5 ms·

> Are there systems that can boot CD-ROM interfaces that don't have USB boot capability still? New x64 systems? Probably not. But since it still supports x86 a

> Are there systems that can boot CD-ROM interfaces that don't have USB boot capability still? New x64 systems? Probably not. But since it still supports x86 and a whole slew of other architectures[1] still that don't always, it probably wouldn't make sense to stop. [1]https://www.netbsd.org/ports/ https://www.netbsd.org/ports/

bpye 2mo ago
NetBSD supposedly supports 486, I don't think you're going to have much luck with USB there.
- AAAAaccountAAAA 2mo ago
  Some higher-end 486 boards[1] were made with PCI slots, so retrofitting them with an USB controller shouldn't be difficult? You'll still need a boot floppy to actually boot from an USB drive, I think? 1. https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-pvi-486sp3 https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-pvi-486sp3
  - prmoustache 2mo ago
    It is still easier to find cdr than floppies anyway. I can still find some in brick and mortar supermarkets. Still useful when you have an old car and want to keep the original audio system.
- accrual 2mo ago
  There are some ISA USB cards with custom drivers to support them and present them as normal drives under MS-DOS. Never tried it myself, but they exist and seem to work! Other commenter is correct, there are some late 486 boards with PCI support that would allow USB 1.0 or even 2.0 cards to be installed and used. Probably slow, but should work. On the topic of modernizing a 486-class machine, there also exist a few with native PS/2 mouse support, and certain Matrox PCI cards have digital out, so it'd be possible to build a 486-class machine with USB 1.1, DVI/HDMI, and PS/2. Since some Logitech wireless mice support PS/2, one could connect a 486 rig to a crisp digital LCD, use a wireless mouse, and plug in USB flash drives, sound, 10/100 network, NT 4.0, etc. -- all supported. Can make a fairly "modern" machine out of a pre-Pentium chip.
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]
  - hakfoo 2mo ago
    I did a lot of work on a custom option ROM for the ISA USB card type you mention. It exposes an INT 13h interface, so systems that access discs through the BIOS will work (DOS, probably CP/M-86 or ELKS, Minix might require you to specify BIOS disc access). More sophisticated operating systems that directly poke the IDE registers are not going to find what they're looking for.
    - PerditionC 2mo ago
      do you have any more info on this posted anywhere? what ISA USB card? Thanks.
      - hakfoo 2mo ago
        There's a many, many post thread here https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/isa-usb-board.76978/ https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/isa-usb-board.7697... where a lot of the discussion took place, both my efforts and some other devs working on a DOS-based driver. https://gitlab.com/hakfoo1/ch37x-bios https://gitlab.com/hakfoo1/ch37x-bios is the actual code. Post 394 shows a picture of the card I used, which at the time was sold in like 500 AliExpress storefronts for about USD25. The magic word is "CH375" or "CH376" (two chips, overlapping functionality, different enough to be annoying to support in software) As mentioned in the thread, it tends to fit a weird niche. For 8086/8088 machines, the other main option is XT-IDE cards, which are like $40+ and they're sort of finicky with some drives. For a 286+, usually installing a standard IDE drive (or a more modern CF->IDE or SD->IDE adapter) is the easy mode with wide software support.

bpye 2mo ago

NetBSD supposedly supports 486, I don't think you're going to have much luck with USB there.

AAAAaccountAAAA 2mo ago
Some higher-end 486 boards[1] were made with PCI slots, so retrofitting them with an USB controller shouldn't be difficult? You'll still need a boot floppy to actually boot from an USB drive, I think? 1. https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-pvi-486sp3 https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/asus-pvi-486sp3
- prmoustache 2mo ago
  It is still easier to find cdr than floppies anyway. I can still find some in brick and mortar supermarkets. Still useful when you have an old car and want to keep the original audio system.
accrual 2mo ago
There are some ISA USB cards with custom drivers to support them and present them as normal drives under MS-DOS. Never tried it myself, but they exist and seem to work! Other commenter is correct, there are some late 486 boards with PCI support that would allow USB 1.0 or even 2.0 cards to be installed and used. Probably slow, but should work. On the topic of modernizing a 486-class machine, there also exist a few with native PS/2 mouse support, and certain Matrox PCI cards have digital out, so it'd be possible to build a 486-class machine with USB 1.1, DVI/HDMI, and PS/2. Since some Logitech wireless mice support PS/2, one could connect a 486 rig to a crisp digital LCD, use a wireless mouse, and plug in USB flash drives, sound, 10/100 network, NT 4.0, etc. -- all supported. Can make a fairly "modern" machine out of a pre-Pentium chip.
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- hakfoo 2mo ago
  I did a lot of work on a custom option ROM for the ISA USB card type you mention. It exposes an INT 13h interface, so systems that access discs through the BIOS will work (DOS, probably CP/M-86 or ELKS, Minix might require you to specify BIOS disc access). More sophisticated operating systems that directly poke the IDE registers are not going to find what they're looking for.
  - PerditionC 2mo ago
    do you have any more info on this posted anywhere? what ISA USB card? Thanks.
    - hakfoo 2mo ago
      There's a many, many post thread here https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/isa-usb-board.76978/ https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/isa-usb-board.7697... where a lot of the discussion took place, both my efforts and some other devs working on a DOS-based driver. https://gitlab.com/hakfoo1/ch37x-bios https://gitlab.com/hakfoo1/ch37x-bios is the actual code. Post 394 shows a picture of the card I used, which at the time was sold in like 500 AliExpress storefronts for about USD25. The magic word is "CH375" or "CH376" (two chips, overlapping functionality, different enough to be annoying to support in software) As mentioned in the thread, it tends to fit a weird niche. For 8086/8088 machines, the other main option is XT-IDE cards, which are like $40+ and they're sort of finicky with some drives. For a 286+, usually installing a standard IDE drive (or a more modern CF->IDE or SD->IDE adapter) is the easy mode with wide software support.