186 (was: CompuGraphics Question) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

4 Aug 1999

The only 'xt-type machine I have kept since the "old days" when such things
were common, is a "Challenger" motherboard (made ??? but sold through an
outfit in Boston) which was a 10MHz '186 as the processor in the 'XT
architecture.  It had some 16-bit slots, though I never checked them out for
functionality, since there were few devices suitable for that.

Since the integrated peripherals could be relocated to an "out of the way"
location that was almost the first thing that happened in the ROM code.
I've held onto one just in case I ever needed to develop something for a
'186 again.  That and the '188 and the NEC V-40 and V-50 were my favorites
of the time.  I liked those built-in memory selects that allowed you to
build a system with almost no glue logic.

Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: Hans Franke &lt;Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Wednesday, August 04, 1999 10:00 AM
Subject: 186 (was: CompuGraphics Question)

...

> The machines I worked on were dual-floppy based, 1 Meg RAM, 80186 for the
> processor, and run a specialized program for typesetting. AFAIK, they
> cannot run anything else... but it might be a fun project to see if you
> could get them to do other things. Hope you're good with x86 assembly (and
...
   maybe
disassembly) as I do believe a part of the OS they used was on ROM.
 How much was ROM and what was booted from Floppy, I couldn't tell you... 
186 ? Interesting ... it seams that there are way more 186 beaste
than I have asumed... This could be a collecting theme on their own.

Gruss
H.

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Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK 