VOGONS


First post, by Alistar1776

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Ok, been a while since Ive posted, but this one has a few different questions about different components.

Model number on the board is 005312-011

The first issue Ive found can be seen on the screen in one of the pictures. Im attempting to format a 1.44mb diskette, in what I thought was a 1.44mb FDD from the model number, and for some reason its reading as a 720k? Then fails and cant do anything much after? its confusing to me.

The second question, does anyone just happen to have a case i can put this system in? Or know where i can find one for it?
Third question: Graphics card recommendations for DOS and Windows 3.x games? It has a Cirrus Logic built in gpu, CPU i assume is either a 100mhz or 120mhz Pentium

I appreciate the help.

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Last edited by Alistar1776 on 2022-05-31, 05:35. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 3 of 14, by davidrg

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That button is for linking to an image that is already available somewhere else on the web. If you've not already uploaded the image somewhere, you can go to the Full Editor (Full Editor & Preview button), expand the attachments panel under the editor box, then click the Add files button to upload them.

Reply 4 of 14, by Alistar1776

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davidrg wrote on 2022-05-31, 05:13:

That button is for linking to an image that is already available somewhere else on the web. If you've not already uploaded the image somewhere, you can go to the Full Editor (Full Editor & Preview button), expand the attachments panel under the editor box, then click the Add files button to upload them.

oohhh, i got ya. well, i found that then got an error saying they exceed maximum file size. ig they are 8 and 6MiB instead of 5MiB and idk how to compress them to work.

Edit: Found an image compressor online. images are up on the main post

Reply 5 of 14, by davidrg

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Well, that sure looks like a pile of spare parts for a Compaq Prolinea 5xxe! Sound card is a bit of an odd one though - never seen one like that before. IIRC they have a weird blank metal panel above the parallel port - I don't remember if there is a slot behind it on any of my machines but I suppose that must be where the sound card goes.

The floppy drive is certainly a 1.44M drive so I'd guess either the floppy you're formatting is really a 720K one (probably unlikely), or the drive is incorrectly setup as a 720K one in the BIOS. The BIOS setup utility lives on the hard disk in these machines so if you don't have the original drive or if its been erased at some point you'll need to grab some SoftPaqs to reinstall it. I don't remember what the onboard Cirrus Logic graphics chip is but its probably a PC one and perfectly fine for DOS and Windows 3.1 use.

As far as alternative cases go unfortunately I think you'll have a pretty hard time finding any else that will take this motherboard without some significant modifications. First challenge is the motherboard didn't mount in its original case using regular screws and stand-offs - instead it slid into plastic guides and was held in place by a case panel that slid out with the motherboard. So you'd need to come up with some new way of mounting the motherboard and probably another desktop case thats had the back modified somewhat to accommodate the unusual layout.

Reply 6 of 14, by waterbeesje

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The video chip looks like a GD5436 or 5438 (not exactly sure which one) with 1MB ram. Highly vesa compatible and provide fair Windows acceleration. With a Pentium 120 you surely don't need anything more.

If you'd like to have higher resolution in Windows you may want to upgrade video ram, but DOS gaming probably won't benefit much.

As for the case, I'd suggest searching for the original one...

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 7 of 14, by Alistar1776

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davidrg wrote on 2022-05-31, 09:22:

Well, that sure looks like a pile of spare parts for a Compaq Prolinea 5xxe! Sound card is a bit of an odd one though - never seen one like that before. IIRC they have a weird blank metal panel above the parallel port - I don't remember if there is a slot behind it on any of my machines but I suppose that must be where the sound card goes.

The floppy drive is certainly a 1.44M drive so I'd guess either the floppy you're formatting is really a 720K one (probably unlikely), or the drive is incorrectly setup as a 720K one in the BIOS. The BIOS setup utility lives on the hard disk in these machines so if you don't have the original drive or if its been erased at some point you'll need to grab some SoftPaqs to reinstall it. I don't remember what the onboard Cirrus Logic graphics chip is but its probably a PC one and perfectly fine for DOS and Windows 3.1 use.

As far as alternative cases go unfortunately I think you'll have a pretty hard time finding any else that will take this motherboard without some significant modifications. First challenge is the motherboard didn't mount in its original case using regular screws and stand-offs - instead it slid into plastic guides and was held in place by a case panel that slid out with the motherboard. So you'd need to come up with some new way of mounting the motherboard and probably another desktop case thats had the back modified somewhat to accommodate the unusual layout.

Sound card is an ESS AudioDrive 688, Im sure its supposed to go at the bottom slot, but the system wouldnt see the card to install the drivers when it was in the bottom slot. Works great tho.

As far as I can tell, the hard drive was original to this system. It had windows 95 on it, But I did format it to run windows 3.1 and DOS 6.22, as i have other hardware plans for a Win95 build, and none of my other hard drives would work with the system. Is there an archive site of SoftPaqs I could download and use?

