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Lobo: The ultimate 16 bit PC

J

JoJo_ReloadeD

Experienced Member
Joined
May 12, 2007
Messages
120
Here is Lobo, my latest build. Just trying to achieve the top possible performance on a 16 bit PC... while paying tribute to this game saga that was born on 16 bit PCs, Wolfenstein :)




Here are its specs:

- 80286 at 27.2 mhz
- 4 mb ram on motherboard
- 2 mb EMS
- VGA Cirrus Logic 1MB
- Sound Blaster 16
- integrated Roland MT32
- Ethernet network card
- Storage on removable CFs

Inspired by the Highscreen 286 video, I decided to investigate how to build a 286 gaming PC and see how far can I go... and this is the result.




Built in a Nox Hummer ZN case, this PC... is in fact two PCs in one. There is no LAPC-1 card on it, the MT32 support is 'emulated': Inside Lobo there are two Pcs, the main one, the 286... and a P4 3000 which its only job is to emulate the MT32 via software using MUNT.

Build photos:




Halfway... note the big heatsink over the 286, and another small one on the chipset, because of the overclocking.




First build, but everything fits on the case :)

MUNT was originally done to be used with DosBox and ScummVM, adding a midi instrument on the computer its running, and dosbox/scummvm connect to it generating the sound. I was thinking about this concept and thought... 'if I have one software midi equipment on a pc... connect a midi usb adapter... and link them... it should react to midi commands entering throught the serial interface, right?'

Yes, that was the case :)

Built all on a linux, linked the midi devices and converted that PC on a real MT32 card :D

USB_midi_interface_cable_1.jpg


The rest was simple, just having a powerful enough PC to get the emulator running, connect it to the 286 through the SB16 MIDI port... and that's it :)




Back photo

... But still I wanted to give some more touch to Lobo. As I had a nice case I thought of giving him a booting sound 'a la Apple':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHRc2YwHWiI

Yep, when booting the PC we hear a wolf howling... This is the real Lobo... :D

Now, I had to automate everything so that we power the 2 PCs and play the sound effect just when you press the power button ... I had to coordinate the on and off of 2 PCs in different ways: One is standard AT what is a simple switch that turns on or off ... and another ATX, where we have a button to be activated once and a while just to power it ... and repeat the process to shut down.

I decided to ride around with an Arduino UNO and a relay board to control this, and take the chance also to reproduce the sound of howling wolf using the technique of PWM. This Arduino powered by + 5V line ATX standby, so that when the ATX power source has the Arduino is powered and monitoring the power button.

Here is Lobo working and playing games:


* Please play the video at 720p50

I hope you like the build :)
 
JoJo_ReloadeD said:
- 80286 at 27.2 mhz
Click to expand...

How was this achieved?

Could you run TOPBENCH on it, add the system to the database, and then send me the resulting DATABASE.INI? I'm curious to see how a 0ws RAM 27MHz 286 fares against others.

and a P4 3000 which its only job is to emulate the MT32 via software using MUNT.
Click to expand...

Why did you decide to do this instead of just obtaining an MT32 or LAPC-1?
 
Trixter said:
How was this achieved?

Could you run TOPBENCH on it, add the system to the database, and then send me the resulting DATABASE.INI? I'm curious to see how a 0ws RAM 27MHz 286 fares against others.



Why did you decide to do this instead of just obtaining an MT32 or LAPC-1?
Click to expand...

Using a PC Chips 80286 20mhz motherboard, replacing its cpu with a Harris at 25mhz and replacing the crystal oscillator from a 40mhz to a 55mhz one.

Here is the topbench result:

1477508414873.jpg


I used a emulated MT32 because of the price they are reaching... this P4 3000 only costed me 5€...
 
MennoJoshua said:
What's the ISA bus clocked at?
Click to expand...

Honestly... I don't know. The BIOS doesn't have any option to modify it... But its timing are tied to the cpu clock. When I overclocked it I noticed also a boost on the vga speed.

