Pentium 1 computer uses? Newbs first encounter w/ antiques.

beavismorpheus · Apr 6, 2006

My sister called me and told me she wanted to upgrade her computer. I was happy to help, i love working with technology.

I didnt take a peak inside before i brought it home to see what i had to work with. The plan was to reusue the case, power supply, cd-rom, hdd, floppy and just pop in a new mobo/proc/ram/vid so she could surf the web faster.

i opened it and didnt know where to start. wtf is edo ram? 1.6gb hdd? the power on switch goes to the power supply? totally wrong form factor case. psu cable to mobo is split in two. i loled at the passive heatsink on the processor.

if i were to reuse the case, it would take some extreme butchering, might as well use a cardboard box.

Anywho, the computer wasnt booting to begin with. so im about to reinstall win 3.1 (omg lol) onto the measly hdd and give it back to her.

so i ask you, what good is a system this old? a last ditch effort to access the internet if the main rig fails? What kind of uses have you found for them? An old school game station?

Ill admit it was fun to explore this antique

Im young and havent seen anything like it.

>HyperlogiK< · Apr 6, 2006

They do still have their uses, you can run a basic smoothwall install on there and have a better router/firewall than anything other than a proper commerical firewall appliance would give you. The passive heatsink is nice in this respect too, because it makes things a bit quieter.

A retro gaming machine is the other use, I used to run some old games on a Pentium1 box with a Voodoo 1, I also had a Pentium 2 with a Voodoo 2 and a Pentium 3 with a Voodoo 3, kind of like my museum to 3Dfx.

beavismorpheus · Apr 6, 2006

the smoothwall thing sounds like a fun project. it would give me an excuse to learn linux. I might have an old network card lying around somewhere too.

aeiou · Apr 6, 2006

Are you sure its even a pentium? Win 3.1 is a little old for that. I would think win95 should be on most pentiums.

Gnufsh · Apr 6, 2006

You could get a pentium with Windows 3.1. You could re-use the floppy. The cdrom drive will probbaly be slow (and she'll probably want a cd burner or dvd player or something. An AT PSU is not something you should use in an ATX computer, even if you mod the connector to work.

I would suggest smoothwall as well (a router/firewall is a nice thing to have around). You know, this stuff really isn't all that old. I'm 21 and you're maing me feel like an old man here just because I've seen some computer hardware from 10 years ago.

VinnyTAMU · Apr 6, 2006

I vote for DOS gaming system

dgk · Apr 6, 2006

Oh yes, you're old. My first computer was a 286 clone, switchable between 6 and 10 mhz. All the games were written to run on a 6 mhz machine (the original IBM speed), so the blazing 10 mhz system made the games run too fast. Thus the switch. I never thought to try to overclock it. I could possibly have gotten it up to 11 mhz with good cooling!

Electron Chaser · Apr 6, 2006

dgk said:
Oh yes, you're old. My first computer was a 286 clone, switchable between 6 and 10 mhz. All the games were written to run on a 6 mhz machine (the original IBM speed), so the blazing 10 mhz system made the games run too fast. Thus the switch. I never thought to try to overclock it. I could possibly have gotten it up to 11 mhz with good cooling!

Ahh yes I remember the "Turbo" Button on PCs back then. LOL

As far as a DOS gaming system I have several boxes of disks in my attic with apps and games dating back to the 80s

dgk · Apr 6, 2006

Oh, I forgot to add that the machine cost, according to my somewhat shot memory, around $3000.

oxid · Apr 6, 2006

old computers are fun

Dreamstalker · Apr 6, 2006

I have a 286 that I recently scavenged from the science building; I'm gutting the thing now and one of these days plan to slap an older-ATX mobo/small PSU in there and turn it into a small DOS gaming box. Hopefully I'd be able to find a slot-loading CD drive and keep the 5 1/4" faceplate (geeky homage to the "but these round discs are the same size as the drive, so they should fit!" myth)...if not, I have a tray-loading drive. Love the huge red power switch...don't think that's salvageable though as it's on the PSU itself. Oh well.

If I can ever get the mobo screws out, that is *razzafracking machine-tightened screws in completely inaccessible places*

My dad says it's not worth it, but so far all I have invested is time.

beavismorpheus · Apr 6, 2006

About the power button on the case. im not talking about reusing the AT power supply itself. its just that the case switch goes into the power supply and NOT onto the motherboard like the ATX style. Could i cut the + and - wires from the case and solder them onto the + and - on the motherboard? wouldnt that work just fine, in theory? i would replace the power supply with an atx one

Gnufsh · Apr 6, 2006

No, it wouldn't work. The switch on an AT PSU is on/off, the switch to power on an atx mobo is momentary. Let me put it another way, when you press the AT switch it stays closed (ie switched on). When you push the button on an atx system, itt is only closed momentarily. You'll have to switch switches.

Trombe · Apr 6, 2006

I am buiding a modern server into a legacy case, and I have encountered the same problem. Best solution is to just replace the switch with something cooler.

hookem2oo7 · Apr 6, 2006

you can take the backing off of the switch and take the locking mechanism out so its only a momentary switch...i've done it before

benbaked · Apr 7, 2006

Gnufsh said:
You could get a pentium with Windows 3.1

instantaneous general protection faults, cool.

lol @ a pentium 60 being an antique. the math bug, hahaaha.

Mr. $T$ · Apr 7, 2006

Nothing is really practically reuseable, what I suggest is get a cheap 1Ghz pIII box off retrobox for about $100.

As for you it would be a great box to learn Linux. The good thing about Linux is the older the computer the better the compatibility. Chances are a good distro will install as easy as XP.

Gnufsh · Apr 7, 2006

benbaked said:
instantaneous general protection faults, cool.

I tended more toward getting the "windows has encountered an error" with an ignore and a cancel button (or something similar). I never could figure out the differnece between the two buttons, they tended to do the same thing.

lol @ a pentium 60 being an antique. the math bug, hahaaha.

Intel inside, don't divide!

Enablingwolf · Apr 7, 2006

The machine would make a great kids computer. You can let them play with it and have a ball. There is many older games that are abondonware. A future overclocker would love you for it. Plus there would be a benift of learning to use a keyboard. Past any other suggestions mentioned.

http://www.alex-soft.net/

JimmyG · Apr 7, 2006

>HyperlogiK< said:
They do still have their uses, you can run a basic smoothwall install on there and have a better router/firewall than anything other than a proper commerical firewall appliance would give you. The passive heatsink is nice in this respect too, because it makes things a bit quieter.

A retro gaming machine is the other use, I used to run some old games on a Pentium1 box with a Voodoo 1, I also had a Pentium 2 with a Voodoo 2 and a Pentium 3 with a Voodoo 3, kind of like my museum to 3Dfx.

Can you say Wing Commander I, II, and III; Doom I, and II?

Pentium 1 computer uses? Newbs first encounter w/ antiques.

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