As far as I know, these came originally with Pentium non-MMX CPU's and model FX5150 has a coded CPU frequency, that shows it was originally equipped with a 150Mhz CPU. Which I did not have, but weirdly enough, someone just came and gave me an Intel Pentium 150Mhz CPU as a present! What are the odds! So I took it as a good omen to continue with a build.

It takes up to 6 sticks of 72pin SIMM RAM, of which I have filled four. 64 Megs of RAM should be alright. Similarly to The Compaq it came with an integraded S3 Video card featuring 1 Meg of Video RAM, but unlike Compaq, there is a possibility to expand it up to two megs. I do not remember if I've got the board with 1 or 2 megs, but now it has two and this makes it a fine card for MS_DOS. Just add a Voodoo1 and it'll be golden! However, I do not currently have a Voodoo1, so S3 will have to do. Again, unlike Compaq, this one comes with a bit better Chipset from SiS. This is nice.

I have found a few humble cards to go with it. A D-Link LAN adapter, featuring Chipset from Digital (this looks to be a rebranded Intel card). And a simple ALS100 ISA Sound Blaster compatible. I'm sure this wasn't an original card for it, most likely it might have been equipped with some ESS card (at least judging from a manual). Yet, this one should be good enough:

As for storage, let's keep it authentic for the sake of that glorious sound of worn out WD bearings. Fun for all family!

And this is one of the neat features of the case, the whole hard drive bay can be pulled to the side and removed easily if need be.

Motherboard is actually split into two parts. There is a lower part which is attached to the lower part of the case and held securely by screws. Most of the stuff, all the drives, LED's, PSU and IO cards then can be plugged into this part.

Then the upper part of the motherboard slides into the case by using a system of rails. Quite interesting and unique, it was also possible to easily upgrade a motherboard to a slightly newer one, which also featured SD-RAM slots and USB controller and a Chipset more optimized for an MMX CPU. But upgrades ended there as shortly after there was no Digital no more...

And just like that, with an insertion of a motherboard, the system is live again!

I have actually tried to install Pentium 90, 120 and 166MMX cpu's in it, all worked fine, but the interesting thing, is that with each CPU BIOS would report a different PC model, so accordingly an FX5090s, FX5120s, FX5166s, etc. Interesting little quirk.

And, as some of you already may have spotted, there is another negative about it. The motherboard does not have any on-board cache! The motherboard actually has three chips of 128k yet a total of 384KB of Cache is reported as a "Shadow RAM". It also uses a "Cache RAM Slot", which I do not have.

Yet Windows 95 works fine and seem quite an appropriate OS for it.

If not for an "authentic", "Period Correct" Spinning Hard Drive, it would be a very silent machine, but darn, that HDD really is making NOISE.

Lastly, there seem to be a price sticker remaining, which I've chose not to clean away. It looks like it was once priced at 15 864LT (like 6 000 USD at the time), which, adjusted for inflation, should be like million dollars today 😄

Thats NOT a Tank, This is.

See my posts:
Digital Starion 800i restore.

Wow! I'll hand it to you mate, that's one proper tank-machine 😄 Looks great!

I have a very similar desktop machine called the Digital Venturis FX-2 which I've fitted with an MMX 233, 64MB RAM, Voodoo Banshee, 10/100 Ethernet Card and a noise-free Vibra 16. My system's based on the 430TX though instead of the SiS 5150.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2022-10-22, 00:31:

Thats NOT a Tank, This is.

Thats not a tank! These are tanks:

totoro wrote on 2022-10-21, 20:28:

I wish I could tell something about Digital brand, but the only stuff I know is that it once was one of the larger OEM's, which managed to even produce it's own processors at one time, but later was swallowed by Compaq. And my machine is one of the later models, thus feels somewhat similar to Compaq, while managing to have a slight edge over those. There for, if some of you could share some interesting trivia, it would be great!

Digital Equipment Corporation was, at one point, the second largest computer company in the world behind IBM. And Digital didn't simply manage to produce their own processors - its practically how the company started. Back in the 60s you couldn't just buy a CPU off the shelf - you designed and built it yourself from discrete logic and then you wrote your own operating system to run on it. And Digital did this a lot. A lot of processors, a lot of operating systems.

At one point Digital made practically everything. Hard disks, tape drives (DLT), text terminals (eg VT100 - so common in the 80s that even today you typically emulate a VT220 with extensions when connecting to a linux box), network equipment (switches, routers, etc - they were in part responsible for developing and popularizing Ethernet), printers, software (operating systems, compilers, database engines, office software, etc), and semiconductors (CPUs, ethernet chips like the 21140, graphics chips, and misc support components like PCI bridges) along with the actual computers all this stuff went into.

