Funny enough, I got a few nice laptops to have:

- Armada 1598DT (Tilly! Also TFT, no mural DSTN)
- Hyundai HN-5000 (standard P55C, had to ghetto-rig an Acer power jack to it. AKA Gericom 6200AT)
- Maxdata Artist Eton Pro (aka MP-989, the mysterious lappy that has 3x SDR slots and uses Award BIOS no less.)

Last one might need a BIOS reflash - it hangs right after the POST with a blinking cursor.

I know the "try a CMOS reset" advice is dished out all the time and rarely actually fixes anything, but....try that on the MP-989. Pull the clock battery and main battery (even if it's dead, if it holds any residual charge, it can hold CMOS settings), then try booting after a few minutes. My MP-989 started doing exactly what you describe, and that's what fixed it.
Also, the MP-989 should be able to take an insane (for a Pentium II) 768MB of RAM!!! The only catch is that each 256MB module must have 16 chips (8 per side), and one of the three slots requires a low-profile module. I've tested with my MP-989, and it posts with 640MB installed. Haven't tried 768 because I only have two 256MB modules.

The MP-989 has ATI video so it should do just fine for early Windows games. It has the Maestro-2 sound chip, so DOS is probably best avoided.

And if you don't know yet, the MP-989 was manufactured by Chicony: https://www.macdat.net/laptops/chicony/mp989.php
I'll be updating my MP-989 page with more info and photos sometime soon. Max RAM is listed as 512MB on the page as until I got mine, no one had tested higher than that yet.

ATI Rage Pro LT, wow, what is it, what year was that? I thought first 3d accelerated card in laptops was ATI m1.

Seems like a low power version of the Rage Pro.

Ati Rage LT Pro

vorob wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:00:

ATI Rage Pro LT, wow, what is it, what year was that? I thought first 3d accelerated card in laptops was ATI m1.

It is card inside my powerful Sager 8500 notebook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRaxnjGBQ54

vorob wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:00:

ATI Rage Pro LT, wow, what is it, what year was that? I thought first 3d accelerated card in laptops was ATI m1.

Rage LT Pro was the first ATI chip used in laptops. It's quite common in stuff from 1999.

3lectr1c wrote on 2025-05-16, 02:06:

vorob wrote on 2025-05-14, 18:00:

ATI Rage Pro LT, wow, what is it, what year was that? I thought first 3d accelerated card in laptops was ATI m1.

Rage LT Pro was the first ATI chip used in laptops. It's quite common in stuff from 1999.

Yep, it's in *loads*. Quite a nice option, as it introduced what ATI termed "ratiometric" scaling; i.e. you don't get the jaggies normally associated with DOS era laptops, nor black bars; all screen modes are scaled full screen and with interpolation. All the ATI chips which came afterwards also had this.

If you can get a laptop with the ATI chip and a solid DOS-supported sound option (ESS, Yamaha), then you've got a solid DOS gaming system (games with ATI bugs notwithstanding!).

ATI Rage 3 drivers where bad at first, by the time 1998 and for sure in 1999 the drivers got better, i use latest available MACXW4 / ATI2DDAD hybrid driver and its all what i need from first real ATi D3D. Same was with OpenGL, it got better. ATi Rage 3 can do D3D/OpenGL/3DCIF/DVD with one good driver, for me its my 2611 driver, works ok up to DirectX7. Rage3 works with DOS and Win3.x, but its best at Win9x from my point of view. 3DNow/SSE is supported, also 8bit paletted textures + some games have fog, but not all games.

3lectr1c wrote on 2025-03-17, 23:58:

BitWrangler wrote on 2025-03-17, 18:38:

If it's ABS you can chemically weld it with Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) or acetone (takes longer to dissolve) and make repair cement with ground ABS in either of those.

I've found that MEK usually doesn't work well at all on this old brittle stuff. It can work well on newer plastics that are still solid. I think the issue is that this old plastic "crumbles" more than it breaks, meaning that the melted plastic doesn't really make a good bond. That, and even if you do get it to bond back together, it's still just as brittle. If it's in an area that is put under stress, it will just break again regardless.
JB Weld and/or other epoxies that actually add structural material are the way to go here.

JB Weld wouldn't adhere well to the plastic on my Gateway Solo 2500, but ABS pipe cement did. It's a mix of ABS plastic in acetone and MEK, so it adds material instead of just melting the parts together. It's just ugly because it's black compared to the dark gray original plastic.

megatron-uk wrote on 2025-03-14, 15:24:

Gods (status / score panel at bottom of screen is jerky when scrolling, but the main playfield/sprites are not)
Monster Bash 1 - 2 (like Gods; main playfield is smooth, but status bar is jerky)

If I understand what you're saying (the HUD shakes when the playfield scrolls horizontally), Jazz Jackrabbit has the same problem.

