$69 in 2026 Gets You a Tool to Rejuvenate Old Computers

9 months ago by cm0002 to c/retrocomputing

PicoIDE is a device that turns microSD cards into working hard drives and CD-ROMs for retro PCs.

If you have been warming up to the idea of owning physical media or preserving your existing collection before it fades away, then PicoIDE should interest you.

The work of Polpotronics, this is an open source IDE/ATAPI emulator meant to replace aging tech like CD-ROM drives and hard disks. If you don't know what those are, you probably weren't around back then. ☠️

The job of the PicoIDE is quite simple; it can take in disk images (e.g., ISO, .bin/.cue, .vhd) from microSD cards and present them to your vintage computer as real IDE hard drives or ATAPI CD-ROM drives.

https://picoide.com/

jqubed 4 points 9 months ago

The CD audio output even works with mixed-mode discs that have redbook audio tracks, which software emulators can't handle, they add.

Why can’t emulators handle them?

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i_am_not_a_robot 8 points 9 months ago

In old computers, CD audio worked by physically connecting an audio cable between the optical drive and the sound card. PC emulators can emulate this, but it's more complicated for CD emulators running on a real computer.

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lambalicious 3 points 9 months ago

core memory unlocked

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wander1236 4 points 9 months ago

They're scared of them

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NaibofTabr 2 points 9 months ago

Hmm, I think Windows and most Linux distros support mounting disk images directly at this point.

Literally just Right-click -> Mount

I'm not sure why you'd bother writing the disk image to an SD card and then using this hardware to mount it.

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Peffse 21 points 9 months ago

Because you have it reversed. This is new tech trying to interface with old tech. For when your Pentium 2 CD-ROM drive dies because a belt went bad. Or the laser is rotten. That kind of situation. Sourcing an IDE drive for old hardware is getting harder every day. (honestly, finding anything beige is getting harder)

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hitstun 12 points 9 months ago

This is for !retrocomputing@lemmy.sdf.org . You install this in a retro PC where a physical drive would go. Your retro PC thinks your disk images are actual disks, and everything else works like it used to. It's a nice quality-of-life improvement.

Retro game consoles have been doing this for a while. The Sega Dreamcast's GD-ROM drive is prone to failure, so modders replace it with hardware that loads disk images. I haven't heard of this for retro PCs before, but it makes sense.

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atomicbocks 1 point 9 months ago

I wish it took up a 5in slot if it’s meant to replace optical drives.

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cm0002 4 points 9 months ago

Edited with the link to their website, according to the FAQ

Will there be a 5.25" or 2.5" version?

PicoIDE will launch with a 3.5" enclosure only, but depending how things go, other form factors may be made available.

So it sounds like it could be coming, plus it's open source so you or someone else could modify the enclosure print to be bigger

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