VOGONS


First post, by Chkcpu

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The 'Retro update' CHKCPU v1.27.1 final is released now and can be downloaded via the link below!
Thank you all for your help with testing the various beta versions!
😀

Hello, fellow retro computer enthousiasts,

I’m Jan and you may know me as the guy who patched all those socket 7 BIOSes for K6-2+/III+ support.
But I’m also the author of CHKCPU, a small DOS tool for CPU Identification. I’m planning to release the 25th anniversary update of CHKCPU within a few weeks.

When I became a Vogons member almost 2 years ago, I was pleasantly surprised to see that CHKCPU was still widely used. Of course it helped a lot that Phil from PhilsComputerLab adopted my DOS tool for his DOS Benchmark Pack. 😀

Originally, when I started writing this tool in 1997, CHKCPU was tailored to work on the then popular 486 and Pentium PCs only and much later I added some basic 386 support. But I see now that the retro computing community could use a tool with 8086/8088-80286, and more detailed 386/486 support.
So I did just that and made this CHKCPU update a “Retro update”! 😉

The past year, several Vogons member wrote me about CHKCPU and helped testing various beta versions. Thank you guys!
Now that the update is nearing completion, I’m inviting you all to try it out.
The latest CHKCPU version can be downloaded from my website at:
http://www.steunebrink.info/chkcpu.htm

As this is the first CHKCPU version to support 16-bit CPUs, I’m very interested in reports on 8086/8088/V20/V30, 80186, and 80286 CPUs. Also the various 386/486 upgrade processors have my interest. Okay, any CPU report is welcome! 😀
In the zip-file you will find a REPORT.BAT file that can be used to generate a report file called MYCPU.TXT. Any time you run REPORT.BAT, a report of various CHKCPU outputs will be added to MYCPU.TXT without erasing any previous reports.
And as usual, you’ll find a CHKCPU.TXT file in the zip that details all the changes I’ve made in this update.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Removed the link to the latest beta version and replaced it with a link to my chkcpu webpage.

Last edited by Chkcpu on 2023-05-26, 09:20. Edited 8 times in total.

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 1 of 91, by maxtherabbit

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awesome, I'll try it on my <386 systems

Reply 2 of 91, by konc

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Great news and I loved the "retro upgrade" idea!

Reply 3 of 91, by TheMobRules

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Excellent, I've got a V20 to try this new version.

Reply 4 of 91, by konc

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Hi guys, I want to buy a house so I'm selling the world's fastest V20, vintage RARE!!!1, as-is no returns.

The attachment IMG_20221204_212557.jpg is no longer available

@Chkcpu jokes aside, it is indeed a V20 (would be nice to distinguish between V20-V30) but clocked at 9,54 MHz as per the BIOS. The presence of the 8087 is correctly detected.

The attachment MYCPU.TXT is no longer available

Reply 5 of 91, by maxtherabbit

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Seems to be working just fine for me, though I'm not sure why it wrote the same information to the report file 4 times. I only ran report.bat once.

Reply 7 of 91, by Chkcpu

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konc wrote on 2022-12-04, 19:40:
Hi guys, I want to buy a house so I'm selling the world's fastest V20, vintage RARE!!!1, as-is no returns. […]
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Hi guys, I want to buy a house so I'm selling the world's fastest V20, vintage RARE!!!1, as-is no returns.

IMG_20221204_212557.jpg

@Chkcpu jokes aside, it is indeed a V20 (would be nice to distinguish between V20-V30) but clocked at 9,54 MHz as per the BIOS. The presence of the 8087 is correctly detected.
MYCPU.TXT

Whoa!! That is one fast V20! 😀
konc, thanks for the testrun on this special CPU. I clearly have to fix the speed measurement on these NEC models.
I'm presently using the same timing correction factor as for the 8086/8088, but the loop of divide instructions I use for speed determination is appearently executed much faster by the V20.

I will try to fix this in the next beta version.
Cheers, Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 8 of 91, by Chkcpu

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maxtherabbit wrote on 2022-12-04, 20:00:

Seems to be working just fine for me, though I'm not sure why it wrote the same information to the report file 4 times. I only ran report.bat once.

maxtherabbit, thanks for the 286 testrun!
I assume this 286 CPU is running at 20MHz, and has indeed a 80287 companion?

The REPORT.BAT file calls CHKCPU indeed 5 times, each time with a different command-line switch to get all possible outputs in the MYCPU.TXT file. Very useful on later 486 and Pentium class CPUs but most switches have no effect on 8086/8088-80286 CPUs, so the first 4 runs you see in the log are identical. But it is a good test to see if the speed measurement is stable. 😉

Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 9 of 91, by maxtherabbit

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Chkcpu wrote on 2022-12-04, 22:22:

I assume this 286 CPU is running at 20MHz, and has indeed a 80287 companion?

yessir

Reply 10 of 91, by mwdmeyer

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Cool, looking forward to testing, I've got a 286 16MHz wo/FPU I'll try on tonight.

