It was a properly encased quality product that was immune to thermal effects. They knew it was shit and still used them.ĭesigners who chose the Dallas-type chips wanted their products to last.
These batteries were also unreliable and often died early due to thermal exposure so designers had to install the option for external batteries as well. NiCd batteries were used from the 1950s so designers knew exactly what they were dealing with yet they chose to place them directly on the sensitive motherboard without any protective casing. I've read somewhere that it was common knowledge back then that barrel batteries may leak but nobody cared because it was cheap. It seems that manufacturers viewed the battery "problem" differently.ĭesigners who made disposable computers chose the barrel type. Wide shot to show how ludicrously small this motherboard isĪnd to be fair, no one assumed that a 10 year lifespan was too short for such short-lived technology. Input: Tandy Enhanced Keyboard AT with PS/2 adapter (looks like it should have nice clicky keys like a Model M but it's actually completely awful, just using it because it looks "right" for this machine), Logitech 3-button PS/2 mouse, Gravis Gamepad, Kraft Premium II, Generic Reveal joystick, Logitech Wingman 3001 (game controllers hooked to a 4-way switch)ĮT4000AX - any info about the jumpers on this card would be appreciated!Īll cards removed to reveal the motherboard (the two empty DIP sockets are for expanding the onboard video RAM, max is 512kb) Monitor: Packard Bell PB8530MS Trisync VGA (it's a rebranded NEC Multisync II, I share it with my X68000 which needs a trisync monitor) Speakers: Altec Lansing ACS400 comically large "multimedia" speakers Sound: ISA Creative Vibra 16 CT2800, I like these cards because they have a real OP元 and great signal:noise ratio and you can get them brand new for $15
Video: ISA Tseng ET-4000AX 1MB "Machspeed 9301" (upgraded from onboard Cirrus CL-GD5402 256kb) if anyone has the manual for this particular card I would love to see it, just want to know what the jumpers do HDD: 420MB IDE Quantum TR42A 3600RPM (upgraded from the original 100MB 3200RPM HDD) RAM: 10MB total- 2MB soldered to the board and 2X 4MB SIMMs, the max this motherboard recognizes Here's a video of a demo I used to run on the 286 running on this machine, this was mindblowing back in the day: ĬPU: 33MHz Intel 386SX soldered on the board Radioshack keeps an awesome database of Tandy computer documentation, there is tons of info about this model here: I've been adding to this system over the years (it was completely stock) and now I feel it's pretty much done, though I'm debating adding a GUS I have saved for a 486 or early Pentium build that may or may not ever get finished.
I went with a Tandy just because I think it's a neat package with concessions like PS/2 ports, built in IDE/floppy/parallel/serial, a removable CR2032 battery, and volume adjustment/headphone jack for the PC speaker, which I route to line in of the sound card (this model does not have tandy graphics/sound, it's a pretty standard PC). I went with a 386 because I remember some stuff (like wolf3d) being intolerably slow on a 286 and wanted a bit more choice in the library. I picked up this system a few years ago when I got the itch to relive the days I spent as a kid playing DOS games on the PS/2 Model 60 286 my dad had brought home from work in the late 80's which was our only computer up to 1995.