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Will the Book 8088 be a future classic?

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Reply 323 of 393, by BitWrangler

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n0p wrote on 2024-03-30, 12:35:

***THUD***

Well I missed the hand386...

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 324 of 393, by BitWrangler

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rasz_pl wrote on 2024-03-30, 14:04:

Really nice. Dude is speedrunning being Acer/Compal 😀 At this pace he will be making new Pentium based Laptops next year 😜

Heh, though for obtanium, I'd bet rise/geode industrial 486ish SOCs with 200Mhz for Pentium class performance. IDK what would be the best way to go, but "what you can get" is a large consideration.

Edit: vortex86 maybe, that was one I was trying to remember.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 325 of 393, by rasz_pl

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BitWrangler wrote on 2024-03-30, 15:24:
rasz_pl wrote on 2024-03-30, 14:04:

Really nice. Dude is speedrunning being Acer/Compal 😀 At this pace he will be making new Pentium based Laptops next year 😜

Heh, though for obtanium, I'd bet rise/geode industrial 486ish SOCs with 200Mhz for Pentium class performance. IDK what would be the best way to go, but "what you can get" is a large consideration.

Yes, judging by M6117 used here next could be DM&P Vortex86

AT&T Globalyst/FIC 486-GAC-2 Cache Module reproduction
Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) ZBIOS 'MFM-300 Monitor' reverse engineering

Reply 326 of 393, by BitWrangler

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Thread started for Pocket 386 info and chatter so this one isn't derailed.. Pocket 386, the brother of Hand386 and Book8088, the story so far ...

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 327 of 393, by betamax80

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I probably wont be popular but I have ordered a PicoMem board - I'm really looking forward to seeing if it works with the Book8088. I need to flash @n0p BIOS v1.0.6 first though just to give it the best chance.... and actually I have the replacement LCD driver board to install too.

Reply 328 of 393, by STrRedWolf

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I caught Adrian Digital Basement release a Book8088 repair video. He did disassemble it and put on a CGA header.

Reply 329 of 393, by betamax80

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Can anybody help me with an adjustment to Serhii's BIOS? I need my PicoMEM ROM to be loaded AFTER XT-IDE whereas it currently overwrites the PicoMEM ROM so it does not load.

Reply 330 of 393, by STrRedWolf

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betamax80 wrote on 2024-04-30, 22:43:

Can anybody help me with an adjustment to Serhii's BIOS? I need my PicoMEM ROM to be loaded AFTER XT-IDE whereas it currently overwrites the PicoMEM ROM so it does not load.

@nop are you able to help?

Reply 331 of 393, by KarlG

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What is the max usable speed of the COM port on these things? I got a wifi modem, and it seems to work at 38,400, but I had some issues with some random garbage characters here and there when I went to a BBS, so I'm wondering if I was pushing it a bit too fast?

I know I can find out via trial and error, but I was wondering if anyone knew what the "correct" setting should be. 😀

Reply 332 of 393, by BitWrangler

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Back in the day we'd assume regular XTs to top out at about 19,200 based on 8088@4.77 and 8450 uart tech. This was going through DOS/BIOS routines. Some utils existed to hammer on hardware directly and get more like 38,400 .... and that was kind of the generic reliable limit under DOS/BIOS with AT until 16550 UARTs will 33Mhz plus CPUs. Some machines were more optimised, and 3rd party serial cards could be better, but that's about what "generic" hardware did.

So I'd tend to think you are doing quite well to get 38,400, parity/error correcting options might help for the odd dropout, but if you want rock solid, you may have to drop it a peg, or upgrade to V20 and see if that helps.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 333 of 393, by Jo22

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It's possible to do 115200 Baud, at best. But it depends on software and hardware environment.

If the application has full control, if there's no interruption, it can work. Even on an XT (Turbo, ideally) with an i8250.

There's one program that I know can do pull that stunt, it's Ultrafast Filetransfer Operation from the mid-80s.
It can copy/retrieve files over V.24 port. Screenshots here

It was being made in a time when the IBM Model 5160 and Model 5170 (6 and 8 MHz) were still commonplace.

Again, this works if no interruption is happening (clean boot up disk).
A radio-controlled clock (serial dongle) or a network software may mess things up enough to make things fail.

In such a situation, 57600 Baud are possible as a fallback.
In case of Ultrafast Filetransfer Operation, I mean.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 334 of 393, by KarlG

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Jo22 wrote on 2024-05-10, 19:07:

There's one program that I know can do pull that stunt, it's Ultrafast Filetransfer Operation from the mid-80s.
It can copy/retrieve files over V.24 port. Screenshots here

JFYI I did get your PM, but I still don't have privileges to send PMs or even reply to them. I'm thinking that I need 20 posts, so letting you know this brings me a little closer, at least. 😁

Reply 335 of 393, by Jo22

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You're welcome. ^^
Sorry also if I was being to chatty again. I just thought telling the technical background would be interesting, also because it uses 3-wire connection.
The operation of the utility as such is really neat, almost *nix like.
If started from deepest directory (ufo *. *), it'll transfer all higher ones w/ files, for example.

The only other utility that comes to mind right now is File Maven v3 (Freeware).
It also has one side waiting for communication, while the other side is doing work.

Anyway, I just thought this information would be interesting, especially to XT users:
A serial connection can be quickly established, doesn't take away much memory.
File Maven works best with a fully wired null modem, though, maybe.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 336 of 393, by KarlG

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In this case, I'm using a Wifi modem, however (WiModem232 Pro). I imagine a direct null cable connection with a utility like that would be much "cleaner", though.

Reply 337 of 393, by Jo22

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KarlG wrote on 2024-05-11, 16:41:

In this case, I'm using a Wifi modem, however (WiModem232 Pro). I imagine a direct null cable connection with a utility like that would be much "cleaner", though.

That's a cool little thing! 😎👍 Should work just fine.
I guess I've simply have a soft spot for null-modem cables. 😅

I've used to build them out of shielded microphone cable, for example. It's 3-wire, essentially (mic, ground, shield - aluminium foil or a flexible wire mesh).
I admit, while it's both neither ideal or professional to use here, maybe, it can do 10m for sure.

By comparison, by using a reel of thick power cable (3-wire), my dad used to build null-modem cables of ~20m of length.

He had also built full 7-wire (?) null-modem cables with both pairs of hand-shaking lines.
Such a cable would be fine for File Maven, for example.

Anyway, I'm afraid I'm talking a bit too much again here. 😅

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 339 of 393, by BitWrangler

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Interesting, looks like it may share case and screen, maybe video adapter with Pocket386. Vid is showing CPU recognising as V20, not sure if that means that is what it is coming with, or that was a tester, or it has a more integrated chip like the P386 does so maybe one with V20 core like V40.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.