No clue, I assume it's some proprietary Sanyo part since they made the laptop.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
Another XKE pictures:
Doom is what you want (c) MAZter
Doom is what you want (c) MAZter
MAZter wrote on 2025-02-19, 01:58:[…]
Hmm, I had no idea that was so well specced. Shame about the neomagic video but it looks really good otherwise.
------------
Going back to the vertical stretch on chips & tech video equipped laptops, have you ever seen these black bars on the sides and this awkward fullscreen vertical stretching in games with some laptops?
Now I know why this happens... The Chips & Tech CT65545 / 65548 supports vertical stretch of both text and graphics mode, but only supports horizontal stretch of text mode, not graphics! With a 640x480 display that's just fine, it can line double horizontal 320x200 stuff for full screen on a 640x480 lcd. However on an 800x600 LCD panel it can't evenly double 320 into 800 so it seems it just doesn't stretch graphics mode horizontally. Reading the datasheet for the 65548, there's specifically no mention of horizontal compensation for graphics mode, only text.
If the laptop vendor enabled vertical stretch and horizontal stretch with an 800*600 screen then that's fine in text mode, but graphics can only stretch vertically not horizontally so we end up with the odd stretched games. They did everything they could but the C&T 65545 / 65548 just can't properly stretch a 320*200 screen to an 800*600 LCD panel:
Well as you can see, it can't eliminate the black borders but now the aspect ratio is better 😀
Just requires tweaking register 3D7h - 5Ah from '01' (Olivetti Echos PxxxE & Zenith Data Systems Z-Note GT) or '00' (Satellite Pro 410CDT) to '04'. And make sure 3D7h - 57h is set to '23' to enable v-compensation in graphics mode.
Now I've seen this work on multiple laptops, I *really* need to figure out how to make a program to do this, such a small change makes such a good difference.
Sadly this does confirm for me that laptops with the CT65548 and an 800*600 screen can't do fullscreen 320*200 without black borders, but at least the aspect ratios are correct now. This means that the later chips like the HiQV (65550) are a requirement for fullscreen 320*200 on SVGA LCD panels.
I wonder what it'd take to swap a 640*480 LCD onto one of these? Should just be some register twiddling like the PC110 mods to switch from DSTN to TFT mode, just switching from SVGA to VGA TFT mode...
I would call the Toshiba Satellite 110CT the worst choice, besides the CT65548 there is also no sound card.
Doom is what you want (c) MAZter
Yes, I have seen that odd scaling before! It happened on my Alpha-Top Green751 - when I first got it, it had an 800x600 DSTN screen installed. I later upgraded it to 640x480 TFT. I assumed it was doing that vertical stretch due to an issue with the BIOS or video BIOS - it also was displaying text mode incorrectly (which actually was a BIOS issue I'm pretty sure). I guess this wasn't though. Luckily, it did have a function hotkey to disable to scaling. With the 640x480 TFT screen, that hotkey picks between displaying video as 640x400 or 640x480 stretched vertically. I assume that was the main purpose behind that feature in the chip. The 65545 was designed in 1994, so it likely did not have 800x600 screens in mind with the design.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
Took me long enough but I've found a WinBook XP! Better, unlike my XP5, this one actually starts up every time!
Specs:
- Desktop Socket 3 Intel i486DX4 @75MHz (overclocked to 100MHz 😁)
- 32MB of RAM!!!! Fully maxed out.
- 1.3GB Hitachi HDD
- Windows 95
- 9.5" Active Matrix LCD @640x480
- WD90C24 Video
- ESS AudioDrive 1688
- Lexmark keyboard (same switches as a ThinkPad 755C!)
It really is an excellent DOS gaming system - this one even lets you pick between 640x400 and 640x480 scaling via a keyboard shortcut, unlike my XP5. It has a decent on-board speaker and sound playback works great. The keyboard and input device options (you could get these with a trackpoint, trackball, or even a trackpad) makes them super configurable systems.
Problem of course is that they're unreliable, largely due to the soldered varta battery that I've mentioned before in this thread. This XP had nearly no leakage and no actual damage - I replaced the battery with a new one.
