Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

User avatar
luishg
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 3 times
Contact:

Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by luishg »

Hi friends,

Sorry if this is not the right place, I'm trying to find the right core (if exists) for the previous generation of the 286 computers.

Looking for some information about my neighbor's computer, where we played Digger, Golf, Livingstone on a monochrome monitor. I found this "Mitac PC portable".

aqjYbpN.png
aqjYbpN.png (821.74 KiB) Viewed 6981 times

Is there any core to replicate this?.
Bas
Top Contributor
Posts: 518
Joined: Fri Jan 22, 2021 4:36 pm
Has thanked: 60 times
Been thanked: 225 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by Bas »

The AO486 is your closest bet, but it's a lot more powerful than a 80C88. At least it should run your software though.
User avatar
mapf
Posts: 153
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:05 pm
Has thanked: 58 times
Been thanked: 51 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by mapf »

A 8088 implementation in VHDL exists: https://github.com/nsauzede/cpu86.

But a PC is far more than the CPU, one would need at least
8237 direct memory access controller (DMAC)
8259 programmable interrupt controller (PIC)
8254 programmable interval timer (PIT)
8255 programmable peripheral interface (PPI)

and of course RAM, ROM and a way to access files.
User avatar
Newsdee
Top Contributor
Posts: 830
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 1:07 am
Has thanked: 98 times
Been thanked: 209 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by Newsdee »

A PC XT core would be nice to have... although setting ao486 to run at 15Mhz works for many games.
User avatar
LamerDeluxe
Top Contributor
Posts: 1160
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 798 times
Been thanked: 257 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by LamerDeluxe »

The Atari Portfolio, the world's first palmtop computer (also featured in Terminator 2), also runs on an 80C88 CPU with its own variation on MS-DOS.

It is a pretty limited system, not sure how much work it would be to create a core for it. Maybe it could help with a basis for an eighties PC core.
dmckean
Posts: 307
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2021 7:03 am
Has thanked: 387 times
Been thanked: 95 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by dmckean »

Yeah, the ao486 core isn't really great for XT era stuff. Half the games I'd want to play do not run on it and the other half run noticeably too fast unless you use DOS programs have further limit the clock speed. It would be super nice to have something cycle accurate.

ao486 also isn't that great (but better) for the 286 & PS/2 era, but most of the games in that era are covered by there being better versions available on the Amiga core.

I think what we really want is a Tandy 1000 core as a ton of games from that era support Tandy 3 channel sound and 16 color graphics modes. We would probably also still want CGA, MGA and Hercules graphics modes for best compatibility.
n1ckrivers
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 25, 2021 6:20 pm
Has thanked: 3 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by n1ckrivers »

Yes, a 8088 core would be very appreciated!

luishg wrote: Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:45 am Hi friends,

Sorry if this is not the right place, I'm trying to find the right core (if exists) for the previous generation of the 286 computers.

Looking for some information about my neighbor's computer, where we played Digger, Golf, Livingstone on a monochrome monitor. I found this "Mitac PC portable".


aqjYbpN.png


Is there any core to replicate this?.
User avatar
mapf
Posts: 153
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2020 8:05 pm
Has thanked: 58 times
Been thanked: 51 times

Re: Mid 80's DOS 3.1 PCs: 80c88/8088 Core

Unread post by mapf »

To follow up on this old thread: MiST has a port of the Next186 core since July. See https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-bina ... es/next186.

I tried it on my MiST clone, it is running stable. Speed can be adjusted, but VGA compatibility is somewhat limited, which breaks quite a few games.
Post Reply