3 May
2004
3 May
'04
3 p.m.
I think the first one was the Portable (8088 w/
256k, then the Portable
II (smaller but still 8088 and 640K) then the Portable 286 (286 CPU and
640k(?)), then the Portable III (the small lunchbox sized computer (I don't
remember if theese were 286s or 386SXs)) and then the Portable 386 (it had
a full fledged 386DX). FWIW I have a P-II sitting about five feet from me.
FWIW, the Portable III is a 286 machine. I have pictures of mine posted on
my site if anyone wants to see one.
If anyone has the original setup disk for the Portable III, I would love to
get an image of it - the "generic" AT setup disks work in that you can
configure
the drives and get it to boot, however Compaq apparently "rolled their own"
checksum algorithm, as once configured with any of the generic disks, it gets a
CMOS Checksum error.
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
3 May
3 May
4:20 p.m.
On Mon, 3 May 2004, Dave Dunfield wrote:
If anyone has the original setup disk for the Portable
III, I would love to
get an image of it - the "generic" AT setup disks work in that you can
configure
the drives and get it to boot, however Compaq apparently "rolled their own"
checksum algorithm, as once configured with any of the generic disks, it gets a
CMOS Checksum error.
http://www.compaq.com/support/files/obsolete_diagnostics.html
I THINK that it includes what you need, along with some other junk.
7:09 p.m.
On Mon, 3 May 2004 19:00:01 -0500 (CDT)
Dave Dunfield <dave04a(a)dunfield.com> wrote:
I'm pretty sure the Compaq Portable III that I sold in February was an 8088 machine.
Orange plasma display, small lunchbox configuration, etc. I just went back to the
sales-photos for it and indeed it was badged a III. It had the standard 640K of RAM and
no expansion slots. Did they possibly make this machine with different processor
configurations? Is it possible yours has a 3rd party processor upgrade? I definitely
didn't have to run a Setup program to get it going and it had sat idle for a long time
before I powered it up, so I'm fairly certain the one I had didn't have a setup
battery or CMOS setup storage.
I think the
first one was the Portable (8088 w/ 256k, then the Portable
II (smaller but still 8088 and 640K) then the Portable 286 (286 CPU and
640k(?)), then the Portable III (the small lunchbox sized computer (I don't
remember if theese were 286s or 386SXs)) and then the Portable 386 (it had
a full fledged 386DX). FWIW I have a P-II sitting about five feet from me.
FWIW, the Portable III is a 286 machine. I have pictures of mine posted on
my site if anyone wants to see one.
If anyone has the original setup disk for the Portable III, I would love to
get an image of it - the "generic" AT setup disks work in that you can
configure
the drives and get it to boot, however Compaq apparently "rolled their own"
checksum algorithm, as once configured with any of the generic disks, it gets a
CMOS Checksum error.
9:27 p.m.
Compaq Case Rough
Designation Style Specs
------------ -------- -----
Portable IBM 5155 Style, 8088, 256K, CRT, AC
Portable/Plus " , 8088, 640K with Rev C ROM, CRT EGA, AC
Portable II " , 80286, CRT EGA, AC
Portable III Breadbox , 80286 8/12 MHz, Plasma CGA std (ECG & VCG
optional).
Optional rear 2 slot expansion unit, AC
Portable 286 Same as above
Portable 386 Breadbox , 80386 20MHz, Plasma CGA std (ECG & VCG optional).
Optional rear 2 slot expansion unit, AC
SLT286 Lunchbox , 80286 8/12MHz, Monochrome LCD, NiCd Battery Pack, AC
w/adapter
SLT386 Lunchbox , 80386 ?MHz, Monochrome LCD, NiCd Battery Pack, AC
w/adapter
On Mon, 3 May 2004 Scott Stevens wrote:
I'm pretty sure the Compaq Portable III that I sold in February
was an 8088 machine. Orange plasma display, small lunchbox
configuration, etc. I just went back to the sales-photos for it
and indeed it was badged a III. It had the standard 640K of RAM
and no expansion slots. Did they possibly make this machine with
different processor configurations? Is it possible yours has a
3rd party processor upgrade? I definitely didn't have to run a
Setup program to get it going and it had sat idle for a long time
before I powered it up, so I'm fairly certain the one I had
didn't have a setup battery or CMOS setup storage.
4 May
4 May
4:11 a.m.
That sounds right. I was thinking of the Portable/Plus model but called
it a P-II. I had quite few of the P-IIIs with the optional expansion
units. They made nice little controllers for HP-IL, HP-IB and EPROM
programmers.
Joe
At 02:27 AM 5/4/04 -0400, Bill wrote:
Compaq Case Rough
Designation Style Specs
------------ -------- -----
Portable IBM 5155 Style, 8088, 256K, CRT, AC
Portable/Plus " , 8088, 640K with Rev C ROM, CRT EGA, AC
Portable II " , 80286, CRT EGA, AC
Portable III Breadbox , 80286 8/12 MHz, Plasma CGA std (ECG & VCG
optional).
Optional rear 2 slot expansion unit, AC
Portable 286 Same as above
Portable 386 Breadbox , 80386 20MHz, Plasma CGA std (ECG & VCG optional).
