4 ms·

> Contrary to what it suggests, the "turbo" button was generally intended to let a computer run slower than the speed for which it had been designed when presse

> Contrary to what it suggests, the "turbo" button was generally intended to let a computer run slower than the speed for which it had been designed when pressed. Damn these trickster designers and their shitty design decisions. That's exactly the opposite of what I thought it did.

googlryas 5y ago
Like 10 years after my 486-DX2 went into the trash after a long long life, I was reminiscing about the turbo button with a coworker, and he mentioned that he always kept his turbo button activated and that there was never a single repercussion from it!
- mhh__ 5y ago
  Given that Turbo made it slower, why would that cause repercussions?
  - googlryas 5y ago
    Well, slower was the repercussion, but my coworker thought turbo meant faster, and was thinking along the lines of "my CPU didn't catch fire from all the extra speed I was getting"
    - coolspot 5y ago
      You misuderstood. When the turbo button is pressed, computer runs on nominal speed. When turbo button is un-pressed, computer would run on half of nominal speed. So, unpressed button makes computer slower, not pressed one. Source: actually used the button on my 386 SX 20/40 MHz
      - p_l 5y ago
        Yep. I always had the turbo button pressed, except for occasionally deciding to play Test Drive 3 at speeds lower than "light speed". It was the one game I had that didn't calibrate the delay loop properly and my 486 was waaay too fast for normal playing - something that I didn't know so I learnt to play a very twitchy version...
      - googlryas 5y ago
        Sorry, but I think you're confused in the same manner my coworker was. Activating the turbo button decreases the speed of your computer. Maybe yours operated differently, but everything I can find about turbo buttons on the internet indicates that they operated as I remember them - your computer gets slower when you turn the button on. I specifically remember playing certain DOS games where, if I didn't activate the turbo button, the entire game would speed through at what felt like double or triple speed. From wikipedia on Turbo button: > On IBM PC compatible computers, the turbo button selects one of two run states: *the default normal speed or a reduced "turbo" speed*. It was relatively common on computers using the Intel 80286,[1] Intel 80386 and Intel 80486 processors,[2] from the mid 1980s to mid 1990s. The name is inspired by turbocharger, a device which increases an engine's power and efficiency. *Contrary to what it suggests, the "turbo" button was generally intended to let a computer run slower than the speed for which it had been designed when pressed.*[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button
        coolspot 5y ago
        sigh Look, you read about it in wikipedia, but I actually lived with this computer for my whole childhood. I know for sure how the turbo button worked, because I actually used it to cheat in F1 and Lotus racing games. Best I can find in 10m I dedicated to this is this video showing switch between 22 and 40 MHz modes with a turbo button (around 8:50): https://youtu.be/TdenDH7S8LM https://youtu.be/TdenDH7S8LM
        googlryas 5y ago
        I've literally told you multiple times that I did too, and my computer behaved in the exact manner that all of the results googling the concept turns up.
        rileymat2 5y ago
        You both may be right and wrong… further down in wikipedia page: “ On most systems, turbo mode was with the button pushed in, but since the button could often be wired either way, on some systems it was the opposite.”
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
zinekeller 5y ago
I don't know if you already knew why the Turbo button was there in the first place, but back at a time where there is no dedicated monotonic timer, applications (mostly games) rely on the fixed processor speed to determine sub-second time, which while worked on the original IBM PC... made it too fast for new generations of hardware.
- WatchDog 5y ago
  Assuming you can detect what clock speed the device is running at, such an approach should still be able to work on different devices. Although with newer systems able to process multiple instructions per clock, as well as having clock speeds change rapidly, it probably wouldn't work as well.
  - smw 5y ago
    The original applications that were effected were written without knowing there would be IBM PCs (no less clones) that ran at a different clock speed!
  - zinekeller 5y ago
    See sibling comment. Also, there was no CPUID in those ages!
stared 5y ago
Vide "macro photography"
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  Nikon got that one right.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
yumraj 5y ago
As far as I remember, the button itself was supposed to let the computers run at their normal, faster, speed. Meaning the computer was supposed to be in Turbo mode, all the time. You turned the Turbo mode off when you needed to run it slower, say for playing games. So, technically the button did what it said, run faster in Turbo mode.
Tagbert 5y ago
There were also clock speed selectors that really did let the CPU run faster. They would let you switch to a CPU clock speed that was higher than the speed the CPU was originally rated for. The cost was a greater possibility of crashes. Depending on what you were doing and how stable the CPU was it was a noticeable improvement. Some selectors would let you choose between 2 speeds, others had multiple speed selections. Often the higher ones would crash a lot more. There were also variable speed controls that acted like a rheostat with continuous speed changes. Those worked but were even more unstable.

