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Modder builds Windows 98 handheld gaming PC with Intel Pentium inside

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I'm partial to builds with a retrofuturistic flair, particularly palmtop projects that imagine a portable past that never existed. Taking a leaf from the 'Windows where it shouldn't be' chapter out of the modder's playbook, one solo tinkerer has built a throwback handheld gaming PC that's rocking Pentium inside.

As for mouse clicks, those are tied to a lonely little trigger button on the top right-hand corner of the console. It's a control scheme that looks as nightmarish as it is extra, but that's not the most interesting facet of the project. Given how svelte APU chips have to be to fit inside even the bulkiest of today's best handheld gaming PCs, it's worth remembering how bulky 90s desktop mainboards used to be—so, how does this throwback build achieve such a reasonable form factor?

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Rather than emulation, Changliang Li instead chose to crack open decommissioned medical apparatus from the '90s for surprisingly small, contemporary hardware. This effort turned up a pc104 industrial motherboard with support for Intel Pentium, plus all the ports you could want. Before you ask, yes, you could in theory hook up a floppy drive to this thing.

Even the screen is practically an antique, with the modder salvaging a 480p resolution LCD and its accompanying motherboard to match the 4:3 aspect ratio of many games of the era. However, the PS/2 keyboard features a fairly unique layout that necessitates a bespoke PCB (which has since been redesigned and gone open source).

A Windows 98 handheld gaming PC.

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