Unboxing a new old Windows 98 PC! \ VOGONS

Unboxing a new old Windows 98 PC!

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First post, by Almoststew1990

Posted on 2018-11-30, 23:11

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I browse eBay, like I'm sure we all do, for retro PC's that people have shoved on eBay for 99p just to get rid of it, collection only. In the UK the number of these old PC's are quite low (even if there are quite a few "who know what they got" basic Slot 1 systems for £100 or so). I've been widening and widening my search to include further and further places, up to 100 miles recently, to try and find some good 'scrap' PCs!

Anyway this week up pops this PC:
0F9vWLp.png?1h
Interesting! Well, basic spec but still interesting as it's a new in box PC! And it's in my town! OK, a new eBayer but cash on collection - I can just walk away if I'm not happy. I put in a reasonable bid (only one other person has bid, up to £5 it would transpire) but it goes through as reserve not met. A couple of messages to the seller later and we agree on £25. And it turns out this PC is literally 500m from my door!

Tiny were a cheap and basic PC manufacturer in the late 90s. They were bought out by Time in the early 2000s I think. Our second ever PC was a Tiny PC I recall.

Anyway I'm not ones for making videos or anything so here are a bunch of pictures:

NAPRgeL.jpg?1h

(see what I mean about cheap and basic!)

There is a boot floopy lodged into the other side of the cd case

Turns out it's exactly the same case as what what we got in 1999 or so, which was interesting! Different spec though.

It's so... white! Clean! Non-bulging!

HPkbYQJ.jpg?1h

MS6156
VIA VT82C693/VT82C693A Chipset
AGP and ISA 😀
Pentium 2 350MHz Deschutes
??? RAM
ATI Graphics Card - can anyone ID it?
"leading edge" Creative® ES1373 sound

Tomorrow I'll turn it on and see what bloatware awaits.

Reply 1 of 12, by meljor

Posted on 2018-12-01, 00:32

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It says on the box: ATi Xpert 98 8mb. Should be based on the ATi Rage pro turbo.

asus tx97-e, 233mmx, voodoo1, s3 virge ,sb16
asus p5a, k6-3+ @ 550mhz, voodoo2 12mb sli, gf2 gts, awe32
asus p3b-f, p3-700, voodoo3 3500TV agp, awe64
asus tusl2-c, p3-S 1,4ghz, voodoo5 5500, live!
asus a7n8x DL, barton cpu, 6800ultra, Voodoo3 pci, audigy1

Reply 2 of 12, by blurks

Posted on 2018-12-01, 06:22

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That is the typical 1998 configuration: 350 MHz, 64 MB and a hideous ATI Rage card. Lovely to see Comic Sans again and this super-cheap Windows 98 sticker.

Reply 3 of 12, by Errius

Posted on 2018-12-01, 06:31

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That's one of those old Seagate drives with the odd rubber casing. Shock-protection presumably.

When did DVD drives start to appear in these low end home computers?

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 4 of 12, by Almoststew1990

Posted on 2018-12-01, 09:32

Almoststew1990 Offline

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blurks wrote:
That is the typical 1998 configuration: 350 MHz, 64 MB and a hideous ATI Rage card. Lovely to see Comic Sans again and this super-cheap Windows 98 sticker.

Except this PC is from 2000 or 2001 if you see the Computer of the Year sticker on it!

Is the graphics card horrible because of its slow or for some other reason?

Reply 5 of 12, by Almoststew1990

Posted on 2018-12-01, 11:12

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Well I turned it on this morning. It needed a couple of presses of the power button as it was stiff.

