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386 laptop by Zeos

B

Bobthearch

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
226
Location
Raton, New Mexico
I was instructed to sell off some old electrical and computer equipment from the small science company where I work. One of the "goodies" I thought you guys might be interested in is a vintage Zeos laptop. To my surprise it powered on (with the brick attached) and booted into DOS; I later realized it has Windows 3.1 installed too.

So it's up for auction here at a very low starting price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/181215689005

I've never heard of Zeos, and can't even find the product specs online anywhere. :confused: So it might be quite rare, or at least uncommon. Collectible? I don't know.

$(KGrHqNHJBUFIWIWk+o,BSMf!ZG+jw~~60_57.JPG
 
What are the dimensions of the system? I swear everything looks like a subnotebook to me these days (used to 15-17" laptops).
 
ZEOS was one of the big brands 20 years ago, alongside Gateway, DELL, and Northgate. This particular model was very popular back then. I used one often.

A shame the floppy isn't working. Have you tried cleaning it?
 
The charging brick on this thing is heavier than a modern "notebook," LOL. But notice that's what they call it on the nametag, Zeos Notebook 386.

The overall dimensions are 2" thick x 12" wide x 10" deep. The screen measures 9-1/2" diagonally.

I don't have one in front of me, but this Zeos machine seems about the same size as my Mac Powerbook 170.
 
Al Hartman said:
ZEOS was one of the big brands 20 years ago, alongside Gateway, DELL, and Northgate. This particular model was very popular back then. I used one often.

A shame the floppy isn't working. Have you tried cleaning it?
Click to expand...

No, I haven't tried cleaning it. The boss wants this stuff sold and gone asap, so I haven't spent a lot of time on repairs or inspections. The best I can do is to honestly say which features work and which don't. If this thing didn't even turn on, it would have gone into the dumpster. Hopefully the start bid price is low enough that people might overlook the floppy and wear-use issues.
 
Not sure how to enter the BIOS, but the BIOS startup screen has some information:
Phoenix ROM BIOS Plus 1.10
640k Base Memory
04480k Extended Memory.

Nothing about the processor, sorry.
 
Some specs I found on the web:

Zeos International Notebook 386 Computer:

* 32-bit 80386SX CPU; keyboard selectable 8MHz and 16MHz speeds.
* 9.5 inch backlit LCD screen with CLF backlight that displays 640 x 480
dots (VGA with grayscale) or 80/40 x 25 characters.
* support for a 80387SX math coprocessor
* 82 key PC-AT compatible keyboard with full-sized, comfortable keys.
* built-in clock/calendar
* a multi-voltage AC adapter, which can charge a battery either on the
computer (even while it's running) or off it.
* power saving features such as automatic screen dim to extend battery time
* low-battery alarm
* built-in speaker
* Centronics parallel port
* RS-232C serial port
* VGA port for an external VGA color monitor
* supports LIM EMS 4.0 memory
* supports both BIOS and Video Shadow RAM to increase system speed
* built-in 1.44MB and 720KB 3.5'' floppy disk drive
* Weighs just 6 lbs, measures only 12+1/8'' x 9+7/8'' X 2''
when closed.
* built-in 20MB IDE hard disk
* 1MB of RAM
* 2400 Baud internal modem

This unit may or may not reflect these specs.
 
Actually, the neat thing about Phoenix BIOSes in many 386s is that you can get into them AFTER the system boots. Once you're at the DOS prompt, try either CTRL-ALT-ESC or CTRL-ALT-ENTER and see if you get in there.
 
Hey, I have one of these - mine has some sort of hard drive failure. I can hear the drive spinning, and I can hear the head attempting to get to track 0 (or whatever) a couple of times before it reports "Hard disk failure."

The boot screen reads:

Phoenix 80386 ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 05 - 12
Copyright (C) 1985-1990 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
Stingray Rev 4+, VGA BIOS Version 3.02
Copyright (c) Cirrus Logic Inc. 1989, 1998.
Copyright (c) Award Software Inc. 1984-1988. All Rights Reserved.

640K Base Memory, 00384K Extended
Hard disk failure
Strike the F1 key to continue, F2 to run the setup utility

I can go on and boot with one of my known good MSDOS boot diskettes, but I cannot get to the HD with FDISK, so I am assuming that it is toasted.

I have the User's Manual, the Modem User's Manual, and two diskettes: Utilities and ProComm, all original that came with the system.

Has anyone ever changed out an HD on one of these?

smp
 
Last edited:
Stone said:
You could always try a LLF.
Click to expand...

I apologize for my dense-ness, but might you explain a bit more?

Thanks for your patience!

smp

UPDATE: Do you mean Low Level Format? Any pointers would be appreciated - as you may know, I am a Macintosh sort of guy, and my ability with PCs is limited.

smp
 
Last edited:
Trixter said:
Actually, the neat thing about Phoenix BIOSes in many 386s is that you can get into them AFTER the system boots. Once you're at the DOS prompt, try either CTRL-ALT-ESC or CTRL-ALT-ENTER and see if you get in there.
Click to expand...

Nope.

Control-Alt-Delete restarts the computer though. :D
 
Well this old stuff isn't selling like I'd hoped. Even in working condition, good photos, and original bag.
The time I spend photographing the laptop, getting it set up and running, answering questions, listing the item, packing, trip to the post office...
It sold for only $15, and I asked for $10 shipping. After fees and postage my net sale was $2.73.

+ $15.00 Sale price
+ $10.00 Shipping
- $1.50 Final Value Fee
- $1.03 Pay Pal fee
- $18.74 Postage
- $1.00 Shipping Final Value Fee
---------
$2.73 Net

I sure hope the recipient appreciates the laptop and takes good care of it. :)

Actually, by the time the auction ended I had become a bit attached and didn't want to sell it. :cool:
 
I'm the one who ended up winning it.
I can assure you I will take good care of it and I'm sure you'll see a forum here about me cleaning it up and getting it back to a fully functional state.
I'm sorry to hear you didn't make too much of a profit. I honestly thought that there would be more bidding myself, I put a bid and had no access to the computer for the last few hours of the bid and thought that I for sure would have lost it from someone else bidding but... Nope...
I feel bad buying it from you now that you want it, if you really want to keep it and there was a way to refund then I would be more then happy to go along with it, otherwise I hope you find another one like it one day.
 
Bobthearch said:
Well this old stuff isn't selling like I'd hoped.
Click to expand...

I noticed the auction. The one thing that kept me from bidding any higher was that the floppy drive was non-functional, which makes it somewhat tough to get software on/off of the system if you want to reload the hard drive completely. (I saw that DOS was already there so it was technically possible to transfer via the serial port, but you get my meaning.) If the floppy were working, I would have bid $25 myself, at least.

I'm confused; if postage was $18, why did you only charge $10?
 
I'm going to guess it's because eBay requires you to set a postage price or use their shipping calculator when you list now, instead of just saying what shipping options you'll do and billing with the appropriate amount once you've gotten the customer's address, and working around any discrepancies that arise is a pain in the ass. Just another of the increasingly long list of reasons I don't sell stuff on eBay as often as I used to...
 
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