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My new custom built 386DX40!

And that's a good enough reason as any ;) It's good to have options. Looks great. As I mentioned in my 386 thread I went the IDE route because of the lack of SCSI hard drive.

Is it networked yet?
 
I tried win95c on it and used the offbyone browser to browse the net.

Ive not got DOS networked on it, that's something low on the priority list for me, but I eventually wanna try to get offbyone running in 3.11 on fuzzy the 386.


and, thanks!
 
You should make it a higher priority. A network card and mTCP make playing with dos software so much more convenient. I made a short batch file that starts my packet driver, gets an ip with dhcp, and starts the FTP server. All I have to do is boot, type 'ftpd' and I can ftp over anything I want. I like to unarchive files with my modern PC, install it with dosbox, and then just copy over the entire folder. It's so much better than sneakernet, zmodem, or interlnk.
 
I never envisioned the FTP server as being terribly popular and as a result I've been surprised at how many people use it. Normally I run my FTP server on a more modern machine (Windows or Linux) and I use the FTP client on DOS to move things as needed.

I recently tested my tablet computer (a Nexus 7) against a PCjr running the FTP server. It doesn't work out of the box, but I have a fix ready for the next mTCP release. (The FTP client I am using on the Nexus is at fault, but it's one of those things where it is easier to make the server more error tolerant than to fix all of the broken clients in the world.)

My normal startup script for machines without their own clock is to load the packet driver, run DHCP, and then run SNTP to get the clock synched up with the rest of the world. The overhead to do that is only a few KB for the packet driver, and even that can usually be unloaded if RAM space is tight. (I just leave it resident in case I want to use IRC or FTP.)


Mike
 
I like using ZIP100 discs to transfer the files. I have 6 drives now and like 30 discs.

I find I prefer that with these old computers even when I can boot to win95 on them (gotta love system commander) and map a network drive and transfer like that. The zip discs are even a great backup tool for me.

Check the last picture I posted, a smoke colored atapi zip100 is in my newest pc next to the 386, via an internal pata to usb2 adapter. :)
 
jaqiefox said:
if they weren't so expensive and hard to find, I would do that. As it stands, I am looking for a good deal on a 40MHz one.

.
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I don't know if its a 40mhz rated piece, but I do have two Intel 80387 Co-processors NIB.

EDIT: I just checked. and they're rated 16-33.
 
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jaqiefox said:
I tried win95c on it and used the offbyone browser to browse the net.

Ive not got DOS networked on it, that's something low on the priority list for me, but I eventually wanna try to get offbyone running in 3.11 on fuzzy the 386.


and, thanks!
Click to expand...
No probs. It'd be interesting if you do get offbyone functioning on win3.x. I always thought would only on win95 up.

Anyway keep us posted on progress. There's a few Windows/wfw 3.1x fans here. Have you tried Calmira on it at all?
 
The 16-33 rated Intel parts are pretty nice. They should have late production dates and use the updated (faster) core. I think there is a good chance of them working at 40MHz, of course I never recommend overclocking FPUs. Get a late model 40MHz Cyrix Fasmath if you can find one at a decent price. Late model USLI and IIT models are good too (though a little less compatible than the Cyrix and Intels)
 
Intel never made a 386 faster than 33 MHz (at least not for the consumer PC market; maybe they did for specialized embedded processors), because they wanted people to move to the 486. It was AMD who started cranking out 40 MHz 386s en masse, because the 386 was the highest x86 CPU they had in production at the time, and because with an external cache, a 386DX-40 was actually faster than a lot of the low-end cacheless 486SX systems being sold at the time.

The lifespan of 386 architecture was increased even further with Cyrix's 486DLC, which added the 486 instruction set and a small internal L1 cache.
 
eeguru said:
While I agree with the rest of your post, this little detail in an absolute sense is wrong. Even in stock at Digikey. I just bought a couple for a new MB design.
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I said in full, "Intel never made a 386 faster than 33 MHz (at least not for the consumer PC market; maybe they did for specialized embedded processors)". The CPU you link to is a CPU designed for embedded use, not the consumer market. :)
 
vwestlife said:
I said in full, "Intel never made a 386 faster than 33 MHz (at least not for the consumer PC market; maybe they did for specialized embedded processors)". The CPU you link to is a CPU designed for embedded use, not the consumer market. :)
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Since when is a 386SX designed for embedded use? They shipped millions of them during the 90's with way too many carrying the Packard Bell moniker. The ones I have are (c) 1985 & 1991. The 'EX' and 'CX' types were the embedded versions. More info here.

This pic of a 386SX from a Compaq Deskpro looks an awful lot like the chip I just bought from Digikey below. They just updated the max clock rating as the fabrication yield improved over the years. It's the same exact design from the late 80's / early 90's only faster. Most of what you see still retail is overstock from the late 90's finally winding down - but genuine Intel, consumer/targeted, and 40 MHz none-the-less.
 

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vwestlife said:
Digikey lists the one you linked to as "Embedded - Microprocessors". :)
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And? Digikey doesn't have any microprocessor categories that aren't prefixed by the word embedded. If we go by your logic, this Pentium 4 is an 'embedded processor' as are all Intel processors ever made including 486DX's, 386DX's, etc (or at least stocked by Digikey).

I'm just curious how fast a 40 MHz SX will run in pipe-lined address mode with true zero wait state burst RAM.
 
Don't taunt him. He will put it in a PCjr sidecar too just for style points ...
 
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