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IBM PC speaker

1981

The original IBM PC's tiny built-in speaker, driven by a timer channel to produce simple beeps and single-voice tones.

Machines

IBM PC 5150

IBM PC/AT

IBM PC/XT

IBM PCjr

Operating systems

DR-DOS 5.0

DR-DOS 6.0

MS-DOS 1.0

MS-DOS 3.3

MS-DOS 5.0

MS-DOS 6.22

Windows 1.0

Windows 3.1

Reference & documentation

External technical references for programming IBM PC speaker and for writing emulators.

ResourceTypeNotes
Intel 8254 Programmable Interval Timer Datasheet (231164-005) ↗DatasheetCanonical Intel datasheet: modes, control word, AC/DC timing
Intel 82C54 CHMOS Programmable Interval Timer Datasheet (PDF) ↗DatasheetCHMOS variant; electrical and AC/DC characteristics
Intel 8254 Programmable Interval Timer Datasheet (231164-005) ↗PinoutPin descriptions and package diagrams for 8254
PC Speaker - OSDev Wiki ↗ProgrammingPlay tones via PIT ch2 and port 0x61
PC Speaker and Timing Functions - Cosmodoc ↗ProgrammingReal game engine speaker and tick code
Timing on the PC Family Under DOS (Heidenstrom) ↗ProgrammingDefinitive PIT reprogramming, PWM audio, counter reads
PC-Speaker 61h - FenixFox Studios ↗ProgrammingStep-by-step 8086 asm beep tutorial
Programmable Interval Timer - OSDev Wiki ↗Reference8253/8254 registers, modes, ports 0x40-0x43 explained
HelpPC: 8253 Programmable Interval Timer ↗ReferenceConcise port/mode control-word bit reference
Intel 8253 - Wikipedia ↗ReferenceOverview: counters, modes, PC usage, variants
PC Speaker - Wikipedia ↗ReferenceHardware, PWM/PCM playback, port 61h overview