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RetroTech Chris Profile picture
@RetroTechChris
Feb 15 • 7 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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Recall that new Win3.1 video driver that we looked at recently? It just keeps getting better and better. I reported an issue with network sharing and "green lines" on startup a few weeks ago, and it is now fixed! I decided to build the driver from source, let's talk about it! 🧵
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The process to build the driver is nicely documented! I downloaded the Win16 DDK and placed it at C:\DDK31 in a DOS6.22/Win3.1 VM. I also installed Microsoft Visual C++ 1.52c, and grabbed a copy of EXE2BIN from FreeDOS. Image
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From there, in DOS, I edited the C:\MSVC\BIN\MSVCVARS.BAT file as directed and ran it. Okay, we are ready to build! Image
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First, I built the VBESVGA.DRV file. It's a matter of navigating to the VBESVGA directory (that you place within the DDK directory structure) & running "make". One step failed, I just ran it by hand & it succeeded (not shown). Once built, I copied the driver to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM Image
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From there, we build the 386 Enhanced Driver. You navigate to the VDDVBE directory that you place in the DDK, and run "nmake". When done, just copy the driver to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM. Image
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At this point, I just launched Windows since I had already configured this new driver before. But if you haven't, the steps to do such are pretty straight forward, you just need to edit C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.INI accordingly. Image
And that's it! I love seeing the progress on this driver. If you haven't seen it yet, you can find it at . I presume new file versions will be posted soon that contain this fix, I was just impatient 😂. Thanks for following along.

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More from @RetroTechChris

RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Feb 13
My IBM PS/2 Model 70 386 got a little upgrade today! But this upgrade didn't exactly improve its specs. So, what did I upgrade? Its appearance on the outside, and some of the case's hardware on the inside. Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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So, yea, I fell victim to scrolling eBay on this one 😂. I was perusing the "Vintage Computer Hardware" section and saw this listed. I made an offer "lower" than what you see here, and it was accepted. That's my way of gauging if things are meant to be, and I guess this was 🤣 Image
I've enjoyed owning this PS/2, and nearly none of our vintage machines are picture perfect. But I had been meaning to do something about the casing on this one, considering how gouged and scratched it was. And, well, buying this was definitely the "easy button" there. Image
Read 7 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Feb 9
A little while back, I purchased a 5 user license of LANtastic. So, I thought I'd put it to use today and build a network that is simply LANtastic. Let's talk about the fun I had doing that in a 🧵 here. Buckle up, it's going to be a long thread! Image
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So, the first participant in the network is going to be this Compaq LTE 5400. I made a copy of my DOS partition to keep things clean, using, of course, BootIt Bare Metal. Image
I figured I would be best off to scan the media to make sure it is virus free. Yea, these disks weren't originally write protected. I fixed that right away! And the disks passed the test, we are good to proceed. Image
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Read 25 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Feb 9
It's hard to believe I've been collecting old PCs since 2019. Before then, I would never have imagined getting into this hobby! However, it's probably been at least a decade that I've had a virtual machine running DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1x around. Let's talk about it! 🧵time! Image
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So, if you've seen the video of my 486DX4/100, you might have seen the timeline I put in there. My first retro PC became a reality in May 2019 for me. And here are some timestamps for my Win3.1x virtual machine. I guess I rebuilt the image in 2019 or so based on timestamps! Image
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And, as we saw from the opening shot, I use Oracle VM VirtualBox. One feature I like about it is the concept of multi-attach, where you have a base image, and then changes are written to a "delta" image. When I want to go back to my stock image, I just "reattach" the base image! Image
Read 8 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Feb 8
I picked up a $20 AT power supply to replace the one I took out of this Packard Bell Multimedia 730 a week or so back. And much to my surprise, it looks to be new old stock! Let's get this installed, time for a 🧵! Image
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First, just look at how CLEAN this power supply is. It's a LiteOn PA-4151-9B1 150W AT Power Supply. Nothing fancy, but has enough oomph to do what we need. Image
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I started out with a "5 minute HDD load test." While that was ongoing, I started disassembly, taking off the case covers, taking out the CD-ROM at the top of the case, and these two hard-to-reach screws for the plastic top panel. Image
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Read 11 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Feb 1
I figured out how to get my Packard Bell Fast Media remote on my Compaq systems. And the change I had to make is the most Packard Bell thing ever 😂. Let's talk about it in a brief 🧵 here.
So, first, throwback to yesterday where I left off a thread saying I was working to get this going on my Compaq Armada 1750. That's the context!
And from there, we had to install two versions of the Fast Media Software... Here was the first one: x.com/RetroTechChris…... and here was the second one: x.com/RetroTechChris…. This rings true for the Compaqs as well.
Read 5 tweets
RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Feb 1
My "new" Packard Bell Legend 994CDT has an Iomega Ditto 800 tape drive. I decided to check it out this morning, but things didn't quite go to plan. Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here. Image
Here's the drive itself. It can fit into either a 3.5" or 5.25" drive bay. The drive itself is marked with the identifier IO80FI. It plugs into the floppy controller or an Iomega Ditto Dash ISA accelerator card if you have one! Image
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I found Ditto Tools 5.2.7 online and started to install them. This has got to be the most "bland" Iomega installer I have ever seen. When I got to the end I realized why: this software appears to be put together by Seagate and not Iomega! Image
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Read 11 tweets

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