Here's the first recovered computer of the bunch, a Compaq Deskpro 2000 5133 with 16Mb FPM RAM, which I will a to EDO (32/64Mb should be enough), I have already added an ESS AudioDrive ES-1869 ISA sound card, because I am planning to use it for both DOS and Windows95 gaming.

The CPU is Pentium 133 (non-MMX), the 256Kb PBSRAM coast module is present. The chipset is Intel 430HX (Triton II). Guess the lack of support for MMX Pentium processors is due to the VRM, and would take extensive modding to allow both 3.3v and the 2.5v for MMX CPUs. I could go with an MMX Overdrive, but eh, I'd rather just build an MMX PC from scratch and have a non-MMX PC too.

So, if anyone has to deal with a Deskpro 2000 Pentium 1 with non-MMX CPU, the setup and diagnostics is different - you need SP4711.exe for them. It creates two disks instead of three.

Spent half a day restoring the setup and diagnostics partition on this old girl.

Bonus: here's the Dell PowerEdge 2300, out of the storage and cleaned. It has a lot of pieces missing, but the important parts are all there.

Captain's log, star date 16032025

With the Pentium 133 we have finally descended into the darker ages, where the comforts of Win98SE, NUSB and at even USB 1.x are no longer available, and without a functional ethernet/FTP my ability to transfer files to and from the PC is, to put it mildly, severely limited.

The HDD this PC came with is functional, but it sounds like a tiny angle grinder, and I'm too old to put up with that - and 612Mb is too little for what I have planned for this PC anyways.

While SD2IDE makes it easier to transfer files, using it as the main storage makes the system sluggish and unresponsive. I've observed it on every system I used it on - Windows and SD do not mix well, although CF and DOS are mostly fine.

I have a 20Gb Samsung HDD in the mail, but you know how it is with these old hard drives - you never know what you're gonna get.

If you get a Compaq Deskpro 2000 5133 system (turns out in Compaq nomenclature 5 means it's a Pentium system, 133 is the frequency of the CPU it was packaged with - I also have 6233MMX, which was a (6) Pentium II (233) 233MHz), you might notice certain artifacting in Windows 95, especially in 800x600 High Color. It is not a hardware issue, but rather caused by Windows 95 included drivers for Cirrus Logic CL-GD5436. Installing the Compaq Windows 95 drivers (SP4066.EXE) fixes the issue completely.

Here's a list of softpaqs you might need for this PC:
SP4355.EXE 19 September 97
Deskpro 2000/4000/6000 Windows 95 Enhancements 1.01 Rev A

SP4066.EXE 15 September 97
Deskpro Windows 95 Graphics Drivers 1.91 Rev A

SP4711.EXE 07 October 97
Computer SETUP/V and PC Diagnostics VERSION 1.23 Rev A for Computer Setup/V 10.19 Rev A for PC Diagnostics