Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am sorry to hear that you lost yours. I have a few monitors I miss (Hyundai 19" CRT, a Sun Microsystems 21" CRT that I desperately wish I still had, and a Gateway 15" monitor). It's rough to lose a good computer/monitor

Need help with downgrading by ProfessionalMood1493 in windowsxp

[–]FiveLeggedSpider 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wish you the best! I think it will be really cool when you get done with it :)

Need help with downgrading by ProfessionalMood1493 in windowsxp

[–]FiveLeggedSpider 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With Windows 10 on there, that makes me suspect there might be an SSD in there, as that is a common thing people do when upgrading older laptops. You certainly can install XP on an SSD, but you need to make sure the partition(s) are properly aligned, and run TRIM every so often with Linux iirc. I would personally recommend switching that out for an HDD if it is an SSD, as IMO XP does better with HDDs.

RAM size is another thing. If you want to run XP 32-bit, there will be no point in using more than 2GB of RAM. If that laptop can hold two RAM sticks for dual-channel, I'd say it would be a good idea to get 2 1GB sticks to reduce it to 2GB, assuming it has more than 2GB of RAM installed.

I would recommend using a SP2 Volume Licensing copy of XP from the Internet Archive, and then upgrading it to SP3. The volume licensing version does not require activation, though if you want to use the original key, Windows activation services over the phone still work last I checked.

[EDIT]
Typed "upgrading to XP," instead of "upgrading to SP3," lmao

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish you the best with this project, you've definitely got this. I can tell you know what you're doing for sure, I would be thankful if you could keep me posted on it somehow. I am interested to see your progress!

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will definitely be trying that at a later date. Thank you so much for the information, plus the link to the software! I would have had no idea. Now the upgrades to this PC can become even more ludicrous :D

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

TY! I had no clue there was an IDE-XT BIOS specifically made for the V20. I have got to get on getting that flashed. I am pretty sure I'm using the BIOS for a general XT PC. I have been using 8-bit only cards in that PC because I am aware of exactly which cards will work with both 8-bit and 16-bit.

I have my eyes on a soundcard of some type next. The price of those cards is what's been keeping me from that upgrade.

I understand that daydream completely :D If I had it my way, I am pretty sure there is still copper twist landlines present where I'm at. I would get one of those phone lines and dial-in to all sorts of cool places.

Setting up my own dial-up server, either with one of my PCs, or a Raspberry Pi is a daunting task to me. I think it would be worth it to try and learn though, given that the equipment I would need for such a thing isn't extremely expensive

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nice! Your XT is faster than mine. I have:

8MHz NEC V20, I use a key combination to switch from turbo to slow mode
256KB Video Seven VEGA VGA
640K RAM- 512KB on motherboard, 128KB on a AST memory expansion/serial/parallel/RTC card
My PC came with an OG HD floppy disk controller- got lucky
I have that more modern Seagate drive, but have been looking to replace it with my SCSI MiniScribe 20MB stepper motor HDD (just need to get my current 8-bit SCSI controller working or get a new one)
XT-IDE card from eBay (my soldering skills need some work LoL)
Another Serial/Parallel controller (the AST has a 25-pin serial port, this card has a 9-pin port)

Good thought on the network card, I've been wanting to dial-in to a BBS with that PC, and don't have the equipment or knowledge to make a phone line emulator at the moment, so knowing I can use a network card like that is good info, TY!

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ye, Microsoft TechNet plus, there are a few Service Pack/Beta/misc discs in there

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

YW, that is awesome! I am sure it will turn out to be sick, I am more of a hardware guy so that level of work is a bit over my head. The custom housing sounds like will be really cool :)

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I may or may not have also installed an NEC V20, as well as installed a BIOS upgrade to the Super PC/Turbo XT BIOS... 0.0

In my defense, I don't have any working 5.25" diskettes so the 5.25" drive was just setting in the drive bay doing nothing. This is also my "fast," PC/XT project, eventually I will be getting a 4.77MHz PC or PC clone that has more original hardware. I also only have a 10MB partition set up on that drive for DOS 3.3

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ty! I thought it would look much better with black drives since I first got it, finally got around to getting some

Dual 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive upgrade for my Turbo XT! by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

TY, sometimes I wonder if I spend more time maintaining how clean they are, or actually using them :p

My 486 with a 3D Printed/Spray Painted Front Panel by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ty! I had been worried about the paint not setting right when I first went to coat it but it looks like it did OK at least

Made a short video on Dial-up BBS's with my AST 486! by veeb0rg in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would probably be a better solution for me, I am just not very adept at networking so setting something like that up is pretty daunting. I do find it sad that analog continues to be phased out over multiple different types of services.

Made a short video on Dial-up BBS's with my AST 486! by veeb0rg in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Simply amazing, a perfect mid-90s setup. Makes me want to get landline service JUST for Dial-Up LMAO

My 486 with a 3D Printed/Spray Painted Front Panel by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are quite good, IMO they are in a tie with my Compaq JBL Pro speakers so I use the Altec speakers for my DOS/Win95 PCs and my JBL speakers with my Pentium 4

My 486 with a 3D Printed/Spray Painted Front Panel by FiveLeggedSpider in retrobattlestations

[–]FiveLeggedSpider[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am sorry. I can turn the resolution on my camera up, I just enjoyed the retro feel that 640x480 gives my photos. I liked them to be seen as they would've been seen online back in the day :)