The TURBO button is back!

[Zap]

Just saw this deal in my email. Wasn't interested in the deal itself, but this caught my eye:

new Power Dial which allows you to adjust system performance and energy consumption as necessary. "Turbo" mode for more power when you need it, ideal for 3D games or complex programs. "Auto" mode to allow the PC to automatically adjust power, ideal when switching between several different programs. "Cool" mode for low power consumption and a quiet computing experience, ideal when downloading large files.

Looks like it just links in to EIST somehow. Made me chuckle.

Turbo button for those who don't know.

 

[imported_wired247]

I remember my turbo button well, back in the 486 days I think it was.

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: wired247
I remember my turbo button well, back in the 486 days I think it was.

Even before that. My 286 had a turbo button. And, before that, I remember how we eked out a few more cycles by swapping the stock 8088 processor for a 8086. And my first hard drive was a 10 MB Hardcard that dropped into a ISA slot.

 

[DSF]

Good old Turbo buttons.

 

[bruceb]

I did not have a Turbo button on my Northstar Horizon with a 4Mhz Z-80 cpu
and 65K RAM .. no hard drives back then. The old S-100 BUS
I still have it, but haven't used it in about 20 years. Good for a museum now.

 

[Goldfish4209]

Saw one of those at circuit city. Didn't look like it did anything other than force speedstep off.

 

[Rubycon]

Now it would be cool if it allowed the multiplier to be switched upwards giving a boost in (oc) speed. :Q

 

[JWade]

there was a sff that had a turbo button, i think it was ecs or something, ez-buddie i think was the name, it had a button to increase fsb by up to 10mhz i think

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: wired247
I remember my turbo button well, back in the 486 days I think it was.

Even before that. My 286 had a turbo button. And, before that, I remember how we eked out a few more cycles by swapping the stock 8088 processor for a 8086. And my first hard drive was a 10 MB Hardcard that dropped into a ISA slot.

Turbo goes back to the XT. I believe I remember it pushing from 4.77MHz (yes, MHz) to 8MHz.

God threads like this make me feel old. :laugh:

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: wired247
I remember my turbo button well, back in the 486 days I think it was.

Even before that. My 286 had a turbo button. And, before that, I remember how we eked out a few more cycles by swapping the stock 8088 processor for a 8086. And my first hard drive was a 10 MB Hardcard that dropped into a ISA slot.

Turbo goes back to the XT. I believe I remember it pushing from 4.77MHz (yes, MHz) to 8MHz.

God threads like this make me feel old. :laugh:

I feel the same when I use a 4gb thumbdrive and think back to my first computer's 20mb hard card.

 

[Roguestar]

Friend of mine used a keyboard with a turbo button on it for years and years, the stupid key placement forced PrtScrn over too close to the shortened backspace key so you'd end up taking screenshots of your typos instead of clearing them!

 

[pukemon]

Oh man, I remember on my blistering fast vintage 1987 286 (IBM AT clone), the turbo button switched between 4.77MHz and 10MHz. Good times...

 

[shlemielo]

TURBO! I remember having to turn OFF the turbo in order to play Mega Man 2, or otherwise the game would be way too fast.

 

[natto fire]

The turbo button: Living proof that there was just as much bad coding "back then" as there is now.

That being said, I do miss it, and although those games were coded poorly, it was more than worth it to hit that button for the entertainment that ensued. Too bad todays complex games can not be fixed as easily when something goes awry.

 

[lxskllr]

I liked playing Solitaire with turbo off. The winning card bounce was much more satisfying at slow speed :^)

 

[Marty502]

WTF was the point of that button, anyway?

I remember when I got my 486 DX4 100 Mhz, the thing had the turbo button wired backwards! And since I was a newbie, I just suck it up with Doom 2 running like crap, for months! Until one day I though "What the hell, let's see how slow this POS goes with the turbo off", pressed the button, and the FPS jumped from like 7-8 to well over 20, almost 30. The CPU had been running at 33 Mhz all that time!

Man I felt stupid.

 

[tigersty1e]

I had a 2 digit window (like a calculator) that read 16. Every time you pushed the button, it would change to 33.

I kept it at 33 and thought it was great.

 

[Ika]

I remember having a turbo button on my Pentium I. I had (and still don't) have any idea what it did, but I thought it made the computer go faster, so I kept it on.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: wired247
I remember my turbo button well, back in the 486 days I think it was.

Even some Classic Pentium 1 computers had a Turbo Button. In some cases Pentium II had them but it usually was not hooked up. I kind of miss having it.. those were the days of classic computing, when quality well made hardware mattered*.


*PCBs were thick multilayered, keyboards like the IBM clicky were durable, mice were built like tanks, on/off switches were industrial grade, there was no corner cutting in PC hardware production.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: wired247
I remember my turbo button well, back in the 486 days I think it was.

Even before that. My 286 had a turbo button. And, before that, I remember how we eked out a few more cycles by swapping the stock 8088 processor for a 8086. And my first hard drive was a 10 MB Hardcard that dropped into a ISA slot.

Turbo goes back to the XT. I believe I remember it pushing from 4.77MHz (yes, MHz) to 8MHz.

God threads like this make me feel old. :laugh:

I can remember going to radio shack, swapping socket mounted clock crystals and getting a 4mhz chip to run at 20MHz!

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
I liked playing Solitaire with turbo off. The winning card bounce was much more satisfying at slow speed :^)

:thumbsup:

 

[Roguestar]

The new version of solitaire on vista has pretty decks but doesn't have the winning card-bounce thing any more .

 

[natto fire]

Originally posted by: Googer
*PCBs were thick multilayered, keyboards like the IBM clicky were durable, mice were built like tanks, on/off switches were industrial grade, there was no corner cutting in PC hardware production.

<--- Still owns several IBM model M keyboards. Even after the multitude of wireless keyboards I still love those model Ms for all the right reasons. No one will build a similar keyboard as far as durability and tactile feel is concerned. Even though I have never owned that one with the OLED screens in the keys I fail to see how they will match IBM's tactile feel of the M...

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy

Originally posted by: Googer
*PCBs were thick multilayered, keyboards like the IBM clicky were durable, mice were built like tanks, on/off switches were industrial grade, there was no corner cutting in PC hardware production.

<--- Still owns several IBM model M keyboards. Even after the multitude of wireless keyboards I still love those model Ms for all the right reasons. No one will build a similar keyboard as far as durability and tactile feel is concerned. Even though I have never owned that one with the OLED screens in the keys I fail to see how they will match IBM's tactile feel of the M...

Nothing can come close to the precision of an old keyboard, they just keep ticking. IBM sold their Keyboard factories to Lexmark and a few years later Lexmark sold their Kentucky facility to Unicomp and they are the ones who still produce them today, however I belive they are based on the old lexmark modification; however I may be a bit wrong there too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicomp


By the way, this message was typed to you on a clicky, long live the PS/2 port!

 

[jaqie]

Originally posted by: Captain Howdy
<--- Still owns several IBM model M keyboards. Even after the multitude of wireless keyboards I still love those model Ms for all the right reasons. No one will build a similar keyboard as far as durability and tactile feel is concerned. Even though I have never owned that one with the OLED screens in the keys I fail to see how they will match IBM's tactile feel of the M...

Two things: one, you can buy refurb actual model Ms from a refurbishing company here. I bought one from them and it is the only keyboard I will (or can) use (losing fine motor control due to severe arthritis).
The second thing: a company bought the patent from IBM and now makes brand new keyboards with the same technology and design, unicomp. If I recall correctly, they also supply thinkgeek with their DAS Keyboard II also known as the keyboard without key labels.