alext0077 wrote on 2023-06-13, 20:32:

Trying to create a "better" version of what I remember growing up with. […]
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Trying to create a "better" version of what I remember growing up with.

- Original machine as bought on eBay was a Wyse 2112 - 12.5 MHz, one wait state. The one I had growing up was branded as an Amdek System/286 which must have been the "retail" version of this computer as it was purchased at a ComputerLand store. This specific computer was rebadged as an OCLC machine - a library reference system popular in the 80s and 90s; Assumed in some library for most of it's life - it was very clean inside.
- Swapped the motherboard card with one from a Wyse 2214 - also 12.5 MHz, zero wait state - boots successfully and works in the 2112's backplane - indeed this type of upgrade path was a selling point of the system.
- Currently has the original 40MB (and still working) ST-251 MFM drive, Spinrite reports zero additional bad sectors over what was documented on the drive label. Added a simple Cirrus Logic VGA card, swapped the 5.25 for a 3.5" drive, and a Gotek floppy emulator with the HxC firmware
- A bad keyboard controller chip on the 2214 board was causing endless headache with "Gate A20 Uncontrollable" errors when HIMEM.SYS was loading. Swapped it with the one from the 2112 board and the error went away.
- Three cheers to the person that uploaded the setup utility for this series of Wyse systems to archive dot org
- Refurbished the LCD display; after decades the original electroluminscent backlight had failed long ago. Replaced with a new 16 character LED backlit one - some small wiring changes to get the backlight working.

Problems to figure out / to-do list:
- Tried adding an Adaptec 1542B SCSI controller. Even with no other peripherals except the VGA card int he machine - it hangs when the SCSI BIOS are initialized. Tried different addresses, settings, IRQs - same effect.
- Added a generic NE2000 ethernet card (mostly for the Boot PROM slot so I can add a XTtoIDE universal BIOS) - but can't get it working quite right with my modern wired network.
- Will likely just swap the spinning hard drive for an IDE controller and small SSD

I know some say to not bother with 286s, but my first PC was one and I have a soft spot for the CPU.

Not installing a soundcard? is that in keeping with it's library background 😉
LCD is really cool, more so that it shows the date as well as speed, Even the case looks very 80's with the go faster lines.

I've no history with pre 486 PC's but 286's and earlier are so limited and basic, upgrading them with modern components like gotek, CF or SSD, even sound and network which was rare at the time just has a certain appeal.

Heh - it's an interesting design. The weird angled lines on the case was apparently so that it could be operated horizontally or vertically.
Just installed one of those ISA SoundBlaster 16 Vibra cards - a semi-PnP one that configured without any problems. I can play vintage EGA-based Sierra games quite smoothly now.

The LCD shows time/date with speed, and flickers a drive letter at the very end to indicate drive access. Another button changes the display in to a bar graph to indicate relative CPU load. A provided utility allows you to write custom messages to the display - and an optional device driver turns the display in to an addressable device like a COM port in DOS where text can be redirected e.g. "chkdsk c: >> lcdpanel:" will display the output line by line on the LCD complete with scrolling.

Lastly Landmark speed utility reports this 12,5 MHz system, with zero wait states to be equivalent to a 16 MHz AT. The original non-zero wait state board reported as a 13 MHz AT equivalent. The difference is particularly notable in Windows.

chinny22 wrote on 2023-06-14, 10:51:

Not installing a soundcard? is that in keeping with it's library background 😉
LCD is really cool, more so that it shows the date as well as speed, Even the case looks very 80's with the go faster lines.