VOGONS

Landmark Hertz

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First post, by Grzyb

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I've just spotted this box:

The attachment landmarkmhz.jpg is no longer available

...and one thing made me chucke - the frequency "counter" marked as LANDMARK MHz

The story behind Landmark "frequency" is fairly well known - it benchmarked CPUs relative to the original IBM AT, which used wait states, therefore zero-wait-states 286 clones exhibited higher values than their actual clock freqency, eg. 12 MHz was measured as 16.

But this is the first time I can see that fake frequency openly adverised on the front panel...
everybody knows about Statute Mile vs. Nautical Mile, Imperial Gallon vs. US Gallon, and so on... but did you know about SI Hertz vs. Landmark Hertz? 🤣

In 2003, I voted in favour of joining the European Union. However, due to recent developments - especially the restrictions on cash usage - I'm hereby withdrawing my support. DOWN WITH THE EU!

Reply 1 of 3, by Doornkaat

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Is it possible that an LED behind the "LANDMARK" text would only light up in deturbo mode?
If deturbo didn't (only) decrease CPU clockspeed but (also) introduce waitstates or other stuff it would make sense for the display not to show the CPU clockspeed but rather indicate CPU performance.
AFAIK this particular system used an actual 16MHz processor.

Reply 2 of 3, by Grzyb

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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-02-16, 10:16:

Is it possible that an LED behind the "LANDMARK" text would only light up in deturbo mode?

No LED there...

AFAIK this particular system used an actual 16MHz processor.

In this case, I would expect the "LANDMARK MHz" to be at least 20...
unfortunately, that particular machine got upgraded to 486, but if I ever find such a thing in original configuration, I'm sure to check it.

In 2003, I voted in favour of joining the European Union. However, due to recent developments - especially the restrictions on cash usage - I'm hereby withdrawing my support. DOWN WITH THE EU!

Reply 3 of 3, by Doornkaat

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Grzyb wrote on 2022-02-16, 10:54:
No LED there... […]
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Doornkaat wrote on 2022-02-16, 10:16:

Is it possible that an LED behind the "LANDMARK" text would only light up in deturbo mode?

No LED there...

AFAIK this particular system used an actual 16MHz processor.

In this case, I would expect the "LANDMARK MHz" to be at least 20...
unfortunately, that particular machine got upgraded to 486, but if I ever find such a thing in original configuration, I'm sure to check it.

Ok, then I was probably on to nothing there! I had a look at pics online and there are variations of this case (and computer model) without the LANDMARK text. They all have an actual 16MHz CPU as far as I can tell.
Did they actually cheap out at some point in this model's production? Or did they try and make owners of 286 PCs feel better about their systems' performance later on with that Landmark thing? I'd really like to see the original config now!😃
Nice oddity either way! 👍

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