Recently I updated the BIOS on my Compaq LTE 5400 to support large hard drives. However, this ended up causing a few other issues I had to solve. Anyone remember battling with DOS conventional memory and dealing with driver issues? Well... here we go! 🧵 As I noted in the opening post, I upgraded the BIOS. This upgrade basically adds XTIDE to the system to support large hard drives. But, XTIDE is what is known as an option ROM. Which means that it is going to take a slice of the "upper memory area" in order to work.

If you know me, you know that I like retro connectivity! Recently I picked up this most excellent WiRSa v3 (WiFi to Serial Adapter) from RetroDisks. It provides many ways to get online. Let's go through them and talk about my experiences with this device in a 🧵 here!


So, first, from the first post, you saw a picture of the device. I pulled that from the GitHub page that explains how to use this thing. You can find it here: github.com/nullvalue0/WiR…

Can we add a 240 GB SSD to this Compaq LTE 5400 laptop from 1996 running Windows 95? Yes, yes we can, and it just got easier with a recent breakthrough! Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here!

Okay! So, here we have a proprietary laptop with a proprietary BIOS. But we also have a persistent enthusiast who added XTIDE support to the LTE 5000 series BIOS. Wow! You can read about that here: bachler.se/lte5000xtide/

I picked up some interface cards at VCF East, and also found a CD-ROM drive on the free pile. Let's give them a test! We'll use one of my 486 DX2/66 systems. Let's go! Time for a 🧵


We'll start out with the CD-ROM. Looks like this was in a Compaq originally (allegedly a Presario). It's a model CR-581-KCQ, which I think makes it a 4X Panasonic drive. Anyway, I popped in my GCW Companion CD, and the drive passed! Hooray!!

Let's explore this AT&T 6300 that I picked up from consignment at VCF East this weekend. It's going to go to a friend soon, but we can at least look at it first! Time for a 🧵 First of all, here it is with the cover removed. What a weird computer!! Two disk drives. Apparently the video card connects the top logic board with the motherboard below.

How about some more exhibit pictures from VCF East? Here we have a cool Commodore / Atari accessor, an Amiga featuring me (😂) and a really cool AT&T Unix system


There was a ham radio exhibit with a Win3.1 computer, and a block game on vintage hardware exhibit!!

Let's have a look at some items I've seen at VCF East consignment. I imagine this will be a 🧵, so here we go! First, a cheap dell laptop. A Google blade, and an expensive IBM AT 😅


Cisco Aironet 350 cards (I have plenty of these!). Zenith notebook. Some generic PCs

I don't think it's any secret that I collect Compaq LTE 5000 series laptops. Well, yesterday, I got a grail item in the mail: the Compaq MPEG and TV Video Adapter. This allows for MPEG playback as well as video output. Let's explore the MPEG capabilities a bit!

First, why is this a grail item? It's because they are EXTREMELY rare. I do have a few other rare items, including a 3rd party Zip 100 drive, MultiBay Weight Saver (which I use to store spare parts apparently 😂), MultiBay HDD adapter, and laptop dock that takes ISA cards.

The time is nigh to discuss a tale of 4 eBay hard drives! We had some shipping perils, some DOA perils, and perhaps finally some success? Let's find out! 🧵time!


So, let's start with the two drives in the first box. While the seller did issue a full refund, he "couldn't possibly imagine" that the drives were damaged in shipment. That makes the one of us 🤣

Okay, let's look at one more retro item today: this ISA to USB interface card with an M-Systems Disk On Chip module! Can we use this little device to boot a computer? Absolutely! We'll test this out on the Pacman PC. Time for a 🧵
First, where did I get this, and what does it do? I picked this up from AliExpress, and this device basically lets you access USB drives from DOS systems. And it does support boot ROMs like the M-Systems Disk on Chip. We'll be using that today.

