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MPC standard gives a hint: The first MPC minimum standard, set in 1991, was: 16 MHz 386SX CPU 2 MB RAM 30 MB hard disk 256-color, 640×480 VG

MPC standard gives a hint: The first MPC minimum standard, set in 1991, was: 16 MHz 386SX CPU 2 MB RAM 30 MB hard disk 256-color, 640×480 VGA video card 1× (single speed) CD-ROM drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read, with < 1 second seek time Sound card (Creative Sound Blaster recommended as closest available to standard at the time[2]) outputting 22 kHz, 8-bit sound; and inputting 11 kHz, 8-bit sound Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions. Though for a CD game you really wanted something in range of DX4/100 with 16MB RAM, which surpasses MPC-II specs. Also 4 incompatible CD interfaces on the sound cards doesn't bode well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_PC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_PC https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mozart_16_(Oak_OTI601).png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mozart_16_(Oak_OTI60...

ben7799 3y ago
I think most people didn't get a CD-ROM drive till the 486 was common. 386s did not come with CDs till late in their lifetime, by the time the 486 was becoming affordable most computers had a CD-ROM drive.
RetroTechie 3y ago
> Also 4 incompatible CD interfaces on the sound cards doesn't bode well. Yeah, certainly in the beginning CD-ROM drives were marketed as a cornerstone to bring PC's into the "multimedia" age. And thus eg. bundled with an audio card that doubled as a CD drive controller. Only when they were more common, things like OSes, office suites etc came on CD by default. Oh and... encyclopedia. :-)
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  > bring PC's into the "multimedia" age Yep, office drones don't need this fancy-shmancy multimeedeeaa => no sound card => no CD interface. Only when ATAPI became the standard (and MultiI/O became integrated) the support for the CD drives come to systems without a soundcard. > Oh and... encyclopedia. :-) That's multimedia.
  - lizknope 3y ago
    I got my first x86 PC in August 1994. It came with a 2X CD-ROM drive with the brand new ATAPI / IDE interface. I wanted to install Linux from CD but it was too new to have Linux support so I ended up using 10 floppies to install each Slackware disk set, back to the computer lab for the next set, and repeat.

ben7799 3y ago

I think most people didn't get a CD-ROM drive till the 486 was common. 386s did not come with CDs till late in their lifetime, by the time the 486 was becoming affordable most computers had a CD-ROM drive.

RetroTechie 3y ago

> Also 4 incompatible CD interfaces on the sound cards doesn't bode well. Yeah, certainly in the beginning CD-ROM drives were marketed as a cornerstone to bring PC's into the "multimedia" age. And thus eg. bundled with an audio card that doubled as a CD drive controller. Only when they were more common, things like OSes, office suites etc came on CD by default. Oh and... encyclopedia. :-)

justsomehnguy 3y ago
> bring PC's into the "multimedia" age Yep, office drones don't need this fancy-shmancy multimeedeeaa => no sound card => no CD interface. Only when ATAPI became the standard (and MultiI/O became integrated) the support for the CD drives come to systems without a soundcard. > Oh and... encyclopedia. :-) That's multimedia.
- lizknope 3y ago
  I got my first x86 PC in August 1994. It came with a 2X CD-ROM drive with the brand new ATAPI / IDE interface. I wanted to install Linux from CD but it was too new to have Linux support so I ended up using 10 floppies to install each Slackware disk set, back to the computer lab for the next set, and repeat.