After your last experience, GOOD LUCK!

You will not like the whole.....mess with tonsofjumpers part of it all. And then, there's most likely COM1 screwups to deal with, and not to mention the decision to go for VLB or PCI for a video card... (i prefer PCI)

Is there a window nearby?

*Open windows for Mau1wurf1977to jump out of.*

If you found your Dell project frustrating you will find the 486 a nightmare 😳
Honestly every time I fiddle with my 486 it seems to chew up half a day...

well, I'm up for a challenge.

I suggest finding a 90s copy (obviously used) of PCs for Dummies and DOS for Dummies... no, I'm not insulting your intelligence, just your skill level 😀
You need to know what kind of stuff you're up against without guessing around like you've done so far with your Dell machine... those books are excellent books and I learned a lot from them back in those days (yay public library)... if you want to follow our footsteps, I really suggest you do the same

hit up the used book store or amazon, I'm sure you'll find them cheap!

I suggest finding a 90s copy (obviously used) of PCs for Dummies and DOS for Dummies...

a big +1 to this, I learnt a lot from these books back in the day. I've still got a copy lying around somewhere 😀
Also worth tracking down is 'Running MS-DOS' by Van Wolverton (microsoft press) although its a bit more advanced. Its a handy reference for when you got more comfortable with DOS.

DonutKing wrote:

If you found your Dell project frustrating you will find the 486 a nightmare 😳
Honestly every time I fiddle with my 486 it seems to chew up half a day...

^Agrees
486's are the most complicated boards to jumper (386 usually doesn't have a lot of jumpers to pick from and Socket 5+ jumpers usually make more sense!!!) and get working, but good luck getting a 486 board first! (and plz don't get a PC Chips).
There are TONS of options you won't understand at first, I'd suggest you read up first. It's not plug 'n go 😜

I got a link in my sig, might be worth reading (especially the redhill guide).

But anyway, good luck! And keep us informed, alrighty? 😉

Okay, well I first have to get a monitor adapter because the plug on the 486 is NOT a standard 15 pin, it's a 14 pin. So I will go searching for an adapter.

dosquest wrote:

Okay, well I first have to get a monitor adapter because the plug on the 486 is NOT a standard 15 pin, it's a 14 pin. So I will go searching for an adapter.

You mean the graphics card? Maybe it's easier to simply use another graphics card?
486's only have pins on the underside. They are supposed to fit in a CPu socket.

I'm thinking he's talking about pin 9 on the VGA connector being blocked off, which was fairly common on older VGA cards.

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

I'm thinking he's talking about pin 9 on the VGA connector being blocked off, which was fairly common on older VGA cards.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up! I wasn't sure what he was referring to 😉
So now the next question would be:Does this pin (which will obviously be missing from the VGA cable) have any function?
If no, then "remove said pin et voila!"

In newer stuff, the pin is sometimes used for monitor identification... basically allows the graphics card to autodetect what resolutions and such the monitor supports.

It's not critical, but I'd be hesitant to go ripping the pin out if I were planning to use the cable with other things. Probably better just to get a port saver, and remove the pin from that. (Many of 'em already have the pin missing, actually.)

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

In newer stuff, the pin is sometimes used for monitor identification... basically allows the graphics card to autodetect what resolutions and such the monitor supports.

It's not critical, but I'd be hesitant to go ripping the pin out if I were planning to use the cable with other things. Probably better just to get a port saver, and remove the pin from that. (Many of 'em already have the pin missing, actually.)

In that case a better option would be to get a second cable?

That would work too, assuming you're not using a monitor with a permanently attached cable. It's pretty much just a matter of which you can get cheaper, a cable or a little adapter doodad.

Reminds me of this topic:

Complete newbie advice on ISA video cards required please

(Scroll down to see the first photo)

"monitor adapter" 🤣

remember what I said about buying books?
I rest my case

Old Thrashbarg wrote:

That would work too, assuming you're not using a monitor with a permanently attached cable. It's pretty much just a matter of which you can get cheaper, a cable or a little adapter doodad.

Could just get a very short extension cord (or adapter) for a monitor with an attached cable 😉

retro games 100 wrote:

Reminds me of this topic:

Complete newbie advice on ISA video cards required please

(Scroll down to see the first photo)

*Looking at the picture* How/where did you get that battery pack??
I actually need a couple of those 😀