28 Feb
2003
28 Feb
'03
9:40 p.m.
When I was working in process controls, we had PLC programming software
--
http://webpages.charter.net/jrice54/classiccomp2.html
from two different companies that would only run on
certain processors.
The original SLC-500 series software from Allen-Bradley would
not run on
a 486, but would scream on a 286 or 386. As soon as you tried to run it
on a 486 or higher, instant crash, taking DOS totally down to the point
only pushing the reset would reboot it. The PLC-2 series from ICOM
would run on 8088-Pentiums, but faster than a 286 and the comm port
control routines refused to communicate with the system making it
totally useless. There was a MMI package we used, the names elludes me
(it's early) that wouldn't run if installed on a hard drive over 240mb.
It had a space checking routine that couldn't handle hard drives over
240mb, or a processor over a 486DX25. It would crash if either the
drive was too large or if the system was too fast. All of this software
was still current in 1994-98.
As far as finding an older system, except for the 386 that is kind of a
museum piece, we scrapped eveything below 1ghz a couple of months ago.
chris wrote:
Fellow
classic'ers, I have a very specific set of old radio service
software packages that require running. Since they were written back when
the 386 was still in the "Ooooh, Ahhhh!" phase, and discontinued soon
after, they won't run reliably (if at all) on anything newer than a 486.
I have some friends that make the same claim. That they have
radio/scanner programming software that will NOT work on anything newer
than a 386. I'm curious... WHY? What happens at the faster speeds that
makes it useless? I've tried asking my friends, but they are clueless on
these matters (and actually, all except one had no idea, they were making
the claim simply because they were told that was the case... only one
claims to have actually tried it).
Is it something that is solveable by running some kind of speed killing
software (I had an app that did that. I used it to play old DOS games on
newer Pentium machines. The graphics ran so fast that the games were
unplayable, so I ran this processor stealing software and it slows the
machine down by the % you tell it to).
Here's what I'd like to find. A small
tower-style 486, mini or mid, with
PS/2 type ports for keyboard and mouse built in. Speed-wise, it should be
in the DX33 or DX2/66 class. It should have switchable "Turbo/Non-Turbo"
mode, either from a front-panel switch or from a keypress combination.
Finally, it needs to have at least two PCI slots in addition to the usual
ISA or EISA.
Ugh.... should have asked a few months ago. I just junked scores of
486's. I'm sure one of them probably fit your bill (or at least came
close). I have some more coming up to be scrapped, so I'll keep an eye
out.
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>