These will also completely fall apart around the hinges unless heavily reinforced with JB Weld. I've done that to this unit and hinges are now a-ok. The downside is that you do have to loosen the nuts on the hinges to make them very loose or the plastic will still break, even with reinforcement. This is fine if you're using it at a desk (they're still tight enough to hold the screen up), but if you're using it on your lap then they will fall backwards very easily.
This laptop has one functionality issue - the LCD panel is suffering from what I call "subpixel disease" where subpixels around the corners and edges of the screen malfunction. It's the same issue that affects mid-late 90s IBM displays, although this laptop uses an uncommon Hitachi panel.
I have noted that the CPU cooling design in this laptop is extremely flawed. The CPU is located under a removable cover on the bottom of the laptop. The cover is made of metal, but it doesn't actually contact the CPU at all. When I applied paste to the CPU, it wasn't spread whatsoever when I reinstalled and then uninstalled this cover. I was going to leave it be, after all, the engineers deemed it ok, but then I checked to see if it would overclock to 100MHz.... and it did, and was rock solid stable. So I had to get rid of this bluetooth heatsink.
I ripped a copper contact plate off of a spare laptop heatsink I had lying around (it was from a Dell Latitude E6420). I then sanded off the thermal glue that was used to adhere it to the heatpipes, and then once it was flat, I sandwiched it between the CPU and that metal cover with thermal paste on both sides. This seems to have done the trick perfectly, as the paste spread and the metal cover now gets quite warm when the system is running. Overclock is still stable and it hasn't crashed a single time - nice! Saved myself having to pay out for a legit DX4-100 chip.
Eventually I will rebuild the battery to get this laptop portable again, and hopefully source a replacement LCD panel. It's definitely a great option!
Finally, a photo of my XP and XP5 together. I think I've changed my mind on which is the "ultimate" option for me - the 486 is still cooler in my opinion, but the extra Pentium performance of the XP5 is a big plus, and the screen is larger (and higher quality), and it has stereo speakers.... If only mine didn't have serious power issues that make it completely impractical to actually use.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
3lectr1c wrote on 2025-02-25, 20:41:Took me long enough but I've found a WinBook XP! Better, unlike my XP5, this one actually starts up every time! […]
Took me long enough but I've found a WinBook XP! Better, unlike my XP5, this one actually starts up every time!
Specs:
- Desktop Socket 3 Intel i486DX4 @75MHz (overclocked to 100MHz 😁)
- 32MB of RAM!!!! Fully maxed out.
- 1.3GB Hitachi HDD
- Windows 95
- 9.5" Active Matrix LCD @640x480
- WD90C24 Video
- ESS AudioDrive 1688
- Lexmark keyboard (same switches as a ThinkPad 755C!)It really is an excellent DOS gaming system - this one even lets you pick between 640x400 and 640x480 scaling via a keyboard shortcut, unlike my XP5. It has a decent on-board speaker and sound playback works great. The keyboard and input device options (you could get these with a trackpoint, trackball, or even a trackpad) makes them super configurable systems.
Problem of course is that they're unreliable, largely due to the soldered varta battery that I've mentioned before in this thread. This XP had nearly no leakage and no actual damage - I replaced the battery with a new one.
These will also completely fall apart around the hinges unless heavily reinforced with JB Weld. I've done that to this unit and hinges are now a-ok. The downside is that you do have to loosen the nuts on the hinges to make them very loose or the plastic will still break, even with reinforcement. This is fine if you're using it at a desk (they're still tight enough to hold the screen up), but if you're using it on your lap then they will fall backwards very easily.This laptop has one functionality issue - the LCD panel is suffering from what I call "subpixel disease" where subpixels around the corners and edges of the screen malfunction. It's the same issue that affects mid-late 90s IBM displays, although this laptop uses an uncommon Hitachi panel.
I have noted that the CPU cooling design in this laptop is extremely flawed. The CPU is located under a removable cover on the bottom of the laptop. The cover is made of metal, but it doesn't actually contact the CPU at all. When I applied paste to the CPU, it wasn't spread whatsoever when I reinstalled and then uninstalled this cover. I was going to leave it be, after all, the engineers deemed it ok, but then I checked to see if it would overclock to 100MHz.... and it did, and was rock solid stable. So I had to get rid of this bluetooth heatsink.
