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510 votes

Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

answered Jul 1, 2019 at 8:29

94 votes

Why weren't bootable game disks ever common on the IBM PC?

answered Jul 8, 2019 at 13:31

39 votes

Accepted

Why does the original Donkey Kong update the screen in a curtain closing pattern?

answered Nov 6, 2018 at 11:22

37 votes

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Did arcade monitors have same pixel aspect ratio as TV sets?

answered Mar 22, 2019 at 12:34

35 votes

Accepted

What makes MOVEQ quicker than a normal MOVE in 68000 assembly?

answered Jul 18, 2019 at 15:47

29 votes

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How did Elite on the NES work?

answered Apr 23, 2019 at 13:07

26 votes

Why did 8-bit Basic use 40-bit floating point?

answered Nov 13, 2020 at 13:55

25 votes

What is a subpixel in Super Mario Bros, and how does it relate to wall clipping?

answered May 27, 2019 at 8:37

24 votes

What is the most rudimentary input method a platform has ever been programmed in?

answered Apr 30, 2019 at 10:41

23 votes

What makes accurate emulation of old systems a difficult task?

answered Apr 25, 2019 at 8:11

23 votes

Accepted

Reason for gold lines on old ICs?

answered Nov 19, 2018 at 9:21

23 votes

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Why does the Galaksija use SRAM instead of DRAM?

answered Dec 21, 2018 at 10:27

23 votes

Why did Commodore 64 cartridge games disappear?

answered Jun 4, 2018 at 9:35

23 votes

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Why the switch to "Mickey Mouse" (type C14) power cables?

answered Jun 29, 2018 at 9:56

22 votes

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Details of video memory access arbitration in Space Invaders

answered Jun 24, 2019 at 15:04

21 votes

Why did 1950s-60s computers have such wide words?

answered Sep 6, 2020 at 10:42

21 votes

Accepted

Was drilling 3"5 720 KiB floppies to 'upgrade' them to 1440 KiB at all reliable?

answered Apr 3, 2019 at 11:39

20 votes

What did the 'turbo' button actually do?

answered May 20, 2019 at 11:44

18 votes

Accepted

How and why did Intel make the PCI bus "CPU Agnostic"?

answered Sep 14, 2020 at 15:04

17 votes

What causes that "organic fade to black" effect in classic video games?

answered Jan 5, 2021 at 16:11

16 votes

Back in 1984 I wrote some games for Spectrum - Will they still be playable?

answered Aug 17, 2020 at 11:58

16 votes

Why was the 6809 so expensive?

answered Oct 19, 2018 at 8:43

16 votes

How did Z80 multiprocessing work in the Namco Galaga hardware?

answered Feb 16, 2018 at 9:40

15 votes

How did computers generate 'noise' sound files?

answered Sep 27, 2019 at 19:43

14 votes

It's now safe to turn off your computer

answered Jun 20, 2018 at 8:52

13 votes

Why did common floppies never advance past 1.4 MB in size?

answered Jun 19, 2018 at 8:35

12 votes

How did people program for Consoles with multiple CPUs?

answered Mar 29, 2019 at 9:52

12 votes

Why did Windows 95 crash the whole system but newer Windows only crashed programs?

answered Jul 29, 2019 at 9:12

12 votes

How did Satoru Iwata compress Pokemon GS to fit two regions on a single cartridge?

answered Jun 26, 2019 at 13:12

11 votes

Why did the Apple IIe make a hideous noise if you inserted the disk upside down?

answered Jun 27, 2019 at 10:06

Stack Exchange Network

113 Answers

Why did moving the mouse cursor cause Windows 95 to run more quickly?

Why weren't bootable game disks ever common on the IBM PC?

Why does the original Donkey Kong update the screen in a curtain closing pattern?

Did arcade monitors have same pixel aspect ratio as TV sets?

What makes MOVEQ quicker than a normal MOVE in 68000 assembly?

How did Elite on the NES work?

Why did 8-bit Basic use 40-bit floating point?

What is a subpixel in Super Mario Bros, and how does it relate to wall clipping?

What is the most rudimentary input method a platform has ever been programmed in?

What makes accurate emulation of old systems a difficult task?

Reason for gold lines on old ICs?

Why does the Galaksija use SRAM instead of DRAM?

Why did Commodore 64 cartridge games disappear?

Why the switch to "Mickey Mouse" (type C14) power cables?

Details of video memory access arbitration in Space Invaders

Why did 1950s-60s computers have such wide words?

Was drilling 3"5 720 KiB floppies to 'upgrade' them to 1440 KiB at all reliable?

What did the 'turbo' button actually do?

How and why did Intel make the PCI bus "CPU Agnostic"?

What causes that "organic fade to black" effect in classic video games?

Back in 1984 I wrote some games for Spectrum - Will they still be playable?

Why was the 6809 so expensive?

How did Z80 multiprocessing work in the Namco Galaga hardware?

How did computers generate 'noise' sound files?

It's now safe to turn off your computer

Why did common floppies never advance past 1.4 MB in size?

How did people program for Consoles with multiple CPUs?

Why did Windows 95 crash the whole system but newer Windows only crashed programs?

How did Satoru Iwata compress Pokemon GS to fit two regions on a single cartridge?

Why did the Apple IIe make a hideous noise if you inserted the disk upside down?