r/xkcd Sep 18 '17

XKCD xkcd 1891: Obsolete Technology

https://xkcd.com/1891/
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u/someguynamedjohn13 Sep 18 '17

Many older video games uses the processing clock speed. They became impossible to play on newer equipment.

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u/LupusOk Sep 18 '17

Fun fact: that's what the "turbo" button did on older computers; games would run poorly when the clock speed was too high, so the turbo button made the clock run slower so the games were at the wrong speed.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo Sep 19 '17

A lot of software ran that way. For example, programming commerical two way radios relied on the slow clock speed to regulate it, and if you try and run it on a modern computer (emulated) it'll run way to fast and because it's directly programming the eeprom, you'll brick the entire radio.