I'm building a new Monster PC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Archive]

Flybye

04-19-2005, 02:53 AM

IBM 8088XT (Hopefully with a math coprocessor)
CGA or better graphics adapter
10mb or higher HD
512k or more of ram
5 1/4 floppy
MS-DOS 3.0 or higher

Games to use on this bad boy:
Spectrum Holobyte's Gato, Falcon 1.0, and PT-109.

Goal:
To teach my brother (14) and sister (16) what I (31) had to put up with in the 80s!!

80s RULE!!!! :D :thumbsup: :D :thumbsup: :D

Flybye

04-19-2005, 03:04 AM

Oh, that's a 4.77mhz CPU ;)

Synthohol

04-19-2005, 03:12 AM

i think my first computer was coleco football.

Kill-Switch

04-19-2005, 05:21 AM

Damn that's a monster system, puts all others to shame :)

Nut

04-19-2005, 08:26 AM

Don't forget the games Lode Runner, Zork, The Bard's Tale Series, King's Quest Series....

DCMan

04-19-2005, 08:50 AM

Is that one of those new ones where you can push the "Turbo" button at the front of the case and it will turbo charge it to 6 or even (if you're lucky) 7 mhz? :eek:

Nut

04-19-2005, 09:00 AM

Oh and it looks like you left out the Copy2 Option Board.
Gotta have that so you can make "backups" of all you programms ;)

Flybye

04-19-2005, 09:27 AM

Turbo Button?

This is BEFORE that time LOL

illmatik

04-19-2005, 10:26 AM

http://www.the-underdogs.org

Nuff said.

Although Keef the Thief, Deathtrack, Tongue of the Fatman, and Centurion:Defender of Rome come to mind ;)

DCMan

04-19-2005, 12:17 PM

This is my first computer.... check out the size of that disk!! hehe :D

http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/domesday/bbcdomesday.jpg

http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue36/tna/labdomesday.jpg

Good old BBC Model B with Domesday thingy on it...
(Not my actual computer in the pics, but exactly the same....!)

Player0

04-19-2005, 02:23 PM

Aha!! Thats farking great!! :)

*LOL* at the BBC...where did you ever get that thing? Is that a trackball? Ooo I want it...

Player0

04-19-2005, 02:23 PM

On that note, Im blown away that 8088 could run a math coprocessor...I didnt know those existed until the 8086/8087 ;)

ricky

04-20-2005, 12:58 AM

Well, the 8088 is the main CPU. The 8087 was the optional math coprocessor designed to be paired with the 8088.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8087

Player0

04-20-2005, 12:43 PM

Ah cool, didnt know it would work! :)

Yeah, overclock that bad boy! I remember an old XT I had. Im not sure if it was an 8088 or an 8086 but boy did it SUCK! :)

illmatik

04-20-2005, 12:58 PM

I was an apple guy in those days. My IIGS blew away the PC for sound and gfx. I still have my old 386SX16 @ my parents place tho. With its massive 20MB RLL drive and 5MB RLL that sounded like crunching bones on a good day.

Flybye

04-20-2005, 04:03 PM

.......but boy did it SUCK! :)
Considering there was nothing much else around, I thought it was godly :D
...My IIGS blew away the PC for sound and gfx...
Yeah, but look at the time/technology differances between each one. The XT came out in 83 while the IIGS came out in 86. The XT started its life being upgradable to 640k of ram while the IIGS was upgradable to 8mb of ram. Plus the IIGS came with integrated sound and color. All that was optional on the XT when it came out.

That's almost like comparing a Pentium Pro with a Pentium IV :P

I specifically want to try to find an XT because it is the first computer I ever really started to play with. I was 9 years old when my father got that computer, and I even helped him do all sorts of uppgrades to it. We upgraded it to 640k ram and installed a CGA card in. I remember even having to set DIP switches for the memory we installed!!

Maybe I'll even try to get a copy of Windows 1.0 :D I suppose I'd have to try to find a mouse compatible with the XT, too.

Nut

04-20-2005, 04:48 PM

Maybe I'll even try to get a copy of Windows 1.0 :D I suppose I'd have to try to find a mouse compatible with the XT, too.

I'll have to check but I think I may have a copy of that.

Last year my dad was going to throw out the old XT but I said I would hang on to it. He gave me boxes and boxes of old disks both 5 1/4 and 3.5" so there's something of everything.

I know I have lots of DOS disks. Maybe I'll see if I can even get that old thing booted up.

Player0

04-20-2005, 10:28 PM

Any PS2 mouse will connect to an 9/25 pin XT serial port. The adapters used to be pretty common, I prolly have a bunch of them here. Will Windows 1.0 run on the 8088. Honestly it sounds like a blast of a project! :) I meant suck in a good way ;)

The IIGS was a lovely Apple that just got destroyed by the Mac. Apple never really gave it the support it needed.

The XT is really from the 8-bit days. Compared to the Atari 800XL/XE or the C64/128 of the day, the XT was really just an expensive bulky business machine. Did the Amiga or ST exist in 83? Hmm. Its hard to beleive we're all on IBM-esque PCs ;)

Flybye

04-20-2005, 11:18 PM

Apple never really wanted to advertise the IIGS since they really wanted the MAC to fly. It's a shame, though. I've always loved Apples (and oranges ;) ) and most most certainly have an Apple if they were able easily use all the PC software (without emulation crap)

The Amiga 1000 was released in 85. They came equipped with 256k stock and were upgradable to 8mb.

