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Zenith Data Systems Model ZCV-251-EC

The old Bitch is going to get a 8-bit FM Radio card fitted later today. Should be cool hear my favorate local radio station blasting through it speakers. The original software disk was not good butIMG_20230520_074533_hdr.jpg I manage to tack it down on the interweb in about half an hour. ;)
 
A few days again I decided to make up an external HD 5.25" floppy drive for the old dear. Quite simple really:

Find a suitable FDD cable.
Make a suitable external PSU-FDD cable.
Find a serviceable HD 5.25" FDD.
Find a spare 5.25" optical drive(CD/DVD) and pull the guts out if it and modify if needed to fit the above HD 5.25" FDD and FDD cable. Paint said assemble a suitable biege to match the system and external peripheral devices.

So off I went and got the bits sorted ready to modify, assemble, paint, less the PSU-external FDD then attach to my Zenith Z286LP Plus machine via a rear expantion port opening.:IMG_20230905_232946_hdr.jpg
 
For the PSU-External cable I've harvested suitable wiring fron a dead later 2000s ATX power supply. These are great for these purpose as they have FDD power connectors as well as SATA power connecters I just use a pair sharp scissors to cut the as near as I can to the connectors. I've choosen to inclded the smaller FDD connect as well just in case. Remember Kids " Prior preparation prevents piss poor performance" ;)
 

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The external 5.25" HD FDD is coming along swimmingly. A few minor alterations then solder up the PSU cable and possiply test before painting tomorrow with any luck.IMG_20230907_190958.jpg
 
ProgessIMG_20230912_151343_hdr.jpgIMG_20230910_060526_hdr.jpg on the external drive. PSU cables made up and securing plate for holding the base to the main body of the drive.
 
I have one of these and i've been trying to find information on it, and its extremely hard. It's been fun seeing all your updates for the past decade. I've been looking for specific model details on the 286 system I have, possible cpu card upgrades or anything else (still haven't found a manual online for my model). I went through every square inch of that Zenith site dump and while i'm sure mine is similar to yours looking at pictures, I can't find any exact reference to the model number (ZCV-2526-EM). The one I have is completely original still with the 40mb ST-351a/x and 1mb of ram and still works perfectly.
 
Schafeman said:
I have one of these and i've been trying to find information on it, and its extremely hard. It's been fun seeing all your updates for the past decade. I've been looking for specific model details on the 286 system I have, possible cpu card upgrades or anything else (still haven't found a manual online for my model). I went through every square inch of that Zenith site dump and while i'm sure mine is similar to yours looking at pictures, I can't find any exact reference to the model number (ZCV-2526-EM). The one I have is completely original still with the 40mb ST-351a/x and 1mb of ram and still works perfectly.
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Thank you. I'd love to see some pictures of it inside and out and I'm sure other vcfed.org members will as well
 
Sure! I've added an SB16 a while back since I had it laying around and 4mb of memory. Like i've heard others say, it's definitely pretty quick for a 286. It seems so easy to pop out the cpu card, I just wish there were 386 CPU cards on the used market (which there should be looking at the model info), but I never see any parts for these or even complete systems. Just happen to acquire this one by chance about a year ago.

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Hi, for anyone that might know, can I use a different ISA video card in here and disable the on-board VGA? I found a much better Tseng ET4000ax in my collection but when I install it, it does really strange things on both adapters (missing cursers, graphics corruption). It's definitely trying to use both adapters but the only jumper that references anything VGA on the system board does seem to do anything.
 
Caluser2000 said:
Thank you. I'd love to see some pictures of it inside and out and I'm sure other vcfed.org members will as well
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Hi Caluser2000.. since you seem to be quite knowledgable on these, literally the last piece of my puzzle is dropping in a better video card. I have stacks of them that would certainly be better than the on-board graphics, but I can't figure out how to disable it. I don't see any jumpers that mention video (besides one on interrupt). When I install a card, I get screens on both and strange corruption and missing characters, definitely conflicting with each other. This is such a common feature on every other computer with built in video.
 
Schafeman said:
Hi Caluser2000.. since you seem to be quite knowledgable on these, literally the last piece of my puzzle is dropping in a better video card. I have stacks of them that would certainly be better than the on-board graphics, but I can't figure out how to disable it. I don't see any jumpers that mention video (besides one on interrupt). When I install a card, I get screens on both and strange corruption and missing characters, definitely conflicting with each other. This is such a common feature on every other computer with built in video.
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I haven't opened my ones case for a few years but I do suspect there is a jumper on the motherboard to disable the onboard video.
 
Actually it was WAAAAY easier. I spent multiple weeks looking, reading and searching for an answer. The incredibly advanced Bios (for a 286 anyways) has the option right in there to use an external video card and disable the internal. I have since added an adaptec ISA scsi card, an ET4000ax video card and with the SB16 that has drivers that work in Windows 3.1 standard mode, this is an incredibly capable little computer. I have my eyes on someone that has a 386 CPU board for one of these too, we'll see if they decide to sell it to me.
 
Schafeman said:
Actually it was WAAAAY easier. I spent multiple weeks looking, reading and searching for an answer. The incredibly advanced Bios (for a 286 anyways) has the option right in there to use an external video card and disable the internal. I have since added an adaptec ISA scsi card, an ET4000ax video card and with the SB16 that has drivers that work in Windows 3.1 standard mode, this is an incredibly capable little computer. I have my eyes on someone that has a 386 CPU board for one of these too, we'll see if they decide to sell it to me.
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Excellent! Thanks for sharing ;)
 
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