Vogons Wiki - http://vogonswiki.com

Reply 11 of 91, by mwdmeyer

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Yep works well here.

Vogons Wiki - http://vogonswiki.com

Reply 12 of 91, by Chkcpu

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mwdmeyer wrote on 2022-12-05, 08:42:

Yep works well here.

Thanks, looks great. Although the speed reading is a tad high, just as in maxtherabbit's report.
This 4.5%-5% too high speed indication on 286 is a small deviation, but I like to have it more accurate and I will adjust for it in the next CHKCPU version.

Cheers, Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 13 of 91, by PC@LIVE

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Hello, and thanks for updating your program, I will download it but at the moment I only have PCs from 386 up, my 286 has a broken power supply, I have to try to fix it but it takes time, and for the moment I work on motherboards more modern, let's say from socket 7 up.
I know your modified BIOSes, I use one on a QDI Titanium IB+ with a K6-3-400, I have installed other K6-2 400s on both VX and TX motherboards (with switching voltage regulators), although the BIOS doesn't recognizes correctly, however they work at 400Mhz, and in these cards I've already used your program, I'll try to try the latest version as soon as possible.

AMD 286-16 287-10 4MB HD 45MB VGA 256KB
AMD 386DX-40 Intel 387 8MB HD 81MB VGA 256KB
Cyrix 486DLC-40 IIT387-40 8MB VGA 512KB
AMD 5X86-133 16MB VGA VLB CL5428 2MB and many others
AMD K62+ 550 SOYO 5EMA+ and many others
AST Pentium Pro 200 MHz L2 256KB

Reply 14 of 91, by Chkcpu

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Thanks PC@LIVE, yes any CHKCPU report is welcome. 😀

About the really Vintage PCs, does any of you have a 8086/8088 system available to test CHKCPU on?
With the unusual high speed reading on konc's V20 CPU, I'm curios what the original 8086/8088 would show. 😉

Thanks, Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 15 of 91, by PC@LIVE

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Chkcpu wrote on 2022-12-05, 22:00:
Thanks PC@LIVE, yes any CHKCPU report is welcome. :) […]
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Thanks PC@LIVE, yes any CHKCPU report is welcome. 😀

About the really Vintage PCs, does any of you have a 8086/8088 system available to test CHKCPU on?
With the unusual high speed reading on konc's V20 CPU, I'm curios what the original 8086/8088 would show. 😉

Thanks, Jan

Please don't worry, if I can download it there's no problem, I always use it on the PCs I repair, both old and more modern, in recent days I've used it in a P4 2.93 (775) with DDR2 RAM, I usually use (such as HD ) an IDE-CF adapter with an older DOS.
I tried to download your updated program a little while ago, from the link in the first message, but the card disappears and I can't save it, it could be a problem with my internet PC, but if you have time you can check if it works, thanks.
Unfortunately I don't have the motherboard and RAM chips to build a PC XT, I have a couple of CPUs, and video controller cards and pretty much everything needed to build one, I had an IBM PC years ago I think it was PS2-30, sadly a family member gave it as a gift

AMD 286-16 287-10 4MB HD 45MB VGA 256KB
AMD 386DX-40 Intel 387 8MB HD 81MB VGA 256KB
Cyrix 486DLC-40 IIT387-40 8MB VGA 512KB
AMD 5X86-133 16MB VGA VLB CL5428 2MB and many others
AMD K62+ 550 SOYO 5EMA+ and many others
AST Pentium Pro 200 MHz L2 256KB

Reply 17 of 91, by konc

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Chkcpu wrote on 2022-12-05, 22:00:
Thanks PC@LIVE, yes any CHKCPU report is welcome. :) […]
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Thanks PC@LIVE, yes any CHKCPU report is welcome. 😀

About the really Vintage PCs, does any of you have a 8086/8088 system available to test CHKCPU on?
With the unusual high speed reading on konc's V20 CPU, I'm curios what the original 8086/8088 would show. 😉

Thanks, Jan

If none has one handy I'll put back the original 8088 that got replaced by the V20 and give it a run

Reply 18 of 91, by Chkcpu

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PC@LIVE wrote on 2022-12-05, 22:19:

I tried to download your updated program a little while ago, from the link in the first message, but the card disappears and I can't save it, it could be a problem with my internet PC, but if you have time you can check if it works, thanks.

I just checked the download link in the first message, but it works fine here.
If you still can't download it, send me a PM or an e-mail and I will send you the file in return.

Jan

CPU Identification utility
The Unofficial K6-2+ / K6-III+ page

Reply 19 of 91, by konc

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Some browsers block the download as unsafe, you need to manually save (eg. right click -> save link as) and accept saving the file. Chrome for example needs this.