How to Build a Base Multimedia PC

Begin with an 80286 10kHz (or better) PC with these components:

2 MB RAM
VGA and monochrome VGA monitor
3.5-inch disk drive
30 MB (or higher) hard drive
AT bus with at least two free slots
Keyboard and mouse

Then add:

SoundBlaster card (either version 1.0 or version 1.5)

This audio card has an 8-bit DAC, two music synthesizer chips (23 total voices) on the board and a MIDI I/O port to connect with an external MIDI device (optional). It also provides a joystick input. Version 1.0 has a CMS music synthesizer chip which the driver does NOT support; this chip was removed from the version 1.5 board, but the driver will support both boards.

Internal or external CD-ROM drive with controller card

CD-ROM with CD-DA (Red Book) audio outputs, maximum 1 sec seek time, minimum 10,000 hours MTBF. The drive must have on-board buffers of 64 K and implement read-ahead buffering. Not all CD-ROM drives shipped to date are capable of delivering sustained data rates of 153K/sec. To accomplish this, the drive must be equipped with an internal buffer to accommodate automatic read-ahead. The drives listed in the preceding component section meet these requirements.

You also need the following hardware:

Mixer At least three channels in with a stereo line out, to mix the sound provided by the CD-ROM drive, SoundBlaster card, and optional MIDI device.

Speakers with amplifier Cables for each sound source to mixer

The following items are optional:

External MIDI device (such as a Casio or Yamaha keyboard) and a MIDI connector

8-bit VGA (256 colors)

Color VGA monitor

Videodisc player and TV/monitor

Cables for MIDI device(s)

SoundBlaster MIDI connector (provides MIDI in and out and joystick ports)

Standard PC analog joystick