Modifying a Dallas clock chip (DS1287) to work with an external CR2032 battery
Sometimes bringing back old tech requires more than dusting and testing — it requires some surgery, patience, and a soldering iron. On one of our recent retro hardware excursions, we stumbled upon a dirty, early 1990s 386 laptop. It was rocking a cute monochrome display, a tiny keyboard, and all the signs of not having been handled in decades. But internally, we knew we were in for a fight: the infamous Dallas RTC (real-time clock) chip with the internal battery. The Dallas chip on this unit, like on many from the…