martinot wrote on 2020-08-03, 12:53:

Another great alternative to the original IBM PC/XT, if you want to play games optimized for the 8088/8086 CPU generation, and could think about going with a non-IBM brand, is a Tandy 1000 series machine.

My personal preference is the Tandy 1000RL which I really love. Being so nice and compact, but still with Tandy 1000/IBM jr compatible graphics and sounds (and one normal 8-bit slot), it is one of my favorite machines. But I actually prefer the whole Tandy 1000 series in general over the original IBM PC/XT(and also over my PS/2 Model 30). IMO you can not get any better 8088/8086 PC than that (at least for games)!

For the 8088 I picked up Zenith z100 which has a dual AMD CPU’s that run at 8mhz and 10mhz.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-08-03, 21:24:

For the 8088 I picked up Zenith z100 which has a dual AMD CPU’s that run at 8mhz and 10mhz.

It runs MS-DOS (special version), but as it unfortunately is not fully IBM PC compatible, it will have trouble running many applications that call the hardware directly. If the software makes standard DOS calls it will probably work fine. As it is not the best machine for running games (many games make direct hardware calls), it is not for me personally.

But still a very nice machine and a great piece of history! 😀

martinot wrote on 2020-08-05, 11:03:

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-08-03, 21:24:

For the 8088 I picked up Zenith z100 which has a dual AMD CPU’s that run at 8mhz and 10mhz.

But still a very nice machine and a great piece of history! 😀

I think the same, nice machine, really.
Many CGA and text-mode stuff should work, though.

Developers of Pac-Man for PC, for example, were said to be lazy because they used Pixel Set API of BIOS for drawing CGA graphics..

It perhaps also can run things like ame86 (cp/m86 Emu for DOS), Quick Basic, Turbo Pascal, Norton Commander, etc.
So definitely fun to play with.

Also, maybe you can use it as a terminal also, so you can remote control another DOS machine. That way, you can use your 486 to process the games. It would be similar to streaming games over internet.. 😀

See Remote DOS shell

I need to hook up an external battery.
Does anyone know the default pin configuration on a 386 ?

Pin #
1 = positive
2 = ground
3 = ground
4= Negative

Is this correct ?

generally the used pins are on the outside, yes, just test continuity on which one is ground.

I was able to get the “Made in USA” 386 motherboard to work. And I have it set to 33mhz and it boots really fast.
It boots faster than my 486dx4-100 computer and Pentium 233mhz computer.

I removed the battery and added an external battery.

Tomorrow I will finish putting it together.

Right now I just have it on a test bench.

I think I will continue work in this on USA election night.

Oh NO !.....I think my “Made is USA” Conner hard drive just died.
It’s NOT reading the data correctly anymore.

I will have to try and run Scandisk to try to save it.

Cross your fingers.

Umm that Conner dive is ASSEMBLED in the USA. The components could be from any country. Just saying......

I am super skeptical that the motherboard or VGA card is made in the USA. I am pretty sure if you remove the BIOS chips on those Microlabs cards they say something else like "made in hong kong". The motherboard looks like a PCChips with an american flag sticker on it. Perhaps what they meant was that the sticker was made in the USA.

This “Made in USA Act” document has since been edited since I last read it but it includes design, logical, virtual, and physical products.
It use to read that products containing 50% of its components “Made in USA” qualify for the “Made in USA” label.

This build has about 50% of its components “Made in USA”. Also I assembled it in USA.

Legal Document link below:
https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-cent … de-usa-standard

Just because the US government made a rule, doesn't mean that anyone actually followed it or it was even enforced. What's to stop a shady company like PCChips from just sticking a US flag sticker on a motherboard? They sold boards with fake cache and counterfeit chipsets.

If you took the sticker off the board, could you in any way prove it was made in the USA? My guess is that it was made in Taiwan or Hong Hong like 99% of everything else from that era. If you want a real made in the USA 386, an OEM system with a proprietary motherboard is probably a better bet.

Anonymous Coward wrote on 2020-11-18, 14:10:

Just because the US government made a rule, doesn't mean that anyone actually followed it or it was even enforced. What's to stop a shady company like PCChips from just sticking a US flag sticker on a motherboard? They sold boards with fake cache and counterfeit chipsets.

There was a Episode from the "Computer Chronicles" were they proved it, that most of the PC-Clones, even the one labeled "Made in USA", where made and manufactured in Korea, Taiwan, China, ... you name it. And the only "Made in USA" they see, are the sausage finger of the people who use them.

Poulton wrote on 2020-11-19, 15:28:

. And the only "Made in USA" they see, are the sausage finger of the people who use them.

😁

Maybe it is my ISA controller card gone bad. I will try a new one.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-11-25, 09:05:

Maybe it is my ISA controller card gone bad. I will try a new one.

The HDD controller is on the hard drive. The IDE to ISA interface is on the multi i/o card.

I hope that helps.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-11-25, 09:09:

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-11-25, 09:05:

Maybe it is my ISA controller card gone bad. I will try a new one.

The HDD controller is on the hard drive. The IDE to ISA interface is on the multi i/o card.

I hope that helps.

Yes, It is strange because I can't get the bios to detect any other hard drive but this Conner drive ?
I have tried about 5 other drives.
It was working before then I took it apart and now that I have put it back together it does not work.
Maybe the ISA controller card or ISA slot ?
If I boot off a floppy scandisk works but not defrag ?

What else have you done besides change the hard drives?

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-11-25, 09:29:

What else have you done besides change the hard drives?

I removed the barrel battery and I am using an external coin battery.

I would've expected you'd have done a bit by now.

How does your 386 mobo decide what hard drive is on your system? Manually by setting the hard drive perimeters? And/or has the ability to auto detect the hard drive?