This 486DLC comes with 4MB (4x1MB 30-pin SIMMs), Trident 8900 1MB VGA and 250MB HDD. He says it works... and I sure hope it does 😉

In those days I had Cyrix 486SLC 33Mhz with Tseng ET4000/w32 ISA. I would like to get that Tseng somewhere (for not too much money).

Will let you guys know how it works out.

Thanks!

I guess this is the motherboard in question:

SHUTTLE COMPUTER INTERNATIONAL, INC. - HOT-327:
http://artofhacking.com/th99/m/S-T/32636.htm

ETA: around three weeks 😒

As i'm waiting for a 386dx40 system i ordered i'm very interested in Keropi's CR2032 battery mod. I'm planning to do it myself. But i read in other posts around hal9000 saying it's not a good idea to do this way because lithium cr2032's are not supposed to be recharged and it is a better idea to use external battery connector. Will this mod actually charge the battery? I really need to understand this as the motherboard i ordered will need a mod like this.

This is the board in TULARC:

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/U/UN … ml#.UQwMvGeHiSp

And an actual pic:

I really wanted a permanent cr2032 socket on the board or do something like Keropi did but if this method might blow the battery and make it leak i'll have to use the external battery connector.

The external battery conector has all 4 pins. So looking at motherboard instructions on TULARC i have the idea that i need a jumper on the 2 and 3 pins and connect positive on pin 1 and negative on pin 4. This way all pins are closed like the instructions require.

Can someone help me and clear my mind about this so i don't end up doing harm to the system?

That's what the diode is for. It only allows current to flow one way, so the battery doesn't get charged.

Also be aware that the barrel batteries these things usually come with are 3.6V, CR2032 are nominally 3.0V. I wasn't able to use a 3.0V coin cell on my 486 for this reason, but YMMV.

AFAIK a lot of people did not had problems and CR2032 3V worked jut as well.

So i should use a diode like Keropi did. I guess this will be more difficult than i thought. Does it need to be a special diode or something?

It doesn't have to be anything special, but it's probably best to use a Schottky diode, like a 1N5817, due to the low forward voltage drop... the 0.7V drop of most common silicon diodes could be an issue when the battery is only 3V to begin with.

But personally, I prefer just using 3 or 4 series-wired AA/AAA cells hooked up to the external battery connector. It's simple, clean, and it's also interchangeable between boards so you don't have to make one for every board you want to play with.

I still wanna go with the CR2032 but i guess my first option will be the external battery connector, which i'm still not sure how to use it correctly with this board.

I have modded 4 systems with CR2032 batteries and normal 1N4148 diodes ... the oldest mod was on the 4SAW mobo and it works fine battery-wise until now, it has been ~11 months ...

Where can i get those kind of diodes?

eBay? since you don't have any atm (unlike me that had a couple of hundred 4148 ones) you are better off spending 1$ and get some IN5817 ones... http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-x-1N5817-Diode-Sch … =item3a67c468b2

OK i can get those easily on eBay. So what is more suitable? 1N4148 or 1N5817?

both, 5817 are better though so get those

You were faster than me.... OK i will put an order on those diodes. It really doesn't matter the position of the diode right? And i guess the diode is used on the positive?

The position matters!!!! the silver stripe must "look" towards the motherboard.
And yes, it goes at the (+) line

Thanks Keropi. Deeply appreciated!!

no probs!

Guys i have a question about that board in the picture above. Yesterday i went to pick it up at customs, it booted and everything seems fine. But one thing on that board is quite curious. You guys see that "Regional HT6542" controller? I can't find any specific datasheet on it but it seems to be the same thing as a Holtek controller but manufactured by Regional.
As some of you may know, the Holtek HT6542B supports PS/2 mice and i've been wondering if this "Regional" controller is just a clone and it also supports PS/2 as well. The board itself seems to be late in the 386 life. If that controller in the board is judt a clone of the Holtek, i'm confident i can pull off a PS/2 mouse working in my new 386 build. All i need is to solder two wires on the correct pins of the controller (data and clock), one wired soldered on the keyboard 5V line and another wire just for ground.

What do you guys think of this?

I've been wanting to try this myself for a while. It just might work. Try it and see what happens.

carlostex wrote:

Guys i have a question about that board in the picture above. Yesterday i went to pick it up at customs, it booted and everything seems fine. But one thing on that board is quite curious. You guys see that "Regional HT6542" controller? I can't find any specific datasheet on it but it seems to be the same thing as a Holden controller but manufactured by Regional.
As some of you may know, the Holden HT6542B supports PS/2 mice and i've been wondering if this "Regional" controller is just a clone and it also supports PS/2 as well. The board itself seems to be late in the 386 life. If that controller in the board is judt a clone of the Holden, i'm confident i can pull off a PS/2 mouse working in my new 386 build. All i need is to solder two wires on the correct pins of the controller (data and clock), one wired soldered on the keyboard 5V line and another wire just for ground.

What do you guys think of this?

Please test it out and let us know. Does the BIOS need to assign IRQ 12 to the PS/2 mouse port?

feipoa wrote:

Does the BIOS need to assign IRQ 12 to the PS/2 mouse port?

Thats's the question!!! I mean if i try it and it doesn't work there will be 2 chances why it doesn't work.

1. Regional controller does not support PS/2.

2. BIOS does not assign a proper IRQ to the PS/2 controller.

I actually think it will be the second. But i'll have no way to know.

If it works excellent.

But... What are the chances that i might kill the board doing this? Or just kill the actual controller?

Why haven't you guys tried it...