Agent Orange
Veteran Member
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]My 386 project is up, running, and nearly complete. The first motherboard was won on an eBay auction from a dealer in B.C., and proved to have more bugs than the average Terminix commercial. Fortunately, I was able to return it and received a full refund plus shipping. That almost never happens, especially when its out of the country. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]I was able to negotiate a trade, involving one of my 486 motherboards, for an AM386/40 (mini) baby AT 386 with one of our forum members. The 386 mobo has 5 slots, 128 KB cache, and supports 32 MB of RAM. The small footprint of the this board fits nicely into a 90's style mini tower. The tower has a 1.44 floppy, 1.2 floppy, and a CDROM. All components are the standard 'putty' color of the day. The power supply came with the case and is rated at 200 W.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]BTW, the case was purchased some time ago, and was NIB for $15 from someone who clearing out a storage area. Kind of cheaply made, you could slice a finger on the thin aluminum if you're not careful, but the price was right. The eight 4 MB 30-pin RAM sticks were purchased new, for about $3.50 a piece, from a west coast outfit in Santa Clara (OEM something or another). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]The five 16-bit ISA slots are occupied as follows: a SIIG floppy/HD controller, a bog standard Oak SVGA card, an ancient SMC NIC card, a generic multifunction card, and last but not least, a Sound Blaster 16 Vibra. The mouse is a serial Dexxa from about 1987 or so. The HD is a 8.4 GB Maxtor which is partitioned to about 2 GB apiece via an On Track version 2.64 disk manager overlay (DOS). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]The O/S is a Windows 95 OEM version (for a new PC only) from 1998, and is installed as a 32-bit system. The MSDOS.SYS file was modified to BOOTGUI=0, thereby allowing the system to always boot to DOS. Adding LOGO=0 will ditch the annoying splash screen but does not speed up the Windows loading process. A typical AUTOEXEC & CONFIG is used for the DOS boot. You can use MEMMAKER.EXE and MSD.EXE (Not MSD.COM), hijacked from MS-DOS 6.2, to aid in setting up your DOS system, even though they are 16-bit apps. To enter windows, simply type WIN. The DOS system boots directly to the DA menu system and the housekeeping is by QuickDOS 3.0 (never really cared for XTREE). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]Software is a work-in-progress. I have Alpha FOUR version 2 installed for a DOS date base and Borland's Quattro Pro for a windows spreadsheet. As soon as I can figure out where I stashed my Office 97 disks, I'll install them (yes, I have a legal copy with keys). I have a few games loaded. Doom 2 runs as it should. Microsoft Entertainment Package, the one that has Tetris and Mines, etc., runs as you would expect. Microsoft Flight Simulator runs great in DOS – used to be the litmus test for your system's IBM compatibility check in the day. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]This setup is definitely not a high-end screamer but it is representative of what you may have purchased about 20 years ago. You might say “I would have went with a 486”, but the AM386/40 was a great performer for its time and a heck of a lot cheaper. I still like to dabble with BASIC programming and that's what I intend to use it for. However, I do plan to load a whole covey of DOS console games like Donkey Kong, Centipede, and the sort. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]I was able to negotiate a trade, involving one of my 486 motherboards, for an AM386/40 (mini) baby AT 386 with one of our forum members. The 386 mobo has 5 slots, 128 KB cache, and supports 32 MB of RAM. The small footprint of the this board fits nicely into a 90's style mini tower. The tower has a 1.44 floppy, 1.2 floppy, and a CDROM. All components are the standard 'putty' color of the day. The power supply came with the case and is rated at 200 W.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]BTW, the case was purchased some time ago, and was NIB for $15 from someone who clearing out a storage area. Kind of cheaply made, you could slice a finger on the thin aluminum if you're not careful, but the price was right. The eight 4 MB 30-pin RAM sticks were purchased new, for about $3.50 a piece, from a west coast outfit in Santa Clara (OEM something or another). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]The five 16-bit ISA slots are occupied as follows: a SIIG floppy/HD controller, a bog standard Oak SVGA card, an ancient SMC NIC card, a generic multifunction card, and last but not least, a Sound Blaster 16 Vibra. The mouse is a serial Dexxa from about 1987 or so. The HD is a 8.4 GB Maxtor which is partitioned to about 2 GB apiece via an On Track version 2.64 disk manager overlay (DOS). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]The O/S is a Windows 95 OEM version (for a new PC only) from 1998, and is installed as a 32-bit system. The MSDOS.SYS file was modified to BOOTGUI=0, thereby allowing the system to always boot to DOS. Adding LOGO=0 will ditch the annoying splash screen but does not speed up the Windows loading process. A typical AUTOEXEC & CONFIG is used for the DOS boot. You can use MEMMAKER.EXE and MSD.EXE (Not MSD.COM), hijacked from MS-DOS 6.2, to aid in setting up your DOS system, even though they are 16-bit apps. To enter windows, simply type WIN. The DOS system boots directly to the DA menu system and the housekeeping is by QuickDOS 3.0 (never really cared for XTREE). [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]Software is a work-in-progress. I have Alpha FOUR version 2 installed for a DOS date base and Borland's Quattro Pro for a windows spreadsheet. As soon as I can figure out where I stashed my Office 97 disks, I'll install them (yes, I have a legal copy with keys). I have a few games loaded. Doom 2 runs as it should. Microsoft Entertainment Package, the one that has Tetris and Mines, etc., runs as you would expect. Microsoft Flight Simulator runs great in DOS – used to be the litmus test for your system's IBM compatibility check in the day. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Unicode MS, sans-serif]This setup is definitely not a high-end screamer but it is representative of what you may have purchased about 20 years ago. You might say “I would have went with a 486”, but the AM386/40 was a great performer for its time and a heck of a lot cheaper. I still like to dabble with BASIC programming and that's what I intend to use it for. However, I do plan to load a whole covey of DOS console games like Donkey Kong, Centipede, and the sort. [/FONT]
I used it for software testing IPRoute (DOS based IP routing and NAT software from the mid 90s).