RetroTech Chris Profile picture
Dec 26 5 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Yesterday, I talked about a few systems I had that were not Intel/AMD/Cyrix based. Well, here's another one: my Gateway 2000 tower has a UMC processor in it! I haven't powered it on in a hot minute, so let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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As we saw from the intro photo, this system has a UMC Green CPU US5-SUPER33 in it. And, indeed, it is super! It's almost as fast as a 486 DX2/50! These CPUs were subject to a legal dispute, and thus were not sold in the USA Image
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On power up, we can see that this processor is detected as a U486SX by AMI BIOS. Not all motherboards supported this CPU. But my Shuttle-HOT-433 board does! Image
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Back to the Gateway PC, it sure is tall! When not on the desk, it occupies this spot to the right of the desk. Things are looking a little empty! I also use a PS/2 keyboard at the desk, so I had to go hunting for an keyboard adapter. I found a few! Image
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Well, anyway, that'll do for this show and tell session, hope you enjoyed it! I'm going to go and find my back brace and put this thing back in its cubby 😂. Thanks for following along.

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More from @RetroTechChris

Dec 26
I thought I'd power up and inventory my systems that don't have CPUs made by Intel/AMD/Cyrix, but are x86 compatible. I do have a few! Let's have a quick look at them in a 🧵 here! Image
Let's start with the system on the far left, the tower. It happens to be an ITX Llama system, built around the Vortex86EX CPU. It's similar in performance to a 486 or Pentium system. I did make a custom BIOS build to play the Nokia tune 😂 Image
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Oh, I should give some specs. 128MB RAM, ATI Rage Pro 128 AGP card, 120 GB SD card for storage, Crystal audio, and an RDC Ethernet card as you will see from my Windows screenshot here. This is a quirky system.. a bit buggy... and I HAD to use QEMM for memory management Image
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Read 9 tweets
Dec 21
I thought I'd take some time today and "assemble" the new additions to my Compaq LTE 5000 series fleet! Each machine got a battery, hard drive, and either a floppy or CD-ROM drive. Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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First, I started with the batteries. The cells have been removed, so we just have plastic shells. They all needed a cleaning, but this one was THE WORST. Some Goo Gone took care of it, and some elbow grease. Also, I was one battery short, so I pulled one from my spares! Image
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One of the laptops had a screw that wasn't tight and blocked the battery, so I had to take it apart and tighten it. I also replaced the CPU cover on this laptop since it was in bad shape.. this is the laptop where we discovered previously that Goof Off is bad for plastics. Image
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Read 10 tweets
Dec 16
I just made a 10 cent improvement to this Compaq LTE Elite 4/75 laptop. Anyone want to guess what it is? Let's talk about it in a brief 🧵 here! Image
Did you make your guess? Yep! It was the screen latches! For 10 cents, my local library's makerspace printed these for me today! Image
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Here are the prints. Apparently they have a TA26 and a Prusa printer. The lady at the makerspace said "use the Prusa ones!" And so I did! Image
Read 7 tweets
Dec 15
Sometimes curiosity gets the best of us, and that happened when I saw this Xircom Parallel Port Multiplexor III for sale. What does it do? It lets you use a printer and Xircom parallel port Ethernet adapter at the same time. Does it do it "well"? Let's find out! 🧵 time! Image
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As you might have seen from the intro pic, I'm going to use my AST Premium Exec 386SX/25 to test this out. This machine doesn't have any PCMCIA slots, so I do use a Xircom Pocket Ethernet III to get it online! Image
Here's a close up of the device itself, as well as some of the items that were inside the box. Very nice! Image
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Read 10 tweets
Dec 13
I've got these two cute little Compaq LTE Elite 4/75 systems. I'm just about done setting up one of them.. how about we set up the other one here, in real time! Time for a 🧵 Image
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So, first off, we are going to have a minor complication. These laptops have a near 100% failure of their floppy drives, the dreaded Citizen W1D drive. Fortunately, I've installed an OpenFlops W1D to replace it.. basically a Gotek replacement for the Citizen W1D! Image
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The very first thing we need install is the diagnostics partition. We will also need other software for Windows for Workgroups 3.11. So I went online and grabbed the needed Compaq SoftPaqs for diagnostic setup, as well as video, PCMCIA drivers, and a few other odds and ends! Image
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Read 19 tweets
Nov 27
It's been a little while since we have had the Dell Precision 220 Workstation on the desk. I've had several requests to install Haiku on this Dual Pentium III beast. Let's get it done! Time for a 🧵 Image
So, first, this PC already has a lot of OSes! We'll create a 4GB BeOS partition to install Haiku, and add it to the list of OSes to boot! Image
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I downloaded the latest stable version, which appears to be R1/beta5, and burned it to a DVD! Image
Read 13 tweets

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