The Packard Bell Aloh@ from 2000. I got this machine in 2020, and have been upgrading it and using it a lot lately.
I don't have any perhipherals or software that goes with it, but I have installed WinME and it runs great.

It came with a 733mhz celeron, 256mb ram, and a dead 20GB HDD.

I've upgraded to a 1GHz pentium III, 512mb ram, a Radeon 9200 SE PCI, and an IDE>SD card adapter, with 64GB SD card.

I recently made a video going over the history of the machine and similar models, upgrading and benchmarking.
https://youtu.be/sgfKha2RLmo

on my website https://www.molten.pw/pb2 I have put as much information as I could find on this model and its variants, and machines using the same chassis, case or hardware.

Soon I will be pushing it to its limits running world of warcraft in windows ME, in a later video.

pbagain wrote on 2025-03-20, 21:13:

Hi all, […]
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Hi all,

I got this interesting Packard Bell tower consisting of a base with a removable top part that contains an LCD display, cdrom and floppy drive. Presumably the idea was to keep the top unit on your desk and everything else on the floor. The two are connected by a ribbon cable. At the time the seller demonstrated how to remove the top unit. Pictures below show the top unit still attached, because the latch has since seized up. Something to take a look at later on..

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Strangely I can't find any information on this model using the model number or any combination of keywords: no pictures, manual, drivers, nothing. Presumably the original software included a driver or utility for the LCD display? Unfortunately no harddisk or software were included in the sale. Anyone know anything about this model?

Bit of a necro, but I can give you some info, mainly based on the sticker on the rear of the computer.

The "regulatory type" actually contains the most relevant info:
- "GEMINI" - that's the name of the case, referring to the twin base+drivebay design. Other than that gimmick, it's plain ATX with pretty decent soundproofing for a 1997 design.
- "ATL" - that's the motherboard, the Packard Bell i.e. Intel OEM Atlanta, AL440LX, the first slot 1 motherboard with i440LX chipset, SDRAM and AGP.

Other than that, the P/N ends in 05, which suggests this is a Dutch model.

The FN is the format code, needed when restoring from MasterCD if you changed the hard disk. As you say, this one doesn't seem documented anywhere online - but it will either be a Hermes or Reno system (1997/1998 late Windows 95 builds) and I suspect it's Hermes. There's an - incomplete - list of them here: https://web.archive.org/web/20051024035821/ht … b/faq/model.htm

Now, this specific model isn't in there, but that's because model numbers were different between markets. What the page does tell you is that - in the UK at least - the Atlanta board was generally paired with ATi Xpert XL AGP card and with one of several Aztech AZT2320-based sound cards, either sound/modem combo or separate sound and US Robotics modem. Functionally no difference incidentally. It also gives you part numbers for Master Floppy Disk and Master CD. The latter is for the UK version, ending in "01", but a Dutch version would end in "05". The floppy is universal. Instructions for how to restore can be found here (in French): https://www.passion-pb.fr/tattoo.php

For a different take, here's the only images of the case I can find, but from a Norwegian model:
https://www.digi.no/artikler/multimedia-plugg … kabinett/339263
"med fancy kabinett" indeed. The Nordics were run pretty independently to Benelux/FR/UK/IE, so I'm not surprised to see pretty different
specs here, with an Elsa Victory Erazor AGP (Riva 128 4MB) and Ensoniq AudioPCI sound card instead and a Cinemaster MPEG2 card (the latter was also used in UK/IE/NL systems).

zoom666 wrote on 2025-07-26, 21:31:

Ok I own a PC that says Zenith Z-SELECT 100 on the front, yet the case and probably the dead 486 LPX motherboard were made by Packard Bell, how do I know this?
The case now has a Packard Bell Legend 117 Pentium motherboard in it now, yes it fits, this case is known as a Packmate case. Of course I do need to disconnect the front from the top which has so far proven resistant to accomplish. I have a reset button on order to replace the useless keylock since this case came with no reset button, it is supported, just not externally on the case.

That doesn't mean anything. LPX was a standard a lot of PC manufacturers at the time used. You can usually swap motherboards of the same type.

pbagain wrote on 2024-09-30, 19:45:

Thanks Dave! I didn't initially recognize this case as one of the cases with the greenish-glassy design, but now that I see the […]
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BigDave wrote on 2024-09-29, 20:51:

Hi there pbagain, sorry been busy, but that is a very distinctive and unusual case design, I've never seen a Packard Bell of the […]
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pbagain wrote on 2024-09-19, 07:40:

Does anyone recognize this Packard Bell Case? It's for sale as incomplete / for parts, which is fine, but I just don't remember this case style. Then again the later PB/NEC cases are generally less recognizable (to me anyway). Also I wonder what the hole in the top right is for.. power button presumably is in the middle panel?

Hi there pbagain, sorry been busy, but that is a very distinctive and unusual case design, I've never seen a Packard Bell of the 2000/2001 era like that, only the blue iMedia, or the curved one. since I've been doing a lot of Packard Bell research lately for my old 4x4 desktops, I thought I'd have a look, and did find an almost identical spec model (1.3ghz vs 1.4ghz CPU) in the same design, and certainly seems to be very unique amongst the models, although didn't check them all. If you look at the sales flyer .PDF I found on passion-pb.fr/models.php you'll notice although it's specs are perhaps quite low for what I think is a 2001 machine, it's fitted out with some decent hardware, and a very impressive software bundle rivalling the 90s machines in quantity, although not so sure about having Windows ME as an OS. Looking at your case pictures, the 2 stickers on the front look much newer, and don't correspond with the spec sticker, so guess it's got an upgraded ASUS motherboard & Sempron CPU.

http://passion-pb.fr/documents/PDF/models/Des … treme_9130i.pdf

Is it one you've bought already, or are you thinking of buying?

Thanks Dave! I didn't initially recognize this case as one of the cases with the greenish-glassy design, but now that I see the monitor and keyboard in your photo it makes sense! This case in my photo only has the little panel around the power button in that style, unlike this one which has a trim that frames the whole case:

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It's also the same style as the Packard Bell Div@ all-in-one P3 design:

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By the way, passion-pb.fr is a great resource, which I had forgotten about completely.. thanks for reminding me 😀

Asking price of the ad I found is very fair, but it's pick-up only and really out of my way, so I think I'm going to have to let this one go.

I was always jealous the EU got these and the US didn't. Still pretty annoyed about that. 🤣

King_Corduroy wrote on Today, 19:51:

zoom666 wrote on 2025-07-26, 21:31:

Ok I own a PC that says Zenith Z-SELECT 100 on the front, yet the case and probably the dead 486 LPX motherboard were made by Packard Bell, how do I know this?
The case now has a Packard Bell Legend 117 Pentium motherboard in it now, yes it fits, this case is known as a Packmate case. Of course I do need to disconnect the front from the top which has so far proven resistant to accomplish. I have a reset button on order to replace the useless keylock since this case came with no reset button, it is supported, just not externally on the case.

That doesn't mean anything. LPX was a standard a lot of PC manufacturers at the time used. You can usually swap motherboards of the same type.

I researched this, the Packmate(1 or 2) is except for the plastic front an identical case which was made for or by Packard Bell, there is or should be one on ebay and it's identical to my case except for the front down to the last rivet and screw(2).