My prized 486 laptop: a Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT.

16MB RAM
DX4-75 CPU
TFT Active display
ES688 + YMF-262M
410CDT external floppy drive (the original broke)
2x CD-ROM drive integrated
527MB HDD (clicks every 5-10 seconds, will install an SSD method via CF-IDE)
Running MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with all of the drivers, utilities, and a couple of games

Unfortunately, I cannot get the PCMCIA to work on this thing and I might have the incorrect drivers set for it.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2021-08-07, 00:06:

My prized 486 laptop: a Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT. […]
Show full quote

My prized 486 laptop: a Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT.

16MB RAM
DX4-75 CPU
TFT Active display
ES688 + YMF-262M
410CDT external floppy drive (the original broke)
2x CD-ROM drive integrated
527MB HDD (clicks every 5-10 seconds, will install an SSD method via CF-IDE)
Running MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with all of the drivers, utilities, and a couple of games

IMG_20210803_022829103_HDR.jpg

Unfortunately, I cannot get the PCMCIA to work on this thing and I might have the incorrect drivers set for it.

Yep - as a former owner of the T2135/50/55 series, I can totally attest that they are good, solid machines for the 486 era.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2021-08-07, 00:06:

My prized 486 laptop: a Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT. […]
Show full quote

My prized 486 laptop: a Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT.

16MB RAM
DX4-75 CPU
TFT Active display
ES688 + YMF-262M
410CDT external floppy drive (the original broke)
2x CD-ROM drive integrated
527MB HDD (clicks every 5-10 seconds, will install an SSD method via CF-IDE)
Running MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with all of the drivers, utilities, and a couple of games

IMG_20210803_022829103_HDR.jpg

Unfortunately, I cannot get the PCMCIA to work on this thing and I might have the incorrect drivers set for it.

I think Toshiba laptops came with Phoenix CardManager software. Did you try it?

Found the PCMCIA drivers from the T1950CT archive and got it installed.

I managed to pick up a Thinkpad 755CD with floppy drive and original manual at a good price ($60). Upon boot up it displays a floppy disk icon and indicates the F1 key to be pressed - nothing happens of course as the hard drive has been pulled! It’s also missing its original AC power adapter.

Apart from a new HDD and power adapter, is there anything else apart from a leaky CMOS battery I should look out for with this unit? Cosmetics look pretty decent for its age but the battery of course doesn’t hold a charge.

Can one still find new / third party power adapters and batteries for the 755CD?

This will be the oldest lap-computer in my entire collection if I can get it working.

pixelatedscraps wrote on 2021-08-08, 09:17:

I managed to pick up a Thinkpad 755CD with floppy drive and original manual at a good price ($60). Upon boot up it displays a fl […]
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I managed to pick up a Thinkpad 755CD with floppy drive and original manual at a good price ($60). Upon boot up it displays a floppy disk icon and indicates the F1 key to be pressed - nothing happens of course as the hard drive has been pulled! It’s also missing its original AC power adapter.

Apart from a new HDD and power adapter, is there anything else apart from a leaky CMOS battery I should look out for with this unit? Cosmetics look pretty decent for its age but the battery of course doesn’t hold a charge.

Can one still find new / third party power adapters and batteries for the 755CD?

This will be the oldest lap-computer in my entire collection if I can get it working.

I used one as my main machine in the mid 2000's. I had an iGo generic power supply for it at the time I bought at Radio Shack for like, $80. There might be some decent Chinese replacements or used OEM units. You kind of have to hunt for them though because ThinkPad stuff tends to go for a bit these days, usually.

If you want a battery I'd look for that Lithium Ion version, they made these with NiMH and Lithium Ion (I put a new Lithium Ion battery in mine when I got it, 2 hours time). - Just for a cross reference for part numbers - http://www.elec-shopping.com/laptop-batteries … nkPad%20755.htm - $62 at that site, might find better on e-bay or elsewhere.

