Reply 6460 of 53114, by JidaiGeki
wrote:Also got this Zenith Service manual for my Zenith Z-386/20 machine I got for free earlier. It's a great addition to the system! It has insane amount of details and it also include manuals for other contemporary Zenith computers if anyone is interested. I now know every jumper on the whole motherboard and their functions. It also explains the BIOS in very high detail and the function behind the LED diagnostic lights. It also contains the business card of the repair person who used to own it as well as confidential papers on replacement parts and Zenith's testing results.
Today's documentation really does reflect how commodified computers have become, even parts; references like this were a labour of love for the manufacturer I'm sure, and back in the day most of us did RTFM 🤣
Speaking of which, I just spent some time looking through the manual for this beautiful specimen that I purchased recently:
It's an LTE Elite 4/75, a 486SL DX4/75 with 8MB RAM and 340MB drive. I'm a vintage Thinkpad man at heart, and even worked for Big Blue for a time, but this is a sensational little machine. Stacks up well next to my 755CD, the onboard power supply is so handy. Screen mounted trackball actually feels kind of natural. Hope to have more time to spend playing with it soon.
Also bought the bottom case recently, to add to the beige stack in my "cupboard of shame":
It must have had a 386 or 486 whose battery leaked as it has a little acid damage at the rear; nothing too concerning. As a bonus, all of the expansion cards are still screwed to the backplane, which I am yet to check out, and it has an AT PSU inside. The smoked plastic cover over the LED is a nice touch too. Plan is for a 486DX2/66 build (provided my board still works).