VOGONS


A couple of retros I'm working on.

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Reply 220 of 452, by IanB

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Hamby wrote:

Okay, booted from the floppy, ran the program, dumped the BIOS, copied from C:\ to a:\, copied from a:\ to C:\ on dos desktop, transferred to main desktop, added to zip file, and now uploaded the zip file.

Thanks Hamby, that worked this time 😀

It's running on my T5200 and it's yet another very different BIOS compared to the other two.
I'll see if I can apply my patches to it.

I wonder why they had so many different BIOSes and reverted back to the 24K VGA BIOS?

Reply 221 of 452, by Hamby

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IanB wrote:
Thanks Hamby, that worked this time :) […]
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Hamby wrote:

Okay, booted from the floppy, ran the program, dumped the BIOS, copied from C:\ to a:\, copied from a:\ to C:\ on dos desktop, transferred to main desktop, added to zip file, and now uploaded the zip file.

Thanks Hamby, that worked this time 😀

It's running on my T5200 and it's yet another very different BIOS compared to the other two.
I'll see if I can apply my patches to it.

I wonder why they had so many different BIOSes and reverted back to the 24K VGA BIOS?

Maybe this is a custom bios in mine? I mean, the machine was meant for the oil industry, with prom burning software on it. Maybe it part of some kind of commercial package for oil companies an IT company offered?

Reply 222 of 452, by IanB

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Hamby wrote:

Maybe this is a custom bios in mine? I mean, the machine was meant for the oil industry, with prom burning software on it.

That's very unlikely and there's nothing custom about it, it was just the latest bios release from Toshiba. The '89 Award BIOS had an internal version string of "V1.30", the later 89 Phoenix BIOS was "V3.00" and your 1991 version is "V5.30" so just a general progression I suppose. The good news is that your version also works with the 32K VGA BIOS so it's probably the most compatible one so far. It's also much faster than the Phoenix BIOS on bootup and warm starts. Although this version is likely an Award BIOS, there is no mention of Award or Phoenix in it, just Toshiba.

I've added my patches including built in XTIDE and it all appears to work OK so far. I'll post the file later this weekend after some further testing.

Reply 223 of 452, by Hamby

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IanB wrote:
Hamby wrote:

Maybe this is a custom bios in mine? I mean, the machine was meant for the oil industry, with prom burning software on it.

That's very unlikely and there's nothing custom about it, it was just the latest bios release from Toshiba. The '89 Award BIOS had an internal version string of "V1.30", the later 89 Phoenix BIOS was "V3.00" and your 1991 version is "V5.30" so just a general progression I suppose. The good news is that your version also works with the 32K VGA BIOS so it's probably the most compatible one so far. It's also much faster than the Phoenix BIOS on bootup and warm starts. Although this version is likely an Award BIOS, there is no mention of Award or Phoenix in it, just Toshiba.

I've added my patches including built in XTIDE and it all appears to work OK so far. I'll post the file later this weekend after some further testing.

Yea... I contributed! 😀

So, I take it that it still has the Conner drive dependency that previous bioses had?

Reply 224 of 452, by Vipersan

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A quick T4900CT update ..
I have at least for now given up on fitting an SSD ..
The laptop simply wont accept or recognise it.
I have though built a new win95 FAT 32 O/S on a 2gb partition on a 10gb pata I had in my retro swag ..
My unit on the left in the image ..
..and yes it was done via floppy ..which gave me a chance to test the 23 disk 95 floppy kit I made..
😉
The unit on the right is the one my brother sent me from London..
I have since fitted an identical Mitsumi ultra slim like the one in mine..
Yes I bought a spare for future use in mine.
🤣
I also replaced the cmos battery in my brothers old unit.
The Keyboard however is not serviceable sadly ...and I guess ..rare ..though I will keep watching ebay.
(UE0283P01)
His is running with my old 800mb hard drive fitted ..win 95 FAT16
Pity about the KeyBoard ..but I'll keep searching.
both have flat batteries ..but to rebuild them I need to source suitable NiMh 4/3 batteries ..which appear plentiful in the states ..but rare as rocking horse scat here in blighty.
rgds
VS

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Reply 225 of 452, by jaZz_KCS

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With the help of overlay software you could have utilized the whole 10GB of the drive as one big fat32 partition, if so desired. Great to hear it works. Will help having a look out for 4900CT parts.

