chardin@cbnewsk.att.com (christopher.hardin) (04/11/91)
Greetings, I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home. I was wondering if there are any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur. The ultimate would be a card that would take over the box upon boot. It would also have onboard memory (1 meg at least) and a 387 socket. Does such a thing exist or will I have to get a new home system? If there are such cards, are there any incompatibilities I need to know about? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short words (grin). -- TTFN (Ta ta for now) -- Tigger Chris Hardin chris@green.att.com ...!att!green!chris 404.750.8921
hammerr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (rodney hammer) (04/11/91)
In article <1991Apr10.215938.10599@cbnewsk.att.com> chardin@cbnewsk.att.com (christopher.hardin) writes: > >Greetings, > > I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home. I was wondering if there are >any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur. The ultimate would be a card >that would take over the box upon boot. It would also have onboard memory >(1 meg at least) and a 387 socket. Does such a thing exist or will I have to >get a new home system? If there are such cards, are there any >incompatibilities I need to know about? Any pointers would be greatly >appreciated. By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short >words (grin). >-- > >TTFN (Ta ta for now) -- Tigger >Chris Hardin chris@green.att.com ...!att!green!chris 404.750.8921 Well, Chris, we have hundreds of Zeniths on campus, we have many many fewer now than we had. There is a reason for this (actually several)...not the least of which is the older models penchant for totally non-standard behavior...you realize that the Zeniths are not in general hardware compatible with IBMs, yes? Recommendation? GET A NEW SYSTEM! Throwing more money at a VW bug won't ever make the VW a Rolls Royce..... Just my $.02.... Rod Hammer University Computing Services Field Services Supervisor Indiana University -- ************************************************************************** hammerr@ucs.indiana.edu NO DISCLAIMER! Everyone in the Rod Hammer (812) 8558217 world shares my viewpoint.... **************************************************************************
cs352a41@cs.iastate.edu (Adam Goldberg) (04/11/91)
chardin@cbnewsk.att.com (christopher.hardin) writes: >Greetings, > I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home. I was wondering if there are >any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur. The ultimate would be a card >that would take over the box upon boot. It would also have onboard memory >(1 meg at least) and a 387 socket. Does such a thing exist or will I have to >get a new home system? If there are such cards, are there any >incompatibilities I need to know about? Any pointers would be greatly >appreciated. By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short >words (grin). >-- Invest $300 for a true 386-SX motherboard, and $50 for a Mb of RAM, and have a blast -- any card you could buy for said computer would be a waste of money. >TTFN (Ta ta for now) -- Tigger >Chris Hardin chris@green.att.com ...!att!green!chris 404.750.8921 -- +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! Adam Goldberg ! "It's simple! Even a PASCAL ! ! cs352a41@cs.iastate.edu <= this one ! programmer could do it!" ! ! tabu6@ccvax.iastate.edu or @isuvax.bitnet !
c60b-1eq@web-1c.berkeley.edu (Noam Mendelson) (04/11/91)
In article <1991Apr10.215938.10599@cbnewsk.att.com> chardin@cbnewsk.att.com (christopher.hardin) writes: > I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home. I was wondering if there are >any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur. The ultimate would be a card >that would take over the box upon boot. It would also have onboard memory >(1 meg at least) and a 387 socket. Does such a thing exist or will I have to >get a new home system? If there are such cards, are there any >incompatibilities I need to know about? Any pointers would be greatly >appreciated. By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short >words (grin). A few years ago add-on 386 boards were (relatively) popular, but today they've mostly died out. The price of a 386 motherboard has declined significantly so as to reduce the popularity of the add-on boards. IMHO you should can the motherboard and get a 386 motherboard for your system (be sure it fits in the chassis). +==========================================================================+ | Noam Mendelson ..!agate!ucbvax!web!c60b-1eq | "I haven't lost my mind, | | c60b-1eq@web.Berkeley.EDU | it's backed up on tape | | University of California at Berkeley | somewhere." |
hammerr@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (rodney hammer) (04/11/91)
