Inhibit wrote on 2024-04-24, 00:28:

ascle wrote on 2024-04-23, 15:19:

if it somehow did i would hope it'd have some RAM we could piggyback on but i doubt it'd have enough to matter...
i noticed the machine technically supports up to 16MB and the RAM chips are just soldered in... been debating on and off if i want to install some sockets and just slot in the max amount of RAM to see if it'd work. the only issue would be sourcing compatible chips. X)

Yep, after a quick look sourcing compatible chips is a non-trivial feat. Although I'll go look through my pile of EDO DRAM on 72pin boards and see if there's something usable there. I'm guessing it'd take a daughter board, though, as I don't recall seeing that SOJ-42 package commonly when EDO DRAM was a thing.

https://au.mouser.com/ProductDetail/ISSI/IS41 … kzYf580pw%3D%3D

That's fast page which is what 386s used.
EDO is late 486/pentium era.

Don't trip on the 16Mb though. It's Mbit (2mb).
You can probably double stack them though. Iirc the top chip needs a pin shorted to differentiate it from the bottom. Don't quote me on that.

With most RAM configurations, the data and address lines are conserved, and individual chips respond when the chip select (CS) line is raised.

So, if you just stack them up like dead bugs, and bend the CS lines out, and put bodge wires on leading to the appropriate leads from the DRAM controller, you can do this.

Usually. But not always.

pengan wrote on 2024-04-30, 17:22:

DiskGenius is very useful and it's the default choice for partitioning tools in the Chinese enthusiasts. My own workflow for pre […]
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BitWrangler wrote on 2024-04-30, 15:15:

Disk Genius looks potentially useful for messing around with images, I failed with it last night due I think to adapter crapping out, but in theory it seems to do useful things.

DiskGenius is very useful and it's the default choice for partitioning tools in the Chinese enthusiasts.
My own workflow for preparing CF cards uses VirtualBox, DiskGenius and Symantec Ghost/Ghost32.
===================
- Prepare a WinXP virtual machine in VirtualBox as a tool to move the GHO image.
- Install a DOS virtual machine as "master tape" in VirtualBox and install all software for CF card.
- Shut down the DOS virtual machine and mount its virtual hdd (VDI file) on the WinXP virtual machine.
- Make an GHO image of DOS hdd under WinXP using Ghost32.
- Transfer the GHO to the host system(my machine is Win10) using the shared folder feature of VirtualBox Tools
- Write the GHO image to CF card using a USB card reader and Ghost32
- If you encounter a situation CF card can't boot, use DiskGenius to create MBR partition table on the CF card, then create the primary partition, and set the primary partition activate
- Then use Ghost to perform partition-to-partition cloning
=================
Symantec Ghost clones FAT partitions on a file-by-file basis, so the partition sizes do not need to match, as long as the partition is larger than the capacity occupied by the files in the image.

Thank you for describing the process, very useful. I don't know why I keep trying to avoid Ghost, it must have done something I thought was bad decades ago which I have forgotten now.

wierd_w wrote on 2024-05-01, 08:31:

With most RAM configurations, the data and address lines are conserved, and individual chips respond when the chip select (CS) line is raised.

So, if you just stack them up like dead bugs, and bend the CS lines out, and put bodge wires on leading to the appropriate leads from the DRAM controller, you can do this.

Usually. But not always.

I was starting to wonder if the banking is not done like one would expect, and it might be easier to swap the chips for 4MB chips.

BitWrangler wrote on 2024-05-01, 14:22:

wierd_w wrote on 2024-05-01, 08:31:

With most RAM configurations, the data and address lines are conserved, and individual chips respond when the chip select (CS) line is raised.

So, if you just stack them up like dead bugs, and bend the CS lines out, and put bodge wires on leading to the appropriate leads from the DRAM controller, you can do this.

Usually. But not always.

I was starting to wonder if the banking is not done like one would expect, and it might be easier to swap the chips for 4MB chips.

If you've got a 2M16 part I've got a soldering iron and bodge wire if the traces aren't connected! Far as I can tell there's no 4MB chip in that 42 pin package (through hole or not). Piggy back and a bodge could work with a schematic if that's functional as described with EDO; I'm unfamiliar with stacking RAM that way.

Televicious wrote on 2024-04-23, 04:41:

Just got one to play with. Quirky lil thing. Has potential for accessories. Could use an rtc module first and foremost. I like that the cpu is modular. It leaves the possibility of a 486 being added. Another thing that would be nice is a SB type card like ymf715 for the internal isa expansion. It sits right over the opl3. Crystal might be a good option too. Also, need to add wheels for those volume pots. Fun little tinker box though. Better screen and sound than the libretto's.