As for what I use now...currently I'm trying to tweak and tune my NEC Versa M/75 into something that did not exist - the NEC Versa M/75HCP - a High Resolution Color (800x600) with Touch/Pen. And I just ordered a Panasonic Sound/SCSI card for it to give me at least OPL sound for the DOS Games that use it. It'll be really cool to use this thing for pixel art with a pen, as well as play old DOS games on the go since the battery works, and I've also brought one of the 30 year old NEC ones back to life (and the runtime keeps getting longer the more I use it). I might also put new cells in the other two I have if they don't keep growing in runtime as well (complete drain then re-charge). A touch-screen convertible laptop with WiFi, OPL, WSS, and SB Support w/ a SCSI feature, and a dock - were basically looking at the Microsoft Surface of 1994 here. I use Cisco Aironet WiFi cards tethered to my phone for internet when on the go, and it uses so little of my data plan I can use it like that a lot in a month.

From what I understand from the Thinkpad forums, the Li-on battery can only be used with the Pentium 75 version of the 755CD - without some tweaking that is beyond me.

I can’t remember the model but my dad had something from the 1994-1996 Thinkpad line when I was a teenager growing up in Hong Kong and it was one of the defining moments of my computing obsession.

I’m hoping to find a nearby Thinkpad maestro who might be willing to have a tinker and restore the unit for me. It’s a bit out of my comfort zone but I’d love to have a working copy.

Your project sounds like a fun one, I lean towards replicating the original experience as closely as possible and in your NEC case - why not if you have access to the parts!

pixelatedscraps wrote on 2021-08-09, 11:17:

From what I understand from the Thinkpad forums, the Li-on battery can only be used with the Pentium 75 version of the 755CD - w […]
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From what I understand from the Thinkpad forums, the Li-on battery can only be used with the Pentium 75 version of the 755CD - without some tweaking that is beyond me.

I can’t remember the model but my dad had something from the 1994-1996 Thinkpad line when I was a teenager growing up in Hong Kong and it was one of the defining moments of my computing obsession.

I’m hoping to find a nearby Thinkpad maestro who might be willing to have a tinker and restore the unit for me. It’s a bit out of my comfort zone but I’d love to have a working copy.

Your project sounds like a fun one, I lean towards replicating the original experience as closely as possible and in your NEC case - why not if you have access to the parts!

Hmmm…take a look at the Thinkpad release history on:
https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ThinkPad_History
And see if any of the models seem familiar. The hardware maintenance/service manuals for most are still out there and easily obtainable.

Chances are - if you can read Chinese (simplified or Traditional) there are gurus north of the border with a thing for those oldies posting off sites like 51nb.com, and it’s just a question of whether you trust them or not. The issue here is that for those ~25 year old ThinkPads even the NOS spare parts are probably long gone and dead. That being said, you can often find old laptops for cheap from Japan, often machines that are very well taken care of- you just have to use a service like Buyee to deal with something like Yahoo auctions.

Just to update this thread, the Thinkpad 755CD I thought I had bought turned out to be a 755CX with Pentium 75. Apart from the lack of CD-ROM, I’m pretty happy with it. Love the chunky design, form factor, keyboard hinge and once I get my CF card reader PCMCIA I should be able to do much more with it. If that fails, I have my eye on a copy of the original external IBM CD-ROM.

I have a Compaq LTE 5200 with a cracked display lid (transit bash) which has a somehow fubared the display - a spare 10.4” LCD sits awaiting surgery.

I was hoping the 755 would be a DX to differentiate between the LTE 5200 but it turned out they’re both Pentium - albeit the LTE has the faster 120mhz Pentium.

One of them has to go but I’m not sure which one - perhaps the one I can find a dock for?

pixelatedscraps wrote on 2021-10-01, 10:44:

I have a Compaq LTE 5200 with a cracked display lid (transit bash) which has a somehow fubared the display - a spare 10.4” LCD sits awaiting surgery.

This Compaq series is not very good for Dos gaming, cause cheap graphics adapter Cirrus Logic does not allow scaling to full screen. You will get games in small window with large black border around.

pixelatedscraps wrote on 2021-10-01, 10:44:

Just to update this thread, the Thinkpad 755CD I thought I had bought turned out to be a 755CX with Pentium 75. Apart from the l […]
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Just to update this thread, the Thinkpad 755CD I thought I had bought turned out to be a 755CX with Pentium 75. Apart from the lack of CD-ROM, I’m pretty happy with it. Love the chunky design, form factor, keyboard hinge and once I get my CF card reader PCMCIA I should be able to do much more with it. If that fails, I have my eye on a copy of the original external IBM CD-ROM.