Their minicomputers were some of, if not the, most popular in the 70s and were where all early Unix development happened as well as a lot of the early internet. In the 80s the VAX was extremely popular and where Unix became 32bit. And in the 90s they competed in the RISC Unix space with their 64bit Alpha processor which could also run Windows NT (including x86 windows apps via binary translation with pretty good performance), and a port of the VMS operating system that originally launched with the VAX.

From the mid 90s the company started loosing money and so started selling off divisions. Their semiconductor fab and most of the chips they made in it went to Intel, hard disk and tape products went to Quantum, network products went to Cabletron, database software to Oracle, printers to Genicom, text terminals to boundless, and what was left (PCs, servers, workstations, the Alpha CPU, storage products, operating systems and compiler technology, global multivendor service and support centers, research labs, etc) ended up at Compaq. At the time DEC was a much larger and much less profitable company than Compaq and they struggled to absorb it all which probably contributed to Compaq being acquired by HP a few years later.

Like IBM, PCs were only ever really a small part of their business and one they never truly took seriously until it was too late. Like IBM, they tried to focus on their proprietary high-end high-profit enterprise gear. As a result Digital PCs are relatively uncommon - aside from the Starion they never made home PCs, only business PCs and I suspect most of the businesses who bought them were existing DEC customers. The PC you've got predates the Compaq acquisition but Compaq kept making them until the end of the 90s - the last models dropped the Venturis or Celebris name and were just "Digital PC <some number>" and IIRC were available up to a Pentium II before being discontinued.

If you need drivers and manuals for Digital PC products, I've got a mirror of the old support site.

Here is my Celebris GL 5133ST with onboard video (Matrox), SCSI (Adaptec), Ethernet (Digital), and Audio (Crystal) which is pretty weighty, though nothing compared to those two AlphaServer 4100s:

I find their non-PC gear more interesting though. Here is my MicroVAX 3500 with the front cover off - its got a bit more gravity but it also has wheels. This machine was new in 1988, it has 32MB of RAM and a 22MHz CVAX CPU. It supports up to 48 text terminals via its three CXA-16 serial multiplexor cards (with the Centronics connectors), it has an ethernet card (with a 10baseT MAU plugged into the AUI port), a 3rd party two port SCSI controller, a DLT II tape drive, and the old SDI disk controller is still present too (I don't have any SDI disks to plug into it though)

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-23, 10:39:

Thats not a tank! These are tanks:
as4100.jpg

This discussion is making me consider getting a DEC Alpha system.

Wow this thread is somehow turning into a who has a bigger DEC[K] thing 😄

Thank you very much for a very interesting read on the Digital Equipment stuff davidrg. Great eye opener indeed. My appreciation for this PC has grown quite a bit! Those VT2XX terminals seem to be especially nice, would not mind to have something like that to manage a Linux server or two, at least for fun, if not for practical reasons. Those sure appear nice in that amber tint 😄

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-23, 10:39:

If you need drivers and manuals for Digital PC products, I've got a mirror of the old support site.

Dude! You rock! That's an awesome resource! Looks like my hunch was right, it originally had an ESS Audio card with 3D Spatializer, so most likely ES1878 or simmilar. Anyway, thanks again! Very much appreciated.

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-23, 10:39:

I find their non-PC gear more interesting though. Here is my MicroVAX 3500 with the front cover off - its got a bit more gravity but it also has wheels. This machine was new in 1988, it has 32MB of RAM and a 22MHz CVAX CPU. It supports up to 48 text terminals via its three CXA-16 serial multiplexor cards (with the Centronics connectors), it has an ethernet card (with a 10baseT MAU plugged into the AUI port), a 3rd party two port SCSI controller, a DLT II tape drive, and the old SDI disk controller is still present too (I don't have any SDI disks to plug into it though)
front-no-cover-1.jpg

A little bit too advanced stuff for me, but looks dope!

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-23, 10:39:

Here is my Celebris GL 5133ST with onboard video (Matrox), SCSI (Adaptec), Ethernet (Digital), and Audio (Crystal) which is pretty weighty, though nothing compared to those two AlphaServer 4100s:

Lovely tower, kind of wish that mine would also have a front grill like that and that Celebris badge looks great as well!

Yeah, that was a COLOSSAL Acquisition and Merger back in 1990’s ( Digital, Compaq, and HP ).

BIG, BIG, BIG

totoro wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:02:

Wow this thread is somehow turning into a who has a bigger DEC[K] thing 😄

Thank you very much for a very interesting read on the Digital Equipment stuff davidrg. Great eye opener indeed. My appreciation for this PC has grown quite a bit! Those VT2XX terminals seem to be especially nice, would not mind to have something like that to manage a Linux server or two, at least for fun, if not for practical reasons. Those sure appear nice in that amber tint 😄

I'm always a bit nervous about my VT220 - the thing is so old and I use it so infrequently (its been a few years now) that I'm always worried it will go bang when I turn it on next. I agree the amber phosphors are best though - white just isn't quite right. But here is my VT520 hooked up to a linux machine running htop via the terminal emulator on the left. C-Kermit is SSH'd into my linux box and then passing through everything it receives to the terminal, and passing everything it receives from either the PC keyboard or the terminal back to the linux box. The real and emulated terminals are perfectly synchronized:

totoro wrote on 2022-10-23, 17:27:

Lovely tower, kind of wish that mine would also have a front grill like that and that Celebris badge looks great as well!