Recently I picked up this SMC network card, that supports network boot via a boot ROM. I spent some time with it, and we had some misadventures together. But it did give me a chance to test out my new POST card too. How could all of this be related? Time for a 🧵
First of all, let's take some time to admire the property sticker on the back! This card was allegedly property of America Online at some point 🤣

Hooray, my PS/2 Model 70 386 is fixed! No more issues with the system freezing on powerup when a Microsoft mouse is plugged in. How did I fix it? Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here!
In case you missed it, I recently got a device to display BIOS diagnostic codes on powerup, and we learned that the system was getting stuck when it was testing the keyboard controller:

https://x.com/RetroTechChris/status/2038838390435578165

My parallel port POST test card arrived today! Let's test out my IBM PS/2 Model 70 386 to see if we can figure out why it is not powering up when certain types of mice are plugged into it! Time for a quick 🧵
First, a little about the tester card. It's an AliExpress special. That said, it did get here pretty fast. I'm impressed!

Okay, you all voted, and for NOW, we're going to put this NEC MultiSpin 6X SCSI CD-ROM into my Pentium 233 system. This drive is REALLY cool! Let's talk about it briefly in a 🧵 here!
First of all, if this ends up being permanent, I won't be too sad. The Philips drive that was in the system is starting to look a little ratty 😅. Granted, for form over function, it is an 8X drive, so TECHNICALLY this is a downgrade!

Looks like someone about 20 minutes away from me is selling a massive Macintosh/PC collection. I think I might go have a look, just for fun of course! Some pics. 1/4


Pics 2/4

I was going through Compaq parts, and decided to retr0brite some Compaq LTE 5000 keyboards! I always wondered how this would turn out, and, well... I think it did! Let's talk about it in a 🧵 here!

First, I'll cut right to the chase! You saw one keyboard in the opening post, here's the other! This second one didn't turn out "quite as good" (have a look at the "slash" key above the enter key... and the enter key is slightly marbled), but I felt it was good enough!

Is it possible to own too many of these Xircom Pocket Ethernet III Adapters? These are great for getting PCs and PC compatible computers online that have a printer port but don't have an expansion bus. I'll give it a quick test on the Compaq Presario all in one. 🧵 time!


Here we are, connected up using a "phantom" power cable that connects to a PS/2 port. You can also use a wall adapter. And I also plugged in Ethernet with an RJ45 cable. Here we go!

I thought I'd see if I could repair the Windows 2000 install on the dual Pentium Pro tonight. Ended up going quite well, though this computer does have some unique hardware in it, which does add an extra step or two. Let's talk about it, you guessed it, a 🧵 here So, first, to recap from yesterday, due to a bad SATA cable, we ended up with some corruption, and this is what we got on startup. Let's boot up the Win2K CD then!

I got my Pentium Pro 200 MHz processors (with 1MB cache!) in the mail today. Thought I would get them installed and do some form of benchmarks. Did everything go off without a hitch? Of course not 😂. So, what happened this time? Let's talk about it! 🧵 time!
So, step 1 was deciding which operating system to use to do the benchmarks. I chose Windows 2000 to start. I thought I would go with SiSoft Sandra 99, but, well, that's too old, and I couldn't find a better version. Alright, no problem. Quick reboot... uh oh...

Happy #MARCHintosh! My virtual Quadra 800 and Compaq LTE 5100 (via PC MacLAN for Windows) are once again participating. You can even print to my Panasonic KX-P2123 printer that is "pretending" to be an Apple LaserWriter 😂. All via GlobalTalk!


If you want to join in on the fun virtually:
* Details for joining GlobalTalk here:
* Once you get access to the spreadsheet, see the Instructions/Links tab. See Line 36 for my setup guide for Windows 11, I used that together with the Debian guide!marchintosh.com/globaltalk.html

Oookay, the Compaq Presario 5528 is back on the desk! I wanted to spend some more time looking at the MPEG-1 decoder card under Windows 95 OSR 2.5. And I have good news! Time for a quick 🧵 As some may recall, here was the next thing I was going to try: copying over the Windows 95A Media Player to Windows 95 OSR2.5. But as it ends up, that wasn't necessary!! I'll explain.

https://x.com/RetroTechChris/status/2025813885014384996