In article <1991Apr11.041356.23936@agate.berkeley.edu> c60b-1eq@web-1c.berkeley.edu (Noam Mendelson) writes: >In article <1991Apr10.215938.10599@cbnewsk.att.com> chardin@cbnewsk.att.com (christopher.hardin) writes: >> I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home. I was wondering if there are >>any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur. The ultimate would be a card >>that would take over the box upon boot. It would also have onboard memory >>(1 meg at least) and a 387 socket. Does such a thing exist or will I have to >>get a new home system? If there are such cards, are there any >>incompatibilities I need to know about? Any pointers would be greatly >>appreciated. By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short >>words (grin). > >A few years ago add-on 386 boards were (relatively) popular, but today >they've mostly died out. The price of a 386 motherboard has declined >significantly so as to reduce the popularity of the add-on boards. IMHO >you should can the motherboard and get a 386 motherboard for your system >(be sure it fits in the chassis). ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I have only seen one old Zenith 8088-based model (a 151) with a 386 expansion card installed...and it was an expansion card, not a Motherboard. The more popular models (148 & 158) are no more appropriate for installation of a new MB than is the 151--as I said previously, Zeniths are NOT generally hardware compatible (most use planar boards rather than standard type MBs) and even if you were to install a 386 board in a 158 (the 148 is a lost cause) it would take CONSIDERABLE modification. So unless you are also interested in sheet metal work and the like, spend the $35 or so it takes to buy a new case. Silk purses and sows' ears come to mind..... Rod -- ************************************************************************** hammerr@ucs.indiana.edu NO DISCLAIMER! Everyone in the Rod Hammer (812) 8558217 world shares my viewpoint.... **************************************************************************
phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (04/12/91)
cs352a41@cs.iastate.edu (Adam Goldberg) writes: >Invest $300 for a true 386-SX motherboard, and $50 for a Mb of RAM, and have If AMD were to come out with an SX clone you might see the prices go even lower. -- The best way to preserve your RKBA is to vote Libertarian.
ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) (04/15/91)
*>>> I have an old Zenith 8088 PC at home. I was wondering if there are *>>>any 386 accelarator cards for such a dinosaur. The ultimate would be a card *>>>that would take over the box upon boot. It would also have onboard memory *>>>(1 meg at least) and a 387 socket. Does such a thing exist or will I have to *>>>get a new home system? If there are such cards, are there any *>>>incompatibilities I need to know about? Any pointers would be greatly *>>>appreciated. By the way, I'm not much of a MS-DOS hack, so please use short *>>>words (grin).** *>>A few years ago add-on 386 boards were (relatively) popular, but today* *>>they've mostly died out. The price of a 386 motherboard has decline*d *>*>significantly so as to reduce the popularity of the add-on boards. *IMHO *>>you should can the motherboard and get a 386 motherboard for your sy*stem *>>(be sure it fits in the chassis). *> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *>I have only seen one old Zenith 8088-based model (a 151) with a 386 *>expansion card installed...and it was an expansion card, not a *>Motherboard. The more popular models (148 & 158) are no more appropriate *>for installation of a new MB than is the 151--as I said previously, *>Zeniths are NOT generally hardware compatible (most use planar boards *>rather than standard type MBs) and even if you were to install a 386 *>board in a 158 (the 148 is a lost cause) it would take CONSIDERABLE *>modification. So unless you are also interested in sheet metal work and *>the like, spend the $35 or so it takes to buy a new case. Silk purses *>and sows' ears come to mind..... The thing about mothe Zeniths is that they do not have motherboards, they use a passive back- plane with a separate CPU card. Getting a 386 processor card won't work, as you'll end up with a 386 with an 8-bit bus. Besides you'll have to go to Zenith for the parts, if they do indeed exist. For the same reason, a clone motherboard will likely not fit where the back- plane went. Instead of stripping the machine for parts for a 386, why not sell it or give it to the kids? It still works, and with older software would make a great machine for someone. Besides, the parts you get out of it will be 1) older 2) slow 3) won't save you as much as you'd make if you sold the machine as a working unit. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sullivan@osl475a.erim.org (Richard Sullivan) (04/15/91)
I have a SOTA 286i accelerator card in my Zenith 151 and have had no trouble with it for over 2 years. It only required a new bios from Zenith so that the timing would work right. I might be that a SOTA 386i would work as well but I have *no* experience to back that up. BTW, my 151 was purchased when the model was discontinued (~1985) and so might be different than older models. If the original poster is interested I have also installed a Paradise 16/8 bit VGA card which required some simple hardware modifications to allow the removal of the CGA card. I have no association with Zenith, SOTA, or Western Digital except as a satisfied customer. Richard