*updating* 8088's

[Ensor]

Hi,

  > to what degree was it homebuilt? Do you mean simply
  >assembled from parts?

Well yes, I assembled it from parts....considering how much I dislike PCs I 
was hardly going to design my own motherboard. LOL!

  >....Who made the mobo if that was the case....

No idea, it was far too many years ago. All I can say with certainty is that 
it was of Japanese manufacture.

When I came to build that machine I had a fairly tough time tracking down a 
decent XT motherboard, by then even the '286 was old hat with most vendors 
pushing '386 based mobos. In fact, IIRC, this was the only V30 motherboard I 
could find over here at the time (though that doesn't meant that others 
weren't around).

  >....I only know of 1 non-8088 mobo (of course there could
  >have been others)....

There were certainly a few pre-built PC clones around which used the 
8086/V30, the Amstrad 1512/1640 spring to mind.

As I said, when I came into PCs no-one wanted XT motherboards anymore (apart 
from me, as the '286 was a dog and the '386 was still too pricey for a 
second computer I'd rarely use) so I don't really know what had been 
available previously.


  >> I don't recall the manufacturer, but "AST" rings a
  >>bell for some reason?....
  >
  > I don't specifically recall AST making such an
  >upgrade. Orchid made a few (one with a 186 and a
  >follow up with a 286)....

Hmmm, you know, it may have been an "Orchid".... I definitely remember 
having an Orchid manual in amongst some AST manuals I kept in a little ring 
binder.

  >....AST did make some super duper serial boards ("4 port
  >cards") that usually had an on board '186.

I never had any of those, but I did have one or two "multi I/O" cards for 
the XT, which assuming the processor upgrade was by "Orchid", would be what 
the "AST" manuals were for.

Printer/serial, clock/calendar, that sort of thing.


I got rid of all that stuff sometime in '92 when I upgraded to a '386DX 
though, so....


  TTFN - Pete.