Author Archives: Michal Necasek

Bad NTAS ISO

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Michal Necasek

This might save someone a bit of head scratching… Several times, I tried to install Windows NT Advanced Server (NT 3.1 server) straight from CD-ROM (well, ISO) into a clean VM. The installation failed every time, asking for a nonexistent … Continue reading →

Posted in Debugging, NT | 33 Comments

More on CF Cards

Posted on October 8, 2016 by Michal Necasek

This is a follow-up to an earlier post. Some interesting information turned up in reader comments and elsewhere. To recap, certain operating systems (notably Windows) behave unreasonably when using and especially when installed on CF drives that report themselves as … Continue reading →

Posted in CompactFlash, Storage | 8 Comments

Removable CF Card, or Not

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Michal Necasek

This is from the “learn something new every day” category. I’ve been using CompactFlash cards together with IDE adapters for several years now. It’s a terrific way to manage storage for vintage PCs. CF cards are cheap, fast, (relatively) capacious, … Continue reading →

Posted in CompactFlash, Storage, ThinkPad | 19 Comments

Deskpro 386 at 30

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Michal Necasek

30 years ago, in September 1986, Compaq announced the Deskpro 386, a PC as revolutionary as it was conservative. Compaq decided to forge its own path and not wait for IBM to introduce a 386-based PC. At the same time, Compaq … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, Compaq, IBM, PC history, PC press | 26 Comments

E-mu SoundEngine

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Michal Necasek

An interesting piece of hardware popped up at the OS/2 Museum not long ago. It’s an E-mu SoundEngine General MIDI sound module from 1993. This module has very close ties to the original Creative Wave Blaster upgrade module, even though that’s not … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Labs, E-mu, MIDI, Sound, Wave Blaster | 14 Comments

More Wobbles

Posted on August 24, 2016 by Michal Necasek

This is a follow-up to a previous post. I’ve had a chance to spend more time recovering the two dead PS/2 Model 80s. The first step was replacing the CMOS batteries because without a functioning backup battery, a PS/2 is … Continue reading →

Posted in Floppies, IBM, PS/2 | 13 Comments

Synology DSM 6 and Vintage Clients

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Michal Necasek

I’ve been a Synology DiskStation NAS user for four years now and used them as a SMB file server which is, among other things, accessed from various vintage clients (OS/2, DOS, Windows 9x, etc.). After upgrading to DSM 6, I found … Continue reading →

Posted in Networking, Software Hacks, Storage | 10 Comments

Windows 3.1 Standard Mode Crash with APM

Posted on July 22, 2016 by Michal Necasek

On some systems, Windows 3.1 and 3.11 in Standard mode crashes when it is configured to use APM, i.e. POWER.DRV is loaded. The crash only happens in Standard mode, not the typical default 386 Enhanced mode. Since POWER.DRV is involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Bugs, Windows | 16 Comments

Wobbly Floppy Drive?

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Michal Necasek

Over the weekend I tried to revive a PS/2 Model 80 whose CMOS battery died (after 25 years!). Finding a replacement battery fortunately isn’t difficult (6V lithium “photo” battery), but recreating the configuration information of course requires a reference floppy and … Continue reading →

Posted in Floppies, IBM, Plug and Play, PS/2 | 30 Comments

Intel OverDrive Part II: Pentium OverDrive

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Michal Necasek

The Pentium OverDrive is notable for supporting three physically different sockets (that’s not counting the Pentium II OverDrive). The Pentium OverDrive product was sold in variants suitable for Socket 2/3 (486 systems), Socket 4 (early Pentium systems), and Socket 5/7 … Continue reading →

Posted in 486, Intel, PC history, Pentium | 34 Comments