IBM came out with the 16bit 286s ATs in 84. Those were upgradable to 3mb of ram. There WAS a 286 16bit XT, but that monster was released in 86 to just get rid of overstock XT cases.

unacceptable_risk

04-21-2005, 12:56 AM

In the museum here, I have one of the first IBM PC's sold in Australia. as original as it gets, complete with enormous 2x5 1/4 inch bay HD's with a whopping 20 meg of storage. This one is fully tweaked with RGB colour monitor and new cga graphics. Twin 5 1/4" floppie drives. 4.77Mhz of pacgal power. I just can't bring myself to get rid of it :D

Flybye

04-21-2005, 01:01 AM

When I get my own house, I want to set up a room with NOTHING but 80s stuff in it :D

80s TV, with my Atari 2600 attached to it, 80s furniture, an 80s stereo, and finally an XT :) I guess it wouldn't hurt to have some 80s music on cassette tape or LP. When did music CDs hit the streets? :P

unacceptable_risk

04-21-2005, 01:11 AM

Synthohol

04-21-2005, 01:21 AM

i have windows 3.1 still in the wrapper with certificate of authenticity with the hologram sticker!
it clearly says on the manual cover "For distribution only with a new PC" so i was waiting for one to fall in my lap so i can finally install an OS from floppy again.

Office95 on floppy was like 30 disks, i have since used them all until the media was worn translucent!

a couple years ago i has 30 486 dx2 66 and 33's and i had fun breaking all the chips looking for artwork in the gold traces.
if you never heard of that (:newbie: ) google CPU artwork or the like, it was quite common in 486 chips to have unique characters painted in trace on the die under the bottom cover.
now that was entertainment! lol brings me back to my FIDOnet days before the "Internet" was a word, i would dial in on my speedy 1200 baud modem. that was the life! HaHa!

Synthohol

04-21-2005, 01:33 AM

hey, what waterblock would fit my 8085 CPU, it was right before those square x86 cpu thingies came around.
http://www.antiquetech.com/pictures%20full-size/C8085.jpg

illmatik

04-21-2005, 01:50 AM

Amigas were killer... Todd rundgren still has a room of 3000s he uses for video toaster.. kinda like the djs who still use cubase on the atari st...

Synthohol

04-21-2005, 09:10 AM

LOL, hey, here is the 286 chip. is it Intel or AMD......its BOTH?

Flybye

04-21-2005, 09:15 AM

LOL!
Synthohol, I have NEVER heard of CPU artwork, but I DID discover something else though. When I had my 1975 Trans Am, the point came when I had to change my fuel pump. I bought the new fuel pump, and I noticed something cast on the side of it. It was 2 initials with a heart inbetween LOL For some reason, your CPU artwork reminded me of this :)

We'll have crashed make us a waterblock since he has been so itching to make one :D

Flybye

04-21-2005, 09:19 AM

.....its BOTH?
Didn't the guys that started AMD branch out from Intel?

Player0

04-21-2005, 01:36 PM

Dude, you just described my house :D
But I only have it that way because we can't afford new stuff ROFL. Yesterday we upgraded from an 80's fridge, to a nice new 90's one.:) And we are throwing the old couches away and getting a pub sized pool table instead.

LOL!!

I spent nearly $300 on Atari 2600/7800 gear a couple months ago. I coulda gotten an Xbox or a DS and a PSP. But instead, I bought friggin Pong, Combat and DigDug!

Nut

04-21-2005, 01:44 PM

LOL!!

I spent nearly $300 on Atari 2600/7800 gear a couple months ago. I coulda gotten an Xbox or a DS and a PSP. But instead, I bought friggin Pong, Combat and DigDug!
If you care to keep investing in old consoles I have a nice Coleco Vision system I can part with. Even has the 2600 adapter lol!

Synthohol

04-21-2005, 06:27 PM

when you come to the lan (tom) filtch through my 40-50 2600 games:)

Player0

04-21-2005, 06:40 PM

I am indeed interested in a Coleco, as well as 2600 games :)

PM me prices for the lot!

Synthohol

04-21-2005, 07:47 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62054&item=8185429891&rd=1
40.00 for a 2600 and 30 games.
90 minutes left to bid.....

Player0

04-21-2005, 09:57 PM

Yeah, i get those ebay combos from time to time :) I end up with a lot of duplicates tho.

Flybye

04-22-2005, 09:28 AM

I feel like playing with my 2600 now :D

Evil_Genius

04-29-2005, 07:42 AM

My first rig was a Commodore 64....with EVERYTHING.

2 disk drives, printer, paddles, joy stick, koala(graphics tablet) pad, a zillion games, Cassette deck drive, you name it!!.

ahh 1982 is in the house!!!!!

Player0

04-29-2005, 01:39 PM

Hehe, I need to run a nostalgia party or something. Get some Demon Attack tournaments rolling ;)

unacceptable_risk

04-30-2005, 06:56 AM

Haaa DigDug, yay, I never thought I would hear the name again. Even my mum got hooked on that one.:D

Evil_Genius

04-30-2005, 07:09 AM

IBM came out with the 16bit 286s ATs in 84. Those were upgradable to 3mb of ram. There WAS a 286 16bit XT, but that monster was released in 86 to just get rid of overstock XT cases.

And I used to have one It's main(note: not yet called a motherboard) board was like 20 inches square!!

Evil_Genius

04-30-2005, 07:12 AM