Someone using ChatGPT… on a 1984 IBM PC: That’s how they did it

ChatGPT has become an application of the moment. Since its launch in November last yearMillions of people have started using it and everyone seems to be talking about the possibilities and challenges that this disruptive tool presents.

The arrival of the conversational chatbot API by OpenAI favored this phenomenon. Developers now have the ability to integrate ChatGPT into their own applications, breaking the classic web browser user interface barrier.

With the availability of this resource, which defined a business strategy within the company led by Sam Altman, many are beginning to adopt it in modern applications. What if it could be used on a computer nearly four decades old? Has anyone tried.

ChatGPT in MS-DOS

Yeo Kheng Meng, an airplane pilot, programmer, and old computer enthusiast, has accepted this interesting challenge. run to ChatGPT on an old system. Although there are some tricks to achieve this, the result is amazing and fully functional.

The computer chosen for the project is a 1984 IBM laptop PC. We are talking about a computer with an Intel 8088 processor at 4.77 MHz (the same as the first IBMPC 5150 released in 1981), 640 KB, CGA ISA Graphics, ISA and MS network adapter -DOS 6.22.

As Yu explainsThe first step to complete his task was to find a compiler to develop a ChatGPT client for MS-DOS. After doing some research, he chose to work with Open Watcom C/C++, a 32-bit program that can run on Windows 11.

For development use a virtual machine in VirtualBox with MS-DOS 6.22 and then transfer the compiled binary file to the target computer. This enthusiast also had to manage so that the client could access the Internet and thus get the answers that would appear on the screen.

On this step, I was able to advance thanks to the 1983 Packet Driver API and its integration with the The MTPC library is open source. So far fine, but there was a catch: the ChatGPT API only works with HTTPS connections, which takes some extra effort.

To solve the problem of encrypted connections, Yeo resorted to creating an HTTP-to-HTTPS proxy running on an existing midstream PC. Any broker that translates requests and responses between the client and the ChatGPT API.

The developer also addressed other technical issues along the way, like figuring out how to get it to work. Text input and output on the screen. All the details, in case someone wants to replicate this interesting project, can be found on the developer’s GitGHub profile.

Being able to use an advanced chatbot like ChatGPT on a 1984 computer is truly amazing. In those days, this kind of thing was only possible in imagination. Or in the movies as he reminds us This scene is from the 1983 movie “War Games.”.

Photographs: Yu Qing Meng (1And 2)

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