Reply 226 of 452, by jaZz_KCS

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All I could find right now are two German ebay offers over here for a T1950CT new and T4900CT (it seems) used, which appears to be the exact same keyboard, albeit without the integrated Trackpoint. The other used one seems to be the right one.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/NOTEBOOK-LAPTOP-ORIGIN … 20AAOSwA3dYJcjT

Another one, cheaper, used, with English layout, this time the right one with Trackpoint.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Toshiba-P000199440-en … kAAAOSwWv5aPUi6

free shipping for me in Germany, so I could grab it for you and send it over for you

Reply 228 of 452, by jaZz_KCS

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Ok, instead of taking a gamble and getting the keyboard that is new, but doesnt have the trackpoint and could therefore be incompatible, and also would force you to change the keyboard layout with your English keycaps... I went ahead and bought the used one (second link) for 20 Euro. This one albeit being used, has English layout and it has the exact FPU part number you mentioned.

Reply 229 of 452, by Vipersan

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Im used to re-using old parts ..JZ
A reat pity I can't shop on Ebay for parts for my old body ..🤣
I have MS ..and bad eyesight ..and most of my 60 year old 'parts' are worn out.
😁
just let me know what I owe you by PM ..and I'll sort it.
rgds
VS

Reply 230 of 452, by Vipersan

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IanB wrote:
Hamby wrote:

Maybe this is a custom bios in mine? I mean, the machine was meant for the oil industry, with prom burning software on it.

That's very unlikely and there's nothing custom about it, it was just the latest bios release from Toshiba. The '89 Award BIOS had an internal version string of "V1.30", the later 89 Phoenix BIOS was "V3.00" and your 1991 version is "V5.30" so just a general progression I suppose. The good news is that your version also works with the 32K VGA BIOS so it's probably the most compatible one so far. It's also much faster than the Phoenix BIOS on bootup and warm starts. Although this version is likely an Award BIOS, there is no mention of Award or Phoenix in it, just Toshiba.

I've added my patches including built in XTIDE and it all appears to work OK so far. I'll post the file later this weekend after some further testing.

My 5200 is still in pieces ..so I'd be happy to test Hambys Bios ..
I should also receive my 2gb hard drive today ..so that too will be fitted and tested..
rgds
VS

Reply 231 of 452, by IanB

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Vipersan wrote:

My 5200 is still in pieces ..so I'd be happy to test Hambys Bios ..
I should also receive my 2gb hard drive today ..so that too will be fitted and tested..

OK here it is for testing:

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T5200 v5.30 Award 1990 BIOS patch v1.1.zip
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Reply 232 of 452, by Vipersan

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IanB wrote:
Vipersan wrote:

My 5200 is still in pieces ..so I'd be happy to test Hambys Bios ..
I should also receive my 2gb hard drive today ..so that too will be fitted and tested..

OK here it is for testing:

The attachment T5200 v5.30 Award 1990 BIOS patch v1.1.zip is no longer available

Sorry Ian ..
I tried 3 times to program my spare 1024 ..and finally gave up ..
and I'm not risking erasing the one already flashed.
So I guess I wait for the 1024 eproms from China.
In the meantime I pulled the 1024 from my cracked screen 3200sx for you to look at ..
find attached zip
rgds
VS

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Reply 233 of 452, by Vipersan