I ripped a copper contact plate off of a spare laptop heatsink I had lying around (it was from a Dell Latitude E6420). I then sanded off the thermal glue that was used to adhere it to the heatpipes, and then once it was flat, I sandwiched it between the CPU and that metal cover with thermal paste on both sides. This seems to have done the trick perfectly, as the paste spread and the metal cover now gets quite warm when the system is running. Overclock is still stable and it hasn't crashed a single time - nice! Saved myself having to pay out for a legit DX4-100 chip.
Eventually I will rebuild the battery to get this laptop portable again, and hopefully source a replacement LCD panel. It's definitely a great option!
Finally, a photo of my XP and XP5 together. I think I've changed my mind on which is the "ultimate" option for me - the 486 is still cooler in my opinion, but the extra Pentium performance of the XP5 is a big plus, and the screen is larger (and higher quality), and it has stereo speakers.... If only mine didn't have serious power issues that make it completely impractical to actually use.
Nice find, what's the LCD model in it? 9.5" TFTs are generally quite rare now and a real pain to replace like for like. I found an NEC NL6448AC30-12 that 9.5" VGA TFT but it requires adapting the pinout and thats if it even fits. My trouble with fixing the T2150CDT / 400CDT / T4900CT laptops is that the LTM10C021 LCD has a really tiny bottom bezel area because of the LCD design so almost nothing fits that space other than the LTM10C021, which isn't cheap.
I think your findings match up to mine pretty much, I like the T2150CDT but being a 486DX4 with no L2 cache, it's not as quick as even a 400CDT. Great for adventure games but not as fast as I'd like with some FPS games.
Good cooling upgrade too, it seems like very few manufacturers really considered the thermals of the 486DX4, possibly because it was a 3.3v chip, but they still really benefit from better cooling.
Thermalwrong wrote on 2025-02-21, 03:31:Hmm, I had no idea that was so well specced. Shame about the neomagic video but it looks really good otherwise. […]
MAZter wrote on 2025-02-19, 01:58:[…]
Hmm, I had no idea that was so well specced. Shame about the neomagic video but it looks really good otherwise.
------------
Going back to the vertical stretch on chips & tech video equipped laptops, have you ever seen these black bars on the sides and this awkward fullscreen vertical stretching in games with some laptops?Now I know why this happens... The Chips & Tech CT65545 / 65548 supports vertical stretch of both text and graphics mode, but only supports horizontal stretch of text mode, not graphics! With a 640x480 display that's just fine, it can line double horizontal 320x200 stuff for full screen on a 640x480 lcd. However on an 800x600 LCD panel it can't evenly double 320 into 800 so it seems it just doesn't stretch graphics mode horizontally. Reading the datasheet for the 65548, there's specifically no mention of horizontal compensation for graphics mode, only text.
If the laptop vendor enabled vertical stretch and horizontal stretch with an 800*600 screen then that's fine in text mode, but graphics can only stretch vertically not horizontally so we end up with the odd stretched games. They did everything they could but the C&T 65545 / 65548 just can't properly stretch a 320*200 screen to an 800*600 LCD panel:
Well as you can see, it can't eliminate the black borders but now the aspect ratio is better 😀
Just requires tweaking register 3D7h - 5Ah from '01' (Olivetti Echos PxxxE & Zenith Data Systems Z-Note GT) or '00' (Satellite Pro 410CDT) to '04'. And make sure 3D7h - 57h is set to '23' to enable v-compensation in graphics mode.
Now I've seen this work on multiple laptops, I *really* need to figure out how to make a program to do this, such a small change makes such a good difference.
Sadly this does confirm for me that laptops with the CT65548 and an 800*600 screen can't do fullscreen 320*200 without black borders, but at least the aspect ratios are correct now. This means that the later chips like the HiQV (65550) are a requirement for fullscreen 320*200 on SVGA LCD panels.
I wonder what it'd take to swap a 640*480 LCD onto one of these? Should just be some register twiddling like the PC110 mods to switch from DSTN to TFT mode, just switching from SVGA to VGA TFT mode...
