Stuff from around the 386 and 486 "era" of PCs are some of my favorites. I have no clue why, but it is. This topic is for memories of these computers, discussion, help, etc.
My love of these computers is mostly rooted in childhood memories.
When I was quite little my grandparents bought themselves a computer so they could type things up. It was a budget model Packard Bell (Legend 204cd), 66mhz 486/DX2, 8 MB RAM, and a 518 MB hard drive. A bit later, I started checking it out and found the educational software CDs that had been packaged with it. I taught myself how to get into DOS and run them, quite surprising because my only computer experience before this was drawing pictures on my parents' Mac Performa 600. Later, I stole a game disk from my cousin's house, namely Lemmings (my favorite PC game, hands down), and a CD of some FMV game called MegaRace. I popped them into this computer and had a blast, fully fueling my initial interest in the computer.
As it was the only computer I was regularly able to use until my family finally bought a useful computer in 1999, I learned basically everything the 486 could do. So, at age seven or so, I was essentially my grandparents' tech support, fixing their every problem. I was also very curious and attempted different ways to free up hard drive space to add more stuff... including deleting what I called "blank files" (which were actually Windows DLLs) and then freaking out when Windows 3.1 would no longer boot. I managed to hunt out the restore disc and reinstall it before anyone noticed...
Anyway, since then said 486 has now fallen into my posession.
Here's an old pic from when I first got received it from my grandparents. At this point, after essentially a decade of stuff, I had done a lot to modify it, including installing Calmira on Win 3.1 for the Windows 9x taskbar I'd discovered I liked. Looking back, I imagine they didn't like how I also controlled their wallpaper and treated the comp like it was mine
I've wiped it clean and set it back up to clear out years of random stuff and have started going nuts on DOS games and audio. There are tons of games I never experienced and I am now playing fervently. Plus, I found some retro FM trackers to mess with synth music. One of my favorite things about computers from this era are Adlib cards and their many imitations. The synthesized awesomeness of Adlib music just rocks.
There's a lot these computers can do that new ones can't, mostly in the games department... I just love them.
That leaves me with a question.
My interest has taken off to the point where the hard drive is just way too small (518 MB). Should I try and find a hard drive that works to replace it, of which one attempt has already failed (tried installing a salvaged 8.4 GB hard drive from a computer in storage, and the BIOS can't handle the geometry of it), or would it be easier to just locate an ISA ethernet card and create a basic shared folder between it and another computer?
Anyway, post your memories, ideas, and questions about these era PCs. (Hey, it's discussion material.)
