Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2025-01-05, 16:38
I just uploaded a review of that EzBook 700 I mentioned earlier: https://youtu.be/jegy4Mrb7xs It actually doesn't do bad in DOS, scaling aside.
Re: Found a weird laptop
Posted on 2025-01-04, 02:57
Adding a bit of info here for future folks who stumble across this thread. It's the first result on Google for "PMD-5700 laptop". This laptop was manufactured by Dual Technology Corporation in Taiwan. PMD-5700 is the Dual model number for this system. It was released on or about July 1996. MicroSpot …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2025-01-01, 17:17
It will need the Dallas RTC hacked up to get it working, but otherwise a good option.
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-12-28, 22:24
If you're looking at a laptop from the late 90s and on, then yes, definitely, there is no perfect solution. You can get real close with that 1994-1995 era where you had 640x480 LCDs and sound cards, but the compromise there is that those laptops don't have wavetable/midi support. If you don't care …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-12-28, 19:03
I see what you're saying, but it's a little more complicated then that. Yes, vertical scaling generally looks and works fine, which is why my absolute perfect DOS laptop is one that has a 640x480 LCD and does a vertical scale, meaning it fills the entire screen, versus some 640x480 laptops that will …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-12-28, 16:18
It's certainly not a perfect scaling. Picture is squeezed. Proper one is scaled to fullscreen. Sample from my collection. Left is good scaling and right one is bad, inproper. photo_2024-12-28_12-37-15.jpg photo_2024-12-28_12-40-40.jpg You want the type of scaling that this laptop and your Siemens …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-12-28, 06:25
I discovered the other day that my Brother Meritus A53 laptop does near-perfect DOS scaling, in spite of having a Chips & Tech 65555 video chip. Yes, it can even play Keen 4 without the overlay in the top left corner glitching. Keen text still looks slightly off if you look really close but you can …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-12-17, 16:34
The Virge MX scales excellently on my Kapok laptop with it - weird. Must be a BIOS thing then.
Re: eMachines (FIC) AU31 Socket A (462) seem to be a CPU killer
Posted on 2024-11-15, 15:06
but in the "mocking commercial" they lifted up a cooler from Duron (1300 as far as i remember, 25+ Years ago), and he started to smoke few seconds after. That was definitely the Tom's Hardware video. I would have heard by now if Intel themselves did a commercial on it. https://youtu.be/NxNUK3U73SI? …
Re: NEC Versa 2000D laptop: where's the hard drive case?
Posted on 2024-11-15, 14:57
No. Like I said, you'll need the specific one for that laptop. That's another SATA to IDE converter. You're not going to find it by searching for generic "ide laptop adapter". There may not be one on sale right now, you might have to set a saved search and wait.
Re: NEC Versa 2000D laptop: where's the hard drive case?
Posted on 2024-11-15, 04:36
That looks like the one for the original generations Versas (Ultralite Versa, Versa E, Versa V, Versa M, Versa P). Not sure whether or not the Versa 2000D used the same one or not. Edit: the connector on the original Versa caddy and the photos shared earlier on looks to be different.
Re: NEC Versa 2000D laptop: where's the hard drive case?
Posted on 2024-11-15, 00:57
No random adapter you find is going to work, you need that specific one for that model of laptop.
Re: NEC Versa 2000D laptop: where's the hard drive case?
Posted on 2024-11-14, 15:28
Harry Potter wrote on 2024-11-14, 00:47: It might fit, and if it doesn't, I may be able to return it, and if it's too late, I'm not all that deep in the hole. 😀 That's not going to fit, you're wasting your money and your time.
Re: We created with mods a Toshiba Satellite 400cdt with a pentium 100mhz and a 640 x 480 lcd screen. It works
Posted on 2024-11-04, 14:20
Looks like the CCFL backlight tube is bad. Make sure you pull the leaky CMOS batteries while you're taking it apart.
Re: AST Bravo NB 4/25s Laptop - Quanta LK4 - HFSLK4
Posted on 2024-10-11, 12:31
That's a pretty decent looking result - get rid of the line and it would be perfect. 68kMLA is functional, the problem is the main administrator has clearly lost motivation to work on the site, so when a problem occurs, it can take a while for it to be fixed.... email delivery broke earlier this …
Re: AST Bravo NB 4/25s Laptop - Quanta LK4 - HFSLK4
Posted on 2024-10-10, 14:27
What you need is FSTN film: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806171221164.html It has an extra "retarder" layer which is what fixes the incorrect colors. aaaand that's what you had linked to. whoops.
Re: Is the interest in retro PC hardware decreasing?
Posted on 2024-09-29, 21:02
Don't be surprised when in 5-10 years you see a bunch of younger folks ogling over Vista/Win7-era Core 2 Duo machines. It may seem completely insane, but someone would have said the same thing 15 years ago about people collecting Pentium IIIs. Well, it's insane for a different reason - if you want …
Re: Is the interest in retro PC hardware decreasing?
Posted on 2024-09-29, 18:26
I don't know if we might get a secondary wave of nostalgia for the Gen Z that between noughts and about 2012 when they might have got tablets, maybe got given or let loose on "the old computer" Win 98 or early XP machine maybe. I know some of the kids in the fam here got to mess around with stuff …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-09-16, 19:07
Regarding the sound card specifically, the OPL3-SA is not the same as the OPL3. The OPL3-SA is a whole sound chip whereas the OPL3 is just an FM synthesizer, so the OPL3-SAx/SA3 chips have additional features. The earlier Toshibas used the ESS688, which was basically everything that made up a sound …
Re: The quest for the perfect retro laptop: a saga
Posted on 2024-09-15, 01:28
Get the backup batteries out of that 430CDT! There are two of them under the keyboard - a 3 cell for CMOS, and a 9 cell "hibernation" battery (keeps the laptop alive in sleep mode while the main battery is swapped). Both are Varta NiMH packs that leak almost 100% of the time. Unclip and remove the …
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