I have a Compaq LTE 5200 with a cracked display lid (transit bash) which has a somehow fubared the display - a spare 10.4” LCD sits awaiting surgery.

I was hoping the 755 would be a DX to differentiate between the LTE 5200 but it turned out they’re both Pentium - albeit the LTE has the faster 120mhz Pentium.

One of them has to go but I’m not sure which one - perhaps the one I can find a dock for?

755CX is a nice laptop as well. From my experience CD-ROM is not a very useful device, unless you already have a big games collection on CDs. Othervwise, if you use CDs occasionally, you can mount an ISO from PCMCIA-CF in DOS or Windows. CFs up to 2 Gig should work fine on it. And you can even boot form it (sometimes requires some black magic to partition the CF).
The only thing that people usually complain about is the MWAVE sound card, FM emulation, in particular. In case of 755CD (which I have BTW 😁 ) it's compensated by built in MIDI port. I don't remenber, does CX have one?

Yeah, I was thinking of making do with it. It’s in good working and cosmetic shape and the main & bios batteries even hold charges so I can’t really ask for more given its age.

Recently acquired a Toshiba Satellite Pro 400CDT. It'll get repairs and cleaning done before I start to use it. Could use a CD-ROM drive, external floppy enclosure, and a hard drive (got a drive to test).

I have an alienware m11x r1

Cpu: intel core 2 duo SU7300 oc 1.7ghz
Ram:8gb ddr3
Gpu: nvidia geforce gts350m 1gb vram
Ssd 128gb
Windows 7 (or 10)

Nice to play some games from 2011 or earlier
Nice Screen of 11 inches and backlight keyboard with rgb

A really Nice laptop

Darktabris wrote on 2021-11-03, 18:37:

I have an alienware m11x r1

Nice, I had my eye on one of these for a while but ended up going for an M17x R2 - something about a big, chonky bastard of an Alienware - and dual GPU to boot - gets me going at times 😉

Specs are:

CPU: i7-820
RAM: 12GB
GPU: Dual ATI Mobility 5870 1GB Crossfire
SSD: 500GB Seagate Momentus XT

This thing weighs over 12lb without its power adapter though so it's not exactly portable!

I might have two:

Gericom 1st Supersonic M6-T 1200MHz

Intel Pentium III SL5GN 1200MHz Tualatin desktop chip
60GB WD Scorpio I recycled from some defunct Acer
ATi Mobility Radeon M6P 32MB AGP - basically a sort of a Radeon 7000 (R100) but mobile.
512MB PC133 SDR - factory, 98SE didn't even complain about it tho - no WPE errors or any weird juju.
Panasonic DVD/CDRW that I can't upgrade due to the faceplate being different in mounting than most units I have.
Running 98SE w/ KernelEX 4.52.

IPC/MiTAC 7521T

Intel Pentium III SL5QW 1100MHz Coppermine desktop chip
SiS 630E iGP GPU (set to 16MB share)
384MB PC100 SDRAM
20GB Fujitsu HDD (original, haven't replaced it yet)
originally had a Teac CDRW drive that I replaced with a LG T40L IDE DVDRW I had handy
Dual boots 2000 SP4 and ME 4.90.3000 currently.

Quite informative post. I've been digging the forum for about a year and now can catch up to the tips. It helps a lot but is not totally agreed in personal perspective.

Best portable/lightweight choice for me is the Thinkpad 240. 1.35 kg with Neomagic 128XD SVGA and ESS Solo-1 but limited to DOS and early win9x games, it is on my wishlist. I got a VAIO PCG-SR17 recently and it's more powerful. keyboard not most convenient but OK with me. 1.35 kg with YMF754, S3 savage XGA screen, capable of early win9x 3D games. I agree that The Toshiba Libretto and SONY C1 was the most portable ones but they have weird screen resolutions. Toshiba 3490CT is lightweight, but its YMF752 is a shame, not DS-XG but AC-XG, kicked out from my list.

