computergeek92 wrote:

So... besides using it for 80's DOS games and word processing, what else could I use this PC for? Or is it truly a relic..? (Please don't say doorstop)

What about playing music? I mean, MIDI music of course. You can fit plenty of 'em into that 20M hard drive of yours.
You'd need to invest into an external synth for that, tough (with serial connectivity, since there is no chance for an MPU-401 interface on such PC).

Id say use it to get onto some old bbs's. There are still plenty of them out there you can still get on. The problem is getting the computer to get online. If you still have a phone line you can get a modem and configure a program like telix to get on a bbs. For machines like this, I find it easier to use a serial port to a newer computer with an Ethernet connection to do the work of a modem for me. I think the program is called internet modem, id have to look it up when I get home. But it simulates a serial modem with all its modem commands. The only thing you would need is a null modem cable for it to work, as regular serial cables don't work.

Dropcik wrote:

Id say use it to get onto some old bbs's. There are still plenty of them out there you can still get on.

Those will all work perfectly fine with any Windows terminal program, though.

I would keep the system, how its now..Keep it as a XT machine, you wont getting regret..

Jorpho wrote:

Dropcik wrote:

Id say use it to get onto some old bbs's. There are still plenty of them out there you can still get on.

Those will all work perfectly fine with any Windows terminal program, though.

LoL putting this pc online when it came out before the internet? ha ha

That case is actually an IBM AT-lookalike, rather than a PC/XT: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=185&st=1

computergeek92 wrote:

Jorpho wrote:

Dropcik wrote:

Id say use it to get onto some old bbs's. There are still plenty of them out there you can still get on.

Those will all work perfectly fine with any Windows terminal program, though.

LoL putting this pc online when it came out before the internet? ha ha

Not internet. BBS. Perfectly legit for a machine from this era.

And because I'm not done nitpicking, the Internet exists since the late 60s. You're thinking of the World Wide Web or the HTTP protocol respectively.

Scali wrote:

That case is actually an IBM AT-lookalike, rather than a PC/XT: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=185&st=1

Yes it looks like an AT, but these cases where also used for XT class computers back in the days
If you look good to the case logo its says XT10.. I bet this is the Original XT case with the Original motherboard inside.
I really recommend to keep it Original.

Robin4 wrote:

Yes it looks like an AT, but these cases where also used for XT class computers back in the days
If you look good to the case logo its says XT10.. I bet this is the Original XT case with the Original motherboard inside.
I really recommend to keep it Original.

Yup, a friend of mine had a V20-powered XT-class machine in a case such as this as well.
Funny enough there is also the 5162 PC/XT 286 from IBM, which is more of an AT-class machine in an XT case 😀
http://ksinfos.perso.sfr.fr/Collection/comput … %20xt%20286.htm

oerk wrote:

Not internet. BBS. Perfectly legit for a machine from this era.

And because I'm not done nitpicking, the Internet exists since the late 60s. You're thinking of the World Wide Web or the HTTP protocol respectively.

Wrong. The internet did not exist in the 1960's. ARPANET existed in the 1960's and it was originally for military and government use only. Saying that the internet existed in the 1960's because of ARPANET is like saying Alexander Graham Bell invented the iPhone.

Thank you friends. Now my next question is: Would any 386 cpu play all 8088 games (early 80's or newer) without any compatibility or speed problems? (Games running too fast on the 386) And if the 386 is KING, then I may just sell this XT-10.

sliderider wrote:

oerk wrote:

Not internet. BBS. Perfectly legit for a machine from this era.

And because I'm not done nitpicking, the Internet exists since the late 60s. You're thinking of the World Wide Web or the HTTP protocol respectively.

Wrong. The internet did not exist in the 1960's. ARPANET existed in the 1960's and it was originally for military and government use only. Saying that the internet existed in the 1960's because of ARPANET is like saying Alexander Graham Bell invented the iPhone.

If i'm remembering correctly, I believe that the Internet as we know it was invented in 1992, A.K.A. my birth year. 😀

I'm sure there are some timing-sensitive games (need an exact 4.77MHz 8088 processor to run 100% correctly), but I can't remember any. Demos should be easy enough to find. Also, CGA games that use tricks to get more colors on the composite NTSC output. All of these would probably require you find a way to dial back your processor to 4.77MHz though.

computergeek92 wrote:

Would any 386 cpu play all 8088 games (early 80's or newer) without any compatibility or speed problems?

A much better question is, do you actually want to play any of those 8088 games? The PC software of that era was generally vastly inferior to what you could get for other platforms. And in fact 10 MHz is already a little too fast for some of the oldest games. (Things like the strangely popular Janitor Joe or the rather crummy Striker come to mind – they're a little bit too fast at 12 MHz.)

That's where the turbo switch comes in. My best guess is that it goes down to 4.77MHz from 10MHz. No way to test. I don't have any CGA/EGA monitors.

I'd love to try playing 8088 games myself. I saw a video on Youtube and they look cool even with the primitive bleep music.

IMHO if the game supports color composite output, you'll want an NTSC TV instead of an RGB CGA monitor.

computergeek92 wrote:

I saw a video on Youtube and they look cool even with the primitive bleep music.

I'm kind of curious which video you saw.

here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRoMkKOpSvM

And the sound of an XT booting up sounds so magical:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-RyvZxKufo

I've always wanted one of those original IBM monitors. Someone out there had a later model one with some kind of vga adapter plugged into a Pentium 1 at 640x480!

An XT class machine is indeed truly special. It is indeed the most difficult system class to replace, unless you decide to give up on old machines and use DOSBox.