First post, by silverslc
- Rank
- Newbie
Here’s the story. In 1992, (20 years ago) I was about 15. I can remember my Mom taking me to a local computer show/swap meet to get my 386dx 40. It was a dark rainy Sunday with a Holiday Monday off from school. The perfect ambiance for fun exploration of my new found passion.
The feeling of a 15 year old in 1992 as his very own PC is carted to the car was perhaps one of the most rewarding moments of my life. After that we stopped at the Mall where I saved the money to buy my first PC game. Nova Logics Comanche Maximum Overkill. Once home, recalling all the hours I spent at my best friend’s house along with his Dad on their PC, I knew exactly what to do. That evening I played Wolfenstien 3D and Overkill until the sun came up. Laying in my bed hearing the humm of the Power supply always relaxed me to sleep.
Well after 15 years I decided to get EXATCLY what I had! I mean EXACTLY. Every component, software and peripheral. So about 4 years ago I began making a list. My memory fortunately, is vivid of all of the big and small things I had during that wonderful time in my life.
The first of course is the PC itself. Finding the PC case I had was harder than I thought. I had old pictures to reference from which helped out tremendously, thanks MOM! Wow it seemed like this particular case vanished from the earth. It took nearly a year when an automated eBay search came up with something. Once I saw the photo I gasped! That was it! Not only was the case correct, inside was a 386DX40. Buy it now for 25 bucks! I said to myself this was too good to be true, well there was a catch. It was listed for parts only, nonworking. Well I really wanted the case anyway I could always find a motherboard. So I bought it. The case was remarkably clean but that wasn’t good enough. I took it apart and really gave it a scrub down. Now it looks almost new.
So began my first step into what would be a fun yet painstakingly, meticulous hunt for my memories.
I would literally have to write a book, which I’ve almost did, to describe the things I went through to source the exact components from 1992. From the 14” SVGA Edison Monitor to the Labtec CS-150 Multimedia speakers. One would think much of this stuff is common, man I was wrong!
I did end up making some changes on the way. First the 386 mobo that was previously in the case was indeed toasted. So I decided to start where I left off some 20 years ago. I wanted a 486 DX66 sooo badly back then but never had the money to upgrade... well until now.
So now she is a smooth running 486 DX-66 with 8mb Ram 120mb HD (soon to be 420mb) with a 6x Teac CD-Rom drive. That CD drive is a placeholder for the Drive I used to have which I finally sourced and should be showing up on Friday. A Plextor 4plex SCSI Drive. That will be the cherry that will finally complete this long challenging road.
Current Specs
486 DX 66
Seagate 120MB Hard Drive (TEMP)
8MB Ram
Soundblaster 16 CT1770 SCSI
ATI Mach 32 1MB VLB Video
Mitsumi Mouse and Keyboard
RealMagic MPEG Card – I actually bought this for $200 back in 1993. Only way to play Dragons Lair like Laser Disk which was my favorite game back then. Plus I bought Phillips CD-I movies I watched as well.
Teac 6X IDE CD-Rom (TEMP)
Running DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1
Software shown in the picture
Comanche Maximum OverKill – My first PC game ever purchased.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective – My first CD-ROM game ever purchased.
The Animals and Dinosaur Adventure bundled with my first CD-ROM drive.
All the others all played a huge role in PC gaming.
And finally that big Box to the far left where the CH flightstick is sitting on, that is a FULL sealed version of AutoCAD Release 12. I spent hours with this back in 1992. My friend’s dad was an engineer and gave me a copy. Which back in 1994 sold for $2500 bucks, I only paid 70 😉 Very fond memories!
Here are some Magazines I used to always have my nose in. If any of you are from San Diego area, tell me you remember the FREE weekly Computer Edge magazine you would pick up at the Gas station or grociery store! Good Times!
Ive accomplished what I set out to do and it feels great. Playing on this rig pulls me back to a time of adventure and exploration. My daughter has already taken interst in Daddy's old antique and she will know the fun memories I had.
So there you have it. If you made it this far you’re as crazy as I am.
Thanks for taking a trip to the past and would love to hear your stories as to what you where able to source from your childhood.
-Nick