Thinkpads like A20/T20 series or the lightweight X20/21, they all with Crystal FM but are not good if you want a OPL sound. For me I'm used to the OPL3, the Crystal FM sounds weird. ESFM instead, sounds pretty good, if not better than OPL3.

I don't have a Toshiba 5205 but a 2805 instead, the specs are almost the same, YMF754 with Geforce2Go, the most powerful one for me, can handle games up to late 2000. I'm sticking to a OPL or at least ESFM laptop for DOS gaming, either lightweight or with powerful GPU for win9x era.
Another choice is the last official win98 laptop (possibly Thinkpad T42) with a PCMCIA sound card, but the PCMCIA sound card (OPL3 for dos and win9x) is rare, I failed to get one. maybe a newly made one is a good option. Thinkpad T42 also have a dock with PCI slots as @fosterwj03 stated, but I'm not ready for that big beast yet.

ragefury32 wrote on 2021-08-10, 06:51:

Chances are - if you can read Chinese (simplified or Traditional) there are gurus north of the border with a thing for those oldies posting off sites like 51nb.com, and it’s just a question of whether you trust them or not. The issue here is that for those ~25 year old ThinkPads even the NOS spare parts are probably long gone and dead. That being said, you can often find old laptops for cheap from Japan, often machines that are very well taken care of- you just have to use a service like Buyee to deal with something like Yahoo auctions.

Never heard of 51nb.com since I'm not a retro hardware guy until recently. But as I tried it just now, the site is just closed recently and will be for 6 months, shame.
I get old laptops from a Chinese flea market mobile app by alibaba/aliexpress. Also Yahoo auction is used to buy old laptops from Japan.

My Army has Grown Six Strong since 2019.......with some updates for what I have......starting with the 486s because size limits (I have 5 486s, one Pentium)....

1993 BSI (NanTan) Notebook 3500C 486 DX "Professional"

Chassis: NanTan 3300/3500 386/486 Chassis, White, 10.3" Screen?
Power: 2100mAH NiCad Battery (10 D-cell), sometimes it still works, Generic Universal "Laptop" PSU from E-bay (Barrel Jack + 20VDC)
CPU: Intel 486 DX-33MHz
RAM: 8MB on 30 Pin SIP Memory Modules
FDD: 1.44MB 3.5" Slimline
HDD: Connor 212MB HDD (original), still works, no bad sectors, same model as I run in my Compaq Deskpro 386s/20
EXP BUS: Proprietary NanTan Connector (Pre PCMCIA!?!?)
VIDEO: Cirrus Logic 1MB SVGA
LCD: Sanyo lcm-5530-22ntk 640x480 10" LCD, DSTN Color (Surprisingly Little Ghosting, GREAT screen)
SOUND: Internal Speaker Only (Bleeper)
NETWORK: None, Planning to Get one of those Serial Modem/WiFi Cards and maybe a OPL3LPT for it
O/S:MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1

I bought this Computer off E-bay earlier this year for a bit of a crazy amount considering it was untested. It seems to have belonged originally to a Chinese power plant engineer or something like that. Had a lot of personal documents and whatnot to wipe off the Hard Drive. Has a few games. Has the original DOS and Windows Hotkey Utility Programs on it. I've really tuned this thing up. Runs pretty well for a DX-33, though I wish I could toss something faster in it eventually and maybe some more RAM. RIght now I'm running the stock HDD because I'm not sure how a SATA or SSD drive will handle in this machine yet, but it looks promising since it's pretty forgiving about HDD Settings. The BIOS Is an Award/Phoenixview BIOS similar to the old Zeos motherboard I had on my first 486 Desktop a milion years ago. It also has the weird trackball option on it. The battery did work for about 30 minutes when I originally got it but as of late won't take a charge - might have shocked it too hard with the charger. But the laptop does work and for gaming it's actually a fun laptop for things like Duke Nukem, Tank Wars, and other things that use the internal speaker. It needs a replacement for the leaked out Varta Battery I removed though. Future plans include adding a RS232 Serial WiFi modem and possibly an OPL3LPT to it to enhance it's capabilities since it has a surprisingly ghost free and quality looking DSTN LCD on it.....it's very crisp and with some alignment of the layers would probably come within 30% of my NEC's TFTs.

