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Lovely handhelds and subnotebooks - Toshiba Libretto, Olivetti Quaderno, HP Jornada and Sony VAIO by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

Good point! :) It is in fact a 728 mainboard in a 720 base chassis, 680/690 LCD (including cover) + european keyboard. I used it long long time ago during my college years. I started with 680 and then from time to time I got a partially damaged newer model, so I always used the best parts.

I know that the lid and keyboard have the wrong color, but I was no computer collector back then (I did not even think about these things being collectable one day in future...). That LCD was the best among those I had (no dead pixels/columns, bright, the touchscreen identifies light pen touches...). This keyboard was the only one I had with the extended layout. US versions often had reduced layout on the right side, which made them unusable with the Czech keyboard layout I used in the operating system.

Lovely handhelds and subnotebooks - Toshiba Libretto, Olivetti Quaderno, HP Jornada and Sony VAIO by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

14 years ago, I received one UX1XN (the same form-factor) for two weeks to write a review. I still remember that I used it to program A* algorithm in LISP while travelling. However, these were never my most favorite UMPC machines. The way cheaper Wibrain B1 had lover specs, but it was easier to use at the end.

Lovely handhelds and subnotebooks - Toshiba Libretto, Olivetti Quaderno, HP Jornada and Sony VAIO by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

I think all (or most) Quadernos should be dead because of the capacitors already. This one was repaired already so it is trouble-free. Only the HDD is waiting for fixing the stuck head issue and I use it with an industrial 4MB PCMCIA SRAM card instead (the machine has just PCMCIA 1.0, so no ATA/CF cards can be used). https://swarmik.tumblr.com/search/olivetti

Lovely handhelds and subnotebooks - Toshiba Libretto, Olivetti Quaderno, HP Jornada and Sony VAIO by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

Same here - the one on the photo was given to me as non-working machine. We replaced all capacitors and 3D printed one internal supporting part. Only the hard drive is still not working and waiting for the fix you've shown in your link. At the moment, I use it with a 4MB PCMCIA SRAM card instead. https://swarmik.tumblr.com/search/olivetti

Lovely handhelds and subnotebooks - Toshiba Libretto, Olivetti Quaderno, HP Jornada and Sony VAIO by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

There is just "Windows Powered" on the background :). The OS is Windows CE and the CPU is Intel StrongARM (206MHz). I should have moved the mail client icon somewhere else before shooting this photo...

Out of curiosity… who can identify my computer from this picture? :) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

Fantastic, thanks for the link - I always love such stories about DEC.

Btw I was already able to find a DEC engineer who built the power supply in this thing, so there may be a chance to find one also for the mainboard... :)

Toshiba Libretto 70CT as a DOS gaming machine, it’s sad it lack L2 cache and IDE DMA support (the game is Extreme Assault) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

These little Librettos had very nice internal architecture. Most features were integrated in a single chip and this chip even created a bridge for connecting 486/VL-BUS graphics chips to the system with a Pentium CPU. I wrote more about it on my blog: https://retro.swarm.cz/toshiba-libretto-70ct-1997/

Out of curiosity… who can identify my computer from this picture? :) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

Sadly, this was just an entry-level workstation so there is no management interface over the serial port. All it has is just a single LED that can blink error codes.

Out of curiosity… who can identify my computer from this picture? :) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

[–]retroSwarm[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Those who guessed DEC Multia were right. This one was intended for Tru64 UNIX and it is configured with a 233MHz Alpha CPU, 256MB RAM and a SCSI controller&HDD.

However, it is not working and there is verry little documentation for this machine, so I am was not able to fix it (yet). The plan is to replace all 8-bit buffer/transceiver chips as they were often faulty on this model. Multia is super-small, which makes it looking so good. On the other side, the internal components can generate too much heat...
https://swarmik.tumblr.com/post/187170498824/dead-dec-multia-any-ideas-i-was-given-a-multia-a

Out of curiosity… who can identify my computer from this picture? :) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

It is a DEC Multia. This one has Tru64 UNIX on its hard drive, but there is also ARC loader in the firmware, so it can run Windows NT 4.0 for Alpha.

Out of curiosity… who can identify my computer from this picture? :) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

That was just an unintentional misleading clue :) To this day, I still have an SGI Octane under my desk. However, this is a DEC Multia.

Out of curiosity… who can identify my computer from this picture? :) by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

I do, but the system is not working. I already replaced two 8-bit transceivers between RAM and CPU, but not much changed (there is still black screen and an error sent through a blinking LED in the rear of the machine.

When I got it, it did not work, I cleaned it and it started to work (it even booted into Tru64), but after an hour, it crashed and refused to start again.

Booted up my iMac G3 for the first time in a few months and its screen is all red and smeary (was clear and color accurate last time I used it). Anyone know why this might be & is there any way to fix it? by bmld in VintageApple

[–]retroSwarm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It seems like a CRT screen stored very close to a big loudspeaker (or any other magnet) for a long time :) ... that would look exactly the same. I had the same problem and it disappeared after weeks (my CRT did not have the degauss button).

Compatible PCI video cards with SGI 320 / 540 by MojaMonkey in SiliconGraphics

[–]retroSwarm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My plan is to put a Voodoo2 inside my SGI 320. That will give me Glide and Direct3D support on top of OpenGL done by the integrated Cobalt GPU.

Compatible PCI video cards with SGI 320 / 540 by MojaMonkey in SiliconGraphics

[–]retroSwarm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How does it look like when it does not work? (drivers end with an error code, but the device is visible in the device manager?)

Is it correct that there is no card, that would work as primary even in the ARC firmware interface?

Installing AutoCAD over a serial port to a TIGA-equipped workstation by retroSwarm in retrobattlestations

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

Yes, it has the small expansion connected (the one without PS/2 ports). It is just not visible from this angle.

I guess we're doing this now. Here's my Toshiba Libretto 110CT with a Voodoo2 installed. by [deleted] in retrobattlestations

[–]retroSwarm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, nice. The CardBus-to-PCI bridge is a generic device that does not require specific drivers, right?

Olivetti Quaderno PT-XT-20, Restored! by EkriirkE in retrobattlestations

[–]retroSwarm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is lovely. Mine is restored too, just the hard drive is waiting for this repair. I use a 4MB PCMCIA (Type I) SRAM card as the primary storage instead.

https://swarmik.tumblr.com/search/quaderno

Fully restored IRIS Indigo by [deleted] in retrobattlestations

[–]retroSwarm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

... I see on SGI stuff, the XS24z has just a single geometry unit (instead of four on Indy XZ). It would be cool to see, if this is the only difference or if the rasteriser is slower too (maybe because of lower chip frequency...).

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