With retroPC the build itself is often an adventure, so there is always something I want to dwell on.
So here will be about the peculiarities of my build, a little bit of software installation and some benchmarks.
Iron
Case
I chose a standard AT case so that the design doesn’t scream that this is a late system – which means that I needed a Turbo button, a lock to disable the keyboard, and, highly preferably, a frequency indicator. And normal condition, because I have outwardly quite nice case, but its frame is crumpled and rusty, so not really want to use.
I decided to put an ATX power supply as I don’t have much faith in old ATx power supplies. The ATX, however, is also pretty old, but it will be much easier to replace it. Its condition is ok though, all capacitors seem to be intact and there is a bonus -5 volt voltage, which isn’t really necessary, but it would be better.
Storage mediums
As I said in the last part, in this matter I prefer the convenience of authenticity. That’s why I gave up my hard drive for a memory stick and my 3.5″ drive for a USB emulator. I did put in a 5.25″ drive but it was more for decoration even though it works, in principle. The optical disk drive is quite modern, though of an old school design, also for looks. I will not use it – due to the fact that there is a memory card, which can be quickly removed, copy the necessary things from the big brother and put the reverse.
CF card adapters on the back of the system where they mount instead of a plug are very popular.
But they have two drawbacks:
- the IDE cable may not be long enough to reach both the back wall and the optical drive – and you often only have one IDE channel.
- Access to the back wall may be difficult if the system is not standing directly on the table. That’s the way it works for me.
So I decided to put the memory card on the front panel. There is a ready-made solution for installation in the 3.5″ bay, but it is not very accessible – not many places on sale, and it is relatively expensive. Therefore it was necessary to do something myself.
I gave up on the option of cutting a hole in the case right away, I decided to make something up in the 3.5″ bay. The easiest way to do it was to cut a hole in the plug and screw an adapter to it from the back. But I didn’t really like the way that this would look, so I decided to go another way by gutting the 3.5″ drive and hiding the adapter inside. Then from the outside it would look like a normal floppy drive – especially when no memory card was inserted.
A little work with a screwdriver and pliers, some hot glue and double-sided tape – and the “floppy drive” was ready.
The LED lights up for disk activity in sync with the housing.
Of the disadvantages of my solution:
1) IDE-tail is attached so that the second device can not hang onto it. Can be solved by replacing this tail on the IDE-extender mom-pop, just to the outside of the pope to bring out. 300 rubles on ali, maybe I’ll order.
2) The door dangles, no longer holds it spring. In principle, it is not too bad – it is under its own weight normally hangs when the card is not inserted.
3) The floppy eject button became purely decorative, just covers the hole. The inside is filled with glue and completely immobile. There is no cure. There was a bad idea to make ejecting the memory card by pressing the button, but there would have to be a very complicated design system levers.
4) Also, for some reason I have here 12 volts shorted to the body – maybe the adapter is defective, maybe when assembling something badly scratched somewhere. But, since 12 volt is not needed here, I just did not connect this contact in the end.
I am quite happy with the look of the device, even if all drives are colored. The black one stands out too much – I will change it later.
The memory is .
I wanted to put 32+32+8, but some glitches in the modules and some motherboard quirks interfered.
One of the 32x megabyte modules from the 486 works at half capacity – on the pentium it’s fine with all the capacity.
But the motherboard only accepts the same modules in two adjacent slots. That is, if I put in 1 and 2 slots 32 and 8, at boot I see 64 and memory error. If I put 8 and 32, I see 16. Slots 3 and 4 work similarly. So in fact I can only use different modules in slots 1 and 3, and 2 and 4 will have to be left free for now. For now I just put one module for 32 megabytes.
The graphics card
I picked Trident so that when I switched it on it would show me information about itself in different colored letters as a tribute to the Trident 9000 memory. But it didn’t. The 9000 itself shows it, but I have only got this from the 9440 a couple of times, but the first thing it displays is a screen with the memory test.
Also, they say that there may be problems with this trident in Windows with 64 megabytes of RAM. Not checked yet.
