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86Box emulator adds QIC-117 tape drive emulation for DOS and early Windows backup software
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Illustration only Photo by Aaron McLean on Unsplash
The 86Box emulator now supports emulating a QIC-117 tape drive, enabling virtual tape backups using vintage DOS and Windows-era software.
This development bridges retrocomputing and modern emulation, allowing engineers to test and preserve legacy backup workflows without physical hardware. It also demonstrates how AI-assisted reverse engineering can accelerate support for undocumented or proprietary protocols.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
86Box emulator now emulates QIC-117 tape drives connected via floppy controller or parallel port.
Virtual tape images can be used with original DOS and early Windows backup utilities.
AI-assisted disassembly of drive ROMs uncovered undocumented manufacturer-specific commands.
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