If the original clock was 8mhz then it should be around 11mhz (1.375 times higher).

All the cards are stable in any case :)
 
Beautiful thing, indeed.

Apparently it has 4 SIMMs, 1 MB each, right? Did you try to use 4 MB ones? It might work on a late-286 mobo.
Is there an FPU in it? FPU on 286 mobos typically works at OSC/3, ie. 18.333 here, and there were 20 MHz 287 chips.
SB16's MIDI port only works in UART mode, did you encounter any problems related to that?
Did you try using OSes other than DOS? It would be interesting to see such a machine with eg. Minix, with TCP/IP, multiuser remote access, etc...
 
Xacalite said:
Beautiful thing, indeed.

Apparently it has 4 SIMMs, 1 MB each, right? Did you try to use 4 MB ones? It might work on a late-286 mobo.
Is there an FPU in it? FPU on 286 mobos typically works at OSC/3, ie. 18.333 here, and there were 20 MHz 287 chips.
SB16's MIDI port only works in UART mode, did you encounter any problems related to that?
Did you try using OSes other than DOS? It would be interesting to see such a machine with eg. Minix, with TCP/IP, multiuser remote access, etc...
Click to expand...

Yes, tried 4mb SIMMs, but seems that this board doesn't accept them :(
Thought of adding a 80287, but as high as the overclock is... and the fact I am using it only for games... I discarded the idea...
About the OS, only tried DOS on it. Games :D
Yes, about the SB16... the games that use the intelligent mode doesn't work... and as it is a 80286 I can't use SoftMPU :(
 
BTW, can somebody please explain this:
CPU works at 27.5 MHz, ie. 36 ns cycle
DRAM has access time of 60 ns
And it supposedly works with zero wait states.
How is it possible, or what's wrong here?
 
Xacalite said:
BTW, can somebody please explain this:
CPU works at 27.5 MHz, ie. 36 ns cycle
DRAM has access time of 60 ns
And it supposedly works with zero wait states.
How is it possible, or what's wrong here?
Click to expand...

I think this board doesn't have tied the cpu clock to the memory clock, because this would mean using memory much faster than it has installed, just as you say.
It doesn't have any option on bios to set the ws of the ram, and I only assumed it at 0ws because at 16mhz the memory performs equal as other boards with 0ws option on bios.
 
Doesn't a single memory access on the 286 take more than one CPU cycle?
 
eeguru said:
I assume since the 286 itself doesn't support burst memory cycles, you would need at least 2 cpu cycles for each memory access. Just like an 8086/8 and 80386.
Click to expand...
Ah, OK, now it makes sense, thanks.

One more question: SB16 has DA-15 MIDI connector, I can see here a MIDI DIN <-> USB converter, so there must be at least one more adapter: some cable? Breakout box? Anything else?

And yes, I really like the idea to build an MT-32 emulator, probably going to build one myself, using some compact and fanless PC - netbook/ultrabook/some industrial box/whatever of size similar to the original MT-32.
 
Xacalite said:
Ah, OK, now it makes sense, thanks.

One more question: SB16 has DA-15 MIDI connector, I can see here a MIDI DIN <-> USB converter, so there must be at least one more adapter: some cable? Breakout box? Anything else?

And yes, I really like the idea to build an MT-32 emulator, probably going to build one myself, using some compact and fanless PC - netbook/ultrabook/some industrial box/whatever of size similar to the original MT-32.
Click to expand...

This cable + a female/female din5 connector:

s-l225.jpg


The female db15 serves as a joystick port, you can see it on the back photo of the case.
 
OK, I've found some old Gravis MIDI breakout box which already has female DIN IN/OUT/THRU ports, if it still works I won't need that female/female connector.
 
Yet another question: anybody knows a good MOD-player for a fast 286?
I mean something with support for multichannel modules like S3M or XM.
I tried Inertia Player, but no, it's 386+
It's obvious: late 286s have a lot of processing power, but there's severe shortage of multimedia software for them.
 
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