Sadly my only DEC tower PC besides this Prioris LX 575 server (which I think was also sold as a DECpc XL 575):

The desktop machines all share similar styling to the towers, though I don't have any pictures of my other digital PCs handy besides that Celebris and Prioris so here are some pictures from elsewhere if you're curious:

• Celebris FX - the desktop version of your PCs case. The Venturis FX and FX2 look the same, as do the "Digital PC" series. Venturis was the low-end/entry-level offering while Celebris was the higher end offering. The Digital Personal Workstation was their top of the line option at this time, available with either an x86 or Alpha processor it used a different style case.
• Venturis 5100 - the entry-level desktop version of that Celebris. The lock on the front locks the case on - with it unlocked you can remove the cover by twisting a pair of handles on the sides. The drive cage and, IIRC, the PSU are on hinges and folds out to the right for easy access. Also available in a full height desktop which I've never seen in real life before.
• DECpc LPv+ 433dx - the DECpc LP series were low profile PCs available as a 386 or 486. There was also a full-height variant, the DECpc LPx which I would love to get my hands on, and the DECpc AXP 150 which had an Alpha processor and was designed to run Windows NT 3.1. These were the first IBM PC compatible machines designed and built themselves besides I think the VAXmate from the 80s
• DECstation 320sx - these were manufactured by Tandy. There might have been a 486 version too. Pretty solidly built machines - lots of metal.

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-23, 22:07:

I'm always a bit nervous about my VT220 - the thing is so old and I use it so infrequently (its been a few years now) that I'm always worried it will go bang when I turn it on next. I agree the amber phosphors are best though - white just isn't quite right. But here is my VT520 hooked up to a linux machine running htop via the terminal emulator on the left. C-Kermit is SSH'd into my linux box and then passing through everything it receives to the terminal, and passing everything it receives from either the PC keyboard or the terminal back to the linux box. The real and emulated terminals are perfectly synchronized:
VT520.jpg

Super cool setup! Even in green it looks great. And yes, if I have to deal with old CRT stuff, I'm always nervous, it's always a gamble if it'll turn on. And if I have to open those, I'm afraid to even breathe...

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-23, 22:07:

Sadly my only DEC tower PC besides this Prioris LX 575 server (which I think was also sold as a DECpc XL 575):

Somehow it looks way ahead of it's time. It's like a very normal ATX Tower from 2000s. For some reason I really have no love for Desktop/Pizza box PC's, but Towers, oh yes! I'll take a tower any day 😄 Even today, I have an opportunity to buy a DEC Desktop PC for very cheap. It's Digital Venturis 590 and in pretty good cosmetic condition. It does not always turn on tough. If it was a tower, I would have jumped and bought it already, but since it's a desktop, I'm so reluctant...

Oh, by the way, on my motherboard, just below a CPU, there is this socket, do you happen to know what it is and what it's for by any chance?

After learning a lot about DEC PC's, I'm very happy that I've posted here about mine. Originally I did not think much of it and was planning to maybe sell it, if not just to free up some space. But now, I'm kind of inclined to keep it! Well, at the very least, I would love to build it properly. There for I've gone through my cache of parts and found some more appropriate things for it.

Firstly, few more sticks of RAM, so now all 6 slots are full. It'll now have a 98Megs of RAM. And a very nice passive heat-sink for the CPU, I'll no longer have to run an 8cm case fan as with the previous heat sink.

Then an appropriate sound card. This is an ESS ES1898F which seems to be pretty much the same as 1869F (it is even detected as such in Windows 95/98/XP). But this features a 3D Spatializer, which is one of the highlighted features for this Venturis FX5150s PC. Well at least this feature tend to be highlighted in the manuals and other press. And it does enrich OPL sound making it sound just a little bit richer and maybe even a tad bit midi like. It also features a Wavetable heder (which was also advertised) and a bugless MPU401/Game port. I think that'll make this build feature complete.

Another thing is storage, the BIOS/E-IDE controller on this thing is a bit picky and troublesome. It is also capped at ~8GB of maximum hard drive space. So my options are limited, I could use that semi period correct 4Gig WD drive, but I can barely stand the noise. So I'll probably install something on it and then keep it disconnected. That leaves me with other option, yes, a CF card!

