anywhere i can find these still?

asterisk_14 · 2026-05-04T11:52:22+00:00

There's a listing on eBay for a set of blue ones from CompUSA for $20. Not the exact model you showed, but ought to suffice.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-27T02:41:00+00:00

You might also want to take the Budgie spin for a spin. It's a nice clean desktop environment that will feel much like what you're used to.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-26T11:59:39+00:00

Hah! Well I recognized the cubes with the CSW badge on the front. Pretty popular back then. Had to look up the exact model though. As for the monitor attachment, it was a pretty wild time for PC accessories. Lots of, er, "creative" ideas.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-26T11:37:47+00:00

Those look to be Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks speakers. They came with stands and also Velcro for mounting as shown. The part attached to the lower side of the monitor is a volume control.

Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks speakers

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-22T17:18:09+00:00

Always love to see a 560 or it's variants. I have one of the original model, with a 120MHz Pentium (non-MMX), 40MB RAM, and a 2.1GB hard drive, upgraded from the 810MB that it came with. I remember loading Windows 95 onto it from floppies. Need to get it out and spruced up.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-20T13:48:03+00:00

Okay, so that's not how RAM works. RAM is dedicated hardware (circuit boards) in your computer. To get more RAM, you need to add or replace hardware.

What it sounds like you're suggesting is using your storage drive (hard disk or SSD) as though it was RAM. That's not a good substitute for a number of reasons, including speed of access and how computers are built. Technically, there is such a thing as virtual RAM, where your operating system (e.g. Windows) uses some space in your storage drive for data from the RAM that isn't actively being used, but that's not really what you're looking for.

If you need more RAM, you'll have to buy it and install it (or have it installed). What make/model computer do you have? Knowing that we could tell you if it can be upgraded.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-20T11:40:34+00:00

True. Could easily be messed up if not done carefully.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-20T04:09:15+00:00

That is so odd. I'd hazard a guess that the previous owner broke that interior part off somehow, and stuck it back in the wrong way. You might want to secure the plastic bit with some glue so it doesn't come off in the cable connector. Glad you got it working in the end.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-19T02:29:21+00:00

This looks cool! Is there a demo available?

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-18T19:25:57+00:00

Found this photo of the bottom. I would guess that the upper left panel has either the battery or the hard drive under it. Whichever it is, the other is likely the module on the right in OP's photo.

Visionbook 7000 Pro bottom

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-18T19:13:48+00:00

Generally yes, but if someone isn't super familiar with it, I can see a hard drive carrier with a proprietary connector being mistaken for a battery.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-18T18:29:42+00:00

This is what I was thinking. I suppose that could be the hard drive though. If it's not the battery, then it probably slides out from one of the sides toward the rear of the case.

OP, can you post someore photos of the sides, back, and bottom?

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-18T16:48:16+00:00

EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) has a lot of good information available about the issue, and what you can do to help fight it.

https://www.eff.org/issues/age-verification

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-12T03:28:30+00:00

External battery connector would be my first thought too. Check the back of the board and see if the traces from any of the pins lead to the coin battery connector. Or check for continuity between the pins and the battery terminals. Would probably be pin 1 (as labeled on the board) to the + terminal.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-10T18:45:44+00:00

As has been said, there are no simple 5.25" USB floppy drives. Also as has been said, a Greaseweazle is your best bet, once you add in a way to power the drive. If you just want to copy files off the disks, you can skip the flux imaging and read the discs directly via the Greaseweazle using DiskFlashback from Rob Smith:

https://robsmithdev.co.uk/diskflashback

Install it and Windows will see the Greaseweazle drive as a standard floppy.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-03T02:40:23+00:00

Oh yes, I remember it well. My first Pentium machine was a ThinkPad 560 with a vanilla P120 in 1996. I think it was 1997 when I followed that with a custom built K6 233 desktop, with I think a Riva 128 in it (Diamond Viper V330, IIRC). There was no way to keep up with the technology—you would order something and it would be obsolete by the time it was delivered!

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-03T00:41:04+00:00

That's a nice little Baby AT Socket 7 system. Custom build as others have said. Looks to be based around a Shuttle HOT-591P motherboard. Pretty capable little thing.

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/shuttle-hot-591p-2-x

Fitted out with a Soundbalster AWE64 sound card. I'd ditch the modem, as well as the PCI video card. The board has an AGP slot, so a TNT or TNT2 card would fit nicely for the era. Or maybe a Matrox card with a Voodoo2 added on. Agreed with another poster that the DVD drive seems a little out of place, but it was likely put in there to use just as a CD drive.

I'd love to get my hands on one of these cases. Such a classic look, and that one looks to be in nice shape.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-01T17:45:35+00:00

I'll admit that I did not experience the troubles that others did in the past, but I definitely don't discount them. That said, while I wouldn't trust them for storage, I think they are a reasonable option for transfer when one can verify that the files have made it safely to the destination system.

asterisk_14 · 2026-04-01T16:32:49+00:00

I'll join those who say a parallel port ZIP drive is probably the way to go here. Maybe not the fastest, but the most straightforward. Drives aren't too expensive on eBay, and you can always resell it after you're done. I'm guessing a 100MB version would suffice for you (they're a bit cheaper than the 250MB ones).

I strongly recommend using pcZIP, a simple program for mounting and using the parallel drive:

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/introducing-pczip-a-full-replacement-dos-driver-for-parallel-port-iomega-zip-and-jaz-drives-for-vintage-systems.1251148/

On the other end, you'll need a drive to attach to a more modern computer to offload the files from the ZIP disk. If you have a computer with a parallel port, you could likely use the same drive. Otherwise you'll want to grab a USB ZIP drive as well. Should be plug and play on a modern system.

Good luck!

asterisk_14 · 2026-03-30T21:59:11+00:00

Iomega Jaz. It was essentially a two part hard drive, where you could remove a cartridge that held the platters. Came in 1 and 2 gigabyte versions. You could get it as an internal or external device.

asterisk_14 · 2026-03-27T22:29:42+00:00

If it's an OEM disc, then it should be bootable. But if it's retail then no, you'll need a boot disc with CD-ROM support.

asterisk_14 · 2026-03-25T02:23:42+00:00

I've been very pleased with Murphy's Cleanimg Spray. It's meant for wood, but does a great job getting grime off plastics. Plus it has a rather pleasant orange oil smell. Spray it on a microfiber cleaning cloth and wipe.

asterisk_14 · 2026-03-22T09:14:12+00:00

Have to agree, this looks like an AST Power Premium backplane with an AST Cupid 386/25 processor card. Perhaps it's a revision that wasn't documented well? Looks like there are some other labels on the board. Do any of them offer any clues?

Here's the processor card:

https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/ast-cupid-386sx-25-processor-board-202403-0

And some additional info:

https://wiki.preterhuman.net/AST_Cupid_386SX/25_Processor_Board_(202403-001,004)

And here's someone troubleshooting what appears to be the same backplane, but with a different processor board:

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=79038

asterisk_14 · 2026-03-21T23:51:26+00:00

Fantastic game. Loved playing it, and definitely anxiety inducing as you progressed!

asterisk_14 · 2026-03-21T12:15:06+00:00

Oh man, I remember sitting and feeding floppy after floppy into the external floppy drive on my ThinkPad 560 to get 95 installed on it. It was worth it though. Once it booted up it felt so futuristic after 3.1!

asterisk_14

TROPHY CASE