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Pocket 386

Maikudou said:
So, should we all buy this 386 thingy?
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If you can wait a bit, I ordered it when it arrives, I will share pictures of the HW if I can as well the components, and my experience. I'm not skilled enough to design and build a portable 386, and I dont want a desktop, so for me if it works its worth to get, risk is if its works :D
 
Imagios said:
If you can wait a bit, I ordered it when it arrives, I will share pictures of the HW if I can as well the components, and my experience. I'm not skilled enough to design and build a portable 386, and I dont want a desktop, so for me if it works its worth to get, risk is if its works :D
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I like this attitude.
 
Maikudou said:
So, should we all buy this 386 thingy?
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Yay, back on topic. ;)

Honestly, I'd say if you think you *might* be interested in it and have $200 fun bucks burning a hole in your pocket go for it. I would just advise going into it with your eyes wide open and with the understanding that it's a toy.

(I mean, let's be straight here for the older folks on this forum: $200 today was like $67 in 1984, and according to the 1984 Sears Christmas Wishbook that would just about buy you a Speak-And-Spell and a Cabbage Patch Doll. And if we're looking at modern toys that $200 will get you two or three shockingly small themed Lego sets. So... in the grand scheme of things it's not like there's that much at stake here.)

Do I think it's a "good buy" even if it's far more perfect than I give it credit for? Well, if it's what you want then sure, why not. I don't think it's for me personally, but in large part it's because if I wanted a 386SX-class machine(*) no 16 bit ISA slots is a hard deal breaker.

(* My level of desire for such a thing would probably be in the "if I saw it on a street corner I'd definitely take it home" category. As discussed in some other threads I have a few ideas for building some 16 bit expansion card projects, but I also have a lot of other projects on my list that I haven't found time for.)
 
Looks like it has pins on the back for a 16-bit ISA breakout, but I'm not sure I trust it enough to plug anything in.

If this was available as a mini-ITX board with real ports on the backplate instead of all those goofy dongles, I might be interested. I find the current "mini notebook" form factor a bit strange.
 
Plasma said:
If this was available as a mini-ITX board with real ports on the backplate instead of all those goofy dongles, I might be interested. I find the current "mini notebook" form factor a bit strange.
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Same.

I wonder if anyone can get ahold of the manufacturer and let him know "hey, people want this, can you build it?".
 
Plasma said:
Looks like it has pins on the back for a 16-bit ISA breakout, but I'm not sure I trust it enough to plug anything in.
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Doh, you're right. I got the impression that it could *only* handle the same 8-bit mini-backplane they were offering for the XT book. I guess the 16 bit extension is in fact present on a second header... although, FWIW, the only backplane they seem to be selling for it is the 8-bit one? So I guess you're on your own laying out a 16 bit backplane to hook to it.

I gotta be honest, actually; I probably have more trust in this thing's ability to drive ISA cards than I do the 8088 book. That device uses a lot of CMOS (HC, not HCT) parts, so its ISA bus is technically going to be out of spec. This thing just runs the lines from the SoC straight to the bus connector, so unless the SoC was mal-spec'ed it probably at least uses the correct voltage levels for ISA/slash/PC104 cards.
 
Just a question, for those of you who got the Pocket386. Does your computer hold the date? Mine doesn't. I setup the new date and time and, the moment I reset the computer, the date/time is back to 1948...
 
Riccardo said:
Just a question, for those of you who got the Pocket386. Does your computer hold the date? Mine doesn't. I setup the new date and time and, the moment I reset the computer, the date/time is back to 1948...
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is there no CMOS battery?
 
Riccardo said:
I haven't dismantled it yet, but actually I cannot see any. I think there is none. For sure, it cannot hold the time/date.
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For laughs I looked at the schematic they posted, and it appears to me that an attempt was made to allow the clock to work. I am no expert, not even remotely, when it comes to analog stuff, but the power supply circuitry of this thing seems... sketchy, to me. If I'm interpreting it correctly they're using a 3.7v lithium cell as the only bulk battery in the system, and there's a bunch of spaghetti that I think amounts to a boost converter to supply VCC? There a pin on the SoC that's supposed to be hooked to a CMOS battery (along with a couple other pins for the standard 32khz watch crystal, which according to the schematics is present), and they have that CMOS battery pin connected via diodes to *both* the boosted VCC and the raw output from the battery. Which leaves me... confused? I'm not sure why they did that dual connect thing; maybe it's an attempt to have the RTC directly powered by the AC adapter when it's plugged in?

