Got my 387SX in the mail today, well...I guess it's official now, Links for DOS runs on the minimum system requirements of a 386SX with a 387SX. So my guess was right the engine that handles security on Links does use the 387 for TLS/SSL/etc. Oldest TLS 1.3 compatible PC I've ever heard of.

I was just reading the CD case of "Links: The challenge of golf" for DOS and wondering what the heck you were talking about because it says right there it runs on a 286..... then I realised you were talking about the text mode web browser 🤣

davidrg wrote on 2022-03-07, 19:47:

IIRC Microsoft did recommend having a local disk to store the swap file if possible. I guess with a local swap file performance would probably improve a fair bit - the NIC is only 10Mbps or around 1MB/s so its kind of amazing windows runs as fast as it does. Wikipedia says IDE was originally only 8.3MB/s half-duplex so I guess with a 10/100 card you could probably beat that (assuming the server has fast disks).

OS responsiveness is all about latency not just throughput. And there is a whole lot of latency added by the network. A spinning disk swap file as cache would be much faster for any kind of moderate swap use.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-03-08, 02:59:

I was just reading the CD case of "Links: The challenge of golf" for DOS and wondering what the heck you were talking about because it says right there it runs on a 286..... then I realised you were talking about the text mode web browser 🤣

Well....text and graphical....people get really confused because there's a Lynx text mode browser, and then there's a Links (links.twibright.com) browser, the latter is what I use. I tend to rely on Links on my old machines to download stuff to them that way I don't have to always be pushing stuff from a modern machine via filezilla. Unfortunatley I don't think it works on anything older than a 386SX though, tried it on the Tandy and on the GEM and did not get anywhere IIRC. Might try again on the GEM though.

I wasn't realising Links v2 was much enhanced from the Links I used years ago http://www.jikos.cz/~mikulas/links/screenshots/jpg.html which is very similar to Lynx.

Tried installing Win10 on three cleaned vintage systems: two Wolfdale Pentiums and an i5-4460. The i5 and one E5500 went smoothly, but the E5700 refused to boot from Win10 USB flash drive. Strangely, the MemTest86 flash drive worked perfectly on that E5700, meaning either the port or the controller were fine. Still can't figure out the cause; maybe I'll try using a DVD instead.

UPDATE: Silly me, BIOS took that flash drive not as "removable device" but as a secondary HDD. Who wrote that BIOS options......

IIRC USB in legacy mode may take USB stick as HDD.

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-03-08, 16:21:

IIRC USB in legacy mode may take USB stick as HDD.

But MemTest86 would run from flash, probably because MemTest86 would pretend the flash drive as a floppy (even have the exact 1,457,664 bytes of total capacity).

The BIOS only allows three categories of boot devices: HDD, optical, and removable (e.g. an USB floppy drive), with the flash drive and the actual HDD/SSD under the same "HDD" category. What a strange design. 🙄

Yah, there was some weirdness out there, I had PIII and Athlon systems boot off USB perfectly, then there seemed like there was some stupidity in early core and A64 era where support went retrograde and was a pig to work with... then it all smoothed out again.

Had to reinstall the Compaq VDU CGA card since my Portable 286 is having issues with any EGA card I install, even though the BIOS supports it.

I might get the up-t0-date BIOS and see if that fixes it, but for now, the CGA card will do. In other news, I trimmed the CRMC-LU005S drive so I can eject the drive and insert a CD for the Portable 286 and it works (except one CD doesn't work) and I'll test it again later on once I get a new 6V lithium.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-07, 02:14:

That computer looks amazing! Job well done rescuing and restoring such a relic. Can you explain more about the hardware and what kind of software was used on it?
The demo in your photos is also very impressive and looks wonderful on the green phosphor. Are there any videos of it? Does it animate or just draw things?