Im primarily looking for either the original, or another Prolinea 5xxe case to use. All the hardware ive found for the system has been numbers matching so far.

Reply 8 of 14, by Alistar1776

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waterbeesje wrote on 2022-05-31, 14:19:

The video chip looks like a GD5436 or 5438 (not exactly sure which one) with 1MB ram. Highly vesa compatible and provide fair Windows acceleration. With a Pentium 120 you surely don't need anything more.

If you'd like to have higher resolution in Windows you may want to upgrade video ram, but DOS gaming probably won't benefit much.

As for the case, I'd suggest searching for the original one...

I wonder where I could find the video memory upgrade for it?

Reply 9 of 14, by davidrg

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Alistar1776 wrote on 2022-05-31, 18:25:

As far as I can tell, the hard drive was original to this system. It had windows 95 on it, But I did format it to run windows 3.1 and DOS 6.22, as i have other hardware plans for a Win95 build, and none of my other hard drives would work with the system. Is there an archive site of SoftPaqs I could download and use?

Im primarily looking for either the original, or another Prolinea 5xxe case to use. All the hardware ive found for the system has been numbers matching so far.

There are various mirrors of Compaqs FTP site around such as my one here. The SoftPaqs are just numbered though so to find out which ones apply to your machine you've got to have a search through this huge index or use the wayback machine. Not a very easy process. For a Prolinea E the softpaqs you need should be:

  • SP4701 - Computer Setup & Diagnostics 1.23A English (readme)
  • SP1698 - ESS688 Audio Support for Windows 3.1
  • SP2904 - Cirrus Logic 5434 support for Windows 3.1 (readme)

As for a case, yeah - you really want to find another Prolinea case. I imagine the easiest way to find one is to buy a whole (possibly dead) machine.

Last edited by davidrg on 2022-06-01, 06:06. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 10 of 14, by Alistar1776

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davidrg wrote on 2022-05-31, 20:50:
There are various mirrors of Compaqs FTP site around such as my one here. The SoftPaqs are just numbered though so to find out w […]
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There are various mirrors of Compaqs FTP site around such as my one here. The SoftPaqs are just numbered though so to find out which ones apply to your machine you've got to have a search through this huge index or use the wayback machine. Not a very easy process. For a Prolinea E the softpaqs you need should be:

  • SP4701 - Computer Setup & Diagnostics 1.23A English
  • SP1698 - ESS688 Audio Support for Windows 3.1
  • SP2904 - Cirrus Logic 5434 support for Windows 3.1

As for a case, yeah - you really want to find another Prolinea case. I imagine the easiest way to find one is to buy a whole (possibly dead) machine.

I think I had found SP1698 when I was searching for audio drivers for the sound card. Ill take a look at the other sites and see if I can find the other two disks.
Off topic question, but could I run a second sound card with a MIDI hookup next too the existing ESS688? I wanna build a MIDI Mountain kinda like what LGR on YouTube has, and it seems I would need a sound card with a MIDI controller or port.

Reply 11 of 14, by davidrg

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You probably could make it work but I wouldn't bother - aside from the special compaq mounting bracket that card is nothing special. I'd just grab another sound card and replace it outright. Alternatively, perhaps one of these would do: http://pcmidi.eu/pcmidi.html. That would only leave you one slot free for a network card or something else though.

Reply 12 of 14, by Alistar1776

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davidrg wrote on 2022-06-01, 06:09:

You probably could make it work but I wouldn't bother - aside from the special compaq mounting bracket that card is nothing special. I'd just grab another sound card and replace it outright. Alternatively, perhaps one of these would do: http://pcmidi.eu/pcmidi.html. That would only leave you one slot free for a network card or something else though.

My thing is its an original numbers matching card for the rest of the system. however, I suppose i could replace it outright and just hold on to the card somewhere in a safe spot. Maybe a Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 as a replacement? I think that card has a port for MIDI

Reply 13 of 14, by davidrg

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Most ISA sound cards have a MIDI port - that one is just a bit unusual probably due it being for a business machine. If you want to keep that card the I'd go with the PC Midi option - probably easier to get working than a second soundcard. When you get a proper Prolinea case for it you'll also have to get the sound card working in the bottom slot too as the special compaq mounting bracket on it won't fit any of the regular card slots.

Reply 14 of 14, by Alistar1776

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davidrg wrote on 2022-06-01, 07:51:

Most ISA sound cards have a MIDI port - that one is just a bit unusual probably due it being for a business machine. If you want to keep that card the I'd go with the PC Midi option - probably easier to get working than a second soundcard. When you get a proper Prolinea case for it you'll also have to get the sound card working in the bottom slot too as the special compaq mounting bracket on it won't fit any of the regular card slots.

I simply moved the sound card back to the bottom slot after having installed the drivers for it, and everything works fine. Ill take a look at the PC MIDI card.