1993 DFI MediaBook 9200M (NanTan FMAK9200M)

Chassis: NanTan 9200-series 486 Chassis
Power: 2x 9v 1800Mah NiMH Batteries (dead), Universal Power Supply (barrel Jack, 19vdc mode)
CPU: Intel 486 DX2-66
RAM:8MB of RAM
FDD:Slimline 1.44MB 3.5"
HDD:80GB ATA-133 w/ OnTrack 9 DDO
EXP BUS:PCMCIA Type II x2, Cirrus Controller
VIDEO: Cirrus Logic 1MB SVGA Graphics
LCD: CASIO MD800TT10-C1 640x480 9.4" STN Monochrome (yuck)
SOUND: ESS 488 SoundBlaster Compatible with OPL
O/S:MS-DOS 7.10

I bought this because I used to have a Duracom 5110D DSTN Laptop that was very similar (and a Prostar 9200M before that that's almost identical). This laptop is 25MHz bus though so the DX2-66 is probably running at 50MHz- underclocked. It originally had a 486 SX-25 CPU in it (still have it, working pull). Still pretty zippy. Moved all the original HDD contents to the 2.5" ATA-133 drive it has now so it could have the original utilities for handling APM, LCD, etc. I'm toying with snagging some kind of Active Matrix or DSTN LCD panel and upgrading this. It looks like it may even be possible to use an NEC NL6448AC30 series panel in it (that would rock). The trackball is pretty good, the keyboard is an acquired taste (a bit mushy for some people), and it does really good on WiFi. The LCD Panel is "meh" - it's a Casio, I don't expect it to be all that impressive, but it actually looks pretty good for as cheap as it is. I plan to put a WiFi Card in this one eventually as a permanant one so I can stop passing around the same two Aironet LCM-352s between all my laptops that have PCMCIA. It has a pretty cool startup chime. Either way, I'm keeping it even if the screen is not what I want for now, since I think it could become a real screamin MS-DOS gaming rig someday. It actually would do decent for on-the-go-MIDI Composition though. I had a guy on YouTube message me about sending me an Active Matrix LCD panel setup from one of these but I never got a reply back. That would have been cool. He said the LCD was an NEC, if so I wonder if it's the NL6448AC30-12 model because I see a lot of those going for a fair price these days compared to the other models my NECs use.

1994 NEC Versa 40EC

Chassis: NEC PC-440/450 Versa 40/50 platform
Power: 3800 mAH 7.2v NiMH Battery, original NEC Power Supply
CPU: Intel 486 DX2 SL 40MHz
RAM: 20MB, 4MB on board, 16MB Add-in Card
FDD: 1.44MB Versa-Bay
HDD: 60MB ATA-133
EXP BUS: PCMCIA Type II, Cirrus Chipset
VIDEO: WD 90C024 1MB SVGA
SOUND: Internal Speaker
LCD: NEC NL6448AC30-06 640x480 9.4" LCD Panel, TFT Active Matrix
NETWORK: PCMCIA Cards, Cisco Aironet, XJack Ethernet, Avocent WaveLAN Silver
O/S: MS-DOS 7.01, Windows For Workgroups 3.11

This is the one I've had the longest. I bought it in mid 2019. I started going back toward MS-DOS when I found FreeDOS would not play ball with certain games right and exhibited odd behaviors on others (particularly on games that use the VooDoo memory Manager from Origin Systems). It has no sound, though I do have a Panasonic D20 SCSI/Sound card that would work on it but I'm still working out the audio connector pins on that card (have been unable to download the service manual though I see it available in some places). It has a marble contact-PVC backing on it to cover up the original early JB Weld and Baking Soda/Superglue repairs I did on it. I still bring it out from time to time, but I need to tighten the hinge I loosened up (I find loosening the friction clip a hair and then slightly jamming the friction pads inside helps make it just right). The entire undercarriage has hairline cracks reinforced with the BS/SG mix process and they are holding up great. This one I've done the most electronic repairs to, and as it's so finicky, I tend to be careful what I use it for, even if parts are still availible with it (lots of early experiments with batteries and sound and so on), but I also have learned the circuitry really well on this machine so I'm ready for a lot of board level repairs with it. Performance seems more like a DX2-66 than a DX2-40.

