Including a turbo readout to a classic PC case

In case you are younger, you could not bear in mind the turbo buttons of the Nineteen Nineties. These existed for backwards-compatibility with older video games and software program that wouldn’t run correctly on the blazing-fast processor clock speeds of the time. The turbo button merely informed the CPU to run at a slower clock velocity that may work with that older software program. Joshua Woehlke makes use of an outdated PC with a 486 processor and determined to add his personal ineffective turbo readout to enrich the turbo button.

Woehlke’s pc makes use of a classic ATX case from the ’90s that does, actually, have a turbo button. However that case lacked the sort of clock velocity readout that was in style when it was new. These readouts had been often three-digit seven-segment shows and the implication was that they might present the processor’s present clock velocity. Besides that was all a farce and, in actuality, they only switched between two preset numbers: one for the quicker velocity and one for the slower velocity. Woehlke’s mission mimics that non-functionality.

The {hardware} for this mission consists of an Arduino Mega 2560 board and a small OLED display screen. Woehlke selected the Mega as a result of he had it readily available, however any Arduino board would have labored. The Arduino receives energy from one of many energy provide’s 5V rails. And like the true turbo readouts of the ’90s, the Arduino doesn’t measure clock velocity in any respect. It simply seems on the LED above the turbo button to see whether it is lively, then makes use of that state to find out which quantity to show on the OLED. For further aptitude, Woehlke added a starfield “screensaver” that seems on the OLED 10 seconds after pushing the turbo button.