It went straight to the final stages of a W98 install with a CD key needed (none provided!) and user name / password. The software it has preinstalled are:
Software Value Pack:
Need for Speed 2
Plane Crazy
Little Big Adventure 2
Carling Ultimate Football Quiz
Carling Ultimate Pub Quiz
Collins Quotations
Crossword Addict
GSP Family Tree
GSP Ultimate Sport Quiz

Return of The Arcade:
Dig Dug
Galaxian
Pac-Man
Pole Position

ATI DVD Player
Cheyenne Bitware (seems to be faxing software)
Europress 3D Interior Designer
MS Works
MS Money
IBM ViaVoice
Quicksoddingtime
Trend PC-cillin 98 (backup restore)

The CD it came with has lots of drivers on it for a wide range of components. e.g for display:
ATI (my Xpert card)
3DFX Banshee
Cei_DVD
Intel i740
RivaTNT
S3_virge
S3trio3d
SiS6326
Voodoo
Voodoo2

For sound there is:
CS4611
DS1
ESS1868
ESS1869
OPL3-SA (no idea what this is)
SB16 (did some digging and it is 1.12.000 8th Sept 97)
SB64pci
Surround (seems to be "Miro" 5752 whatever that is)

There are a mix of DOS, 95, NT4, 98 drivers on the disk. Is any of this of interest for the vogon's library! It would be nice to contribute for once instead of just download all the time!

Reply 6 of 12, by realoldguy23

Posted on 2018-12-01, 11:13

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Almoststew1990 wrote:

Except this PC is from 2000 or 2001 if you see the Computer of the Year sticker on it!

Is the graphics card horrible because of its slow or for some other reason?

It is most probably from 1998 or 1999. The Y2K compliance craze was before the year 2000. I remember well, when we were swapping out perfectly working hardware just because it was not Y2k certified. Nobody cared about this after New Year's Eve 1999.

The graphics card is not horrible. It was standard in retail PCs of the time. I had one myself. Don't expect too much regarding 3D, though.

I'm jealous! Why can't I find such a treasure? Everybody seems to find old hardware in dumpsters etc. Only I have to pay hard €€€ if I want this stuff. 😢 😉

Reply 7 of 12, by Almoststew1990

Posted on 2018-12-01, 11:27

Almoststew1990 Offline

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realoldguy23 wrote:

It is most probably from 1998 or 1999. The Y2K compliance craze was before the year 2000.

I'm jealous! Why can't I find such a treasure? Everybody seems to find old hardware in dumpsters etc. Only I have to pay hard €€€ if I want this stuff. 😢 😉

Oh yeah I didn't see it was a Y2k sticker, I just glanced at it and saw 2000 and assumed it was an xxx award in 2000 sticker or something.

To be fair it is the first time I have found anything like this. Like I said I had widened my search a lot in an attempt to find an old and busted PC for cheap. Then this turns up within walking distance!

Reply 8 of 12, by blurks

Posted on 2018-12-01, 12:26

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realoldguy23 wrote:
The graphics card is not horrible. It was standard in retail PCs of the time. I had one myself. Don't expect too much regarding 3D, though.

Well, it is based on the Rage Pro chipset. So at least you don't have to deal with absolutely inadequate first/second generation Rage hideousness. Albeit its 8 MB configuration it is more or less an Office graphics card as its performance is not sufficient for most 1998 products.

realoldguy23 wrote:
I'm jealous! Why can't I find such a treasure? Everybody seems to find old hardware in dumpsters etc. Only I have to pay hard €€€ if I want this stuff. 😢 😉

There were a few sealed PC's a few weeks back on eBay Germany. I remember having seen a Medion PC and an IBM PC Server 310. Of course, pricey as hell...

Reply 9 of 12, by amadeus777999

Posted on 2018-12-01, 17:55

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Not my era but pretty awesome find.

Reply 10 of 12, by SteveC

Posted on 2018-12-01, 18:23

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I love it! 😀 I never find anything on eBay 🙁

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Reply 11 of 12, by Jo22

Posted on 2018-12-01, 20:31

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Cool PC! Congrats for this lucky catch! 😀
That rounded front reminds me of our own Y2K PC we had back then..
(It also reminds me a bit of that Colani design from the 90s, hah. ^^)

SteveC wrote:
I love it! 😀 I never find anything on eBay 🙁

Nah, don't worry. Successes are usually more often being talked about than failures.
Secretly, we all had our own eBay failures at one point.

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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 12 of 12, by chinny22

Posted on 2018-12-11, 16:27

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OPL3-SA is the Yamaha YMF 7xx based soundcards.

Pretty amazing that its been sitting for around 20 years just waiting for the installation to complete!
You going to keep it period correct or got bigger plans for it?

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