I hate the ATI M1, it's an absolutely useless video card.

In Quake 2, there were visual artifacts.
In Thief, some polygons were missing in certain places.
In Unreal, there were visual problems too.

I tried different drivers. Used two laptops: a Compaq N400C and some ultra-wide Sony. Sold both devices and breathed a sigh of relief.

And what did I do next? Bought another machine with the same video card anyway!

Fujitsu Lifebook P1110

Unfortunately, I deleted all my M1 drivers and now I’m looking for them again. The default drivers that come with the laptop don't launch games with 3D acceleration.

vorob wrote on 2025-05-17, 05:13:

I hate the ATI M1, it's an absolutely useless video card. […]
Show full quote

I hate the ATI M1, it's an absolutely useless video card.

In Quake 2, there were visual artifacts.
In Thief, some polygons were missing in certain places.
In Unreal, there were visual problems too.

Unfortunately, I deleted all my M1 drivers and now I’m looking for them again. The default drivers that come with the laptop don't launch games with 3D acceleration.

Can you show your ingame artifacts? I love my RagePro/XL cards and no problems in Quake2, same as your Rage Mobility. I think you are using not the best driver out there and ati rage3 drivers are very flexible ones and for me its performance is ok. Possible to modify driver if someting not works, upgrade or downgrade d3d and opengl file, ati m1 @cif is no go, all other stuff works, also atidvd.

Why you need to look them, there are plenty rage drivers out there and many works, my driver also works. Soon i update driver package, made some small changes.

Re: ATi RagePro drivers and software
Re: ATi RagePro drivers and software

I love the Rage XL. The Rage Pro is missing a few enhancements, but is very similar and still a great early accelerator. Someone can direct me if I'm wrong, but I imagine that the m1 is closer in features to the XL than the Pro.

It would be interesting to see how the m1 compares in the RtCW Demo menus.

Re: What is the difference between the Rage Pro, Rage Pro AGP 2X, and Rage Turbo?

I'll be back with the samples and will try your drivers, thanks.

In the mean time take a look at disassembled compaq n410c. Really love this machine since it's very compact, light weight, but packed as beast, with pentium 3 and ati m6. It can run even vice city!

I've tried several drivers. Some of them don't have OpenGL support, some of them can play Quake II normally, and one of them showed artifacts in Quake II. Unreal 1, on some drivers, only runs in software mode even when D3D is enabled; on others, there's no lighting and everything appears too bright, or I see strange black artifacts. Some drivers don't provide hardware acceleration in Thief, but with all the others the game runs but with missing polygons.

If you can recommend the best driver, please let me know. I can also provide details about my video card if needed. Mine is

[ATI.Mfg]
"RAGE MOBILITY " = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_110210CF
"RAGE MOBILITY " = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_114F10CF
"RAGE MOBILITY " = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_10C910CF
"RAGE MOBILITY" = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_110310CF

vorob wrote on 2025-05-19, 08:11:

I've tried several drivers. Some of them don't have OpenGL support, some of them can play Quake II normally, and one of them sho […]
Show full quote

I've tried several drivers. Some of them don't have OpenGL support, some of them can play Quake II normally, and one of them showed artifacts in Quake II. Unreal 1, on some drivers, only runs in software mode even when D3D is enabled; on others, there's no lighting and everything appears too bright, or I see strange black artifacts. Some drivers don't provide hardware acceleration in Thief, but with all the others the game runs but with missing polygons.

If you can recommend the best driver, please let me know. I can also provide details about my video card if needed. Mine is

[ATI.Mfg]
"RAGE MOBILITY " = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_110210CF
"RAGE MOBILITY " = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_114F10CF
"RAGE MOBILITY " = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_10C910CF
"RAGE MOBILITY" = ati2mpab_ENU_PCI, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4C52&SUBSYS_110310CF

I am using Win9x and my drivers are for Win9x only!

Ati2mpab is W2K/XP drivers for Rage3. You get less D3D/OpenGL performance out of w2k vs win9x and you need all the speed.
OpenGL: only 16bit is accelerated, dont try any other! Some old D3D games need 16 bit color only. Use 16bit colors for destkop!

