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[Discussion] - "High performance desktop computer" - Packard Bell

Started By:
Stryker, Mon 31 Aug, 2020 11:52 PM
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    #1
     –  Last edited by Stryker; Tue 01 Sep, 2020 3:05 AM.
    Ready for some nostalgia? The title headliner is an exact quote from the owner's manual of this computer, LOL...

    Packard Bell 386SX-lle

    • Motherboard with Intel 80386SX CPU and AT-compatible chip sets ACC2036/OTI067/82C862
    • 2 MB on-board memory standard with 16-bit memory access, expandable to 16 MB onboard
      • I have the onboard memory maxed out with 4x-4MB SIMM memory modules for a total 16 MB max! FAST!!!! LOL

    • 128 KB EPROM with Phoenix BIOS and VGA BIOS
    • Built-in Floppy Drive Controller and IDE interface
    • One built-in modem port (COM1), one built-in serial port (COM2) and one built-in parallel port
    • Real-time clock and system configuration in CMOS RAM with battery backup
    • 102-key new enhanced PS/2 compatible keyboard
    • 80387SX math coprocessor socket onboard
    • Three AT-compatible expansion slots (16-bit) through a Riser Card
    • A total of three half-sized disk drive bays, one for 5.25" and two 3.5"
      • Got a 24x CD-ROM Drive and one 3.5/1.44MB Floppy Drive installed

    • Runs under MS-DOS, UNIX (XENIX), OS/2
      • Got MS-DOS 6.22 running and Windows 3.11 Workgroups operating system

    • 80386SX high performance 32-bit microprocessor with two operating modes
      • Real Address Mode - 1 MB memory address space
      • Protected Mode - Supports 16 MB of physical memory address space and 64 TB of virtual memory address space
      • Four-level memory protection
      • Built-in memory management unit
      • One socket for 80387SX Math Coprocessor (Optional)
        • (Bought one and should be coming end of September hopefully it will boost my speed 20/25Mhz)

    • I have a Quantum 4 Gigabyte HDD installed and YES it does recognize it. BUT the MS-DOS system has broken it up in 3 partitions, 2 GB (C-Drive), 2 GB (D-Drive) and the leftovers like 30 or 40 MB (E-Drive) and my CD-ROM Drive is 'F'.

    Internal Workings of the Packard Bell 386Attachment 13705

    The ISA cards that is used in the Packard Bell 386 and onboard memory
    Attachment 13706

    Yes Windows 3.11 does WORK... LOL
    Attachment 13707

    But we all know its native OS is MS-DOS 6.22... but in case any of you peeps forgot what a command prompt looked like back in the early 90's. Getting things like your sound card, peripherals and other things like CD-ROM drive etc etc to get started and installed during the boot can be a real pain...
    Attachment 13708

    Back when Apogee was king of gaming...
    Attachment 13709

    ...and YES forget DosBox... I got Star Trek 25th Anniversary working on here... Constitution lightCool
    Attachment 13710

    This is the "Autoexec.bat" file which is part of the system startup procedure. Back during simpler times... Knowing some C++ does help a little. Here you can see my mouse and keyboard installation code lines and the Sound Blaster setup configuration, also CD-ROM drive too...
    Attachment 13711

    The "Config.sys" is another startup file, here it is more of the beef of the system, like memory allocation, hard drive configuration and Windows.
    Attachment 13712
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    #2
    Banned for giving me bad flashbacks to trying to squeeze a few more Kb out of 'low' memory by editing config.sys, so I could run Wing Commander WITH the speech add-on.
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    #3
     –  Last edited by Stryker; Tue 01 Sep, 2020 12:40 AM.
    Banned for giving me bad flashbacks to trying to squeeze a few more Kb out of 'low' memory by editing config.sys, so I could run Wing Commander WITH the speech add-on.
    Banned? Lol... I think I have Wing Commander installed too... I still have the original boxset, complete with booklet, foldout schematics of the player ship and the diskette's for the game of course lol...

    Never mess with your startup files unless you write down what worked first... otherwise you'd regret it trying to scrub the coding again lol...

