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NEC PowerMate Portable text too big to fit. Help!

Coder

Coder

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2023
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I've never seen this before. The text is physically too big to even display the BIOS messages without going off the screen! I've done some cursory checks of the dip switches and looked through the manual, but nothing jumps out. I have to put it in 80 column mode just to be able to use it at all. Does anyone have any idea what's going on? Is there something that sets the character size/height?

20230906_151033.jpg
 
That is strange. My best guess would be the wrong LCD is installed or less likely would be a DIP switch setting (??) on the motherboard, but that's not as likely on such an old system. Is there an external video output? Is is also wrong?
 
If the DIP switches are correct (and not dirty/faulty), run the Setup disk and check the settings there. The "Hardware System Setup Guide" has mentions 40/80 column mode when you have the display set to CGB as display system
 
You know, I never considered that dirty dip switches would be a thing. Which is surprising because I use deoxit on my vintage stereo equipment and on connectors/card edges when putting computers back together. Not sure how I never put those two together. They are just switches after all!

I'm in the process of writing the setup disk to floppy now. I haven't tried the drive yet, so I guess I'll find out if it works lol. I did see some DIP settings for various display modes in the manual, but my understanding is that those only affect the external display. Unfortunately, I don't have a monitor that can do 9 pin RGB, so I can't see if the external signal is oversized as well. I really need to pick something up, but rural Missouri doesn't have a lot of great resources for vintage tech. Almost all I have has come from eBay, which is pricey. Anyone want to donate a monitor? lol
 
Huzzah! It was SW3. Mine were all "Off" which doesn't correspond to any of the valid options in the manual. Setting it to "OFF, ON, ON, OFF" as the the photo in the manual shows results in normal output. Thanks for the help everyone!
 
I have nothing to add, except that the PowerMate Portable is my favorite DOS system. I've had mine for a few years, and use it regularly. It's great to see another one!
 
It's a really neat system! I've got the later one with a gas plasma display and my only gripe with it is that it takes forever counting the expanded memory... I wish there was a way to skip or shorten that.
One of the (if not *the* ) best mechanical keyboards to type on :)
 
I have another one that's the SX (Gas plasma display and 386) and I agree, these are great machines! I bought this one because it came with the external floppy and hadn't seen one with that before. It runs great now. The 20mb hard drive even works.
 
Cool, do you have pictures of the floppy drive? I've seen it in the manual but never a "real" one in the wild...
 
I took it apart to clean it and relube everything. I'll put it back together after work and post some pictures.
 
Here's the drive:
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And in case anyone's curious what's inside:

20230908_160128.jpg 20230908_160027.jpg 20230908_160204.jpg

Mine will need the capacitors replaced. They've leaked and caused the other components nearby to corrode.

20230908_155836.jpg

And just for fun, here's the drive riding on the back of my PowerMate SX.

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Thanks for the pictures! Your PowerMate SX is in really good condition... mine has a broken screen hinge that I have yet to repair
 
Thanks :) I got lucky and found this one for pretty cheap while looking for parts for another one I have. Now the other one is my parts machine! The hinges on mine are good, but the spring doesn't seem to be working correctly. When you pull the screen out it doesn't hold its position. It just kind of swings there.
 
Just picked up a PowerMate Portable SX for a very reasonable price, to go with my 286. I wasn't expecting it to be fully working, but it booted right up. A happy hour spent installing some software, and it's now in use. Stunningly good keyboard, exactly like the 286, but the gas plasma display is amazingly crisp and sharp.

Does anyone know if there's a SETUP disk for this, just in case? And also, any manuals? Unlike the 286, there doesn't appear to be anything out there for the SX.
 
Congratulations to this very fun system. In my opinion one of the best keyboards to type on, if it weren't for the non-standard layout.

I have all the setup disks and manuals for the PowerMate Portable SX (I think), including the Plasma Display Manager software and instructions... I'll provide it when I find some time.

In the meantime look here:

NEC POWERMATE PORTABLE SX (APC-H702X)

NEC POWERMATE PORTABLE SX (APC-H702X) is a motherboard based on the Intel 230 (ZyMOS POACH 286) chipset. Get specs, BIOS, documentation and more!
theretroweb.com theretroweb.com
archive.org

Powermate Portable SX Manual : NEC Information Systems Inc. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Manual for the NEC Powermate Portable SX
archive.org
 
Oh my, that's absolutely great!! Thanks!

The keyboard is really good to use, but certainly the layout takes a bit of getting used to. Well worth it though. And a little amusing they describe this as 'lightweight' - I certainly would not want to have to carry it far!

It's certainly going to see some use as a writing platform!
 
They're all around great units. Very underrated in my opinion. You have built in ISA expansion, a great screen, powerful hardware for the time, and like you said, one of the best feeling keyboards to ever grace a computer, let alone on a portable one. I think the aesthetic is great, too. It looks very great on shelf. One of my favorites for sure.
 
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