Just checked my Club 30. No IR module.

Murugan wrote on 2022-05-01, 11:56:

Just checked my Club 30. No IR module.

Thanks, really appreciate it!
I welcome anyone else with a similar model to check and report back on their IR situation 😀

Hi, so I just opened up my Packard Bell Club 40, and the IR window is just a blanking plate, no sensor. Additionally, I checked the motherboard header connections for the front panel switches, LEDs, and there's no IR provision anywhere, so would assume any model with this PB850 / FR500 motherboard isn't going to have IR either. I'm sure there's an updated Super Socket 7 version of this motherboard FR510/FR520? that also has SDRAM slots, maybe that has IR capability?

These pictures show header terminals, and behind front panel switches/LEDs, sensor window.

Thanks for checking Dave!

I didn't even think before to check for IR headers on the mainboard. Will do next time when I'm opening the case.

BigDave wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:27:

Hi, so I just opened up my Packard Bell Club 40, and the IR window is just a blanking plate, no sensor. Additionally, I checked […]
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Hi, so I just opened up my Packard Bell Club 40, and the IR window is just a blanking plate, no sensor. Additionally, I checked the motherboard header connections for the front panel switches, LEDs, and there's no IR provision anywhere, so would assume any model with this PB850 / FR500 motherboard isn't going to have IR either. I'm sure there's an updated Super Socket 7 version of this motherboard FR510/FR520? that also has SDRAM slots, maybe that has IR capability?

These pictures show header terminals, and behind front panel switches/LEDs, sensor window.

IMG_20230115_094052_MP~2.jpg
IMG_20230115_094301_MP~2.jpg
IMG_20230115_094452_MP~2.jpg

FR520 would not have been used in one of these desktop cases, they'd stopped using this case by the time the FR520 was introduced.

I'd rather suspect it would have been the Intel MU440EX 'Maui', as that was definitely used in this case by PB (that was the config of my system when I worked at PB in 2000) and it supports IR. No idea what software it would have used though.

dionb wrote on 2023-01-28, 00:13:

FR520 would not have been used in one of these desktop cases, they'd stopped using this case by the time the FR520 was introduced.

I'd rather suspect it would have been the Intel MU440EX 'Maui', as that was definitely used in this case by PB (that was the config of my system when I worked at PB in 2000) and it supports IR. No idea what software it would have used though.

You're absolutely right, I took a look at the Intel MU440EX 'Maui' PB880/PB885 motherboard on UKT, and it does indeed have front panel IR header support.
http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/880.htm

The front panel header connections by #pin:

1 HD LED Pullup
2 Front panel green LED
3 Hard disk active LED
4 Front panel yellow LED
5 Ground
6 Front panel on-off button
7 Front panel reset button
8 Ground
9 Infrared power
10 Not connected
11 IrDA serial input
12 Ground
13 Ground
14 Not connected (pin removed)
15 IrDA serial output
16 Power

I guess these Slot 1 based 'Clubs' like you had, were the premium models then, having IR and Integrated ATI rage Pro graphics with dedicated 2mb/4mb memory, better than my SiS5598 with upto 4mb 'shared' memory.

Is this the remote it came with?

Packard Bell certainly seemed to embrace the multimedia possibilities better than most PC suppliers, and must have been an exciting company to work for at that time?.
I came across the mediaselect unit which sat underneath the monitor on older systems, a sort of 'wired' remote control, which uses a loopthru to the PS2 Mouse port.

I also found an old picture of a PB system for sale which seemed to have an IR sensor window built into the front of the mouse? Can't find the picture again now, damn Google.

pbagain wrote on 2023-01-27, 22:04:

Thanks for checking Dave!

I didn't even think before to check for IR headers on the mainboard. Will do next time when I'm opening the case.

You're welcome pbagain.
It seems based on what #dionb said, that there were some higher spec models with a 'MAUI' PB880/885 motherboard, but using the same 4x4 Facelift desktop 'Club' case, hence why our Club machines have the sensor window, but no sensor.

In my previous post, I mentioned I'd found a picture of some slightly older Packard Bell systems that came with a remote control, but had their R/C sensors built into the PS2 mouse. I found it, it's actually part of an old PC World flyer, so I cropped out the relevant section so you can see what I mean...

Yes, I've seen that mouse before! One of those cool-but-weird ideas typical of Packard Bell I guess.

Can't find much info about it, might be quite rare by now. Not at all like the separate serial port IR receiver that's still available everywhere:

I'd seen the remote, but never the serial sensor, that is until the recent YouTube video by RMC, they're doing an older PB multimedia restore. They showed this R/C set which had been donated. As you say cool, but weird.

Everywhere? I can't find one, or the microphone. I was just thinking you could get this set, and add the sensor PCB from it to our club machines IR window, direct connect to the serial internally, and have R/C! ...or is that crazy idea?

P.S. I like the way that Packard Bell carried over the ribbed design onto even the peripherals of that time, right down to that serial R/C sensor!

So as a clue to track down models more likely to have it. Across all brands of machines the common components likely to obviate and thus include IR functionality were MPEG cards and TV Tuners. There was also a fad for audio IR control started by SoundBlaster when they had multimedia package that integrated a control with the CDROM drive, and a few "me toos" around 95/96