awarded Feb 27, 2024 at 19:19
What did corporations use for long-distance networks in the 1980s?
Awarded Feb 16, 2024 at 12:30
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