Frustrated with motherboard manufacturers ....

[Browncoat]

Did I crab about this already, or was that another forum?

Anyhow, it is either this:

http://www.ibt.ca/v2/items/mb886p/index.html

for my ROM card {Atari ST 2.06 ROMS}

or:

http://www.transduction.com/transduc/tratxq35.htm

with a utility from sourceforge that emulates TOS with Gemulator.

but my main PITA is the "lost" parallel ports, though my old HP 920c,10 years old, does have

the old USB hole in the back, it'll need a new chord... and the dumping of PS2 ports.

I mean I have a plethora of PS2 keyboards and mice/trackballs, so why buy new to send the old to a landfill?

Plus since someone brought it up, the one board has ICH9 (don't recall whom) but on the data sheet says compatible with W2k.

So they must have drivers on the cd for it.

More expensive than the 'civilian' boards and not nVidia based like the EVGA and MSI boards I used to like.

Well, got some thinking to do, just venting.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Browncoat

[Tripredacus]

This is a two-way argument. On the one side, you are correct to complain you have these products that need legacy ports (serial, parallel, uart or PS2) and modern boards are dropping them. Then the other side says that these technologies have been replaced by USB (and in some cases Firewire) and you should be upgrading your products. The main problem is that there are so many products still floating around, especially in the POS market.

Some company (SiiG, Lava, maybe Promise) make adapter cards (PCI and PCI-E 1x) for Serial and Parallel. Not seen much UART or PS2 type things tho.

Unfortunately, most of these ports were (in the manufacturer's eyes) driven by standard input devices like keyboards and mice. Its tough to find a new keyboard or mouse that supports PS2, if anything it at least comes with a USB adapter.

Moving to Hardware Hangout.

[Browncoat]

Moving to Hardware Hangout.

Thanks for moving thread, though my main concern was still running with W2kP and finding

h/w it will still run on with minimum effort.

[Tripredacus]

I figured it was related to your forum choice, but the topic hadn't mentioned that as such.

[dencorso]

PS/2 to USB adapters exist at all prices. You can get some high quality and reliable ones at clickykeyboards.

Moreover, there're good used (already working or refurbished) motherboards galore, and even some leftover never-used-before older motherboards at excellent prices all over the net. Why do you need brand-new latest-model boards and processors to use older OSes? I'm puzzled: one doesn't need a laser scalpel at all to incise cuneiform caracters in clay, and the 5000 years old wedge-tipped stylus, in fact, remains the best instrument for this specific purpose.

[bpalone]

Just to throw in here with dencorso.

Find and buy the hardware designed to run with OUR beloved older OSes. That is what I've done. In fact, I am probably hardwared up through my demise. If something lays down, I just go to the storage bin and get what I need. Yes, it does tie up money, but I also won't be the one paying $300 for a $100 part because I need it and they are the only place I can get it. If you really want to save, hit the yard/garage sales and the thrift shops. A lot of older hardware can be had from those sources at reasonable prices.

Long live 2K!!! (Even though it is not the first option on my boot up screen.)