This is a typical desktop 486 PC from the early 90's. It originally had a 486SX 33MHz processor, 4MB of RAM (max 64MB), 170MB hard disc, a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk drive, and a 14 inch CRT monitor for the SVGA video outputIt originally came with MS DOS 6.20 and Windows 3.1
I later added a Sound Blaster compatible sound card, a CDROM drive, and I've recently replaced the dead hard drive with a 512MB Compact Flash card
Views from the front and back, nothing special here, just the usual switches, buttons and ports you would expect
The Dell PS/2 keyboard and mouse, the keyboard feels nice, but has some marks where the cables have eaten into the plastic, and the mouse is a ball mouse
A 14 inch Dell Ultrascan monitor, this has some geometry issues a recap would likely fix
Inside the PC, an overview, the power supply, the (dead) hard disc, and the expansion slots with Sound Blaster card
Close up of the 486 processor with heat sink, Sound Blaster card, the IDE pins on the right are for a CDROM drive just in case the host PC doesn't have a spare IDE channel. The RAM slots with one 4MB stick installed, and the clock battery, which is dead so I get a "Time of day clock stopped" error on boot and I need to set the time and some BIOS settings before it boots
I acquired this modem for the PC, but never used it, I've no idea if it works, and the cable is broken anyway
Upon boot I discovered the original hard disk is dead, it sounds like the heads are stuck, and I get a "Hard disk controller failure" on boot, so it has been replaced with a 512MB compact flash card with adaptor, I bought the type that sits in a slot so the card can be accessed from the rear of the PC, but the IDE cable isn't long enough to reach from the centre of the PC, to the left, then back to the right. Oh well, it'll just have to sit in the middle where the original hard disk was, the backing plate unscrews anyway
In operation the PC is so much quieter without the original hard disc running, and if you're wondering, the hard disc activity light on the front of the PC still works
Total cost of Compact Flash card and adaptor: £9
Replacement OEM hard disc: £150 minimum for used old stock
Installing MSDOS went without a hitch. I also installed the sound card and CDROM drivers, and added the command to load the mouse driver to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file so games using the mouse work
Quickly testing out a version of Tetris, this is a "Terminate and stay resident" programme, so you can play at school or work, but quickly hide the screen when the teacher or boss is around. Then call it back with CTRL-Shift-T.Please note, I never did this while at college
Installing Windows 3.1, during the installation I found disk 4 was corrupt, the PC still boots into Windows, but some programmes and library's are missing, most notably the file manager. I have "found" some disc images online, so I will make a new copy when my USB floppy drive arrives
Yes I did swap the CRT for an LCD, it's much lighter and easier, and actually looks good in 640x480, even though the monitor complains it's not in it's optimal resolution
This PC should support Windows 95, but I like 3.1, it reminds me of a simpler time
Lets try out some games, Wolfenstein 3D runs in full screen with no issues
Software and documentation
Dell diagnostic disk and manuals
MSDOS and Windows 3.1 discs and manual
EDEE CDROM driver disc and manual
MAD16 Pro Sound Blaster compatible driver/software disc and manual. I'm sure I have the box for this somewhere
Broderbund Family Tree Maker
Wordstar for Windows
Borland Quattro Pro
Some random driver discs that were likely for another PC, the HP printer discs were for an old printer, I think the middle disc was for a USB CD burner I used to have, and the Sitecom disc on the right is for the modem card I used with my HP Omnibook 3000
Microstar software discs
Shooting Gallery Plus
DOS Learning System
Caddiehack and More
As Easy As
Scorched Earth
Titanium Seal software discs
Crystal Caves
Wolfenstein 3D
Parents
Jill of the Jungle
Dare to dream
Some random magazine cover discs
What PC February 1992
PC Plus December 1993
Unknown Disk 7 (still sealed in wrapper)
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
?UNDEF'D FUNCTION ERROR