this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

My understanding of the 286/386 systems was that turning it off would have the exact effect you describe, and "turbo" would simply put the processor to the design frequency.

It was meant to be left on unless you needed to turn it off for some reason.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Correct. Labeling the button "slower" would have been more accurate, but probably a bad marketing move.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's correct. The reason it was there is that some games were written assuming a specific processor speed. When faster processors came out, the games ran too fast. The turbo button let you play older games on your new computer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I remember playing a port of centipede that used text mode graphics - on the original 8086 it was playable, but on my dad's 386, you'd start the game and immediately lose because the centipede had already reached the bottom in like 1/10th second.

"Text mode graphics" would probably confuse a lot of the younger folks all by itself...