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So ..I thought I'd try the Seagate ST32122A 2gb IDE HD I received yesterday..with Ians 5200 modded bios
A modded version of my own bios ..
The seagate isn't recognised and hangs the Toshiba after memory check ..so can't even access a floppy at this point.
What's more I can't access bios with or without the seagate fitted ..
Maybe I'm pressing the wrong keys ..?
but I did try Left Ctrl -Left Shift and esc
also Left Ctrl Left Shift & F1

All I get is keyboard stuck error and no bios access ..
I really dont think my 5200 likes this bios ..as I can't even boot the original Connor with it ..
(see previous post on this )
I'm tempted to blow the bios away and flash with the latest Hamby modded bios..
My main worry is the eprom ..
I only have one working chip and that can be hit n miss with erasing and re-programming..
rgds
VS

Reply 234 of 452, by Vipersan

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Flashed to the modded Hamby Bios..
So far so good ..though the Seagate was seen as a slave drive ?
I assume this is normal ?
..but it is formatting..
fingers crossed

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Reply 235 of 452, by IanB

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Vipersan wrote:
Flashed to the modded Hamby Bios.. So far so good ..though the Seagate was seen as a slave drive ? I assume this is normal ? ..b […]
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Flashed to the modded Hamby Bios..
So far so good ..though the Seagate was seen as a slave drive ?
I assume this is normal ?
..but it is formatting..
fingers crossed

No, it's not normal, it would be normal if the jumper on the seagate is set to slave (or maybe cable select - this might not work properly on such an early machine). The earlier versions of the BIOS hang up if there's only a slave drive connected so maybe that's your problem.
Check the seagate docs for the correct jumper setting for master.
For anyone else trying this, don't forget the IDE connector on the T5200 cable is upside down as well. (As the drive is being recognised now, this isn't your problem.)

Reply 236 of 452, by Vipersan

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Problem solved Ian ..
A master jumper pin was missing ..
The jumper _was_ fitted and in place ..but when I pulled it one of the pins underneath was missing ..
Soldered a link wire on the driver board ..
😁
Dos 6.2 installed and now seen as master
now for Win 3.0
😉

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Reply 237 of 452, by IanB

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Vipersan wrote:
Problem solved Ian .. A master jumper pin was missing .. The jumper _was_ fitted and in place ..but when I pulled it one of the […]
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Problem solved Ian ..
A master jumper pin was missing ..
The jumper _was_ fitted and in place ..but when I pulled it one of the pins underneath was missing ..
Soldered a link wire on the driver board ..
😁
Dos 6.2 installed and now seen as master
now for Win 3.0

Success at last... You do seem to hit roadblocks at every change...
I would stay with Hamby's BIOS for now, it's the most recent one anyway and much faster on reboots. It seems to work with your hardware so far...
That's the combination I'm currently testing as well, Hamby's 5.30 and your 32K VGA as that's the most recent we have of everything.

I have a little theory as to why they switched from Award to Phoenix and back to Award again. I noticed there was a string "For evaluation only" in the Phoenix BIOS so maybe they were trialling Phoenix to see if they wanted to switch but eventually decided to remain with Award. Perhaps they lost the rights to the 32K Phoenix VGA BIOS when they went back to Award and had to switch back to the 24K one instead.

I just tried a couple of real HDs and confirmed that drives show up as slave when cable select is used so that setting is no use on the T5200

Reply 238 of 452, by IanB

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Hamby wrote:

Yea... I contributed! 😀

Yes, thanks very much for that.

Hamby wrote:

So, I take it that it still has the Conner drive dependency that previous bioses had?

Yes it does, the only one that doesn't have that problem is the very early Award BIOS. The only options for you for larger hard drives are XTIDE in an EPROM on a network card or my patched BIOS with XTIDE built in.

Reply 239 of 452, by Vipersan

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Just finished making my 6 floppy Win3.1 Installation..
so fingers crossed I don't run into more problems..
I'm using the Keyboard borrowed from the T3200SX ..and it is proving problematic ..
Double and often triple bounce key repeats ..so chances are I'll return to the original 5200 KB ..and canabalise the 3200KB for switches..
rgds
VS