Until the mid-1990s, using peripheral equipment with a computer often meant plugging one of a bewildering variety of computer connector cables, installing device drivers from 3.5” floppy discs or CD-ROMS, and slotting specialized expansion cards into motherboards. This all added up to a compatibility nightmare, and consumers had to check carefully to make sure their desired peripheral could work with their make and model of computer. Then, in 1996, Intel released the PIIX3, part of the first chipset…