1994 NEC Versa M/75HCP

Chassis: Versa M/75 PC-570/580 Platform chassis (Versa M/75TC & M/100TC)
Power: 7.2v 4000 mAH NiMH Smartpower Aftermarket battery, still holds charge (though cranky), 40EC replacement PSU
CPU: Intel 486 DX4-75MHz
RAM: 40MB, 8MB on board, 32MB Memory Expansion Card
FDD: 1.44MB 3.5" VersaBay Floppy Drive
HDD: 80GB ATA-133 HDD
EXP BUS: PCMCIA, Cirrus Chipset, Type II x2
VIDEO: C&T 65545 1MB SVGA
SOUND: Crystal Semiconductor CS4231KQ WSS Compatible Audio w/o OPL
LCD: NEC NL8060AC24-01 800x600 TFT LCD Active Matrix, w/ 3M MicroTouch Circuitry (was originally 640x480), touch glass pending
NETWORK: Same cards as 40EC
O/S: MS-DOS 7.01/Windows 95 OSR 2.5/Windows For Workgroups 3.11

This one is my main of the laptops for most things, it has a bright, crisp screen (though letterboxed), responsive, smooth trackball, it's basically a frankenstein NEC of a model that never existed (as far as I'm aware NEC never made an 800x600 Pen/Touch portable 486) - so the model designation is my own - HCP - for HIgh Resolution Color Pen/Touch Display. It's fast, it's mean, it has the Words + System 2000 AAC Unit under it which I use for vocals on BandLab sometimes (albeit mostly funny/goofey stuff for fun). I had to get a new casing for it from a dead M/75TC because the original case cracked apart so bad. I run this one very hard and it's the one I'm using the majority of the time. It also has Executor on it so I can run some Macintosh applications as well (hehehehe, mini 68040 portable, 🤣). All I need to do to finish it is get a LCD glass module for it, I think it was something like 238mmx178mm (10.4" glass w/ 9.5" active area - 3M MicroTouch - 63-4631-00-01 Cleartek I Digitizer, 5-wire - I found some documents on 3M MicroTouch to help me figure out more of what I've got. I've been seeing some expensive examples on e-bay but I'm going to jump for it if I find the right one, then likely rewire one of the RJ-45 pens for 1/8 Phono once I do my usual BS/SG/JB reinforcement jobs on the screen hinge and attachment areas. Would be fun to use Graf-X II as a drawing tablet on this thing, or play Hoyle Classic Card Games with my finger.

1995 NEC Versa V/50

Chassis: NEC VErsa V-series PC-700/710/720 Series Chassis
Power: 7.2v 3800 mAH NiMH Battery, PC-440 replacement power supply
CPU: Intel 486 DX2 SL 50MHz
RAM: 20MB, 4MB on board, 16MB on expansion card
FDD: 1.44MB 3.5" Versa Bay Floppy
HDD: 60GB ATA-133
EXP BUS: PCMCIA Type II x2, Cirrus Chipset
VIDEO: WD 90C024 1MB SVGA
SOUND: Internal Speaker
LCD: NEC NL6448AC30-10 640x480 TFT Active Matrix LCD 9.4"
NETWORK: sane as the others
O/S: FreeDOS 1.2

This was the last Versa I bought, I think early last year. It's a darn near mint example in a lot of ways with very few repairs. Even the screen is still original on it. It was bought barebones. I did have to do one electronic repair when a HDD bit the dust and blew a fuse in the power section - right now it's jumpered with a thin wire, but will likely be replaced eventually with a proper fuse (I have a photo of it). It's one of my earliest SMD Soldering Jobs. This one is the FreeDOS machine now (for the most part). So I use it as FreeDOS beast mostly. This one is probably my second favorite because it's such a bloody trooper and very no-frills, so it just keeps on working no matter what you throw at it. Runs about the same as the 40EC, just a hair faster. Probably my favorite one for older MS-DOS games besides the BSI.

