RetroTech Chris Profile picture
IBM PC compatible retro tech enthusiast who likes trying out unique retro experiments!
Nov 12 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Here's some good news for BlueSCSI/ZuluSCSI owners who want wireless networking in DOS and Win3.1x: Michael Brutman (author of mTCP) has taken my DaynaPORT DOS packet driver and greatly improved it! I'm using it to browse the web. Let's talk about how in a 🧵 here! Image
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First, some context: several months ago, I started down the path to get my BlueSCSI working in DOS, and made a very alpha driver to do such. As per usual, I then abandoned the project šŸ˜‚
Nov 12 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
I had a total blast testing my newly-acquired fleet of LTE 5000 series systems! Over the past four days, I was able to make 20 working systems from my haul of (I believe) 26 systems. Let's have a BRIEF outbrief in a 🧵 here! Image
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First, just LOOK at everything!! Everything you see here either will go in a system (HDD, FDD, CD-ROMs, battery shells), is a spare part, or a conversation piece (PCMCIA cards without dongles šŸ˜‚). And, oh, for the six systems that contributed to parts, look at all of the screws! Image
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Nov 11 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Day 4 LTE 5000 (and probably some LTE Elite!) cleanup and testing. I'll just do highlight reel, I am sure you guys have seen enough at this point šŸ˜‚. Let's do this! 🧵 Image First, we have doubled downstream testing power šŸ˜‚. Now let's talk about the system on the right... Image
Nov 10 • 22 tweets • 15 min read
It's another beautiful day here... and time to clean and test some more LTE 5000 systems! And since I am taking an extended weekend, we have time to do this. Let's get to work. 🧵 Image So, first, the tarp earned its pay. It rained a bit overnight. Most systems did stay dry. No concerns here! I thought the tarp had a small hole in it. Indeed it did šŸ˜‚ Image
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Nov 10 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Ooookay, one more laptop today. A few folks have asked "how about the red laptop? Does it have a chance?" Well, I think I'd say "kindof, with some help!" Let's explore in a 🧵 here! Image
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Initially, I started out with some Goof Off to clean off the paint. That damaged the screen cover's plastic. But I soon learned that would not matter. Because, well, here's the screen. Also, look at that nice red HDD cover. Paint on the keyboard too. Oh boy! Image
Nov 9 • 10 tweets • 8 min read
Shall we continue our LTE 5000 series cleaning and testing? I'm glad I covered them with a tarp, we had some condensation overnight!! This one is a LTE 5380 without any drives. It cleaned up nice and it does power up!! Image
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Okay, second one is a little rough. Cleaned up. Powered on once but won't power on again. Image
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Nov 8 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
I've cleaned and tested three of my $10 laptops so far. And they are flawless!! Image
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The fourth one I cleaned is a little rough (bad screen bezel, failing HDD, battery was taped in, and mouse pointer is bad) but hey it at least powers on! Image
Nov 8 • 15 tweets • 12 min read
Time for the System Source Swap Meet pics I took... in no particular order. Let's goooo! 🧵 time.

