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Flash ROM upgrade, addition of 12MB HDD and Windows 3.0

A project log for ESP8266 PC-XT Emulator

Improved version of the MCUHacker01's ESP8266 PC-XT Emulator

wsWS 01/26/2022 at 08:030 Comments

26-Jan-2022: During the weekend, I finally found some free time to spare. I decided to remove the shield on the ESP8266 module and swap out the 4MB flash ROM with a larger 16MB W25Q128 flash ROM. With this expanded storage capacity and a few lines of code adjustments, I successfully integrated a 12MB "Hard Disk" into the emulator. After marking the drive as "Active" using FDISK and initializing it with FORMAT /s, the emulator can now boot up from the new "Hard Disk."

Out of curiosity, I dedicated some time to installing Windows 3.0 onto this fresh drive. The installation process took approximately 2 hours to complete. Operating Windows 3.0 without a mouse was a bit challenging, but it functioned seamlessly with my keyboard. However, as anticipated, the system operated at an extremely slow pace. It would take around 5 minutes just to access the Program Manager. Nonetheless, it was a delightfully nostalgic experience! I've included a picture of the Windows 3.0 "About" dialogue box for your reference.

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