Okay, so I am building a new PC, since my other one died. Anyway, to my surprise the motherboard has a serial port built in still, and support for 5 1/4 in. disk drives! Being a vintage computer user, this made me happy. However, I got to thinking, some of those computers are close to thirty years old (Apple II, C64, Amiga). If they died while connected to my computer (power supply, capacitor failure, etc.) would it damage my new PC? All of my vintage PCs have switching power supplies, including the C64, so is the fuse likely to blow before it damages my PC?
I have an old P3 I could use for retro computers, and I don't care if it blew up (it cost me $10 at Salvation Army
but that isn't as convenient.
