Whoa. This touches so many memories. I remember when I was a kid, I would browse around Wally World with my brother in the electronics dept. and drool at all the computers lined up there, and the PBs they had on display demoing Doom! 3D blew my mind. System looked like yours, but I would have no idea what model; that, and there was a minitower version on display. And the computer section on the JCPenny catalogs! What a trip through memory lane.
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PB145B’s finds
- Thread starter PB145B
- Start date
Packard Bells weren't too bad as far as name brand PCs went in the early 90s, at least until they got busted putting used parts in machines that were marked as new. This was also around the time their quality started to go downhill (mid-late 90s I want to say). All that being said, I've seen some that were rock solid reliable and I've seen others that could be outdone by a custom built PC using a PCChips motherboard. For $4 though, you got a solid conquest.
That they were, and they didn't get any better when they merged with Elitegroup Computer Systems. I've heard they're not as bad today but I will never trust anything that has PCChips or ECS markings anywhere on it.
I had a custom built machine that had a PCChips motherboard (M571) and it had some of the absolute strangest quirks I'd ever seen like not supporting RAM it was supposed to support, only recognizing part of a stick of RAM (My 128MB of RAM ended up being between 96 and 112MB depending on the day), random crashes tracing back to the SiS chipset, and a front side bus that wouldn't work reliably at 75MHz (though it was supposed to) but would work at 83MHz (which it wasn't supposed to) but only at certainly multipliers. That was one machine that when it got retired it got recycled instead of being re-used for something else. It was that atrociously bad. Then I had a late model Gateway machine that didn't seem to play nicely with all the Core 2 Duos it was supposed to support, had some strange quirks with what memory it would recognize (only 2.5GB of my 4GBs of RAM being recognized at the BIOS level), and was generally an unstable machine...lo and behold it was an Elitegroup motherboard OEM'd for Gateway. Really a shame what happened to them, they were IMHO one of the best PC vendors until they bought eMachines at which point they started a very quick slide into low end junk which ended when they got bought by Acer (Acer -> Always can expect repair) and finally, thankfully, Acer put the brand out of its misery.
I had a custom built machine that had a PCChips motherboard (M571) and it had some of the absolute strangest quirks I'd ever seen like not supporting RAM it was supposed to support, only recognizing part of a stick of RAM (My 128MB of RAM ended up being between 96 and 112MB depending on the day), random crashes tracing back to the SiS chipset, and a front side bus that wouldn't work reliably at 75MHz (though it was supposed to) but would work at 83MHz (which it wasn't supposed to) but only at certainly multipliers. That was one machine that when it got retired it got recycled instead of being re-used for something else. It was that atrociously bad. Then I had a late model Gateway machine that didn't seem to play nicely with all the Core 2 Duos it was supposed to support, had some strange quirks with what memory it would recognize (only 2.5GB of my 4GBs of RAM being recognized at the BIOS level), and was generally an unstable machine...lo and behold it was an Elitegroup motherboard OEM'd for Gateway. Really a shame what happened to them, they were IMHO one of the best PC vendors until they bought eMachines at which point they started a very quick slide into low end junk which ended when they got bought by Acer (Acer -> Always can expect repair) and finally, thankfully, Acer put the brand out of its misery.
I remember Compaq!
One time, my mother bought a Presario laptop (I can't recall what model, but it ran Windows 98), and the screen would white out randomly. It was concluded that the motherboard was faulty, so we took it in to be exchanged for a working model. There was a bunch of funny business at the retailer (Sears) and the replacement Compaq ended up being stolen by an employee.
Consequently, we ended up getting an NEC Ready 230T. It was a cruddy piece of junk, even when it was relatively new, but I eventually got it to work more or less (I taught myself everything I know about MS-DOS commands and batch files on that machine).
Many years later (think 2010 or so), we got another Compaq Presario, CQ10 I think, but it is basically an HP laptop in design. I still have that one, having upgraded the RAM and CPU so it actually runs decently (it had a single core CPU! In 2010, that kind of thing is inexcusable (Windows 7 was sluggish at best, and Windows 10 (I *willingly* let it do the "downgrade" because I was curious) was *completely* useless!), but understandable because it was a budget model).
So, not really relevant to anything, but an interesting anecdote nevertheless.
c
One time, my mother bought a Presario laptop (I can't recall what model, but it ran Windows 98), and the screen would white out randomly. It was concluded that the motherboard was faulty, so we took it in to be exchanged for a working model. There was a bunch of funny business at the retailer (Sears) and the replacement Compaq ended up being stolen by an employee.
Consequently, we ended up getting an NEC Ready 230T. It was a cruddy piece of junk, even when it was relatively new, but I eventually got it to work more or less (I taught myself everything I know about MS-DOS commands and batch files on that machine).
Many years later (think 2010 or so), we got another Compaq Presario, CQ10 I think, but it is basically an HP laptop in design. I still have that one, having upgraded the RAM and CPU so it actually runs decently (it had a single core CPU! In 2010, that kind of thing is inexcusable (Windows 7 was sluggish at best, and Windows 10 (I *willingly* let it do the "downgrade" because I was curious) was *completely* useless!), but understandable because it was a budget model).
