Whenever I see original hardware modded into a handheld format, I'm always incredibly impressed. I mean, just look at Hairo Satoh's work with his PS1 handheld as an example. It's all far more impressive than putting a Raspberry Pi into a shell and takes a lot more work, and it feels so much nostalgic because of it.
Well, when it comes to things that douse you in nostalgia, 90s kids like me will go wild for Changiang Li’s newest project - a handheld device running Windows 98 that uses real Intel Pentium i586 processor and industrial motherboards!
Yes, you read that right - this is the real deal, with a motherboard that can house Intel Pentium and AMD 5×86 processors, It has an old school keyboard layout, a rollerball mouse, space for Floppy Disks and a VGA port, on-board graphics processors, all the parts responsible for data flow and comminication, and much more. Plus even the power button, volume, and brightness wheels have a strong retro vibe to them.
Ive used the word 'handheld', but really this thing requires two hands or prefereably a table to rest it on. That's a full size keyboard on the front of the casing with all the marvelous clunky noises of 90s keyboards to accompany your gaming sessions. There's also a 4:3 LCD screen in there too, because it obviously has to stay true to the 90s!
One of the reasons I love the Game Boy and the Game Gear over emulators is that physical act of putting in cartridges to mke it run. There's no laggy emulation or games half loading; you put in the original software and play it just like you would have done in the 90s. It's the same for this Windows 98 handheld, with the original hardware running games the way it was meant to back in my childhood.
Imagine putting in floppy disks to boot up hardware and load games in 2025. There's also a mini-hardrive that you can play games installed from CD-rom on too, all running on the operating system they were made for and powered by the pentium processors that were all the rage back when chunky, beige computers were what we went crazy for.
For the exact same reasons that I want an N64 handheld that plays my cartridges so I can pick up where I left off with my games, I want this nostalgic DIY PC handheld to relive the games and memories of my youth. Not only for playing Tomb Raider or Diablo on either, but for having a bash at Mine Sweeper and seeing that old operating system in action once more.
It's like when I tried out GBS Windows; old technology is still so powerful because of the memories it evokes, and while we're constantly looking to the newest Sony handheld or Steam Deck, I think it's great that modders like Changiang Li are helping to keep retro games and tech alive for new gamers and enthusiasts to check out.
And on that note, you'll be pleased to learn that this project is open source, so you can take Li's work and make your own version if you're feeling up to the challenge!