Okay so, wondering if I should perhaps make a thread for this because there needs to be an 'all-in-one-place' thread for laptop LCD scaling. This was resolved rather trivially using a utility I found I had that's been shared on driverguide for a long time: https://www.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php … riverid=1265806 and yyzkevin's site: https://www.yyzkevin.com/pc110/65535-2/
There's a utility for controlling these registers cleanly that was provided by Chips & Technologies for demo & testing purposes a long time ago called 54XSET.EXE. With it you can do funny stuff like green screen or inverting the screen, but running "54XSET.EXE OE" modifies the registers for horizontal and vertical compensation so that 320x200 is stretched to fully fit a 640x480 LCD, or give correct 4:3 scaling with black borders on an 800x600 LCD. Just add that into the autoexec.bat and it'll take effect as soon as it's run until the computer's restarted, then the scaling looks like the pictures in my last post about this.
This and the WD90C24's stretch utility, both seem to be otherwise unknown. This 54XSET utility does seem to be the best way to fix scaling on C&T CT65535 -> CT65548 graphics chips.
(so much better than me trying to make an assembly program to do the equivalent and it's more controllable)
LCD part number is Hitachi TX24D55VC1C11. It appears to be completely and entirely made of unobtanium. On the bright side, it's solid state, no caps to replace! First time I've ever seen an active matrix Hitachi panel. Similar to early ThinkPads like the 750C (and early production 755C units), the contrast slider actually functions and adjusts the color contrast a bit. It can make the display look better at different viewing angles.
My best chance of finding a replacement is going to be to find another dead WinBook to pull the screen from. If this subpixel disease defect is common enough on this LCD though, that may still be a lost cause.
The XP5 uses a different 10.4" Samsung panel.
Some manufacturers did a decent job cooling the DX4. I also recently got another DX4-100 laptop actually, a Compal TS30AT. It's another decent option, although it has only an ESS 488 sound chip (8 bit mono) and the speaker is far worse than the WinBook's. The TS30AT uses the standard issue Sunrex keyboard that you'll find on all sorts of laptops - it's decent enough but it's no Lexmark. I haven't taken apart the display yet but from the looks I'm guessing it's either a Toshiba or maybe an NEC display - it's pretty nice looking. In any case, they put a proper heatsink with a big thick thermal pad to keep the chip cool. And low and behold, these seem to be more reliable than the WinBook is.
These do have a soldered Varta battery (and an additional larger one further away from the motherboard, but only in the high end units it seems), but they're both NiCad instead of NiMH. The NiCads definitely still leak, but they generally are a bit less destructive than the green NiMH vartas and seem to leak a little less often, so they're easier to find undamaged. These do require a proprietary charger though.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
We had WinBook XPs and XP5s at a company that I ran all IT infrastructure for, many years ago. Even back in the late 1990s, the plastic of these laptops was already brittle, and the hinges on many failed.
I could have kept a number, and the failing plastic is why I did not. It would be nice to still have the parts, but they were recycled many years ago.
- Alex
The real problem with those is the exceptionally poor mounting design. Even normal use would have done them in with enough time, even when the plastics were still flexible. The hinges mount to the base with two tiny screw mounts in each corner of the palmrest/keyboard surround assembly with zero reinforcement or stress relief. Same deal with the display, two tiny mounts, with stress again being put on weak thin plastic.
They’re both solid now that I loosened the hinges, and literally submerged them in place at the base with JB Weld, but man is it a poor design. I’ve put probably close to 100 hinge cycles on the XP5 since repairing it and it’s held up fine, so they can be fixed thankfully, but man what a pain. It makes finding an intact one to reinforce difficult, because the plastics are weak enough now that an unreinforced unit will break the plastics within 10 hinge uses.
Meanwhile, the TS30AT has plastic that’s just as bad as the WinBooks, but you nearly never see them with broken hinges because they designed them sensibly!
Curious - did they seem to have problems with failing motherboards back in the day? I’m wondering whether or not my XP5 troubles are bad luck or a design flaw in the hardware.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
They did indeed have issues with failing boards, even when new. I never attempted to troubleshoot them, at that time, unfortunately.
