First post, by aleksej
Hello, vogoners.
Glad to present my current retro rig. Primary goal is preserve regular retro look and feel of it (you know - beige plastic and etc) but drastically reduce his size and make it totally silent and dust free.
Specs:
Mobo: Advantech PCA-6740 - PICMG 1.0 / Half-Size ISA SBC.
Disk drive #1: M-Systems DiskOnChip DOC2000 64mb flash module installed in DIP socket on mobo. Used as backup/rescue bootable disk.
Disk drive #2: WD SiliconDrive 1gb SSD, 2.5" IDE.
ISA soundcard #1: Creative SB16 Vibra CT2860
ISA soundcard #2: Advanced Gravis Ultrasound ACE
Case: Acrosser AR-IPC3SP-G - 3 slot half-size industrial chassis w/ISA backplane.
Display: Modgraph MG-3930 - 9" color SVGA CRT monitor.
Keyboard: Cherry ML4100.
Mouse: 2-button PS/2 ball mouse by IBM.
Now some pics.
Advantech PCA-6740. Half-Size ISA SBC w/soldered 133mhz 486 CPU class CPU (not needed cooling, just slightly warm) and some kind of embedded proprietary SoC chipset with some quirks. Hopefully most of it have workarounds. 32mb SDRAM onboard (again - "486" -> "SDRAM" - this chipset full of vagaries). All in all compatibility is really good. Also it have onboard video (SMI LynxEM+ SM712G - not best solution for DOS games but gives surprisingly sharp picture on such old and fuzzy CRT display), and LAN chip ("classic" one - RTL8139).
Western Digital SiliconDrive 1gb IDE SSD. In alluminium case, looks robust.
Disassembled chassis. No fans here, 100% silent. 40W PSU is enough for whole system.
Creative SB16 VibraS CT2860 (OEM for HP?). Non PNP. Hanging note bug is here, but it have real YMF262 chip.
Advanced Gravis Ultrasound ACE. This one is 1.1 revision with full meg of ram.
That industrial mobo have some problems with DMAs 1 and 5 when used it by soundcards, but 3, 6 and 7 is ok. Enough for both cards to work together without problems.
Fully disassembled system. ISA backplane have IDE 40PIN interface to 44PIN converter on it.
Assembly is really quick and simple.
Looks nice. Should i put something on rear LPT port? 😀
In comparison with Holy Bible. Biggest book which i find in home library for that comparion. That book is really huge you know? 😀
Mothercard have one universal PS/2 port for keyboard and mouse which can be connected simultaneously via Y-cable. Like in notebooks.
Tiny color SVGA monitor. Manufactured in 1994 but still bright enough.
The whole setup...
...in action. Have MS-DOS 6.22...
...and Windows 95. Performance is still enough for simple internet services like email (via email software), ICQ, IRC, FTP. Even some web pages and forums can be accessed.
And it really small. 😀
TO-DO:
Change chassis. Maybe to something like CLM-903S.
Change SSD to some more vintage, authentic and period correct. Like M-Systems FFD IDE series. Just for fun.
Replace Vibra with Sertek S521 ES1688 card. Find it first ofcourse. I like it scheme.
Put some WT on it.
Invent usage for mobo's PC/104 interface.
Find Ortek MCK-84 keyboard and replace current Cherry with it. Because nobody sells custom color keycaps for ML switches 🙁
Find rare and useless Polaroid CP-60SC filter for 9" CRT displays 😀