Optional rear 2 slot expansion unit, AC
SLT286 Lunchbox , 80286 8/12MHz, Monochrome LCD, NiCd Battery Pack, AC
w/adapter
SLT386 Lunchbox , 80386 ?MHz, Monochrome LCD, NiCd Battery Pack, AC
w/adapter
On Mon, 3 May 2004 Scott Stevens wrote:
I'm pretty sure the Compaq Portable III that I sold in February
was an 8088 machine. Orange plasma display, small lunchbox
configuration, etc. I just went back to the sales-photos for it
and indeed it was badged a III. It had the standard 640K of RAM
and no expansion slots. Did they possibly make this machine with
different processor configurations? Is it possible yours has a
3rd party processor upgrade? I definitely didn't have to run a
Setup program to get it going and it had sat idle for a long time
before I powered it up, so I'm fairly certain the one I had
didn't have a setup battery or CMOS setup storage.
4:05 a.m.
At 11:09 PM 5/3/04 -0500, you wrote:
8088
machine. Orange plasma display, small lunchbox configuration, etc. I
just went back to the sales-photos for it and indeed it was badged a III.
It had the standard 640K of RAM and no expansion slots. Did they possibly
make this machine with different processor configurations? Is it possible
yours has a 3rd party processor upgrade? I definitely didn't have to run a
Setup program to get it going and it had sat idle for a long time before I
powered it up, so I'm fairly certain the one I had didn't have a setup
battery or CMOS setup storage.
That is odd! I've had about 8 or 10 of the P-IIIs and they were all
286/386 type machines. They definitely used CMOs setups and batteries and
the batteries were always running down and losing the settings.
Joe
On Mon, 3 May 2004 19:00:01 -0500 (CDT)
Dave Dunfield <dave04a(a)dunfield.com> wrote:
> > I think the first one was the Portable (8088 w/ 256k, then the Portable
> >II (smaller but still 8088 and 640K) then the Portable 286 (286 CPU and
> >640k(?)), then the Portable III (the small lunchbox sized computer (I
don't
> >remember if theese were 286s or 386SXs)) and
then the Portable 386 (it had
> >a full fledged 386DX). FWIW I have a P-II sitting about five feet from
me.
>
> FWIW, the Portable III is a 286 machine. I have pictures of mine posted on
> my site if anyone wants to see one.
>
> If anyone has the original setup disk for the Portable III, I would love to
> get an image of it - the "generic" AT setup disks work in that you can
configure
> the drives and get it to boot, however Compaq
apparently "rolled their own"
> checksum algorithm, as once configured with any of the generic disks, it
gets
a
CMOS Checksum
error.
I'm pretty sure the Compaq Portable III that I sold in February was an 
5 May
5 May
5:52 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Stevens" <sastevens(a)earthlink.net>
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 5:09 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: compaq's portable computer
On Mon, 3 May 2004 19:00:01 -0500 (CDT)
Dave Dunfield <dave04a(a)dunfield.com> wrote:
<CUT>
I'm pretty sure the Compaq Portable III that I
sold in February was an
8088 machine. Orange plasma display, small lunchbox
configuration, etc. I
just went back to the sales-photos for it and indeed it was badged a III.
It had the standard 640K of RAM and no expansion slots. Did they possibly
make this machine with different processor configurations? Is it possible
yours has a 3rd party processor upgrade? I definitely didn't have to run a
Setup program to get it going and it had sat idle for a long time before I
powered it up, so I'm fairly certain the one I had didn't have a setup
battery or CMOS setup storage.
yea.. I have got apotrable 1 (the big suitcase one with mini monnitor etc)
and also a portable 3 (somewhere). The Portable III is inded a small
lunchbox sized beast with an orange plasma screeen and 5.25 drive on the one
side. by default they didnt have any expansion slots, however u could buy a
box thaat clipped onto the back to give you an 8 bit isa slot. it's an 8088,
640k ram (max 1 meg istr), not sure about base configs, but i know u could
get a 286 upgrade but w/o the co-pro.
Charles "Thunder" Blackburn
The Team Sportscast Network
http://www.tsncentral.com
4 May
4 May
3:42 a.m.
At 07:00 PM 5/3/04 -0500, you wrote:
configure
I think the
first one was the Portable (8088 w/ 256k, then the Portable
II (smaller but still 8088 and 640K) then the Portable 286 (286 CPU and
640k(?)), then the Portable III (the small lunchbox sized computer (I don't
remember if theese were 286s or 386SXs)) and then the Portable 386 (it had
a full fledged 386DX). FWIW I have a P-II sitting about five feet from me.
FWIW, the Portable III is a 286 machine. I have pictures of mine posted on
my site if anyone wants to see one.
If anyone has the original setup disk for the Portable III, I would love to
get an image of it - the "generic" AT setup disks work in that you can
the drives and get it to boot, however Compaq
apparently "rolled their own"
checksum algorithm, as once configured with any of the generic disks, it
gets a
CMOS Checksum error.
Mike Haas has has the setup disk. I gave it to him along with the P-IIIs
that I had. The setup program should also be one several of the machines.
FWIW I once found a third party setup program that worked on them. I don't
remember the name of it but I'm pretty sure that it was put out by a
company in Clearwater Florida that was later bought out by Quarterdeck. I
may still have a copy of it or the Compaq setup program. I'll look and see.
One thing to be aware of is that only the very first few drive table enties
match that used by IBM so be carefull setting the hard drive type.
Joe
Regards,
--
dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Vintage computing equipment collector.
http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html
7388
days inactive
7390
days old
7 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
charlesb＠otcgaming.net -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dave04a＠dunfield.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com -
sastevens＠earthlink.net -
whdawson＠localisps.net