A 2000s Internet Terminal Reborn

Forward-looking companies of the early 2000s weren’t quite sure what to make of the whole “internet” thing, but they were pretty certain that we’d access it on some type of dedicated terminal that had a name starting with a lowercase “i.” Unfortunately for them, they didn’t count on the cost of full-featured computers dropping off a cliff in the very near future. When that happened, it left their underpowered terminals looking like a bad deal, so they found their way onto the clearance shelves before soon disappearing.

Dave Luna still has one of these obsolete machines: a Compaq iPAQ IA-2 from 2000. It originally came loaded with a version of Windows CE that was locked down to browse the web with an MSN dial-up connection. If you had anything else in mind, you were out of luck. Luna had much bigger plans, however, so he had to hack it. If you’ve been around a while, you may have already guessed that those plans were to play Doom on the machine.

To make that happen, Luna decided to try to get Windows 98 running on the terminal. If that was possible, it should all be smooth sailing from there.

After doing a little digging, Luna realized this wouldn’t be easy. While the IA-2 is powered by an x86-compatible 266 MHz Geode GX1 processor and includes standard features like IDE connectivity and expandable RAM, Compaq locked the system down in unusual ways. The BIOS refuses to boot from typical IDE storage devices, halting with an error whenever a bootable drive is detected. Even accessing the BIOS setup itself proved impossible.

Instead, Luna had to work within the system’s intended storage method: a tiny 16 MB DiskOnChip module. Using another vintage internet appliance as a makeshift programmer, he reformatted the flash module, installed MS-DOS, and successfully booted the IA-2 into a command-line environment. It wasn’t fast — likely due to software-based display scaling — but it was a big step forward.

Larger DiskOnChip modules were tested but ultimately rejected by the system due to incompatible flash translation layers. The workaround came in the form of a ZuluIDE adapter, which emulates ATAPI devices. By configuring it to behave like a Zip drive, Luna was able to sneak additional storage past the restrictive BIOS and load a full Windows 98 installation.

The built-in CRT only supports 800×600 resolution, meaning many classic DOS graphics modes — including Doom’s native resolution — wouldn’t display properly. Luna built a custom VGA adapter to diagnose the issue and ultimately relied on Windows 98 drivers to force compatible video output.

After driver tweaks, configuration edits, and plenty of trial and error, the payoff finally arrived: Windows 98 running on the IA-2’s original screen. And yes, Doom runs too — even if it is in a windowed mode and with limited colors.