Thank you, the system has a single board solution 1x z80A (4Mhz) using 64K Ram,(green area below) the graphic power uses another 1x z80A CPU with 32K (red area)ram and HD46505 graphic processor( Yellow area) and runs a 4K ROM on it.
the board looks like this., and I admit I have not found much on it aside from a single CPM 2/.2 floppy the software "demo" was a SBASIC demo.bas file to show off the high res graphics it could do. The Mainboard looks like this. and as you can see it has 2 sets of connectors for floppy drives 5.25" or 8" drives directly from the mainboard. the one I got has the 2x5.25" 80 tracks DSDD (also known as QDDS Drives) 720K

Improved memory speed of my SIS 5598 M5SIB via my first experience with WPCredit and using a data sheet for that chipset. Was able to improve float FPU from around 100 stock to 136mb/s. Which is of course pretty slow compared to a highly tuned MVP3. Largely followed the recommendations on k6plus.com for the SIS530 as there isn’t as much love for 5598 out there. It may not be the fastest K6 experience but I’m really digging it.

Nice, if you figure out how to save out the PCR file or whatever, I'd be interested. I have an M571 that's gonna get one of those K6-2+ modded to 3+ annnnd it could use the help. (Not my fastest super 7 btw)

BitWrangler wrote on 2022-03-10, 05:02:

Nice, if you figure out how to save out the PCR file or whatever, I'd be interested. I have an M571 that's gonna get one of those K6-2+ modded to 3+ annnnd it could use the help. (Not my fastest super 7 btw)

I got a VA 503+ sitting in the box waiting for a modded K6-2+, still haven't got a nice case for it yet.

Im thinking of something like this

Only issue I have is .. well finding a place for something this dang big 😁

That case is glorious. I love it.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 09:03:

That case is glorious. I love it.

Its gloriously huge and Im still debating if its worth having it as part of my permanent collection, I really dont have any room for a Super Tower but ...I wants it, ITS MY PRECIOUS !

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it.

The fact that the one you've picked out has two 2.5" bays is very attractive. You can put dual floppies or a floppy and a card reader.

Kahenraz wrote on 2022-03-10, 10:06:

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it. […]
Show full quote

I'm in the same boat. I would really like one of these old Gateway 2000 towers, but I would have nowhere to put it.

The fact that the one you've picked out has two 2.5" bays is very attractive. You can put dual floppies or a floppy and a card reader.

vintage-gateway-2000-p5-133-gaming_1_b22c3ecb1f017c643f30daa603765ce3.jpg

vintage-gateway-2000-gaming-computer_1_bbd48d7605d8bd46196f0bd17a36756c.jpg

mhm 6 5.25 bays is super nice too, I would have to invest in some long cables to use it and it would look hilarious with a baby AT in it but ...all that space is alluring, but to install more than two HDDs in it I would need to do a bit of sheet metal working and make some HDD cages for it.

Due to its age it doesnt come with any extras but it does have a ton of space behind the 5.25 bays to install a fan and HDD cage.

With all of those bays you could instead add hot-swappable 2.5" or 3.5" and maybe even a CompactFlash bay, instead of adding more internal drives.

If you plan to use SSDs then Velcro would work just fine. And CF cards in adapters can be seated directly into the slot without needing any cables.

For a modern retro machine, I don't see any reason to use a spinning disk, unless you're after the aucusics.

My only recommendation would be to put wheels on it. Once you've got it fully loaded you may not be able to lift it. I know this from experience. 😀

For the first time in an about a year since i moved into new apartment, i had day to organize some stuff a little.
I have one full room for all electronics related (Every Dexter must have their Laboratory at home, don't they?) and i have a full cellar box just for electronics as well. So i had now the first iteration to organize lesser needed stuff into cellar and more frequently needed stuff into my lab.

I have too much stuff... I only want my 3 retro machines that i already have, a "testbench" with pentium 2 or 3 and all kinds of ISA sound cards. Everything else i have just needs some more time to put together and sell to someone who is missing exactly what i have. I wonder, when i'm going to have that time?