bjwil1991 wrote on 2022-02-08, 08:01:

Another 400CDT. […]
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Another 400CDT.

This one needs a good inspection and repair and I have parts from the broken 400CDT (some parts fell apart on me when I was trying to fix the power button issues).

Seller's photo:

s-l1600.jpg

Has the user guide book and the original power cord. Hope the HDD has the original set so I can archive that and distribute the drivers on here in the future.

Recently found a Satellite Pro 430CDS in a charity shop. Unfortunately, the passive matrix screen makes it really poor for gaming unless you're using an external screen.
Even using the mouse under W95 requires you to enable the pointer trails to be able to follow the mouse (or maybe my mid-30's eyes are getting old...)
It's really well built. With swappable Floppy drive / CD Drive. I'm using a pair of IBM Microdrive (via PCMCIA) to transfer files.
I had no issues with the drivers. The only that was missing was the Chips and Technologies graphics, and i could find it easily on VogonsDrivers.

Using a PCMCIA Ethernet card, i tried to browse the Vogons forum with Netscape... but... well... the W3C standards has evolved a lot in 25y. And i wasn't sure that the 10Mbps ethernet card was taking full advantage of the 1Gbps FTTH

I also tested a cross OS Diablo multiplayer game over serial.

1Satellite Pro 430CDS --> Physical Serial port --> Null modem cable --> Serial to USB --> My main computer (Linux) --> Windows Virtual Machine

Totally playable !
What was a bit confusing it that the HDD was full of potentially sensitive things. The computer seemed to have been used by a psychologist (found her name in documents left on the desktop and Windows registration screen). And there were documents left...

I also have a Toshiba T2110. With a 486DX4. But the monochrome screen does not work well, and the plastic aged very badly and breaks like glass. It came with W3.1 but i installed Debian Linux on it (with floppies. #pain) and it runs Doom quite well.

Edit: oh and i also found that the CD drive was unable to read CDRW (which i use a lot to burn one-shot CDs for games / retro things). It only reads normal CDs and CDRs...

mrfusion92 wrote on 2022-02-08, 07:42:

Finally I can post here too. […]
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Finally I can post here too.

My first retro purchase: a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4340. I received it yesterday.

• Pentium III 650 Mhz
• 320 MB SDRAM (max allowed on this system)
• S3 Savage/IX
• Yamaha DS-XG

It's in very good condition, it was sold as not working\tested since the original power adapter was missing.
It powers up with a universal adapter and everything works, battery has life too! And also 30 gb hard drive seems pretty all ok (some bad sectors).

that's good, shame the hdd may be on its way out though. those universal adapters are laptop saviours!

I have a 2150CDT that runs on a DX4-75 and it runs . The only item it needs is the floppy drive and the only one I have is the one that connects to my 420CDT externally, which it works surprisingly on the 2150CDT.

My 420CDT is going to get the SD2IDE treatment in place of the CF2IDE (screw holes don't line up with the CF2IDE adapter on the drive rail). Finding drivers for the laptop can be challenging, however, I keep the drivers on my main laptop and either burn a CD with them, copy them to the hard drive, or make diskettes of them.

Wish I had the recovery media for my 2150CDT and my 420CDT so I won't have to manually install said drivers or software. However, they all use the same drivers pretty much, except the video chip might be different between the 2150CDT and the 400 series.

acl wrote on 2022-02-08, 09:43:

What was a bit confusing it that the HDD was full of potentially sensitive things. The computer seemed to have been used by a psychologist (found her name in documents left on the desktop and Windows registration screen). And there were documents left...

this happens too often, and its strange also, to enter into a different era and see all these old abandoned documents. When its personal data though i do always wipe the drive

Edit: oh and i also found that the CD drive was unable to read CDRW (which i use a lot to burn one-shot CDs for games / retro things). It only reads normal CDs and CDRs...

frustrating! happens a lot too with cd readers

gerry wrote on 2022-02-08, 10:04:

Edit: oh and i also found that the CD drive was unable to read CDRW (which i use a lot to burn one-shot CDs for games / retro things). It only reads normal CDs and CDRs...

frustrating! happens a lot too with cd readers

A couple of years ago something like 60% oc my CD drives AND DVD combo drives just shat themselves and refused to read ANY kind of CDs. The DVD combos however stile read DVDs.

debs3759 wrote on 2022-02-07, 19:25:

devius wrote on 2022-02-07, 19:17:

fool wrote on 2022-02-07, 17:13:

Some processors, again. This time random Pentium II.

You can never have too many Slot 1 CPUs.

You can never have too many CPUs.

Come to think of it, you can never have too many computers or parts 😀

Well if you have something, then someone else doesn't.

mrfusion92 wrote on 2022-02-08, 07:42:

My first retro purchase: a Toshiba Satellite Pro 4340. I received it yesterday.

bjwil1991 wrote on 2022-02-08, 08:01:

Another 400CDT.

acl wrote on 2022-02-08, 09:43:

Recently found a Satellite Pro 430CDS in a charity shop.

