GoKawiilIn 1994 I got my first computer: an Intel i486 DX2-66 with 4 MB RAM and a 512MB harddisk. The software was IBMs OS/2 and Microsofts Windows 3.11. In the next four years I was upgrading this machine every few months with more RAM (up to 16MB), a CD-ROM-drive and a soundblaster card. So I learned upgrading this machine, installing new software and finally learned how to program new software using BASIC. But I never got in touch with the boot-process or the details of MS-DOS.
In 2026, 32 years later, I learned from some screenshots of the DDX3216, that Behringer used a real 386 processor within this machine. Immediately, some of my neurons fired in my head and I pondered if I could boot software and even a full operating system on this device. My goal was to learn how an x86-system is booting, how DOS takes over and what is necessary to get into the shell.
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Technical Details of the Behringer DDX3216
The DDX3216 uses the following hardware-components:
Main-Processor: AMD Elan SC300 386 SoC (386SX with integrated UART, PCMCIA, GPIO, etc.)
27C512 64k x 8bit ROM IC (for BIOS)
8x HYB5117400BJ60 4M x 4bit RAM for total of 16MB DRAM
1x UM61256 SRAM (as Video-RAM)
4x 29C040-120 Flash-ICs for the main-software
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