#book8088 — Public Fediverse posts

@dfx_tech
Runs fine on #Book8088

Pick 3 only?

This is Artic Fox on the #book8088

Runs pretty good at 8MHz but lacks detail.

Still not quite the battlezone I was looking for... Its much more complicated.

I found this looking for predecessors of Stellar 7 rather than descendants / clones of BattleZone.

It also has a Tandy 1000 version that looks better. There are youtube videos.

#MSDos #game #arcticFox

This came up on mastodon about a month ago: gentleOS

This is the 16 bit version running on #book8088

Loaded via .com file

Unlike a lot of app suites that claim the "operating system" title, this actually is. The disk image bins are loaded raw by the BIOS instead of DOS. It's a small stand alone OS with no mass storage or support for external anything, but it is an OS.

Plays a good game of mahjongg, too! 😉

#GentleOS

Shamus on the #Book8088 !

Dos conversion (I think that means it was originally a booter?) from oldskool, works fine.

I have some history with the CoCo version of this. An original disk was in the CoCo stuff I bought from a guy who was moving on. But the disk was dead, and the Socorro Radio Shack had quit doing disk replacement. When I asked at another store, without the disk with me, all I got was a lecture.🙄 I eventually found it on the Net anyway.😝

Anyway this is dos version.

Shanghai works on #book8088

Importantly, it does support keyboard only.

And CGA's limit make it extra hard.

(This also includes pcjr version which probably looks much better on Tandy 1000)

Star Goose is not valued

But it runs on #Book8088

I'd never heard of this one. Pretty cool shooter though!

(To me the player ship looks more like a bug than a goose 🤗)

BattleZone from the oldskool archive works on #Book8088 !!!

Controls are weird though... ( When turning your tank keeps turning until you turn the opposite way? Yuck)

Also there are 4 hacks on, gonna try those too!

Neat archive of games for 8088 machines
Like the #Book8088

http://archives.oldskool.org/pub/misc/Software/Games/8088-friendly/

Apparently there is not an updated dosfetch.

🤗I guess I'll just have to stick with my CF card being -1600% full.😄

#DosFetch #MSDos #Book8088

First public outing for the new Book 8088!

#Book8088

So back in like 2024 my book 8088 quit displaying green in text mode. Weird, and I could never fix it.

Meanwhile the supplies of book 8088s dried up... The builders have moved on to the pocket 386.

I don't want a pocket. The book format is barely big enough to actually use.

This year I decided to burn some of my tax return on a another book8088... And found none new. But I did find used one on ebay, so I got it!

"Used" ? Used once, maybe. It works and is beautiful!

#book8088

More portable #retrocomputing philosophizing: Whether a machine has "Instant-On" makes a huge difference in the tasks it's useful for. By this, I mean whether the machine returns to the same program and screen where you left it, when powered back on from inactivity.

Without "Instant-On", the machine demands to be used for long sessions, (else the boot time is too inconvenient) and demands your constant attention (else the power draw of leaving it sitting around powered on is wasted). Using the machine involves clearing your schedule and devoting yourself to it, like reading a book.

Examples of machines without "Instant-On": DOS-era laptops, #Book8088, #GameBoy, #MailStation.

With "Instant-On", the machine is useful for PDA-style quick jottings, grocery lists, etc. It is also useful for fun activities even in circumstances where you are likely to be interrupted.

Examples of machines with "Instant-On": #HP200LX, #HpOmniBook, #PalmPilot, #PocketPC, #TI92 (and other TI calculators), and, of course, smartphones.

While machines in the first category may offer a more immersive experience, they are far less useful to me than machines in the second category. It's like the difference between a luggable and a true mobile computer.

@thelobdegg Funny to think that some of the most recent MS-DOS oriented computers produced are using the oldest specs #book8088

It looks like the supply of #Book8088 laptops is running out.

Bought one on ebay last night, wake up to "actually these are all pocket8086 do you still want it?" (*)

May have actually been a legit error, they seem to have pulled or updated all their sales on ebay.

A quick search on AliExpress only shows a few sources.

So yeah, if you want one, better move.

(*) No I don't want a pocket laptop. The book8088 was almost too small, anything smaller would just be a toy to me.

A few weeks with the Pocket 386, an early-‘90s-style, half-busted retro PC - Enlarge / The Pocket 386 is fun for a while, but the shortcomings and t... - https://arstechnica.com/?p=2034561 #retrocomputing #pocket386 #windows95 #features #book8088 #ms-dos #intel #tech

Experimentos novos com ingredientes clássicos

https://retropolis.com.br/2024/06/27/experimentos-novos-com-ingredientes-classicos/

#MundoRetro #Amiga #AmigaPCI #BOOK8088 #ECS #Intel80386SX #MSDOS #Neo6502 #Neo6502pc #OCS #Olimex #OPL3 #PCI #Pocket386 #usb #Windows31 #Windows95

I'm kinda heartbroken.

My #book8088 v1 has a weird display problem. it's not showing green in text mode! 💚

"White" text is basically purple. Green is barely visible. "Bright white" and "bright green" are normal, and graphics modes seem ok.

I took the cover off the screen and poked at the LCD board and poked at things and made sure the cable is well connected. I also re-seated the socketed chips under the cga "card" cover. No effect.

Yesterday, I released Free #FDISK 1.3.15. This version works around a #Book8088 BIOS bug and fixes a regression that prevents the user from changing the type of already existing partitions. This version will be part of the next #FreeDOS test release T2406.

https://github.com/FDOS/fdisk/releases/tag/v1.3.15

#FreeDOS

I went on youtube and watched some videos about the #pocket386 (mostly a d00d called retrotester)

it's smaller than the #book8088 which is already slightly too small for me to seriously use.

going to give it a skip. 😑

Star Control 1 runs on the #Book8088 v1!

Not very pretty but it does work.

Ohh man do I gotta change the keys though!

So I found an interesting laptop named #Book8088 on #AliExpress.
According to the description and reviews, it's a 80s' #i8088 (V20 to be exact) based #MS-DOS laptop but brand-new and in production!
I would have bought one if I were in that generation.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005528944178.html

The #Book8088 Gets A Post-Hype Review :msdos:

https://hackaday.com/2024/02/22/the-book8088-gets-a-post-hype-review/

The Book8088 Gets a Post-Hype Review - Last year, a couple of rather unusual computers emerged from China: a 386sx-based ... - https://hackaday.com/2024/02/22/the-book8088-gets-a-post-hype-review/ #retrocomputing #book8088 #v20

@SinclairSpeccy @vga256
A neat thing about MET is that it displays the math in "proper" math syntax.

And it runs fine on the #Book8088 ! 😀

A size comparison for the curious. The #Book8088 is about 50% larger and thicker than the #HP200LX. In return, you get a backlit color VGA screen, an OPL3 Adlib, a rattly netbook keyboard instead of a chiclet keyboard, a full-sized serial port, a parallel port, and a bus expansion port. (You also get no instant-on capability, a vastly diminished battery life, and no ability to run on AA's. It's not a direct upgrade, by any means.)

For me, the machines fill different niches. The HP #200LX is a productivity machine for daily use... sort of a PIM-organizer-multitool that can host arbitrary DOS software. The 200LX is also a better programming machine due to its built-in task switching.

Meanwhile, the Book 8088 is better for longform writing, audiovisual projects, and general "flop on the couch in the dark and be unproductive" downtime.

They complement each other very nicely!