- Alex
Rats, so there is some hardware design flaw. I've spent hours upon hours troubleshooting and replacing components in my XP5 and haven't traced it down. I think mine might have a slightly faulty chipset, but it's hard to confirm. If that is the issue, then they really not going to be easy to fix. That chip is extremely fine-pitch (and is unobtanium anyway, so the only source for one is off a parts board).
If you even remember, how common were board failures? Was it around 1 in 100 or something greater? And I really appreciate hearing this info from someone who actually worked on these machines when they were new - I wish I could find more of those people!
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
We saw an eventual failure rate of about 25%, based on my very fallible memory. So, it was significant.
I did like those machines for running Linux, at the time, though. I still have an HDD that is labeled “XP5 RHL” for Red Hat Linux.
- Alex
C610s and their drifting mousepad.
I think I know where's the fault... and it needs to be removed ASAP.
"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB
Got another Compaq Armada 1750 on its way.
It's another 14" screen model, this time with a PII 366 and the full set of drives. Needs a replacement CMOS battery (3v lithium cr3032, 1.25mm jst header).
Hopefully the power supply won't give up like the last one.
My collection database and technical wiki:
https://www.target-earth.net
ajacocks wrote on 2025-02-27, 20:18:We saw an eventual failure rate of about 25%, based on my very fallible memory. So, it was significant.
I did like those machines for running Linux, at the time, though. I still have an HDD that is labeled “XP5 RHL” for Red Hat Linux.
- Alex
Goodness, that is a lot! And again, only if you remember - it has been a long time - did the XP or XP5 seem more unreliable or were they about the same?
I'm assuming the failure mode was power on but no POST? I've got an XP board that does that, and my XP5 will do that for a solid 10-15 minutes before it sputters into life (after which it has an assortment of other power issues and instability).
Normally when you have a laptop from this time with a 25% failure rate, it's the DC/DC board that kicks the can, but that would produce a complete no-power situation.
Mark my words, I will figure out someday what the offending part is on that XP5 board - it's too cool of a laptop to leave it broken.
I do believe there was a Linux on Laptops page for the XP5 at some point.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
One thing I've found about Chicony's MP989 and 983 - it's by far the only laptop series to use Award BIOS. You read that right - desktop Award BIOS 4.51 is what these things use.
"Enter at your own peril, past the bolted door..."
Main PC: i5 3470, GB B75M-D3H, 16GB RAM, 2x1TB
98SE : P3 650, Soyo SY-6BA+IV, 384MB RAM, 80GB
3lectr1c wrote on 2025-02-28, 20:29:Goodness, that is a lot! And again, only if you remember - it has been a long time - did the XP or XP5 seem more unreliable or w […]
ajacocks wrote on 2025-02-27, 20:18:We saw an eventual failure rate of about 25%, based on my very fallible memory. So, it was significant.
I did like those machines for running Linux, at the time, though. I still have an HDD that is labeled “XP5 RHL” for Red Hat Linux.
- Alex
Goodness, that is a lot! And again, only if you remember - it has been a long time - did the XP or XP5 seem more unreliable or were they about the same?
I'm assuming the failure mode was power on but no POST? I've got an XP board that does that, and my XP5 will do that for a solid 10-15 minutes before it sputters into life (after which it has an assortment of other power issues and instability).
Normally when you have a laptop from this time with a 25% failure rate, it's the DC/DC board that kicks the can, but that would produce a complete no-power situation.
Mark my words, I will figure out someday what the offending part is on that XP5 board - it's too cool of a laptop to leave it broken.I do believe there was a Linux on Laptops page for the XP5 at some point.
Their reliability was about the same. And yes, there was a Linux on Laptops page for the Winbook XP5, because I used it for reference when installing Linux on the machine that I kept.
- Alex
PcBytes wrote on 2025-02-28, 22:49:One thing I've found about Chicony's MP989 and 983 - it's by far the only laptop series to use Award BIOS. You read that right - desktop Award BIOS 4.51 is what these things use.
Yep, indeed, Award BIOS! And nice find with that MP989 - those are absolutely elite Pentium II desktop replacements. Super cool machine.
Award was found from time to time on some 486 laptops - Nan Tan mainly. You don't see many Pentium or newer Award laptops though.
Owner of https://www.macdat.net, the largest vintage laptop documentation resource on the web!