Mice and keyboards
It is common to look for a keyboard for retro PCs, some ancient mechanical, with a click. But somehow I don’t feel nostalgic about them. I used to have IBM Model M, but now I got used to scissor keyboards with short key travel and the Model M became uncomfortable. So I sold it to a fan and connected a PS/2 to the 486. I don’t even know what year it was, but I still have it at home. I think it’s from back in the noughties.
With the mouse, the question is a little more complicated. The PS/2 mouse was only implemented on PCI motherboards. Before that it was usually only found on branded integrated ones. So it is common to look for a mouse for the COM port. For COM I have an optical mouse with coordinate pad. It’s from the noughties but the working principle is from the nineties. I used to have a Genius one just like it.
But I use this mouse more with my laptop (it has PS/2 as well. But I often find it more convenient to plug my keyboard in there.) So for the desktop computer I needed its own mouse, so I do not have to worry too much. Of course, I could get another one of these, but I wanted to hook up a retroPC through KVM-switch, so I needed to connect it to a 486 mouse via PS/2.
And there is such a variant. On one well-known forum they make very useful COM-PS/2 converter boards. If you want convenience rather than authenticity. Inserted in the ISA 8bit, hangs on the address of one of the COM ports (I put it on COM2, COM1 left the native) and just works. I think you can even plug a USB mouse through the adapter, but I have not seriously tried it. My razer deathadder won’t start and I don’t have anything easier at hand, only some wireless stuff. The old Genius Netscroll EYE works without any problems.
The monitor
I am not nostalgic about CRT monitors either. I can watch them in a museum, but I don’t want to use them anymore, all those frequency and geometry settings, the space occupied on my desk… No way. So my question was about choosing the right LCD for me, that would be both a normal second monitor for the main computer and a good match with my retro PPC. My second LCD was a 21″ FullHD monitor with VGA input, but I had no ability to scale it up, just stretch it full screen. In the end I decided I needed a “square” monitor with 4:3 aspect ratio – those were the major resolutions of those years – 320×200/240, 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768… And that without 15″ 1024×768, leaving only 20″ with 1600×1200. I added an IPS matrix to my search parameters and found a Sony S205K. It is not much smaller in pixels than FullHD and scales well for non-uniform resolutions without aspect ratio disorder (leaves black margins).
A separate button for switching inputs – a wonderful thing, you will not see so often on modern monitors, they are more fond of one button-joystick to control everything.
When assembled.
There are no more details – assembled, screwed, turned on and use. The only thing is that I spent ten minutes setting up the frequency indicator. And half a day looking for the right key for the keyboard.
I don’t want to arrange the cables in a nice way, the configuration is not final yet, some things will change then and I’ll arrange everything, including the speaker, which is still hanging around the case.
Cards from top to bottom: network (ISA), PS/2 (ISA 8bit), multicard (VLB), graphics card (VLB), sound card (ISA). Two ISA slots were left free.
Total specifications
Processor: Intel 486 DX2 66 MHz
RAM: 32 Mbytes
Graphics card: Trident 9440 VLB 2MB
Sound card: Sound Blaster AWE32 CT3900
Network card: 3Com Etherlink III
Hard Drive: Transcend 2GB CF card
3.5″ drive: USB-fdd emulator
5.25″ drive: Samsung 1.2MB
Optical disc drive: Teac CD-W552E (not connected, a plug for beauty).
Hardware Prospects
As time goes by, I will replace the disk drive emulator with a gray one. I have to have one at home anyway, it’s not just for retroPCs I need.
Also I want to replace my current optical drive with a more authentic one. With caddy, for example. Or a CD changer. Maybe a SCSI.
Then a SCSI controller would be needed as well.
Maybe I’ll try to get at least 64 or even 128 memory.
There might be potentially an MPEG decoder or maybe a Roland MIDI module… But those aren’t planned. Just a dream.
Software
Since I can change “hard drives” at will, I may well keep several memory cards with different OS, settings, etc.
I could play with OS/2, NextStep, Windows 95/98. But basic will still be DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.11.
I don’t see the point in describing what is going on in detail. The only thing I can do is to remind you that the DOS installer has lived on, along with Windows XP, until 2014.