    My Wing Commander full set game... should I send in my registration card? LOL........
    Attachment 13713

    Also have the full set to Lord of the Rings, LOL...
    Attachment 13714
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    #4
    Yeah, well I have a monochrome Windows 3.1 laptop somewhere, with working dot matrix printer!
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    #5
     –  Last edited by Stryker; Tue 01 Sep, 2020 12:05 PM.
    Yeah, well I have a monochrome Windows 3.1 laptop somewhere, with working dot matrix printer!
    Show pics or it doesn't exist lol ***Joke

    Hmmm I wonder if my Wing Commander set would be worth more if I can have Chris Roberts to sign it? Lol...

    I have a full box in the attic with 3.5 diskette's and 5.25 diskette's also... had to breath attic air to find my WC box.
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    #6
    386SX?

    Luxury!

    My first PC was an 8088 Turbo 16. Then there was a 286SX, a 486 DX2, an AMD K7, and then... The Pentium! and then... a P4.
    I used to run a WWIV BBS (22:00 - 07:00 Central US Time) where all anyone did was play Trade Wars. We had a PAIR of USR 14.4 externals.

    And what's up with the DIRCMD=/o? Shouldn't it be /w /o:n?

    I still have the DX2, K7, P, and P4 chips.
    "And when I saw the breadth of my domain, I wept, for there were no more worlds left to conquer."
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    #7
    Name:  subwar2050.jpg
Views: 341
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    One of my very first PC games on an Intel 486... memories...! Smile
    Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...

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    #8
    Oh man seeing the old MS DOS icon brings a tear to my eye..Cry

    We used to (and still do i think) own a dot matrix printer at my parent's house. It's kept for "emergencies"....not sure quite what type exactly! That sound it makes is the sound of my childhood school years!
    My dad works in the nuclear industry and quite a few of their printers were still dot matrix until fairly recently he says simply because the custom they use software worked best with them.
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    #9

    And what's up with the DIRCMD=/o? Shouldn't it be /w /o:n?
    Enlighten me, I'm somewhat out of touch, you know writing bootup code lines is a language in itself, lol.

    Name:  subwar2050.jpg
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    One of my very first PC games on an Intel 486... memories...! Smile
    Yes, still got many of the original diskette's like like Duke Nukem 1 and 2, Doom, Blake Stone Aliens of Gold, Rise of the Triad and even have Sim City installed... it struggles with games like DOOM but it can play Wolfenstein 3D and Blake Stone easily. The 3D'ish environments are similar. Also... WOLFENSTEIN 3D!!! Big Grin

    Oh man seeing the old MS DOS icon brings a tear to my eye..Cry

    We used to (and still do i think) own a dot matrix printer at my parent's house. It's kept for "emergencies"....not sure quite what type exactly! That sound it makes is the sound of my childhood school years!
    My dad works in the nuclear industry and quite a few of their printers were still dot matrix until fairly recently he says simply because the custom they use software worked best with them.
    Hahaha, the old MS-DOS icon... you never see that anymore... Windows 3.11 wasn't really a true OS per say since it still relied heavily on the DOS system. I don't believe it was until Windows 95 that it really took off. Man... I think I ran Windows 98SE for the longest time before going to XP...




    Oh btw, if anyone has suggestions on maximizing my capabilities with this 386 machine, I'm open to suggestions. I had made it a personal project years ago to push the limits of this machine. I already maxed out the on-board memory and the hard drive space is unmatched for this machine, but I lack a math co-processor which does more complex calculations and boosts the machine an extra 20 or 25 Mhz I believe. I ordered one and I hope to get it by the end of September. This should boost my machine's performance and make heavy duty games like DOOM, Rise of the Triad and others run more smoothly I hope. I don't know what more I can squeeze out of this.

