Veteran Windows developer Raymond Chen has revealed in a video with Dave’s Garage how Microsoft examined Windows 98 to see how nicely it might cope when assaulted with a barrage of plugged-in USB gadgets. USB was one thing new on the time, so the Windows 98 builders wanted to realize expertise with it.

Enter the “USB Cart of Death.” It didn’t kill folks, however infinite Windows builds. Using the USB Cart of Death usually led to a blue display screen on the Windows pc being checked. This meant that the Windows construct operating on the PC was completed and wanted to be improved.

There had been 64 USB gadgets on the USB Cart of Death, the utmost variety of USB gadgets that could possibly be linked to a Windows pc on the time (the determine is now 127). The Windows builders packed each conceivable kind of USB system onto the cart (a type of mail trolleys used to gather and ship the corporate’s mail): keyboards, mice, printers, and even a USB gaming steering wheel, which was then used to steer the trolley. All of those gadgets had been linked to the Windows PC being examined by way of a single USB cable. The Windows builders used an arsenal of USB hubs to make that doable.

This USB Cart of Death was pushed from Windows developer to Windows developer and plugged into their PCs. As quickly as Windows had acknowledged all of the gadgets, the builders examined whether or not the linked USB keyboard functioned, whether or not the gaming steering wheel labored accurately in video games, and so forth.

A very powerful take a look at was to attach the cart, watch Windows acknowledge all 64 gadgets and activate the drivers — after which unplug them once more. This normally resulted in a blue display screen of demise on the Windows PC. And you then moved on to the subsequent Windows pc with the USB Cart of Death. The developer sitting on the crashed PC now looked for the reason for the crash and tailored the Windows supply code accordingly… till the USB trolley of demise turned up the subsequent time.

The objective of this brutal testing was to have the ability to join and disconnect USB gadgets as usually as required throughout operation. Windows shouldn’t crash, however proceed to run stably. Fortunately for us, the builders succeeded of their objective.

This article was translated from German to English and initially appeared on pcwelt.de.