Again, it's a bit above my pay grade to sort out if that might be why it doesn't work or if it's something else.

FWIW, the datasheet for the SoC is fun reading. Of particular interest: despite being based on a "386SX-like" core the SoC actually supports up to 64MB of EDO RAM. If someone here really wants to have a mini-386 motherboard AliExpress is listing these SoCs for between $10 and $20 a head and it doesn't look like there's a whole lot more to making an ISA bus computer out of them than wiring up some appropriate SIMM and ISA bus sockets and a pile of crystals.
 
Eudimorphodon said:
For laughs I looked at the schematic they posted, and it appears to me that an attempt was made to allow the clock to work. I am no expert, not even remotely, when it comes to analog stuff, but the power supply circuitry of this thing seems... sketchy, to me. If I'm interpreting it correctly they're using a 3.7v lithium cell as the only bulk battery in the system, and there's a bunch of spaghetti that I think amounts to a boost converter to supply VCC? There a pin on the SoC that's supposed to be hooked to a CMOS battery (along with a couple other pins for the standard 32khz watch crystal, which according to the schematics is present), and they have that CMOS battery pin connected via diodes to *both* the boosted VCC and the raw output from the battery. Which leaves me... confused? I'm not sure why they did that dual connect thing; maybe it's an attempt to have the RTC directly powered by the AC adapter when it's plugged in?
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I just would like to know if other users are experiencing the same issue, or whether it's just my system that is flawed. In the end, I decided to return the Pocket386 via Aliexpress, as the non-working time/date is too annoying for me to bother keeping it. I cringe at the idea of having to enter it every single time I boot it. Maybe it will be fixed in the future, if it's a design flaw - maybe not.
 
Just like the Hand386 before it, the power supply circuit on the Pocket 386 is woeful. The decision to use the main battery to power the RTC is baffling. I've lost the date and BIOS settings way too often (especially when I start it up with a PicoGUS on the ISA port, probably causes too much voltage droop on power on) so I'm going to be modding mine to power the RTC with a CR2032.

Even with this computer's flaws, I really like this form factor, much better than the Hand386 which I got last year. I use it as a portable dev target platform for the PicoGUS since I'm on the road quite a bit.
 
@polpo - is that using the Femto style card?

I've come to the realisation that to get my desired access to the point and click graphical adventure era, I'll need consider something other than yet another retro rebuild. This device might be a good option, despite the minor issues.

Has anyone attempted running many of the lucasart games on this device? I realise the requirements of each game, but real world reports are always better.
 
Plasma said:
Nearly all traffic fatalities are caused by driver error. To reduce deaths, it would make more sense to require additional driver tests rather than vehicle inspections.


I would put manufacturing regulations in a different category than regulations on personal property. Which is another can of worms, because it can be difficult to ensure product safety if people lack common sense.
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I know this is going offtopic now, but there are two issues, one is readiness the other is impact. Let's disregard readiness and presume the car owner is really prudent when it comes to regular maintenance. He can still mount aftermarket equipment that can damage the road or worsen driving conditions for other drivers, the car can still output disallowed exhausts, etc.

All of this is regulated and can be checked by police over a stop. But to simplify down checks and insurance system you do this once a year.

I've put a example situation. I own a car, it's a small city car 20 years old. It has lighting levels from 20 years ago and it has dimensions from 20 years ago. When I'm alone on the road, my visibility is fine. When I'm surrounded by traffic at night, my visibility is not fine, because a lot of people are driving around cars that are very high, have extreme lights even in regular mode, and those cars have tinted rear glasses - I am not able to see through them on a traffic stop. I'm waiting for a left turn from leftmost track on a big city crossway, and I'm not able to see through this guy in front of me. We need to proceed at the same time, or else we'll be blocking the traffic of opposite direction once they go green. But I cannot see through him, so when he starts, I need to hail mary and keep formation with him, regardless of him maybe being an idiot and going to force his way through the opposite direction traffic, in that case the guy on the other side will probably smash into me.

