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Compaq Deskpro 386/20

compaqportableplus

compaqportableplus

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Instead of building myself a 386 PC like I had planned to do for so long, I sold my 386 motherboard and got something better. IMG_E7746.JPG

Here is my Compaq Deskpro 386/20, built in 1987. I've wanted one of these for ages! This was the updated model to the original Deskpro 386 released a year earlier. This machine runs at 20MHz instead of 16MHz, and has external cache on the motherboard, making it a much faster system.

I had many stability issues mine at first, especially in Windows 3.11. I eventually traced it down to a bad memory module and bought a replacement which cured all of the issues I was having.

Mine came with the original 300MB Miniscribe full height ESDI hard drive, which works great after a low-level format! Very cool drive, and 300MB for 1987 standards was massive!

It also has the original 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive and an aftermarket 3.5" 1.44MB floppy drive, which is the wrong color. I plan to correct this eventually, as I like the colors to match.

And it came with a really nice Orchid Pro Designer Plus 512KB VGA card and a Media Vision Thunder Board sound card!

I also popped in an Etherlink III in it for easy file transfers and using the Old Net! I installed IE 3.03 in Windows 3.11, and while it's quite slow, it works fine!

This is quite literally the heaviest desktop computer I have ever owned. It's slightly heavier than my already ridiculously heavy Deskpro 8086.

Very happy with this as my 386 PC! I do love my PS/2 Model 80, but I had been wanting an ISA based 386. And it's cool because this computer was in direct competition with the Model 80.

I will definitely get good use out of this Deskpro!
 
It’s like Christmas at your place with the Portable 286, SLT/286 and now this! I always liked the build quality on the early Compaqs, similar to the IBMs. Even nicer if you acquire the matching keyboard and monitor.
 
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Andrettigto said:
It’s like Christmas at your place with the Portable 286, SLT/286 and now this! I always liked the build quality on the early Compaqs, similar to the IBMs. Even nicer if you acquire the matching keyboard and monitor.
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Haha, yeah! Did you see the early low serial Compaq Portable I posted as well? Although I’ve had that longer and only just now posted it here.

But yes, the early Compaq machines are of incredible build quality, certainly every bit as good as IBM. I do need to find the matching keyboard and monitor for this one. The keyboard isn’t too hard to find but the early Compaq VGA CRTs are almost impossible to find these days unfortunately.

And there is yet ANOTHER system I just got that hasn’t been posted yet. I’ve been going nuts lately selling off unneeded systems to build up my Compaq collection.
 
Oh this is very cool. You don't hear that much about Compaq Deskpro 386, but I think after the IBM trilogy of PCs (PC/XT/AT) this was the most significant next PC as it was the triumph of the clones. Is the 20MHz model very similar to the original 16MHz one (IE, lots of discrete logic, PALs instead of more custom ASICs)? Thanks for sharing!
 
mogwaay said:
Oh this is very cool. You don't hear that much about Compaq Deskpro 386, but I think after the IBM trilogy of PCs (PC/XT/AT) this was the most significant next PC as it was the triumph of the clones. Is the 20MHz model very similar to the original 16MHz one (IE, lots of discrete logic, PALs instead of more custom ASICs)? Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...
Thanks!

Here is a pic of the Deskpro 386/20 motherboard (not mine, but same board).
19F45FBA-8960-418D-8162-F1CF6021E723.jpeg
 
Very nice. My Compaq 386 collection includes a 386/20e, 386/25, and a Portable 386. Someday I'd like to get an original 386 to match my first Compaq I used for work back in 1988, but I'm still satisfied if I don't. These are great machines that give an appreciation for what the state of the art in PCs was in the late 1980s.
 
resman said:
Very nice. My Compaq 386 collection includes a 386/20e, 386/25, and a Portable 386. Someday I'd like to get an original 386 to match my first Compaq I used for work back in 1988, but I'm still satisfied if I don't. These are great machines that give an appreciation for what the state of the art in PCs was in the late 1980s.
Click to expand...
I've managed to reconstruct an original Deskpro 386/16 (2570) from August 1986. Found the original bezel and motherboard. Had to transplant it into a 286 body. Boy is the BIOS a mess. :) It doesn't support 1.44 drives lol. This was a dream machine of mine to get. If only I could find an original 2570 carcass to transplant it back into.
 
mogwaay said:
Oh this is very cool. You don't hear that much about Compaq Deskpro 386, but I think after the IBM trilogy of PCs (PC/XT/AT) this was the most significant next PC as it was the triumph of the clones. Is the 20MHz model very similar to the original 16MHz one (IE, lots of discrete logic, PALs instead of more custom ASICs)? Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

The 386/16 (2570) was a very crude beast, they were in a hurry with it. The August 1986 BIOS in mine doesn't even support 1.44 MB drives!
The 386/20 (2571) came out a year later in 1987. It was much more refined. They changed the memory card socket from the 2570.
The 386/25 (2572) was the last and the nicest. Introduced in 1988, it had all the kinks worked out. It shares the same memory card design as the 2571.
 
dhamilton said:
The 386/16 (2570) was a very crude beast, they were in a hurry with it. The August 1986 BIOS in mine doesn't even support 1.44 MB drives!
The 386/20 (2571) came out a year later in 1987. It was much more refined. They changed the memory card socket from the 2570.
The 386/25 (2572) was the last and the nicest. Introduced in 1988, it had all the kinks worked out. It shares the same memory card design as the 2571.
Click to expand...
The Deskpro 386/16 went through some revisions to address the FPU from a 287 to support the 387 when it became available. It also used a static column DRAM design that was supposed to be zero wait state during same page accesses. I believe the Portable 386 used a similar design even though it ran at 20 MHz. The Deskpro 386/20 and later switched to a 4K cache design and standard DRAMs. Finding memory cards for the 386/16 is much more difficult than the later machines.
 
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