So I Bought Those Weird New AliExpress Retro PCs…
Why Hacker News recommends it
Linked when retro hardware, 8088 or 386 machines, or oddball AliExpress computers come up.
What it is
LGR reviews the Book 8088 and Hand 386, newly built DOS retro PCs sold on AliExpress that use real legacy chips on custom boards. He covers what is neat about them and their compromises and odd design decisions.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2023 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Cites justsomehnguy · 2023-06 · on “They just pirated my open source 8088 BIOS”
Additional context in [0], [1]. LGR review of the machine [2]. I would recommend reading [1] because it confirms the GPL violation but paints interesting picture of the reason. [0] [LINK] [1] [LINK] [2] [this video] "So I Bought Those Weird New AliExpress Retro PCs…"
Cites jsheard · 2025-02 · on “Msxbook OneChipMSX MSX2 Computer”
I thought this concept looked familiar and indeed it's by the same company which makes those portable 386 and 8086 machines. LGR covered them a while ago: [this video]
Cites wcfields · 2025-03 · on “MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 still run train dashboards at German railway (Jan'24)”
Retro gaming enthusiasts have been creating mini-PCs first starting with industrial computers (386) built for CNC machines, and have recently been getting custom PCBs made like the Pixel x86: [LINK] You can find some oddball stuff on AliExpress that’s probably made to replace as close as possible 1to1 EOL equipment: [this video]
Cites philips · 2025-04 · on “Restoring Old Software for Child Learning Safety”
I love this idea. There are some weird things showing up on Aliexpress but are limited in various ways: [this video] It does seem like emulation is the way.