Is it Toshiba Satellite hunting season already?

Some 386 goodies.

A combined 386/486 motherboard (Acer Vi9).

Likely the first 386 motherbards I've seen or owned with an integrated soldered-in coprocessor:

And a nice looking ISA VGA card:

mpe wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:23:

A combined 386/486 motherboard (Acer Vi9).

Nice! Get rid of that battery ASAP!

mpe wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:23:

Some 386 goodies.

Oh, very nice. You have a better shot of the full board?

I remember seeing Paradise VGA cards being on display in the window of a local computer shop in the late 80's, early 90's, and that image of the bird on the box that they used to use has always stayed with me for some reason. Nice find!

Edit: The motherboard seems to have an AOpen logo on it? Or where Acer and AOpen the same company? Can't remember...

mpe wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:23:

Some 386 goodies. […]
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Some 386 goodies.

A combined 386/486 motherboard (Acer Vi9).

Likely the first 386 motherbards I've seen or owned with an integrated soldered-in coprocessor:

And a nice looking ISA VGA card:

Those far apart VLB slots are pretty cool as well!😃

I kind of like those Vartas. I consider it a part of retro look. 😀

Luckily clean under no damage under or around.

Here with the battery removed.

It is probably Acee. Even there is no logo or brand name anywhere on the board, box or manual. "Open for Business" is a marketing slogan, not a link to AOpen brand, but who knows.

pan069 wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:32:

Edit: The motherboard seems to have an AOpen logo on it? Or where Acer and AOpen the same company? Can't remember...

AOpen was short for AcerOpen, so same company

mpe wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:45:

I kind of like those Vartas. I consider it a part of retro look. :) […]
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I kind of like those Vartas. I consider it a part of retro look. 😀

Luckily clean under no damage under or around.

Here with the battery removed.

It is probably Acee. Even there is no logo or brand name anywhere on the board, box or manual. "Open for Business" is a marketing slogan, not a link to AOpen brand, but who knows.

That Key Board connector is thanking you for saving its life .. that battery was about to execute it along with the board.

Also . .what is the big Socket for next to the Simm slots ? does it have 3 CPU sockets ..well 2 really cause one is soldered. -- scratch this just realised that little CPU is a FPU.

pan069 wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:32:

Edit: The motherboard seems to have an AOpen logo on it? Or where Acer and AOpen the same company? Can't remember...

Apparently AOPEN used to be the Open System Business Unit of Acer Computer Inc., so just a division inside Acer.

pan069 wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:32:

Oh, very nice. You have a better shot of the full board? […]
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mpe wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:23:

Some 386 goodies.

Oh, very nice. You have a better shot of the full board?

I remember seeing Paradise VGA cards being on display in the window of a local computer shop in the late 80's, early 90's, and that image of the bird on the box that they used to use has always stayed with me for some reason. Nice find!

Edit: The motherboard seems to have an AOpen logo on it? Or where Acer and AOpen the same company? Can't remember...

Whats really going to blow your mind is that its a Bird of Paradise ....on a Paradise Video Card.

TrashPanda wrote on 2022-02-08, 21:07:

That Key Board connector is thanking you for saving its life .. that battery was about to execute it along with the board.

Yes. It probably juststarted eating into the surrounding copper. Luckily continuity is still, there so no major repair is needed (apart from vinegar bath). The keyboard power supply line might be worth of strengtening.

Kinda cool to see the blue copper sulphate crystals there

devius wrote on 2022-02-08, 21:08:

pan069 wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:32:

Edit: The motherboard seems to have an AOpen logo on it? Or where Acer and AOpen the same company? Can't remember...

Apparently AOPEN used to be the Open System Business Unit of Acer Computer Inc., so just a division inside Acer.

Yep. Alongside their labs, Acer Labs, inc, also known as chipset vendor ALi 😉

Combo-breaker was Acer's manufacturing arm, called Wistron. Of course, they produced the AOpen boards.

Acer is huge, they went on an acquisition splurge and bought everyone from Commodore (the PC brand) to Gateway and Packard Bell (whose systems were already being made in the Wistron factories at that point).

mpe wrote on 2022-02-08, 20:23:

(...) And a nice looking ISA VGA card: […]
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(...)
And a nice looking ISA VGA card:

Oh, nice, those are pretty much the fastest ISA SVGA cards. Certainly faster than ET4000AX for example, especially when equipped with sam fast DRAMs.

I got:

• MediaVision IX650 (aka Thunderboard)
  
  • Commodore Colt in very nice condition (just very dirty)
    
    • Micron MT486SX, has ECS UM486V-AIO motherboard, cards were remove - kind of unusually looking charcoal-gray color case for this era. I'm not sure what to think about it. Perhaps I won't hold on to it, but on the other hand it would be perfectly suited for some NeXTSTEP machine 😁 It's the same colour as the NeXT Cube after all.