    Oh, if someone has a suggestion for a better VGA video card for the old ISA slot, let me know. I'd like to boost graphics performance too.
    Stryker
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    #10
     –  Last edited by Taku; Tue 01 Sep, 2020 2:08 PM.
    Enlighten me, I'm somewhat out of touch, you know writing bootup code lines is a language in itself, lol.
    DIRCMD=/w /o:n makes the DIR command default to directories first, then programs in alphabetical order - wide format. So you don't get detailed information, but multi-column display of the directories and files.

    I just looked up a Trident 8900 ISA VGA card. $160+. Legacy tech is EXPENSIVE! But what I've read, your 386SX is your limiting factor here. The 1MB Trident card is about as good as you're going to get.

    BUT, if you want to go nuts, get thee an: Diamond Speedstar 64 2MB ISA VGA

    Oh, need any memory?

    aneQp1u
    "And when I saw the breadth of my domain, I wept, for there were no more worlds left to conquer."
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    #11
    DIRCMD=/w /o:n makes the DIR command default to directories first, then programs in alphabetical order - wide format. So you don't get detailed information, but multi-column display of the directories and files.

    I just looked up a Trident 8900 ISA VGA card. $160+. Legacy tech is EXPENSIVE! But what I've read, your 386SX is your limiting factor here. The 1MB Trident card is about as good as you're going to get.

    BUT, if you want to go nuts, get thee an: Diamond Speedstar 64 2MB ISA VGA

    Oh, need any memory?

    aneQp1u
    Got a link to this high speed video card? Will it work for my 386? I'm always interested to push the limits of this toy as it is still operational..

    Also... the motherboard can only support a MAXIMUM of 16 megabytes of on-board memory. If you saw my pic I have 4x Simm modules at 4MB each. So I've already maxed out my memory unless I get my hands on faster 4MB Simm sticks which is doubtful.
    Stryker
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    #12
    The first computer I had was back in the 80's, an Amstrad CPC464. A huge 64k of memory and it even came with a tape deck and I too had a dot matrix printer for it.

    The first proper PC came in 1995, maybe early 96. A Packard Bell P75 with 8MB RAM. As well as Windows 95, it had this weird OS called Navigator on it too that looked like a house and a monitor with attached speakers that you could have sunk a ship with if you threw it hard enough. Thought it was great for the time, but by the standards of even 15 years ago, never mind today, it's hilariously poor and beyond obsolete.
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    #13
    The first computer I had was back in the 80's, an Amstrad CPC464. A huge 64k of memory and it even came with a tape deck and I too had a dot matrix printer for it.

    The first proper PC came in 1995, maybe early 96. A Packard Bell P75 with 8MB RAM. As well as Windows 95, it had this weird OS called Navigator on it too that looked like a house and a monitor with attached speakers that you could have sunk a ship with if you threw it hard enough. Thought it was great for the time, but by the standards of even 15 years ago, never mind today, it's hilariously poor and beyond obsolete.
    Wow, a tape deck? That is prehistoric... I have a old 40 megabyte hard drive kicking around that is the size of a brick that when you power it up it sounds like a jet engine spinning up... it was insane. lol
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    #14
    Wow, a tape deck? That is prehistoric... I have a old 40 megabyte hard drive kicking around that is the size of a brick that when you power it up it sounds like a jet engine spinning up... it was insane. lol
    Indeed it is, but it was what was in use at the time, I've attached a picture of the one the C64 used, the Amstrad and Spectrum had built in decks.

    Name:  Commodore-Datasette-C2N-Mk2-Front.jpg
Views: 558
Size:  2.38 MB

    Floppy disks did exist of course at the same time (they first appeared in 1967 I think) and at this point we still had ones that actually were floppy, the 5.25 ones that I remember from the BBC Micro.

    This all propably makes me sound older than I really am, but technology marches on. When CD Burners first started to appear they cost hundreds of pounds, that ended up with DVD burners for a tenner, the blu-ray burners came next and nowadays optical drives are going the way of the dinosaur as flash drives get larger and cheaper.
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    #15
    My first "IBM compatible PC" was a custom build full tower with a 386SX.

    Still have the following:
    - Sinclair ZX81
    - Spectrum +3 (Amstrad epoch)
    - Amiga 500
    - Atari Mega ST2
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