Hello, everyone --
You may recall some weeks ago that I acquired a Compaq Portable II
that narrowly escaped destruction, and that I had a few problems
with it here and there. Well, those problems have been solved
almost completely, and so I'll report to you the results of this
restoration project, which I've stored in a file on the machine.
* * * * * *
[compaq.txt]
The Compaq Portable II Model 4
==============================
This computer was used originally for many years (perhaps since
its manufacture date, 1987) with a medical device and card installed,
a spirometer, which was used in a hospital respiratory department
for tests on lungs. When the system was retired, effort was made to
preserve the computer, but unfortunately, the medical device and card
were removed in a "brutal" fashion, which left the top missing, several
screw posts broken, and one corner of the back frame (above the
expansion slot opening) peeled outward and broken. The bent metal
pieces were straightened out and/or removed, the case put back
together, and top face plates were removed and replaced with clear
plexiglass to expose the inner workings. An Intel 14.4kbps modem
was installed. Some of the outer keyboard keys are sluggish
(especially ANSI combinations), but these seem to be improving
with increased usage. The original fixed disk, a 20-megabyte disk,
was replaced earlier by someone else with a 42.6 MB Seagate HDD;
it is formatted into two partitions, C: and D:, each about 20 MBs.
This latter drive didn't respond to the on-board LED activation
indicator. Since the current HDD has its own LED, the front
face cover, which normally has its red LED window to the left, was
switched to the right, closer to where the LED flashes on the
present HDD. This arrangement works, but the LED shines rather
weakly through the red face plate window. The old LED wire and
diode were removed.
Fortunately, the original OPERATIONS GUIDE was located, which
illustrates well the various aspects and basics of the system.
Also, the COMPAQ website still offers a free download of the
original Setup, Test and Diagnostic utilities for setting up and
running this system. These utilities were created on disks and run;
the system passes all tests, with the exception that the current
hard disk is unrecognized (it is unable to perform tests on
it for this reason; Norton Utilities, however, indicates that the
hard disk is in perfectly good shape). The system originally had
a copy of MS-DOS 3.21 customized for this specific Compaq PC,
WordStar 2000, WordPerfect 5.1, Lotus 123, and the spirometer
software -- all of which were removed, and in its place, PC DOS
3.30 was installed, a basic copy of WordStar 4.0 Professional,
Net-Tamer for low-powered PCs, Fidelity Chessmaster 2100, and
a number of other programs suitable for the capabilities and
expectations of this machine (see the listings under Power Menu).
One utility, shutdown.exe, was kept from the original system
(of uncertain origin), since it parks the hard drive heads
with a graphic and sound file that displays a switch turning off.
All of the (mostly) period software installed on both the C: and
D: drives occupies a space of approximately 5.33 megabytes -- an
excellent testimony of how efficient and compact the programs were
written during the "golden era" of PCs and DOS.
For all its years of service, abuse, and near destruction, this
Compaq Portable II is in fine working order and definitely
fits the category of a "survivor"!
* * * * * * *
Jerry... on his COMPAQ PORTABLE II -- #4 | My laptop computer's a
***** 14.4kbps/42MB HD/640k RAM/8 MHz | Tandy TRS-80 Model 100
Net-Tamer V 1.11.2X - Registered
To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message.
Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies.
More info can be found at;
http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