We've went a bit far for this discussion about computing and generations, this stuff we talk about is society and society is all about culture and geography. In regards to traffic I'm sure you'd move a bit over to my side if you lived here for a year.
 
I'll accept that culture is a contributing factor to our differences. My opinions are based on how the majority of the public behaves here. I don't mind derailing my own thread a bit, but I'm already way off in the weeds on my original point. Which was that we should be doing a better job at teaching practical life skills to young people.

Zare said:
When I'm surrounded by traffic at night, my visibility is not fine, because a lot of people are driving around cars that are very high, have extreme lights even in regular mode
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I agree that even stock headlights can be blinding on new vehicles, especially pickups. But this needs to be handled by stricter regulations on the manufacturing side.

In the case of someone outfitting aftermarket lights that are too bright and using them on-road, well there are already traffic laws against that enforced by the police. And when driving off-road, those lights might be useful. Inspection would force them to be removed regardless of intended use. It's unnecessary regulation of personal property. (And let's be honest, people can easily remove/change things to pass inspection and put them back immediately afterward.)

Zare said:
I am not able to see through them on a traffic stop. I'm waiting for a left turn from leftmost track on a big city crossway, and I'm not able to see through this guy in front of me. We need to proceed at the same time, or else we'll be blocking the traffic of opposite direction once they go green. But I cannot see through him, so when he starts, I need to hail mary and keep formation with him, regardless of him maybe being an idiot and going to force his way through the opposite direction traffic, in that case the guy on the other side will probably smash into me.
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This seems very unsafe on your part. Rear window tint that you can't see through is not any worse than driving behind a semi truck. You should never proceed without being able to see if it's clear, even if it means waiting longer to turn left.
 
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radventure said:
@polpo - is that using the Femto style card?
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Yep, using the Femto style card. I’d like to build more to sell due to the increased interest due to the release of the Pocket 386, but I do worry about people blaming it for losing their CMOS settings. But it seems like people are losing their settings anyway, regardless of what’s plugged in.
 
polpo said:
Yep, using the Femto style card. I’d like to build more to sell due to the increased interest due to the release of the Pocket 386, but I do worry about people blaming it for losing their CMOS settings. But it seems like people are losing their settings anyway, regardless of what’s plugged in.
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Maybe just add a note about date & time observations, to whatever listing you have for selling these? I'm still to decide if I want to outlay cash for the Pocket386, but the PicoGUS (especially in the Femto form-factor) is on my list regardless.
 
My experience with the Pocket 386 is that it has a useless RTC.

1. Entering BIOS setting will reset the clock to 1948
2. Using date/time from the DOS command line will report the time from the last time you set it.
3. Power cycling will leave you back to the last value you set the RTC's time.
4. Glitches, multiple reboots, turning the power button on/off/on really fast can all wipe the CMOS NVRAM and time/date.

I didn't look at the schematics, but I've been in charge of RTC silicon bring-up in another chip (ARM) and this behaves like it has incorrectly powered the wrong rails and possibly violates the power rail sequencing for the RTC. It's retaining the CMOS and RTC but not running the RTC oscillator.

When I run the date/time commands above. This may be showing the timer interrupt counter rather than reading from RTC each time. I don't know DOS 7 internals well enough to say which. But at some point during DOS start up, it had read the RTC correctly.

There's a lot I like about the Pocket 386. And I enjoyed playing games on it. But I think overall I made a mistake in buying it. I also have a v1 Book 8088 and I preferred the larger keyboard of the Book 8088. The display on the Pocket 386 is heads and shoulders above the v1, and it's not even because I'm dealing with CGA. It's sharper and brighter. And the serial/parallel interfaces on the 8088v2 is especially appealing to me, because I think an ESP8266/ESP32 based fake wifi "modem" would be a real treat on this. I could "dial up" to one of the many online BBSes.

I imagine that the RTC issues are fixable with some rewiring with a soldering iron and patch wires. But is it even worth anyone's time to fix it? Should I gut it and try to upgrade my 8088v1's LCD. Sell it on eBay for a whole lot less than what I paid. I don't know it.
 
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