With that it is now dead quiet! I can hear the fly flying by. I could even modify the bracket and fix it in one of two special holes at the top of the case, that would free up an IO slot, that's even better. I'll need to invest into bigger CF cards tough. Or, maybe, I could even use two adapters. But I don't know, for such a tanky machine as DEC, the CF almost "does not feel right". I also have an Adaptec PCI SCSI controller and a free PCI slot, so maybe I should search for some SCSI drive? Or... I also do have a Silicon Image UDMA133 PCI IDE controller card, which should allow me to use a bigger SSD drive and bump storage performance quite a bit (as an integrated controller is only capable of PIO4).

I could also upgrade CPU to Pentium 166MMX, but I probably shouldn't, unless I'll decide to go SSD route as at that point any authenticity is out of the window anyway 😄

My Prioris LX doesn't turn on reliably either and when it does turn on, it doesn't reliably stay on for more than a few minutes. My current assumption (hope) is bad capacitors in the power supply - I'll recap it when I've got the time along with a pair of AlphaStation 200s and a few SPARCstations.

If it can be repaired, a Venturis 590 should be a pretty nice little machine - they're quite compact. IIRC three expansion bays, two hard disk bays, 8MB of onboard RAM and S3 Trio64 graphics. I've got a few of the 75MHz version in storage, one of which was the first computer I ever bought (second-hand) back in 1999.

As for that socket, looking at the service maintenance manual I think that would be where a voltage regulator module plugs in if you're using a 166 or 200MHz CPU. The part number for this would be 54-24516-01. For a 133Mhz or slower CPU, it should have a connection shorting block installed instead (part 12-46680-02, 54-24040-01, or 12-46680-01).

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-24, 08:42:

My Prioris LX doesn't turn on reliably either and when it does turn on, it doesn't reliably stay on for more than a few minutes. My current assumption (hope) is bad capacitors in the power supply - I'll recap it when I've got the time along with a pair of AlphaStation 200s and a few SPARCstations.

That most likely the case, unless it isn't so yes, a little bit of a gamble still...

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-24, 08:42:

If it can be repaired, a Venturis 590 should be a pretty nice little machine - they're quite compact. IIRC three expansion bays, two hard disk bays, 8MB of onboard RAM and S3 Trio64 graphics. I've got a few of the 75MHz version in storage, one of which was the first computer I ever bought (second-hand) back in 1999.

That unit also has a Pentium 75Mhz CPU in it. Not sure about other specs tough.

davidrg wrote on 2022-10-24, 08:42:

As for that socket, looking at the service maintenance manual I think that would be where a voltage regulator module plugs in if you're using a 166 or 200MHz CPU. The part number for this would be 54-24516-01. For a 133Mhz or slower CPU, it should have a connection shorting block installed instead (part 12-46680-02, 54-24040-01, or 12-46680-01).

That makes sense! So, apparently, if I'll want to use an MMX CPU, I'll need that regulator. And yes, the socket is currently plugged with some plug. Interestingly, I've tried to install 166Mhz MMX CPU without the regulator some time ago and it seemed to work fine, but it was running way too hot, now I know why 😆

I've been tinkering with it this evening and made a few more upgrades.

Cache

It is a bit of a mystery to me on how exactly this PC mages it's caches... The motherboard does have 3 chips of 128k, so a total 384k of cache memory available. This cache is referred by BIOS as Shadow RAM and I have no clue what that actually means. Is it possibly only for shadowing Option ROMS (like BIOS, Video BIOS, LAN and other stuff that is in between 640k and 1024k mark)? As the PC works just as slow as without any cache at all. There is no difference on how it operates with all cache disabled. Any test utilities or benchmark programs do not see any cache and memory performance is just flat all the time. I've remembered that this motherboard originally had an additional 256k on a removable module. I have then removed this module as it was giving me lot's of trouble. The PC was very unstable, it crashed all the time and other times it would just randomly hang. So I figured that the cache module is faulty and have thrown it into a pile of other electronic junk. Somehow, I've decided to give it another go, only this time I've tried a very stupid easy fix - cleaning contact pins with some iso-propyl alcohol 😄

And hey, it seemed to work! The PC instantly got a nice performance bump. I can see it being reported as a Cache RAM all the benchmarks and testing utilities report that system has 256k of Cache. Most importantly, PC did pass all the benchmarks that I've tried to run on it and so far so good, not a single hiccup while using it normally or playing with it. So I guess this is a big improvement!

FM Tuner

I just love this little 8bit card! It's an FM Tuner, which works very well under DOS and Windows 9x. The driver is very simple, it just activates the card, dials into wanted frequency and leaves it playing in the background until reboot. There is also a GUI program, which allows to save favorite stations into the memory and looks pretty. The card has line-out and antenna input and that's it. Very basic, very simple. It sure brightens up an experience!