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25
votes
2 answers
What does Windows' "Tuning up Application Start" do?
When installing an old version of Windows, there is a step about application start tuning:
This is not about the PREFETCH folder, since this feature appeared in Windows XP.
Question:
Does anyone know what Windows performs during this step?
Eric Cartman
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25
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2 answers
Details of video memory access arbitration in Space Invaders
I am working on an FPGA implementation of the original Space Invaders arcade machine and I'd like to implement access arbitration between the CPU and the video system. I can imagine several ways of doing it, and I would like to know how it was done…
Cactus
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25
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Why was segment register value scaled by such a small factor of 16 on i8086?
In 8086 architecture memory is addressed by segment:offset scheme, where the 20-bit linear address is formed as address=segment*16+offset. This looks needlessly complicated and doesn't allow to further extend physical address width without changing…
Ruslan
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24
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Why was the shrinking from 8″ made only to 5.25″ and not smaller (4″ or less)?
Answers and comments to Why were 5.25" floppy drives cheaper than 8"? suggest some reasons why floppy disks moved from 8" to 5.25"; basically it seems the smaller size reduced engineering difficulty and thus cost in a number of ways.
Given that, why…
rwallace
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24
votes
2 answers
Why did the original Apple //e have two sets of inverse video characters?
According to Apple II Technical notes Mouse #6, updated January 1989,
In unenhanced Apple IIe computers, the alternate character set contained two sets of inverse uppercase characters. In the enhanced Apple IIe, and in all Apple IIc and IIGS…
Robert Columbia
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24
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2 answers
Why does the VIC-20 have 5KiB of RAM?
Why does the VIC-20 have 5 KiB of RAM? Why not a multiple of 4 as any other systems, e.g 4 KiB or 8 KiB. Is there a technical reason for that?
Biff Iam
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24
votes
3 answers
Was OS/2 a viable alternative for daily DOS and Windows tasks?
After playing a bit with the OS, a question sparked my interest:
Could it entirely replace DOS and Windows ?
Let's restrict the scope of this question a bit since it's fairly broad,
Was it compatible with:
Windows 3.0 and above, up to 95 ?
Win32s…
Eric Cartman
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24
votes
6 answers
What techniques were used to reduce the required re-rendering in 3D programs?
Inspired by this GameDev question.
3D rendering is expensive. With 2D games it's easy to not re-write the buffers every frame, like in Super Mario Bros where the PPU is instructed to render the level with an offset:
Image source.
With 3D games,…
wizzwizz4
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24
votes
4 answers
Was the design of MS-BASIC for 6502 based on MS-BASIC for 8080?
Looking through the source code of the 6502 MS-BASIC, certain parts of it seem more reminiscent of how things would be done on the 8080 than on how they should be done on the 6502. Code to find a line with a specified number, for example, is…
supercat
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24
votes
1 answer
When does the VIC-II read the sprite data?
This question is about the Commodore 64 and its graphics chip, the VIC-II.
Imagine that on a particular scanline, the VIC-II needs to fetch 40 bytes (the background tiles) and since it's a badline also it needs to fetch another 40 bytes (the color…
Omar and Lorraine
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24
votes
2 answers
Blue and yellow stripes on the screen when loading from tape on ZX Spectrum
When loading a program from tape on ZX Spectrum you could see those blue and yellow stripes around the splash screen.
I might be mistaken but I believe those were even sometimes used for quite advanced visual effects. For instance I recall a game…
Quassnoi
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24
votes
4 answers
Which (micro) computers were dominant in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s?
Australia and New Zealand are somewhat unique among large, developed, economies because they bridge the culture of (mostly) the West with the geography of the East. I am curious how this may have influenced mass-adoption of 8-bit and 16-bit micros…
Brian H
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24
votes
1 answer
What is the difference between the "Return" and "Enter" keys in the VT100 terminal?
What is the difference between the "Return" and "Enter" keys in the VT100 terminal:
user7681202
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24
votes
3 answers
Was the MS-DOS window in Windows 95 an emulator like current DOSBox?
Windows 1.x, 2.x and 3.x required a DOS to be loaded before running them. Later Windows 9.x and ME had similar (?) way of working, but DOS was included with them, 32-bit multitasking and other stuff added.
I would like to ask about MS-DOS window in…
matandked
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24
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When did Nintendo switch from assembly to a higher programming language?
I am only talking about games developed by Nintendo itself.
I know that NES Super Mario Bros. was written in assembly. (Here is an SE answer saying the same.)
They must have switched to a higher programming language at some point because obviously…
zomega
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