22 Jun
2002
22 Jun
'02
10:32 p.m.
I've looked at what's on the HDD using DOS, and it's Win95, of which I have
lots of copies already. I think I'll just sap the partition and start over.
Yes, it's possible it's a bus mouse board, but the connector isn't the keyed
sort that I've seen on mouse adapter boards in the past. does that seem
likely to you? An Apple serial cable (from a Mac) plugs in just fine.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tothwolf" <tothwolf(a)concentric.net>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2002 8:06 PM
Subject: Re: [OT] Waddizzit??
On Sat, 22 Jun 2002, Richard Erlacher wrote:
I just picked up a PC at the local thrift store.
It has a board
that's a half-height ISA card with the designation SCB5 Junior. It's
got a mini-din at the backpanel, though it's definitely not the keyed
sort used by a mouse or keyboard. I've got to admit, I'm puzzled.
It might be for a bus-mouse, often those use 9 pin connectors. I've seen
older UPS controller boards that also meet this description. I have one
somewhere made by APC, but I can't remember how many pins the mini-din it
uses has. Based on your description, I'd guess your card is indeed for a
bus-mouse. Typically those have a jumper or dip switch to set the card to
one of 4 I/O addresses, and some also have an IRQ jumper.
The PC, BTW, was a 150 MHz Packard Bell
"Platinum" with a 5 GB WD
drive and a 56x CDROM, along with the "usual" sound and modem boards
and the usual built-ins. It had no keyboard or mouse, and therefore
cost only $1.99. I've already established that the drives work, and
the machine, which has 48MB of 72-pin DRAM, also seems to run without
a hitch. Unfortunately, the OS will have to be reinstalled, since it
was passworded.
Delete the *.pwl files in the 'windows' directory? Tried 'ESC' when it
asks for a password? You might need to use the policy editor (found on the
installation cd) to change some of the settings once you get past the
password prompt. (Before anyone asks, I don't like or even use windows for
my day to day machines, but I did admin large numbers of systems that were
running it in the past...)
I snagged a similar one last week, with a 1.6GB
HDD and an 8x CDROM,
but it has a TV card that I'd like to make work if it's possible.
Anybody have any experience with this Packard Bell stuff?
Based on my experiences with Packard Bell, they made systems best avoided
for important tasks. Their systems are fine if you want a box to tinker
with, but you might find yourself fixing lots of silly problems caused by
careless designers or assemblers. IIRC, NEC owns the Packard Bell brand
now, but I have no idea of they are still using it.
-Toth