It’s never been easier to get classic games running on your PC, but “easier” is a relative term when it comes to one specific category of classic games. Some titles made in the DOS era (that’s the 1980s for you whippersnappers) go absolutely nuts on anything faster than a Casio watch — so one builder decided to ditch the emulation and just make an ITX motherboard that can run DOS games natively.
The ITX Llama is a do-it-yourself project that puts classic PC hardware into a mini-ITX form factor that can be installed in any current desktop case. It’s a labor of love that began on the Vogons forum (don’t read the poetry, whatever you do) and was manufactured in small batches last year.
While you probably can’t get one yourself unless you’re willing to track down one of these enthusiasts and pay a king’s ransom (as noted by Tom’s Hardware), the GitHub page means someone else might be able to make new versions if there’s enough demand for it.
This thing is a Frankenstein monster of classic parts and modern form factors. It’s built around a Vortex86EX chip that’s roughly the equivalent of a Pentium III-era CPU, all the hookups for an ATX-compliant desktop (including front panel connectors), a built-in Crystal CS4237B sound card, a gameport, and even an AGP slot for a graphics card that’s old enough to get decent car insurance rates. Take your pick from USB 2.0 or PS/2 input for a mouse and keyboard, but VGA is the newest graphics output on the board. It even has an analog input for a CD drive.
You can load up your OS and games on a SATA drive, but it might be easier to just throw them on a microSD card and stick it into the onboard slot. (If you do, the board’s built-in “clicker” will emulate the sound of a spinning hard drive. You gotta respect that kind of hustle.) If you want to get some extra goodies in there, you can also throw on a Raspberry Pi with a 40-pin connector.
The BIOS on this thing is made custom for this board and based on Coreboot/SeaBIOS. And yes, you can downclock that processor for the DOS games that require specific speeds on the CPU, in classic “turbo button” fashion. It’s enough to make me want to hunt for a DeLorean so I can get some era-accurate parts.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.