Reply 60 of 63, by Zinn123@gmx.de
Unter welchen link sind die downloadbar?
Thermalwrong wrote on 2023-08-31, 12:48:Welcome to the forum :) […]
ono wrote on 2023-08-21, 16:09:Hi all,
This is my first post on Vogons, despite I signed up many years ago 😀
Welcome to the forum 😀
Thanks to this thread and also excellent resources on minuszerodegrees.net I managed to restore an old Toshiba 430CDT bought off […]
Thanks to this thread and also excellent resources on minuszerodegrees.net I managed to restore an old Toshiba 430CDT bought off eBay for around 80 dollars imported from US into Switzerland for extra 50 dollars. The device looks and works great, so I think this was a good deal. It was booting absolutely fine with the original HDD, but I swapped it with SD to PATA IDE and now it is absolutely silent. I tested the fan, it works, but it does not kick in at all, and computer gets just slightly warm after hours of usage.
The machine came unfortunately without an external floppy drive - just the main unit. So I decided to buy old Toshiba external floppy that was visually compatible to install GoTek/Flashfloppy emulator. (see below for details) The external cable/plug turned to be indeed compatible, unfortunately the internally it uses different/smaller connector. Therefore it cannot be put directly into the main laptop body, i.e. swapping it with CD drive. Fortunately CD drive that came with the device works well, so having external floppy and internal CD is good enough for me playing some Retro games. Note that the floppy unit I bought has 1mm pitch flex cable, but I think original older unit shipped with 430CDT used 1.25mm pitch flex cable.
430CDT_9577.jpeg
I managed to install fresh Windows 98 SE copy without any problem. I am into Win98SE DOS to play DOS games. The only catch is that Windows apparently does not support any hard drive (Ultra?) DMA on 430CFT using FC1307A SD to PATA adapter, that is relatively slow providing only <1MB/s. Windows Device Manager does not show any DMA checkbox at all, but HWInfo for DOS says both SD to PATA adapter and CD drive support Ultra DMA. But not sure if CPU/mainboard does. Anybody knows?
Maybe I miss some drivers? I found only TSETUP.EXE for DOS utility and Win98 W95UT430.EXE tools, but they did not provide anything else than otherwise can be achieved by holding ESC during boot and entering bios via F1. I know there exists 6.50 BIOS B430CDT.EXE file, but this file is nowhere to be found.
I may try installing CF card with built-in ATA controller and simple 44-pin PATA adapter, but not sure if it is worth to spend additional $15 for an adapter and a CF card that will bring no performance benefit.
I think some of the files that were on the support.dynabook.com site have started falling off. The internet archive has lots and I put together a personal archive with working links that I should really put online at some point. Here's the list of files for the 430 laptops, you might be able to find them by searching for the filenames:
Screenshot 2023-08-31 at 13-38-51 Toshiba File Archive.pngMy 430CDT came with discharged but otherwise working Li-Ion (laptop still can work for around 40-60min!) and two completely dead zero-volt Ni-MH batteries, but no leak onto electronics. I removed both NiHM batteries as recommended. I put Li-Ion half-charged aside, as I don't trust 25 year old batteries 😉 I only replaced the BIOS battery with similar specs 20mAh 3.6V NiMH. I bought for around 10 dollars. I simply swapped the plastic plug enclosures. I think there are some sites selling "original" Toshiba batteries, but I don't see point of paying 40 dollars for such thing.
Yeah, the proper type of RTC batteries are going to have the same problem. I've had recently bought 3.6v nimh battery packs leaking just in storage before they've ever been used, it's likely many of these are old stock and will fail just like the original cells did and on a similar timeline. One thing that might help to avoid future problems is to use solid core wire at some point, it seems like electrolyte can wick through multi-strand wires over time.
If reusing the original plug wires, give them a bath in some vinegar or lemon juice and wash them to make sure there's nothing corrosive left in the cable that could do damage.Personally I think that two diodes and a CR2032 or two are the way to go but I haven't tried that on my Satellite 400 to 430 laptops yet.
Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and […]
Now I want to write a bit more about GoTek/Flashfloppy fitting into Toshiba enclosure. This took some effort but it was fun and it was worth it! Despite the whole procedure was only partially documented in "FF with 26-pin header Gotek Floppy" project issue and some other Flashfloppy wiki entries, I managed to successfully mod SFRM72-DU26 720K (much cheaper than 1.44MB model that only differs in firmware) I got for around 23 dollars. I fitted small OLED display and additional rotary encoder I had lying around. With 1mm FFC PFC extension board I managed to connect everything without straining Toshiba enclosure flat cable.
430CDT_9556.jpeg
Finally I also got network and Internet working great under Windows 98 SE with PCMPC100 bought off eBay for around 20 dollars. This one should also work in DOS, but I haven't tried it yet. The good thing about this model is that RJ45 port can be unplugged, so there's nothing sticking out of the laptop. Also there's enough room to put another PC card, e.g. SD to PC card, but not a sound card, since ESS688+OPL3 built-in 430CDT work great as a drop-in Sound Blaster replacement for all the games a tried so far.
Overall I am really happy with Toshiba 430CDT and impressed how well this computer was designed back in 1997. It does not need any external AC/DC brick, has built-in HW scaler if you want to upscale to 800x600, if not then it does pixel perfect scaling. Overall I think this is best mid-90ties model to play some Retro PC games.
If you have any questions or comments on my build here, please let me know.
Wow that Toshiba caddied flashfloppy looks superb. I've got that same SFRM72-DU26 but it's not mounted in anything, I might try it in an external caddy - I really like your idea of using a 26pin 1mm flex cable extender to get around the different connector/cable positions inside the caddy 😀
The caddy you've got is from a Tecra (500 to 750 models) or later satellite laptops (440 to 490) which has the right connector. Sometimes those have direct drive floppy drives in them or you can use the direct drive floppy from a darker grey tecra 8000 series in its place. Good to know that a regular flashfloppy can work with no special requirements with Toshiba laptops, thank you for sharing your findings with this.
