Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I broke my onboard parallel and dual serial IO ports ("onboard" meaning built onto the mainboard of the system). So that's a reminder that those plugs aren't really hot-swappable! Probably in over 90% of the times there is no issue, but I'd say parallel-ports in general is more sensitive just due to having so many more pins. In my case, I was messing with the SDLPT at the time (SD-card to LPT port adapter), which probably had more activity going on across the pins. On the other hand, maybe it was just an old cap that had given up related to those ports - though on inspection, nothing apparent seemed out of place on the board. In any case, everything else on the system still worked fine.
So I disabled those onboard components (via jumpers) and already added an ISA expansion IO card as a workaround. But that only had room for 1 parallel and 1 serial on the back panel slot. I needed my 2nd serial port back (so I can use a serial-mouse while also being able to serial-connect to other systems).
I can't play original Warcraft with keyboard only! I need that mouse support. So having two serial ports helps do multi-player games and mouse at the same time (or things like use a WiModem and a mouse or file transfer at the same time).
While we're in there, let's also toss in a 16550 UART and see what happens! The 16550 chip is essentially identical to the original 8250 (pin-compatible) but has 16-byte FIFO instead of only 1-byte.
Information about this particular 386 setup is available here:
https://voidstar.blog/setting-up-a-physical-x86-pc-hardware-80386/
(includes notes about various upgrades, such as replacing the original CMOS battery)
The manual for this particular serial IO card used in this video is archived here:
minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Diamond%20Flower%20DIO-200X%20Users%20Manual.pdf
IC (chip) parts were ordered from
(x188 and x189)
mouser.com
(16550)
digikey.com
(alternative is aliexpress.com or ebay.com, or pull from old equipment)
The video also features:
HP 4951C Protocol Analyzer (RS-232 real time collector)
PostMouse SP-345 (one of the only self-powered-over-serial drawing tablets for the PC)
Desert Strike and Jungle Strike were released in 1992/1993 (Gulf War was 1991)
Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans was originally released in November 1994.
And that NEC PC-8001 that I mentioned...
youtube.com/watch?v=YWsarGG6Xns
This video is to also celebrate 500 subscribers. Thanks ya'll !!!
I broke my onboard parallel and dual serial IO ports ("onboard" meaning built onto the mainboard of the system). So that's a reminder that those plugs aren't really hot-swappable! Probably in over 90% of the times there is no issue, but I'd say parallel-ports in general is more sensitive just due to having so many more pins. In my case, I was messing with the SDLPT at the time (SD-card to LPT port adapter), which probably had more activity going on across the pins. On the other hand, maybe it was just an old cap that had given up related to those ports - though on inspection, nothing apparent seemed out of place on the board. In any case, everything else on the system still worked fine.
So I disabled those onboard components (via jumpers) and already added an ISA expansion IO card as a workaround. But that only had room for 1 parallel and 1 serial on the back panel slot. I needed my 2nd serial port back (so I can use a serial-mouse while also being able to serial-connect to other systems).
I can't play original Warcraft with keyboard only! I need that mouse support. So having two serial ports helps do multi-player games and mouse at the same time (or things like use a WiModem and a mouse or file transfer at the same time).
While we're in there, let's also toss in a 16550 UART and see what happens! The 16550 chip is essentially identical to the original 8250 (pin-compatible) but has 16-byte FIFO instead of only 1-byte.
Information about this particular 386 setup is available here:
https://voidstar.blog/setting-up-a-physical-x86-pc-hardware-80386/
(includes notes about various upgrades, such as replacing the original CMOS battery)
The manual for this particular serial IO card used in this video is archived here:
minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Diamond%20Flower%20DIO-200X%20Users%20Manual.pdf
IC (chip) parts were ordered from
(x188 and x189)
mouser.com
(16550)
digikey.com
(alternative is aliexpress.com or ebay.com, or pull from old equipment)
The video also features:
HP 4951C Protocol Analyzer (RS-232 real time collector)
PostMouse SP-345 (one of the only self-powered-over-serial drawing tablets for the PC)
Desert Strike and Jungle Strike were released in 1992/1993 (Gulf War was 1991)
Warcraft: Orcs vs. Humans was originally released in November 1994.
And that NEC PC-8001 that I mentioned...
youtube.com/watch?v=YWsarGG6Xns
This video is to also celebrate 500 subscribers. Thanks ya'll !!!