So, not really relevant to anything, but an interesting anecdote nevertheless.
c
No Mac related stuff, but I found some cool PC related stuff!
First one is a Dell Inspiron 8100! I had been wanting one of these. I already have two Inspiron 8000s, but the 8100 has a Pentium III “Tulatin” instead of the “Coppermine” Pentium III the 8000 has, so this one should be a little faster. I’m completely hooked on these 8000 series Inspirons. They are some of my favorite machines.
The specs of this one are:
Pentium III “Tualtin” 1GHz
256MB of RAM
16MB Nvidia GeForce2Go GPU
1600 X 1200 UXGA “UltraSharp” display. This is one of my most favorites things about these machines. The 1400 X 1050 SXGA+ display that some of these have looks pretty damn good too.
Here’s some pics of the machine. I had the hinge cover off when I took the pictures because the corner of it was cracked so I glued it and was waiting on the glue to dry.
I also found a parallel port Zip drive. This will come in handy for my old PCs. Haven’t tested it yet, but it seems to be in good condition aside from the little window on top which has fallen down inside of it. That should be an easy fix.
And lastly, I found a boxed copy of Microsoft Office 2000 Pro and Office XP pro. Office 2000 is preferred by most (including me) because it works good and you don’t have to jump through hoops to get it “activated”. I sure miss the days when you bought 1 physical copy of Office or Windows and could use it as many times as you wanted without having to buy dumbass “keys”.
Pics:
I found the “Microsoft Company Store Purchase Not to be sold” label very interesting. The Office XP box also has a $60 Microsoft price tag on it.
First one is a Dell Inspiron 8100! I had been wanting one of these. I already have two Inspiron 8000s, but the 8100 has a Pentium III “Tulatin” instead of the “Coppermine” Pentium III the 8000 has, so this one should be a little faster. I’m completely hooked on these 8000 series Inspirons. They are some of my favorite machines.
The specs of this one are:
Pentium III “Tualtin” 1GHz
256MB of RAM
16MB Nvidia GeForce2Go GPU
1600 X 1200 UXGA “UltraSharp” display. This is one of my most favorites things about these machines. The 1400 X 1050 SXGA+ display that some of these have looks pretty damn good too.
Here’s some pics of the machine. I had the hinge cover off when I took the pictures because the corner of it was cracked so I glued it and was waiting on the glue to dry.
I also found a parallel port Zip drive. This will come in handy for my old PCs. Haven’t tested it yet, but it seems to be in good condition aside from the little window on top which has fallen down inside of it. That should be an easy fix.
And lastly, I found a boxed copy of Microsoft Office 2000 Pro and Office XP pro. Office 2000 is preferred by most (including me) because it works good and you don’t have to jump through hoops to get it “activated”. I sure miss the days when you bought 1 physical copy of Office or Windows and could use it as many times as you wanted without having to buy dumbass “keys”.
Pics:
I found the “Microsoft Company Store Purchase Not to be sold” label very interesting. The Office XP box also has a $60 Microsoft price tag on it.
Will do!
All of the stuff I found in my last post came from goodwill. Technically my Goodwill doesn’t sell computers, but they actually still pop up in the bins quite often, and I spoke to some higher ups and they said that if they are in the bins, they have to sell them. They do sometimes give me trouble when I try to buy one but I always hold them to it.
True.
Yeah, Office XP Pro definitely sold for more than $60 when new. Gonna try to find and activation workaround for it.
There are a number of them out there, but isn't the product key I presume you got valid? It should activate without issue, unless it has been pirated.
And as for the limitations, I have a copy of Office 2003 S&T that I can activate on a pretty much indefinite number of machines (granted, my license allows for activation on more than one). It has reached a point many times where it won't activate on account of the fact that I've done it too many times, but if I wait a bit (say, a month or two), the timer resets.
The first activation mechanisms (as seen on Office XP and, of course, Windows XP) are relatively simple, and are thus full of idiosyncrasies and loopholes.
Nevertheless, I have read that if MS decides to take their old activation servers offline, they'd release a patch that effectively activates the software perpetually, essentially rendering the whole activation thing moot.
c
I didn’t know that Office XP could still be officially activated. I’ll give it a shot!
Last time I tried to activate Windows XP I couldn’t get it to work, so I found a pre activated iso image and that has worked fine ever since.
And yeah, the activation crud in Windows/Office XP is very simple compared to newer MS software.
A friend of mine worked at Microsoft's Seattle offices for a number of years, and I was quite excited to visit there when I went over. It was just like any office block. Had a big nice cafeteria and the company store allowed you to purchase games/software at a fraction of the retail price, but not free.
Amusingly, outside the front of an office were a few PCs that had been raided for parts, lids bent up and cables hanging out
Well I couldn’t help myself on eBay once again and bought a Dell Inspiron 2500. Super happy to finally have one of these.
Please see my post about it on the vintage computer forum here:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?64287-Dell-Insiron-2500#post521615
Please see my post about it on the vintage computer forum here:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?64287-Dell-Insiron-2500#post521615
I tried it and it worked! I have used it several times so far and haven’t had any issues.
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