the xt guy
Experienced Member
I'm looking for one of the 286 motherboards that has only 8-bit expansion slots (like an 8088 class motherboard). In other words, it has no 16 bit slots at all, just eight 8-bit slots.
It needs to fit a standard XT or AT case, so no proprietary designs (Tandy, etc.).
These boards usually had either 640K or sometimes 1 meg. of RAM onboard, however any RAM above 640K could not be used by the CPU as extended memory, only for software utilities that came with the board (print spooler, RAM disk, etc.)
THE 286 CPU on these board could not be switched into 'standard' mode, they would only run in real mode as an 8088 would. Therefore, even though the CPU was a 286, it would not run software that needed a 286 to execute (for example, Windows 3.1 could not be installed.)
It needs to fit a standard XT or AT case, so no proprietary designs (Tandy, etc.).
These boards usually had either 640K or sometimes 1 meg. of RAM onboard, however any RAM above 640K could not be used by the CPU as extended memory, only for software utilities that came with the board (print spooler, RAM disk, etc.)
THE 286 CPU on these board could not be switched into 'standard' mode, they would only run in real mode as an 8088 would. Therefore, even though the CPU was a 286, it would not run software that needed a 286 to execute (for example, Windows 3.1 could not be installed.)