googlryas 5y ago

Like 10 years after my 486-DX2 went into the trash after a long long life, I was reminiscing about the turbo button with a coworker, and he mentioned that he always kept his turbo button activated and that there was never a single repercussion from it!

mhh__ 5y ago
Given that Turbo made it slower, why would that cause repercussions?
- googlryas 5y ago
  Well, slower was the repercussion, but my coworker thought turbo meant faster, and was thinking along the lines of "my CPU didn't catch fire from all the extra speed I was getting"
  - coolspot 5y ago
    You misuderstood. When the turbo button is pressed, computer runs on nominal speed. When turbo button is un-pressed, computer would run on half of nominal speed. So, unpressed button makes computer slower, not pressed one. Source: actually used the button on my 386 SX 20/40 MHz
    - p_l 5y ago
      Yep. I always had the turbo button pressed, except for occasionally deciding to play Test Drive 3 at speeds lower than "light speed". It was the one game I had that didn't calibrate the delay loop properly and my 486 was waaay too fast for normal playing - something that I didn't know so I learnt to play a very twitchy version...
    - googlryas 5y ago
      Sorry, but I think you're confused in the same manner my coworker was. Activating the turbo button decreases the speed of your computer. Maybe yours operated differently, but everything I can find about turbo buttons on the internet indicates that they operated as I remember them - your computer gets slower when you turn the button on. I specifically remember playing certain DOS games where, if I didn't activate the turbo button, the entire game would speed through at what felt like double or triple speed. From wikipedia on Turbo button: > On IBM PC compatible computers, the turbo button selects one of two run states: *the default normal speed or a reduced "turbo" speed*. It was relatively common on computers using the Intel 80286,[1] Intel 80386 and Intel 80486 processors,[2] from the mid 1980s to mid 1990s. The name is inspired by turbocharger, a device which increases an engine's power and efficiency. *Contrary to what it suggests, the "turbo" button was generally intended to let a computer run slower than the speed for which it had been designed when pressed.*[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button
      - coolspot 5y ago
        sigh Look, you read about it in wikipedia, but I actually lived with this computer for my whole childhood. I know for sure how the turbo button worked, because I actually used it to cheat in F1 and Lotus racing games. Best I can find in 10m I dedicated to this is this video showing switch between 22 and 40 MHz modes with a turbo button (around 8:50): https://youtu.be/TdenDH7S8LM https://youtu.be/TdenDH7S8LM
        googlryas 5y ago
        I've literally told you multiple times that I did too, and my computer behaved in the exact manner that all of the results googling the concept turns up.
        rileymat2 5y ago
        You both may be right and wrong… further down in wikipedia page: “ On most systems, turbo mode was with the button pushed in, but since the button could often be wired either way, on some systems it was the opposite.”
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

zinekeller 5y ago

I don't know if you already knew why the Turbo button was there in the first place, but back at a time where there is no dedicated monotonic timer, applications (mostly games) rely on the fixed processor speed to determine sub-second time, which while worked on the original IBM PC... made it too fast for new generations of hardware.

WatchDog 5y ago
Assuming you can detect what clock speed the device is running at, such an approach should still be able to work on different devices. Although with newer systems able to process multiple instructions per clock, as well as having clock speeds change rapidly, it probably wouldn't work as well.
- smw 5y ago
  The original applications that were effected were written without knowing there would be IBM PCs (no less clones) that ran at a different clock speed!
- zinekeller 5y ago
  See sibling comment. Also, there was no CPUID in those ages!

stared 5y ago

Vide "macro photography"

formerly_proven 5y ago
Nikon got that one right.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

yumraj 5y ago

As far as I remember, the button itself was supposed to let the computers run at their normal, faster, speed. Meaning the computer was supposed to be in Turbo mode, all the time. You turned the Turbo mode off when you needed to run it slower, say for playing games. So, technically the button did what it said, run faster in Turbo mode.

Tagbert 5y ago

There were also clock speed selectors that really did let the CPU run faster. They would let you switch to a CPU clock speed that was higher than the speed the CPU was originally rated for. The cost was a greater possibility of crashes. Depending on what you were doing and how stable the CPU was it was a noticeable improvement. Some selectors would let you choose between 2 speeds, others had multiple speed selections. Often the higher ones would crash a lot more. There were also variable speed controls that acted like a rheostat with continuous speed changes. Those worked but were even more unstable.