RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Jun 9, 2024 13 tweets 8 min read Read on X
Time for another "Operating System" install on the PS/2 Model 70 386 (with 16MB memory and a 486 upgrade). This time, we went with DESQview/X, which actually isn't an OS since it runs on top of DOS. But it has some cool features! Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here!
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So, first, to do the install, I was once again lazy. I installed DESQview/X in a virtual machine, and then copied the contents to the PS/2. Installation is straightforward, just make sure to have FILES=20 (or more) in config.sys! I'll show some screenshots from the install.


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After installing, an optimize program runs and reboots the system several times to find the optimal memory usage. This reminds me of memmaker in MS-DOS 6.x. Gee, I wonder which came first 😂 (hint: it probably wasn't memmaker!)
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Next up, this wouldn't be a RetroTech Chris install if I didn't configure networking. I found this really helpful comment on a blog post that told me pretty much how to do that (with some minor errata, we'll talk about that next). virtuallyfun.com/2011/03/27/des…
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Here is my autoexec.bat and net.cfg files. I had to change "Protocol IPX" to "Protocol TCPIP", other than that, the procedure was great! I also switched up the PCNTNW usage in the blog post for my IBM LAN Adapter/A driver, which is IBMENIIO
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I also had to run the C:\dvx\setup.exe program to configure my network as Novell LAN WorkPlace TCP/IP. I also enabled the services you see below, and configured a name server. Looking good!


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And, of course, since this is a PS/2 and that makes it "special," I had to tweak some things in config.sys to get this darn thing to boot with the QEMM utils. I commented out the dosdata.sys driver and added a NOPE line to the QEMM386.SYS line to ignore an unknown adapter.
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Another thing I had to do: despite trying multiple mouse drivers, my mouse was erratic. So I plugged it into a serial port instead! Image
So, with that, we were all set! I decided to play a bit. One thing I tried was remote shell to run some X applications on a similarly configured virtual machine running DESQview/X! Maybe in the future, I'll try this from Unix: we need an X11R5 server for it to truly work.
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I did test out FTP capabilities! That's right, DESQview/X has an FTP server! That makes transferring files to the system a piece of cake. I used that to support installing Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Image
Speaking of Windows for Workgroups, DESQview/X supports running Win3.x in a window! So, in theory you could remote shell from a Unix workstation and run Windows 3.x programs! I loaded up some Quarterdeck apps which show system specs and QEMM setup options.
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I also did a quick telnet to The Old Net, where I loaded up Google in text mode. Image
Anyway, that's pretty much it! I did want to highlight this most excellent page on DESQview/X that has some other applications and ideas for those who want to explore more. As always, thanks for following along!

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More from @RetroTechChris

Jul 8
I got my $50 HP LaserJet 6L in the mail today, and here it is. Let's have a closer look... oh.. wait a minute... oh no. Yea, not good. Let's talk about it, and some fun I had with it, and my NEW PLAN, in a 🧵 here Image
So, yes, the plastics on this printer were brittle, and it unfortunately wasn't shipped well. As soon as I saw the box, and the size of the box, I thought we might be in trouble. And, yes, we were. Just look at all of those glorious plastic pieces. Image
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Jul 6
I think it's time to consolidate a few more retro PCs 😅. Going to start with my Tandy 1000 TX which already has a new owner! I did a little bit of consolidation into my 1000 SX in preps for sending it packing. Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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My 1000 SX had an XTIDE card in it, but the 1000 TX had a Silicon Valley ADP50 "hard card" with a 540 MB HDD. I decided to move that over to the 1000 SX. It takes up a fair amount of space, fortunately my 8 bit ISA network card is tiny 😂 Image
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This leaves us with a multi I/O card (the 1000 SX doesn't have an onboard serial port), 286xpress processor upgrade, ADP50 "hard card", 8 bit Ethernet card, and 8 bit SCSI card for the Bernoulli box. Sadly, no space for the ISA2USB adapter, so it comes out. Image
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Jul 1
I got some 20MB Bernoulli disks in the mail today. Some of them are Tandy branded! Let's check them out and see how many will actually work... time for a 🧵 Image
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For the first disk, I decided to try one of the "older logo" Iomega disks. And... well... good old General Error decided to visit. This means that the disk has too many bad sectors to recover... and, yes, each disk does have reserved sectors, I covered that in a past post! Image
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Which past post was that, RetroTechChris? I thought you'd never ask. If you are curious about how reserved tracks work on a Bernoulli disk, here you go!
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Jun 29
I have a few things to test! A CD-ROM drive and an ATI All In Wonder Pro video card. Let's explore these in a 🧵 there! Image
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First, the CD-ROM drive. It's a Universal Buslink Corporation drive, never heard of it! Unfortunately, it powers on, the light lights up, and, well, that's about it. Image
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Jun 29
Let's test out this recent acquisition of mine, a Xircom Credit Card Modem 56T (PCMCIA). I'm not optimistic, more on that in a minute. Time for a 🧵 Image
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First, some context. I picked this up at L&Y Electronics last week since I was excited to see a PCMCIA card that actually had a dongle that hadn't been lost! I paid $10 for it, despite what you see:
As I noted in the first post, I'm not optimistic. The connector is pretty shot. Furthermore, while it might not make a difference, this connector is designed for the "phone line" connection as opposed to the "modem" connection. See this "complete" example for reference. Image
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Jun 27
I've been meaning to make it back to the ReStore to pick up an item or two. And I wasn't disappointed! Looking forward to setting up some home automation, and checking out this ATI All in Wonder card. What else did I find? Time for a 🧵 Image
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The Altec Lansing subwoofer was still there, but we know the story on that from before, so I left it. I don't have compatible speakers. Image
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A media shredder and an uninteresting Lenovo PC Image
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