Can someone identify my old 386 black mini tower? \ VOGONS

Can someone identify my old 386 black mini tower?

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First post, by Pajeroking

Posted on 2021-04-20, 16:09

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Hello,

A long time ago, during the early 90's , when I was just a 4 year old boy, my cousin gave me his "old" 386. It was running Windows 3.11, and I was playing at the time games like Duke Nukem 3D, Grand Prix 2, Another World and Car and Driver.
Unfortunately years later i sold it and it got lost....
That PC was gorgeous. Imagine a full black mini tower, with a black CRT on top of it, and black keyboard, mouse and black flight joystick!
The buttons were positioned vertically if I recall corectly, on either left or right side of the case. I don't recall a turbo button.
Imagine something like my Compaq Deskpro 4000, but in black!

Nostalgy hits, and I would like to buy a model like that, or something that at least resembles the form factor and the black color.

I assume this thing was pretty rare, because Google search does not return anything like that.

Thanks,
A

Reply 1 of 9, by Deksor

Posted on 2021-04-21, 00:12

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I have an IBM PS/1 with a 386SX that's black. Do you think it could be a match ?

I know that in my area there was a company named "goupil" that made black PCs back then.

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 2 of 9, by DrAnthony

Posted on 2021-04-21, 00:51

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Sounds vaguely similar to some designs Leading Edge made. There was a recent thread (Leading Edge Model M MP1676L) about an older model, but I know they hung around until the 486 era.

Reply 3 of 9, by Schule04

Posted on 2021-04-21, 01:52

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Maybe something made by ESCOM? They made quite a few black PCs in the early 1990s

Reply 4 of 9, by Pajeroking

Posted on 2021-04-21, 08:34

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Schule04 wrote on 2021-04-21, 01:52:

Maybe something made by ESCOM? They made quite a few black PCs in the early 1990s

Yes, something like that. Thanks!

Reply 5 of 9, by megatron-uk

Posted on 2021-04-21, 08:59

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I do like the look of that Escom unit!

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https://www.target-earth.net

Reply 6 of 9, by imi

Posted on 2021-04-21, 12:37

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Pajeroking wrote on 2021-04-20, 16:09:

and I was playing at the time games like Duke Nukem 3D

I doubt that ^^ Duke Nukem 3D was the reason we had to upgrade from our 386 in 1996 because it simply doesn't execute.

also when you say "mini-tower" you obviously mean desktop right? as you compare it to the compaq and say with a monitor on top.

but yeah, the only completely black lineup I know of is the Escom PC, they had black monitor and everything.

Reply 7 of 9, by Pajeroking

Posted on 2021-04-25, 07:19

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imi wrote on 2021-04-21, 12:37:

Pajeroking wrote on 2021-04-20, 16:09:

and I was playing at the time games like Duke Nukem 3D

I doubt that ^^ Duke Nukem 3D was the reason we had to upgrade from our 386 in 1996 because it simply doesn't execute.

100% that PC was a 386, that I remember for sure. And 100% I played Duke Nukem 3D on it. I was to young to understand video details and things like that, but it was running great in my 5 years old eyes. And it also ran Geoff Grammond's Grand Prix 2 !

Reply 8 of 9, by zami555

Posted on 2021-04-25, 08:12

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100% that PC was a 386, that I remember for sure. And 100% I played Duke Nukem 3D on it.

Unfortunately I agree with imi, that Duke Nukem 3D is not playable on 386 class rig. However maybe it's just confusion in name of the game, because there are Duke Nukem 1 and Duke Nukem 2, the 2D predecessors, which runs great on 386 HW.

Alternatively maybe the game you think about is Wolfenstein 3D?

Reply 9 of 9, by imi

Posted on 2021-04-25, 10:11

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Pajeroking wrote on 2021-04-25, 07:19:

100% that PC was a 386, that I remember for sure. And 100% I played Duke Nukem 3D on it. I was to young to understand video details and things like that, but it was running great in my 5 years old eyes. And it also ran Geoff Grammond's Grand Prix 2 !

maybe you upgraded the machine later on in the same case, as said, Duke Nukem 3D simply won't run on a 386, it's not supported by the hardware.
there have been efforts to recompile it from source code to make it able to run on 386 but those are new efforts and definitely weren't available back then.

so while yes, it is possible today to run Duke Nukem 3D on a 386 with patches, it definitely wasn't in the 90s ^^

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