All of these save for the BSI have their HDD arranged the same way....

OS = Drive C:\
APPS (except Internet and DOS Shells + Executor) = Drive D:\
GAMES = Drive E:\
RESOURCES = Drive F:\ - this is where all the ISO Files go

Currently as my VersaDock is still broken (bad PSU, need to replace 2 caps in it), I'm using my Desktop 486 to rip CD-ROM's to the laptops, or I'm downloading ISO files directly using Cell Phone Tether (not that slow, downloaded all 620MB of an ISO once in a couple hours when I had nothing better going on). I then use the SHSUCDX utilities to mount them as virutal CD-ROM drives and then use them when needed with certain games. This is a big reason why I have ginormous hard disks in most of my vintage computers, is because I want the resources to be there and I don't have to go digging around for some flaky 10-20-30 year old CD that may or may not have issues. Sometimes I just put the hard disk into my 486 desktop and do all the file moving there as that has a fast DVD-RW drive (to use with OMI, never lets me down), and plays well with FTP (mTCP x FileZilla on my Mac or Linux boxes).

Most of my installs are about 3-4 years old, in the case of the BSI, it's the original install the owner did back in 1992-1994ish likely. I'm trying to kind of hone down the size of my installs in some cases so that I'm not constantly moving files around (irritates my wife). At this point I'm starting to treat them more like a rich guy would his car collection - parking them out to look niice, as sort of ambassadors of computer history with a little more power than usual.

I just bought an Omnibook 800CT.

Model OmniBook 800CT
Released 1996
Dimensions 28cm x 18.5cm x 4cm
Builtin Display 10.4″ Active TFT
CPU Intel Pentium MMX @166 MHz
RAM 32 MiB (upgraded from stock 16 MiB)
Video Magicgraph 128xd
Storage 32Gb harddrive with Ontrack Disk Manager

It used to be my grandfather's and was used in his workshop and office (TV and HiFi sales and repair) - mainly to contain diagrams and manuals for the products - when my grandparents closed the shop, my grandfather asked if I wanted it. It was originally running Windows XP Home - however the sticker on it stated "Designed for Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me. It of cause came with all the manuals and software (even an extra StarOffice 5.2 - probably from my mother's as she had one like it).

I have changed the harddrive to a IDE-to-mSATA with a 64 GB Transend SSD (kept the original harddrive) - somehow I couldn't get Windows 2000 working on it, as it kept freezing up when loading Win2K, so I went with Windows Me instead. I have also had Windows 98 SE running it, but wanted to keep it "as designed". The computer is a rebadged Mitac MiNote 7521C (Taiwanese brand). Amitech was a Danish brand of electronics, mainly known for computers and TVs.

I had to re-install it yesterday as it came with some ActiveX error and I cound't even access Explorer after logging in (I could see My Computer but trying to open any drives or Control Panel returned in an error). Unfortunately I couldn't move my original Amitech wallpapers as shown on the image as I couldn't access anything - I hope I have them on some USB-stick. After reinstalling it, I reinstalled Johnny Castaway (I also want to re-install a Maxwell screenshaver as it technically is more fitting for a Radio/TV shop computer). And I played 45 minutes of Sexy Droids in DOS (Promt - too lazyto actually log out and reboot into DOS).

Amitech FreeNote 4407
Vintage: 2002
Motherboard/chipset: SiS 630S chipset
CPU: Intel Celeron @ 1,3 GHz (Tualatin QS)
RAM: Samsung / eZ Memory 256 MB
GPU: onboard SiS 630 GPU – 16 MB
Harddrive: Transend 64 GB mSATA SSD in IDE-to-mSATA
Optical: DVD-ROM
FDD: Yes
Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 6000 Model 1054 (one I won at Dell at a conference - sometime around 2003-2007)