Hello, it's Pengan here.
Today, I replaced Sergey's BIOS on my Book8088. Currently residing in China, the cost of making BIOS chip here is quite low.
4x Windond W27C512 + 5x ST M27C512 = 83 Yuan.
Additionally, I acquired an ATMega8a EEPROM programmer for 50 yuan.
I haven't purchased a UV eraser yet; a second-hand one might cost around 50 yuan.
In total, it's less than 200 RMB, very cheap. I plan to make some extra chips and give them to my friends who have a Book8088.
The serial and parallel ports in Book8088 v2 is my suggestion. I hope to use the ESP8266 WifiModem and the Covox Speech Thing. Haobin "zhblue" Zhang once created a batch of Covox and OPL3LPT devices.
Haobin "zhblue" Zhang's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@haobinzhang6491
I am one of the few lucky individuals who have had the opportunity to interact with Shan Zhongyu, also known as the "Hardcore expert" in person. His vintage PC project has begin in 2017. Here are some of his previous posts that roughly outline his exploration process:
https://www.mydigit.cn/thread-214214-1-1.html
https://www.mydigit.cn/thread-383605-1-1.html
https://www.mydigit.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=133380
http://bbs.mydigit.cn/u.php?uid=997328
Initially, my goal in engaging with him was to join his team. However, I eventually gave up on that. I spent some time attempting to persuade him to provide GPL-compliant BIOS, but unfortunately, I wasn't successful.
While we don't face language barriers in our communication, interacting with the "Hardcore expert" hasn't always been smooth sailing. I often feel like we come from different worlds. It's akin to the differences between "doujin game" developers in Japan and "indie game" developers elsewhere in the world. Despite their many practical similarities, their ideologies and perspectives can be fundamentally different.
"Hardcore expert" isn't a member of the open-source community or the retro-computing community. He doesn't have a account on GitHub and isn't familiar with classic DOS games. His vintage computer project stems from a personal passion for electronics. The initial product designs were more geared towards catering to the nostalgia of collectors.
He invested a lot of effort into dealing with rebuild CGA graphics cards and hacking the firmware of RTD2660 LCD controller to support CGA's 15Khz signal without extra scaler. And all of this is driven by the goal of restoring the "original IBM PC experience."
He believes that many people purchase the Book8088 just to have it as a display piece and might not actually power it on - this is quite common among "collectors" in China. That's also why there's a bit of negligence in both the firmware and the pre-installed software aspects.
In the Chinese electronic enthusiast community, I'm a definite minority. I've been living in Canada since 2009 and have attended Vintage Computer Fest and Demoparties(Demosplash, @Party and SynchroNY), but such public events aren't common in China. Most communication is hidden in the deep web, primarily occurring through QQ and WeChat groups.
I'm also a media studies researcher, which fuels my interest in observing community and cultural influences. The design of Book 8088's Sub notebook is heavily influenced by Japanese Windows CE Handheld PCs and Sub notebooks, like the Toshiba Libretto. "Hardcore expert" has used SHARP Mobilon HC-4500 and SHARP HC-VJ2C in the past.
During the 2000s, a substantial number of Windows CE Handheld PCs were imported to China as electronic waste. Upon reaching Chinese ports, many of these devices were still functional or just need minor repairs. They significantly impacted the computer enthusiast community in China. For instance, the ClockworkPi team's main reference in designing the DevTerm keyboard was the HP Jornada 688.
I've written a Chinese article discussing the impact of Handheld PCs in China: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/35018429
Since meeting "Hardcore expert" back in May, I've been considering writing an article about the Book8088. However, I've realized that I'd almost be writing a paper on cultural conflicts.
In the enthusiast community in China, using open-source code for commercial purposes is seen as shameful because it doesn't allocate benefits to the original authors. Yet, the issue of removed attributions in the Book8088 BIOS is considered tolerable by some because there's no transaction of benefits involved.
This is indeed an act of infringement, and ethically challenging to comprehend, but it does exist. In fact, it permeates even the core ideology of the entire "shanzhai" electronic industry centered around Shenzhen and has achieved significant economic success, despite its controversial nature.
Some other interesting facts are that both Haobin "zhblue" Zhang and I live in Hangzhou, the ClockworkPi team is also here. Hangzhou is renowned for being the headquarters of Alibaba and Hikvision. Zhblue and I work at different universities in the humanities and social sciences fields. Perhaps, I'm fortunate not to be a computer scientist or engineer here. The engineers in this city are always busy, always looking forward, and they don't even get the chance to look back at the history of computing.
"Hardcore expert" Shan Zhongyu's company is based in Guangzhou, and their primary product is engraving machines, also white-labeled. The quality has become quite mature, but they aren't intending to operate under their own brand. They told me that white-labeling saves them branding and legal costs, enabling their products to remain inexpensive - something necessary in the fiercely competitive Chinese market. Initially, he mentioned they only planned to sell Book8088 within China. However, the current situation is that almost all sales are overseas.
"Hardcore expert" also mentioned to me that he acquired a set of Apple II motherboard schematics from another enthusiast in China. I personally suspect this might be a modified version of an open-source design. In China, due to language barriers, many hardware enthusiasts and even professional developers don't have full access to information from overseas communities. There might exist an underground market for such information, but I'm not part of it and lack accurate information myself.