I dont use 2k or xp for rage3. I would try some tweaked drivers, here is one dx8 one and i still recommend win9x/2k dualboot
https://disk.yandex.ru/d/eV600jDAliJ_3w/Tweak … Wes%20Miser?w=1

Also try tweaked and recommended 2k driver from here. try search same file names from net, i also have them somewhere.
https://www.oocities.org/ziyadhosein/rprow2k.htm

I got lucky over the weekend, the docking station ordered from Japan for the Sanyo Winkey MBC-G2F laptop fit, I connected a midi player and now I enjoy music in DOS games. The laptop bought 5 years ago is rare in itself and accidentally finding a docking station for it, and even with a midi port - great luck, the chances are very small. Despite the fact that it is intended for an earlier model MBC-G1F - everything works. I can send the sound back to the laptop through line-in, or use the midi player as a mixer, outputting further to the speakers. Such puzzles assembled over the years are amazing! The player easily operates on 4 half-charged AA batteries, which makes connection much easier.

Got 3 DataGeneral Walkabout 425C laptops that need repairs: 2 don't stay on, 1 of them has a vinegar syndrome display, and the other powers on and has a blown fuse on the display board.

Neither of them have integrated sound cards since that wasn't common at that time, but an OPL3LPT or something thereof will suffice for that, but its no big deal so far since I can get those in the future after I fix the existing laptops. The two systems have corrosion from battery spewage and the working laptop has no corrosion or any issues other than the display. I did place the vinegar syndrome display on the working laptop and it booted to Windows 95.

The trackball system needs a good cleaning and the display regions need their hinges/screw mounts repaired and/or make the system a Frankenstein with screws poking out behind the display housing (I'll stick with epoxy and a pack of smokes).

For the vinegar syndrome display (or displays if the one with a dead fuse has the same issue), I'll replace the polarizer films and bring it/them back to life.

MAZter wrote on 2025-06-23, 12:42:

I got lucky over the weekend, the docking station ordered from Japan for the Sanyo Winkey MBC-G2F laptop fit, I connected a midi […]
Show full quote

I got lucky over the weekend, the docking station ordered from Japan for the Sanyo Winkey MBC-G2F laptop fit, I connected a midi player and now I enjoy music in DOS games. The laptop bought 5 years ago is rare in itself and accidentally finding a docking station for it, and even with a midi port - great luck, the chances are very small. Despite the fact that it is intended for an earlier model MBC-G1F - everything works. I can send the sound back to the laptop through line-in, or use the midi player as a mixer, outputting further to the speakers. Such puzzles assembled over the years are amazing! The player easily operates on 4 half-charged AA batteries, which makes connection much easier.

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I have the Sanyo WinkeyG1 MBC-G1VF with all the accessories (floppy drive and cd-rom drive) and that same docking station and i love it, but it has a fatal flaw: the video chip is the Trident Cyber 9388 and its terrible full screen stretch/scaling.
If it would have had any other different video chip it would be my favorite laptop as it has almost all i want on a retro machine.

As you said those sanyo laptops are extremely rare and almost impossible to find.

Recent purchases based on some testing of VSBHDA. I think I may be a convert to this software, rather than tracking down ever-rarer old laptops. It makes sourcing something which works with the vast majority of DOS titles a much, much easier task:

Dell Latitude X1
- Intel Pentium-M 1.1GHz
- 1280MB RAM
- 60GB 1.8" PATA
- Intel GMA 900 video
- Intel ICH/HDA audio with mono speaker
- 1280x768 12" screen

A tiny little machine - not much bigger than the ultra-small Thinkpad 240. The onboard audio works really well with VSBHDA in most games I've tried - the CPU is more than fast enough to do software MIDI mixing of soundfonts too, so you get Adlib + SB16 + GM MIDI all in one. Bonus points for being small and light and having a still-working battery. Loses points for having a widescreen display, no physical volume control and a mono speaker. Has no CPU fan, so whilst that helps from a noise perspective, it does mean that it passively dumps all heat into the case bottom... it's hot when working on your lap!

IBM Thinkpad T43
- Intel Pentium-M 1.86GHz
- 1GB RAM
- No HDD
- ATI X300 64MB
- Intel ICH/HDA audio with stereo speakers
- 1024x768 15" screen

Last of the IBM-badged thinkpads. Same chipset as the Latitude, so this was bought as another possible VSBHDA candidate. Not tested yet - arrived covered in mold so will need a thorough cleaning.

Toshiba Portege R200
- Intel Pentium-M 1.2GHz
- 1GB RAM
- 40GB 1.8" PATA
- Intel GMA 900 video
- Intel ICH/HDA audio with mono speaker
- 1024x768 12" screen

Very similar to the Latitude X1, but with a 'correct' aspect ratio screen and a hardware volume control wheel. Again, another candidate for VSBHA.

The T4x series is nice. When SBEMU first came out I did some testing on my T42, and it worked as advertised.