The “CPU Tax” of 1998: How the Audio Modem Riser Nearly Broke Our Early PCs
Posted on February 11, 2026 by Harriet Whitmore
I’ll never forget the rainy Tuesday back in 2001 when a frantic client lugged his beige tower into my workshop. He was convinced his motherboard was “broken” because he couldn’t find a place to plug in his new dial-up card. I opened the case, and there it was—a tiny, lonely brown slot sitting just above […]