I didn't know how to disable floppy. The bios settings I know are from fn-f4 and fn-f5. Is there another way to get to the bios?

fretinator@gmail.com wrote on 2024-05-01, 18:53:

I didn't know how to disable floppy. The bios settings I know are from fn-f4 and fn-f5. Is there another way to get to the bios?

Del while powering it on.

Got it, thanks. No PS/2 mouse works, but a PS/2 keyboard does work. I think I'll have to wait on the serial port add-on board to get a mouse. I do have a parallel port network card working (Xircom).

fretinator@gmail.com wrote on 2024-05-01, 20:29:

Got it, thanks. No PS/2 mouse works, but a PS/2 keyboard does work. I think I'll have to wait on the serial port add-on board to get a mouse. I do have a parallel port network card working (Xircom).

Did you use the OSD to switch to external mouse? By default it uses the keyboard mouse thing.

Only about a hundred times. I got it working one time, but never since. At this point, in thinking it may be a hardware issue with the PS/2 port. I also tried several mice. But no matter what I do, it no longer works. When I switch back to the built-in, it does work.

Has anyone found a good compact pointer solution? Something sized to suit and not completely terrible? A normal PS/2 desktop mouse dwarfs the machine and has huge buttons. Used/NOS is fine.

radiounix wrote on 2024-05-01, 23:42:

Has anyone found a good compact pointer solution? Something sized to suit and not completely terrible? A normal PS/2 desktop mouse dwarfs the machine and has huge buttons. Used/NOS is fine.

My plan was to try to track down a PS/2 travel mouse, hack the connector off and wire it up to connect to the plug on the Pocket386 directly. But until my battery issue is resolved I don’t care enough to bother.

wierd_w wrote on 2024-05-01, 08:31:

With most RAM configurations, the data and address lines are conserved, and individual chips respond when the chip select (CS) line is raised.

So, if you just stack them up like dead bugs, and bend the CS lines out, and put bodge wires on leading to the appropriate leads from the DRAM controller, you can do this.

Usually. But not always.

Eh, I had a look over the M6117D data sheet and the Pocket 386 schematic. Near as I can tell (although this is a bit outside my wheel house) all the banks are currently being used by the existing 2MB chips. One physical chip is on each bank.

So that seems like a non-starter as you wouldn't have RAS/CAS lines to wire an extra "bank" to. Although please correct me if I'm making a bad assumption!

And still no luck finding a 1M32 4MB SOJ part. Hopefully I'm getting the shorthand (1M32 as opposed to 1M16) that would've been used on the part numbers right and not just chasing my tail.

It's gonna be 2M16 we'd be looking for I think. That was my impression of the banking too. Still stuck with pollen brain though, I'm like "brain go down rabbithole" brain is like "no rabbithole, watch fluffy baby bunnies, scamper scamper heehee."

Well wrap me up and call me stupid. Somehow the mouse got disabled in the bios and I didn't notice it. Aargh.

I also took the CF image from the Book 8088, copied it to another 2GB CF card and an running it on the Pocket 386. I upgraded it to Windows 3.1. I feel that better fits a 386 with 8 GB RAM. I will see how far I get on drivers - sound, etc.

fretinator@gmail.com wrote on 2024-05-02, 22:40:

I also took the CF image from the Book 8088, copied it to another 2GB CF card and an running it on the Pocket 386. I upgraded it to Windows 3.1. I feel that better fits a 386 with 8 GB RAM. I will see how far I get on drivers - sound, etc.

Windows 3.1 has been running fine on my unit since shortly after I got it. I think it was all default drivers, but I did install the ADLIBW driver from here as well: https://github.com/yeokm1/retro-configs/tree/ … /drivers/ADLIBW

The CL-GD5428 appears to be compatible with the '29 and has a much newer VGA BIOS. I've desoldered, flashed, and resoldered the VGA card's EEPROM, but still stuck with the INT 10h hang. Wondering if it's a PCB error.

Mine arrived, with the serial port adapter/card, and I've had good fun so far.

I've gotten on-line with microweb and a Tindy serial-to-wifi, and Word 97 installs (slowly) and loads as fast as you could expect. Disappointing: while both HanDBase and Portabase do install/run, their load times are impossible when coupled with the additional time to load a simple database (Subj/Note only). A workaround is the 200LX's CPACK and the linux .gpd converter from .csv. If you're running a 32-bit Outlook/HP software, you can also generate one-way addressbook/appointment files to work in CPACK, which gives a rough PDA experience.

My one real rub is the usb drive. The regular ones work, but I would love to use a Verbatim/Cruzer nano, but they hang on boot. I've formatted to Fat16, repartitioned the 4GB Verbatim into two GB drives/Fat32, but no joy. Do folks think that's nano drive issue, as in they're built differently than your average, bulky usb flash drive?

Many modern flash drives no longer support usb 1.1 modes.

This is likely your problem.