My classic ThinkPad T43 (from 2005) used IDE/PATA storage. That's slow and unreliable, especially after the PATA->SATA bridge IBM included.
Instead, let's use NVMe SSDs in the ExpressCard/34 slot!
I modified the BIOS to include a custom Option ROM, which can translate the BIOS disk accesses into NVMe.
Windows XP, Debian 12, MS-DOS 6 can boot fine from NVMe!
Option ROM Source:
https://github.com/Manawyrm/nvme-int13h-optionrom
YouTube-Video in Action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVKbFLtXLYM
I already bought a proper, internal ExpressCard/34 to M.2 2242 adapter from China. Hasn't arrived yet.
ExpressCard/34 is just PCIe x1 (and 3.3V power), just like the M.2 M+B key slot.
This was my first BIOS mod, using a lot of crazy PhoenixBIOS tools, hex-editing and crossing fingers.
I had to do the "crisis recovery" procedure 4 times.
Speeds are around 250 MByte/s (RW), limited by the PCIe 1.0 x1 (2.5GT/s) slot.
Newer laptops could do PCIe 2.0 x1, reaching ~500 MByte/s!
Samsung offers a native NVMe driver, which will run on XP. I had to write my own txtsetup.oem file to be able to load the driver in the XP setup routine. Included the driver using nLite into a XP SP3 ISO.
Modding the BIOS requires arcane knowledge, which I managed to figure out by trial & error and reading old russian forum posts.
Here's what I did: https://gist.github.com/Manawyrm/d4a6fe18ca4c129179f527e9d0854099
(can't share the tools/binaries used, they're a little bit hard to find, but out there)
@dd0ul@mastodon.radio@manawyrm I failed to install OS/2 on my Proxmox environment. I loved OS/2 as a youngster.
@dd0ul Check out „PCem“ (or one of the forks), if you want some nostalgia with OS/2. It really emulates the old hardware very precisely, with the same graphics cards, sound cards, BIOSes, used from back in the day.
It probably has a solid chance of running OS/2 properly :)