First we have an Amiga with some Macs, etc. Also, tons of interface cards. Some cool Apple stuff. And some IBM PCs! Image
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More PCs, macs, laptops, and some software! The boxed copy of StuffIt Deluxe caught my eye! Image
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Nov 2 • 16 tweets • 9 min read
It's always fun to install "older" OSes on systems not designed for them. Given that, how about we install Windows '98 SE on this Dell Latitude D600 with a Pentium M processor? Let's have a look at it in a 🧵 here! Image So, first and foremost, this site is AWESOME! There is a bundle of drivers that you can download, and inside the bundle is a readme file with some very clear instructions on what to do! retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2018/05/dell-l…Image
Oct 21 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
Okay, time to explore the Compaq Presario 2200 that I brought back from Dallas! Like all of these, this one is a bit of a mixed bag. Let's have a look in a 🧵 here! Image So, first, like 100% of these I have seen, the plastics in the front are very brittle. This front panel has previously been glued on, you can see some glue residue here and there! Image
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Oct 21 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
Let's test a few things that I picked up at the DFW swap meet this weekend! We'll use the trusty Dell Precision 220 Workstation as the test rig, along with Windows 2000. Time for a 🧵 Image
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So, first we'll test the Diamond AGP card. It's an OEM card, and after some searching, I THINK it is a Diamond Speedstar A200, with the S3 Savage4 PRO chipset. In it goes! And I lied, I used Windows XP to test this one, I forgot šŸ˜‚. Anyway, it checks out āœ… Image
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Oct 19 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
Stopped by the Time Rift Arcade before heading to the airport. I'll show some of the games I played in a 🧵 Image
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First game was California Speed, at which I am terrible. Played a few boards of tetris too. I didn't play the NES or SNES but did grab a picture of the setup! Image
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Oct 18 • 17 tweets • 11 min read
Some other pictures. Someone selling a complete Atari 5200 for $250.. tempted šŸ˜‚ Image
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Virtual Boy. Homebrew system too! Image
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Oct 17 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Shopping Geekenspiel's website is always a fun experience for me! I decided to put some of these stickers to immediate use! First, the Dell Precision 220 Workstation now has a proper Dual Pentium III sticker. I placed a few more too! 🧵 Image
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I had a Multimedia PC sticker on my 486DX4/100 before I swapped the case, I think! And now I have one again! Image
Oct 12 • 10 tweets • 7 min read
The Compaq Deskpro 6000 is back up and running with a new hard drive. Of course, I hit a few issues along the way, some unrelated to the HDD replacement. Let's talk about them briefly in a 🧵 here! Image
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To get started, I decided to use the Dell Precision Workstation 220 to help with transferring data from the failing HDD to the new one since it was on the desk and is more accessible than the Compaq. We can see we have three HDDs detected (Dell, old Compaq, new Compaq). Good! Image
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Oct 4 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
We had a few requests to install Windows XP on the Dell Precision 220 Workstation. Is this dual Pentium III 1 GHz system up to the task? Let's find out, in a quick 🧵 here! Image So first of all, I decided to wait until my 1 GB memory upgrade arrived in the mail today. After a MemTest86+ run, we can see that the memory is good! Looking in the BIOS, we can see we have two 512 MB modules. Image
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Oct 4 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
How about we install another OS on my dual Pentium III 1GHZ Dell Precision 220? We'll go with another OS that supports multiple processors: Windows NT 3.51. Let's go! Time for a 🧵 Image
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The installation was pretty straight forward. Note how the WinNT installer detects multiple CPUs! I also set up the network card on install. And then installed Service Pack 5. Great! Image
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Oct 4 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
Some late-night eBay browsing got me again, and I bought this Gateway 2000 Vivitron 15 monitor. And yes, it was shipped, and yes, there was a shipping issue, but i think this is different than usual! Let's explore a bit in a 🧵 here! Image First, my reason to buy this was to replace my existing Gateway 2000 monitor which has a failing flyback transformer... or at least something that makes it go POP at random intervals that will scare the living daylights out of you 🤣 Image
Oct 2 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
Oh yeah, the beast just got some cool upgrades!! Let's talk about what I did to this Dell Precision 220 Workstation today, in a 🧵 here! Image So, in searching for CPUs, I saw this dual processor Compaq board on eBay for $28 bucks. With two CPUs, two voltage regulators, and I think a cache chip. I wasn't sure about the processor speed, but much to my surprise, these are 1GHZ CPUs!!! Wow!! Image
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Sep 27 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
Okay, so this absolute BEAST of a unit (Dell Precision 220 workstation) followed me home from the thrift store... I paid all of $26.50 for it. Let's explore it a bit... time for a 🧵 Image
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So, first things first, this Precision 220 workstation is designed for Windows NT/2K/98, so of course it is running WinXP šŸ˜‚. And it's not... great with that OS, but hey, that's ok. Image
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Sep 27 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
My new monitor is here, and it even arrived in one piece! Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here! Image First of all, for the intro pic, I'm terrible at taking CRT pictures, so apologies there. Let's talk about the brand. This is an AOC 15" monitor by Envision Peripherals. Image
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